Category: Commercials

Bruno Banani – ‘Man’s Best’

Bruno Banani returns for a second tour of his laboratoire in this latest instalment brought to us by Friend director duo Tim & Joe for Grey London. In this film the essential oil extraction process has been ramped up to a new level. As a leggy trolley lady leads us on our journey through the lab, we take in an Anti-gravity peppercorn selection chamber, an infinitely tall microwave storage shelving facility and an automated laser powered bottle-sculpting robot – amongst other things. Rushes design team headed up by Domhnall Malone worked closely with Tim & Joe in designing the robot with reference to the villain restraint rings from Superman 2. I supervised the VFX shoot out in Vilnius, Lithuania and led the team for the post process back at Rushes.

Laser Robot – Dust, smoke, dry ice, laser and glass elements were shot on set against a black background. The robot and glass shard were modeled in Zbrush by Nimesh Patel and animated in Maya by Craig Travis. The smoke and dust elements were simulated in Phoenix FD for Maya by Chris Lumsdale. I composited all shot and CG elements together with additional sparks, glows, lens flares and molten glass and dirt textures in Flame.

Infinite Ladder – The girl was shot on set from a low angle stood on a short ladder against a small section of shelving. The camera slowly dropped a short distance in order to create a change in perspective of her body. The girl was then keyed and rotoscoped from this background. The new extended camera move was previsualised in Flame and then exported to Maya. Extensions to the shelving and ladder were modelled in Maya by Rob Millan along with a model of the girl which was re-projected with the re-sped shot texture after a pickup point part way into the shot allowing for the extended camera move to take over for the long drop. The drip from her pipette was created as a cloth simulation in Maya. All elements were then composited in Flame.

Anti- Gravity Peppercorns – This scene was shot on a Steadicam with peppercorns on the table to serve as both a lighting reference and as tracking markers. Additional tracking markers were added to the walls in order to ensure a solid camera track could be achieved. The hero peppercorn pincered at the end was rigged on garden wire to provide a target for both the girl and for the focus pull. All rig and tracking points were then painted out, and the new floating peppercorns were modelled and animated in Maya. The final comp was completed in Nuke by Sarah Breakwell.

Other VFX in the film included adding logos to doors, background replacements, set extensions, general cleanup to walls and floors, adding cinnamon dust, steam plumes, condensation on visor, colouring and animating drips, CG augmentation of glasses and animated graphical readouts and lasers for the microwave and robot.

It was a pleasure to once again work with Tim & Joe and the creative team from Grey London for this project.

Client: Bruno Banani
Agency: Grey London
Producer: Louise Reimnitz
Business Director: Nancy Suarez King

Production Company: Friend
Directors: Tim & Joe
Producer: Bonnie Anthony
Post Production Company: Rushes
VFX Producer: Jon Purton
Executive Producer: Jule Pye
VFX Supervisor: Leo Weston
Concept Direction: Barry Corcoran
Concept Design: Domhnall Malone
Colourist: Simona Cristea-Harrison
Flame: Leo Weston
Nuke: Sarah Breakwell, Bharathi Anthonysamy
Modelling: Nimesh Patel
CG Supervisor: Andy McNamara
CG: Craig Travis, Adam Lindsey, Chris Lumsdale, Rob Millan
MGFX: Tania Nunes

Neulasta – ‘Rather Be Home’

Knucklehead’s Director duo The Dempseys create this film for Neulasta, which shows the benefits of receiving medication in a home environment instead of a hospital. As the main character goes to sit down in the hospital she is magically transported back to the comfort of her own living room. It was a pleasure to work with the Dempseys for the first time whilst acting as VFX Supervisor for the transitions in the 2 films. Featured here is one of those 2 films: ‘Rather Be Home’.

