Superbowl 350ad

In collaboration that transcends time, Holland America Line and the History Channel joined forces to create a Super Bowl ad that redefines travel storytelling. Our task was to flip the script—because why just sail to new places when you can sail through time?

By combining meticulous CGI and generative AI, we reconstructed lost civilizations, not just with historical accuracy, but with an emotional depth, creating a spot that feels both timeless and timely.

To reconstruct Rome in 350AD, our team combined traditional CGI tools with historical research. Leveraging Paul Bigot’s “Model of Rome,”, Blender, Unreal Engine 5, and topographical data from OpenStreetMaps, we recreated the city’s essence during Constantinian era. The Colosseum stood out as a timeless icon - reimagined through both historical insight and artistic expression.

The scale of recreating living ancient cities demanded innovative solutions beyond traditional VFX capabilities. By incorporating generative AI into our established CGI pipeline, we faced both opportunities and unique challenges. While AI offered efficient solutions for environmental details and crowd dynamics, it required extensive human oversight to maintain accuracy. Each generated element needed careful curation, which oftentimes required further refinement with traditional VFX tools. This hybrid approach ultimately allowed us to enhance our core CGI work while maintaining the integrity of our reconstructions.

Managing the complexity of historical reconstructions required more than just technical precision—it demanded an adaptive iteration process. By integrating our custom visualization framework, we ensured seamless collaboration between CGI artists, AI specialists, and researcher team. This iterative approach allowed for continuous feedback loops, enabling us to refine visual details, maintain historical integrity, and deliver high-quality outputs more efficiently.