The question
THOR needed to tell the story of its electric-RV concepts while the physical prototypes were still being completed. The production deadline and the engineering work were moving on different clocks.
Some elements were unfinished or nonworking. Communicating the intended experience required close coordination between the people building the prototypes and the people visualizing them.
My contribution
I led the client relationship, requirements discussions, production budget, schedule, and full production crew as director. I worked with the R&D team on how to visualize the concepts and tell the story.
I recruited specialist 3D effects artists through my film network and supervised their work. We coordinated imagery of the physical prototypes with digital augmentation so that production could move forward within the available time.
I also negotiated a threefold increase in the value of our client engagement. That was a commercial result for the production engagement, separate from vehicle sales or the value of the prototypes.
WHAT MOVED FORWARD
The team delivered the concept-launch storytelling through a coordinated physical and digital production. I brought together the client decisions, specialist talent, and practical delivery constraints that made that possible.
The connection to prototyping
Sometimes the right artifact is an interactive workflow. Sometimes it is a visual experience that lets people understand something that does not yet fully exist. Choosing the right form—and finding the right collaborators—is part of the work.
THOR’s R&D team retained engineering and prototype-build ownership. Visualization communicated the intended concept; it did not establish functional readiness.