This transition was shot on a Panther motion control rig in 2 separate locations in Cape Town, South Africa. Each of the two scenes were deconstructed over a series of plates where all furniture, magazines, people etc were gradually removed until the rooms were completely empty. The main actor was shot along with the couch in the home environment but lit to appear like she is in the hospital. She was then rotoscoped into the scene and the plates combined as her lighting slowly changes to complete the transition from hospital to home. In supervising this shoot, it was key to get all measurements of camera height, track position & angle, room size, plus the positions of all furniture and people to enable us to rebuild the scene exactly after the rig had been moved to our second location. It was also important to carefully plan the order in which items were removed from the scene to enable unobscured plates of each object and person allowing freedom in the compositing stage to remove and insert items in any order throughout the transition. I was also able to turn around rough comps with a selection of plates whilst on set in order to give reassurance to the production crew and to assist with explaining the transition to the end client. The final comp was completed at Method Studios New York by John Yu.

I’ve posted here a heavily edited version of the actual film in order to focus on the effects shot. Unless you are shopping for both a VFX supervisor and cancer medication then you don’t need to sit through the other 90 seconds of legal disclaimer. In case you are shopping for Neulasta and not a Flame Artist, then be sure to read everything on this page instead.

Client: Neulasta
Production Company: Knucklehead
Directors: The Dempseys
Producer: Bill James
Post Production Company: Method
VFX Supervisor: Leo Weston
VFX: John Yu
VFX Producer: Robert Holland

Gillette Venus - 'Pre-Party Party'

Gillette Venus beauty ambassador Emma Willis returns in the latest campaign spot from Grey, directed by Friend’s One In Three. The new spot contains five Emmas in various stages of readiness for a Christmas party. The five plates were shot using motion control and then rotoscoped together to create the final composite. A time-lapse outside scene moving from a crisp winter morning through to a cold snowy night was constructed in Flame and then camera tracked into the view through the windows. Other Flame work included adding in a frosted effect to the lower window panes in the bathroom and removing the reflection of the motion control rig and camera from the mirror in the bedroom.

Client: Gillette Venus
Agency: Grey London
Producer: Joseph Ogunmokun, Melissa Beeson
Creative Director: Clemmie Telford
Production Company: Friend
Director: One In Three
Producer: Guy Rolfe
DoP: Oliver Cariou
Post Production Company: Rushes
VFX Supervisor: Leo Weston
VFX: Leo Weston , Glenn Cone, Richard Russell
VFX Producers: Rosanne Crisp & Sara Beckman
Colourist: Marty McMullan

LV - 'Make It Better'

Working closely with agency Designate and Dirty Films director Eli Sverdlov, the creative team at Rushes completed the new LV commercial “Make It Better”. Extensive VFX and CG elements were employed to realise the spot, which shows a family in their damaged car being carried by hot air balloons to an LV repair factory, whilst a team of fun quirky animated robots and machines quickly and efficiently mend the car and get it back on the road. I provided VFX supervision for this shoot in Valencia and Barcelona. The final VFX work was led by Jonny Hicks as I was off getting married.

Client: LV
Agency: Designate
Agency Producer: Emma Johnston
Creative Director: Daniel Fagg
Art Director: Faye Carré
Production Company: Dirty Films
Director: Eli Sverdlov
Producer: Alex Bedford
Post Production Company: Rushes
VFX Supervisors: Leo Weston , Andy McNamara, Barry Corcoran
CG Supervisor/Lead: Andy McNamara
Design Lead: Barry Corcoran
Concept Design: Jean-David Solon, Domhnall Malone
Producer: Jules Pye
Production Coordinator: Olli Whitworth
Colourist: Denny Cooper
CG: Craig Travis, Nimesh Patel, Adam Lindsey, Mark Woodcock, Robert Millin, Gerald Crome, Gary Cureton, Linda Johnson, Ryan Passmore, Zahra Al Naib
VFX: Jonathan Hicks, Brian Carbin, Richard Russell, Lorenzo Newell, Noel Harmes, Sarah Breakwell, Sandra Roach

Bruno Banani - ‘Fragrance Lab’

Friend Directors Tim & Joe lead us on a tongue in cheek tour through Bruno Banani’s Fragrance Lab where leggy ladies extract the essential oils and ingredients needed, and construct bottles for the Banani male perfume. VFX work included creating molten glass, heat haze & smoke effects for the bottle forging sequence, Compositing of the CG claw, CG augmentation of lab equipment, Compositing of liquids, plus beauty, pack work, rig removal, cleanup and title design and animation.

