At that time, Facebook had just introduced the new 360 live stream so we wanted to utilize this new technology. Simultaneously Hurley had posted a new picture on instagram with a Baby Groot silicon puppet prototype. Suddenly, the mission became more clear: Connecting the new 360 feature with the new Marvel character. Eventually we came up with the idea of using a remote controlled car, driven by Baby Groot on the red carpet during the premiere, meeting and interacting with all the celebrities on site. People on Facebook could control the car as well as experience the premiere from Groot’s point of view.

After purchasing the puppet from Hurley, we created a simple mechanism that was moving Baby Groot’s body and head in different directions. Due to the small size of the character, it was quite tricky to make it fit, but in combination with the car it slowly started coming together. We also had to add extra batteries in order to power the car as well as the character. Even though the silicon material was perfect for making it seem real, it was very fragile and tended to brittle, so not destroying our new creation was another challenge we faced.

In order to make Baby Groot look as real and authentic as possible, we knew we had to integrate real elements. So we started collecting pieces of wood in parks and outdoors and later even purchased real moss and plants. The combination of our movable silicone body inside the remote controlled car with parts of real moss, plants and wood created a real looking character and people easily connected with him. 

We were in touch with Marvel for half a year about this project and received amazing feedback throughout the process, however, when the premiere date was only one week away, we still didn’t have any kind of agreement with Marvel Studios in place. My team and I were just about to give up when I decided to give it one last shot and send 2 animated gif images with the unfinished car to one of the Marvel vice presidents. She replied immediately and asked to bring the car for a demo to their studio on Monday. Even though the car was still in Prague at that time, we managed to fly Baby Groot to LA within 48hours and get him ready just on time. 

On Monday morning we arrived at Marvel’s parking lot and were ready to go. Two days before the premiere everybody at Marvel was of course super busy so we had to wait for over 7 hours in the car. Unfortunately, the California sun wasn’t the best for our out-of-space character and it wasn’t long until we discovered a plant wilting, glue dripping, batterie melting Baby Groot. “Luckily”, Marvel sent another email while we were busy panicking, asking us to postpone the meeting until tomorrow. With another 24 hours to fix Baby Groot, we went straight to the nearest Home Depot for new parts. Unfortunately, Marvel had to cancel the meeting all together the next day due to the many toy licensees issues. 

Dealing with toy licensing two days before the premiere had to be tricky, so we were definitely not mad. Our goal was to create a different kind of experience for the Marvel fans and we’ve accomplished just that. So the day after the premiere we decided to take Baby Groot to the streets of Los Angeles, sharing him with the people around. After live streaming from Hollywood Boulevard and Santa Monica Pier, our video reached a couple of million views on social media. We couldn’t believe the reactions, especially kids loved interacting with the little Marvel guy. After such great feedback, it didn’t take long for us to decide to do another project, connecting the real and the digital world. In fact, Spider Man Homecoming was going to be released soon so we started brainstorming on our next big thing…

Lee Hurley (Baby Groot sillicon pupet): instagram.com/hurleyfx
Petr Fousek (Adult Goot concept) : petfousek.myportfolio.com