Stephen Wiltshire, a British architectural artist who was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3, has garnered fame for his ability to draw detailed recreations from memory—oftentimes of complex cityscapes he’s only viewed briefly.
In a new ad for the 2017 Micra, Nissan puts his chops to the test. But instead of equipping him with his usual arsenal of pen and paper, in this case, Nissan tasks him with authoring his recreation in VR using Tilt Brush, which he’s never used before. Talk about an introduction!
“Stephen is not able to filter anything,” says his sister in voice-over. “He absorbs everything. Detail is the highlight to his drawing.”
In establishing Wiltshire’s remarkable precision, Nissan situates the Micra as a car that emphasizes the details (and detailing)—and the result is an atmospheric, compelling portrait of an artist, a vehicle, and most exciting to us: the unique avenues of creativity VR is generating.
Called “Drawn at First Sight,” this is a new breed of commercial, one that showcases collaboration between Nissan, Tilt Brush, and Wiltshire. This innovative take on the commercial may have taken us by surprise, but users on Reddit weren’t too surprised by the selection of Wiltshire for this type of project.
Between this commercial and Jimmy Fallon’s recent “VR Pictionary” segment, we’re getting really excited about the future of VR in commercial entertainment. So, if you’re a brand hungry to produce unique content in 2017, you might just have your work cut out for you. Now get to playing!