Client:  Bruno Banani
Agency: Grey London
Producer:  Jess Taylor
Creative:  Jamie Brunskill, Angela Harding
Business Director:  Nancy Suarez King
Production Company: Friend
Directors:  Tim & Joe
Producer:  Luke Jacobs
Post Production Company: Rushes
VFX Producer:  Jon Purton
VFX Supervisor: Leo Weston
VFX: Leo Weston
Colourist:  Simona Cristea Harrison
CG:  Craig Travis, Adam Lindsay
MGFX:  Guy Hancock

Nike - 'CR7 - Chapter 1 - Savage Beauty'

Rankin shoots a stunning new spot for Nike as they introduce the Mercurial Superfly CR7 ‘Savage Beauty’, inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo’s volcanic homeland of Madeira. The superfly spot was shot in Madrid in only a few hours with Cristiano Ronaldo. I provided on set supervision on this shoot and completed the VFX work at Rushes. Volcano stock footage was blended over silhouetted shots of Ronaldo. Other top layer smoke, lightning, hot ash and spark elements were also added to the composites. The end boot volcano comp is a combination of a CG smoke plume and shot smoke elements graded and composited together in Flame. The ad won an award for ‘Best VFX’ at Berlin Fashion Film Festival and also picked up the ‘Best Editing’ award for Rankin’s Gary Coogan.

Production Company/Agency: Rankin Film
Director: Rankin
Producer: Storr Redman
Editor: Gary Coogan
Post Production Company: Rushes
Producer: Chris McKeeman
VFX Supervisor: Leo Weston
VFX: Leo Weston
CG: Andy McNamara
Motion Graphics: Barry Corcoran,
Guy Hancock, Fraser Macedo
Colourist: Simona Cristea Harrison

2016 BFFF - Best VFX
2016 Berlin Fashion Film Festival – Best VFX
2016 BFFF - Best Editing
2016 Berlin Fashion Film Festival – Best Editing

Pampers - 'Poo Face'

Saatchi & Saatchi Creative Team Matt Butterfield & Ben Mills bring us epic Pampers Wipes ad – ‘Pooface’. The first spot created for the Pampers ‘Don’t Fear The Mess!’ campaign. Shot by director Olly Blackburn out of Great Guns and posted at Rushes. Set to the classic score ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’ by Strauss, the film charts in high definition and in super slow motion, a big moment in ten young babies lives: doing a poo. As babies only seem to poo when you don’t want them to, this film benefitted from some subtle VFX help from me to warp and distort the babies faces that extra bit into contorted “poofaces”. The spot picked up three Cannes Lions awards (a bronze film Lion in the Toiletries, Cosmetics & Beauty category, a silver film craft Lion for casting and a bronze film craft Lion in editing).

Client:  Pampers
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Producer:  Anne O’Neill
Creatives:  Matt Butterfield, Ben Mills
Creative Director: Kate Stanners
Production Company: Great Guns
Director:  Olly Blackburn
Exec Producer: Sheridan Thomas,
Laura Gregory
Producer:  Tim Francis
DoP:  Nanu Segal
Editor:  Andy Phillips, James Demetriou
Producer:  Rosanne Crisp
Post Production Company: Rushes
VFX: Leo Weston
Colourist:  Simone Grattarola

2016 Bronze Lion - Toiletries, Cosmetics & Beauty
– 2016 Bronze Cannes Film Lion – Toiletries, Cosmetics & Beauty Category

Ford Ecosport - 'Keyless'

In a risqué spot for Ford, directed by B-Reel’s Tom Malmros, a tanned beach hunk sporting some snug-fitting swimwear helps demonstrate the benefits of keyless entry in the new Ford EcoSport. The car was shot as left hand drive and with the spare tyre on the back. We created multiple versions of this commercial for different territories (Left hand drive & Right hand drive), and for different models of the car (With and without rear mounted spare tyre). The most challenging shot was the final scene as the car drives past and away from the camera where we painted out the tyre and modelled, tracked and composited in a new back end to the vehicle as it moves through the dappled shade of the beachside location throwing up dust from the road. Other unnoticeable VFX in this spot included sky replacements, sign removal, photo effects, flipping car badges and enhancement of the wing mirror light effect as the car is unlocked.

Client:  Ford
Agency: Blue Hive / GTB
Executive Creative Director:  Karin Onsager-Birch
Copywriter:  John Kelley
Art Director:  Jesper Varlen
Agency Producer:  Mondi Howard
Production Company: B-Reel
Director: Tom Malmros
Producer:  Trine Pillay, Carrie Hart
DoP:  Johan Palm
Editor:  Spencer Ferszt
Post Production Company: Rushes
VFX Producer:  Angela Lucantoni
VFX: Leo Weston
Colourist:  Denny Cooper

Valspar - 'Colour Outside The Lines'

Creative agency FCB Inferno set me the challenge of developing a technique that allowed us to watch the type of ‘light painting’ normally only possible in long exposure stills photography as it was created. We achieved this by shooting at a high frame rate and using a max/lighten feedback effect in post to create trails on the lights that remain over the duration of the shot. I blended multiple layers of this effect and cut back the silhouette of the artist over the top. An hours shooting at 200fps was eventually condensed down into the 3 second long final composite you see at the end of the commercial.

Client: Valspar Paint
Creative Agency: FCB Inferno
Executive Creative Director: Gary Robinson
Account Director: Helena Georghiou
Producer: Shaun Nickless
Art Director: Chris Spore
Production Co: Bare Films
Director: Joanna Bailey
Producer: Helen Hadfield
DOP: Ben Smithard
Producer: Helen Hadfield
Offline Editor: Christen Iversen (Peep Show)
Post Production Company: Rushes
VFX: Leo Weston
VFX Producer: Angela Lucatoni

Honda - 'Disruption' (Director's Version)

This is the teaser film for the Honda Type R, directed by Kirby McClure of Radical friend. This is the director’s version with no music, only SFX. You can watch the original version here, should you desire. VFX work on this spot was extensive. Including: Multiple matte paintings of skyscraper skylines, Sky replacements, Lightning effects, Eye glow effects for the cat and wolves, Creation & comping of metal android eyes, Comping of CG neon onto buildings, CG rain, CG crystal model particle explosion, Digital breakup ‘Data Mosh’ effect, Cleanup & Rig removal. We also created an end shot of the car rotating out of only 3 stills as the car didn’t yet exist at the time of shooting.

Agency: Karmarama
Producer: Jenny O’Connell
Creatives: Rachel Holding, Daniel Leppänen
Director: Kirby McClure / Radical Friend
Production Company: Kream
Exec Producer: Eddie Marshall
Creative Partner: Jon Harvey
Producer: Mikey Levelle
DoP: Matt Fox
Editor: Ellie Johnson @ Speade
Post Production Company: Rushes
VFX Supervisor: Leo Weston
VFX: Leo Weston , Matt Jackson, James Dooley, Mark Ford
CG: Andy Nicholas, Craig Travis, David Drese, Nimesh Patel, Mark Woodcock, Andrea Scibetta
MGFX: Matt Lawrence, Guy Hancock,
Barry Corcoran, Fraser Macedo
Nuke: Noel Harmes, Sarah Breakwell
Colourist: Simone Grattarola
Exec Producer: Kristy May Currie
Producer: Simon Sanderson