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.
Category: VFX Artist
Ford Ecosport - 'Keyless'
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
Rushes - 'Valentines'
I was asked to make a fun video by Rushes PR department that could be mailed out to clients for Valentines day.
I’m not sure that this was entirely what they had in mind…
Client: Rushes
Post Production Company: Rushes
Director, Camera, Animation, VFX, Sound Design: Leo Weston
Additional VFX: Glen Cone, Rich Russell, Lorenzo Newell, James Dooley
PR: Thom Trigger
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
Ed Scissortongue - 'Theremin'
This is the video for the title track of Ed Scissortongue’s ‘Theremin’ E.P. I shot Mr Scissortongue on green screen with a Canon 7D. This was then given a blue and yellow grade to match the E.P. artwork. The background animations were created in a variety of ways. Some were hand drawn frame by frame. Others (like the crucifixes that turn into B52 bombers) were animated at 12fps out of simple 3D geometries and then a pencil effect applied in Flame. Others are simple 2D animations done in Flame. Film dirt, negative and scratchy textures were then added on top.
Post Production Company: Rushes
Director, Camera, Editor, Animator, Compositor: Leo Weston
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
Honda - 'Disruption' (Agency Version)
This is the teaser film for the Honda Type R, directed by Kirby McClure of Radical friend. 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
'Rose' - Short Film
These are 2 of the FX shots that I completed for a short film written and directed by Tom Stoddart about a young girl with ‘pyrokinesis’. I added fire from elements that we shot on a Canon 7D to background plates shot on Arri Alexa. Smoke was created in Maya and composited in Flame. ‘Rose’ was funded through the London Calling scheme by Film London. It won the Best Cinematography award from Film London and was the winner of the Panalux Prize 2014. You can watch the full film here: ‘Rose’ by Tom Stoddart
Director: Tom Stoddart
Producer: Harry Burnett Rae
Production Company: Irresistible Films
Post Production Company: Rushes
VFX Supervisor & Compositing: Leo Weston
Houdini & Maya: Andrea Scibetta
ASDA - 'Tweets' VFX Breakdown
A VFX breakdown for Asda’s Easter campaign “Tweets”. This was done entirely in Flame by myself and Matt Jackson (at Rushes Post Production). The little chicks were placed on strips of cardboard and gently moved around to seem like they are dancing. There was no CGI, no puppets, no robots and no glue used in the making of this commercial.
Product: Asda
Agency: VCCP
Producer: Sally Miller
Creatives: Jermaine Hillman, Paul Kocur
Creative Director: Janetta Lewin, Mark Orbine
Production Company: Stink
Director: Christian Bevilacqua
Producer: Malachy McAnenny
Editor: Al Sinclair
Post Production Company: Rushes
Exec Producer: Kristy May Currie
Producer: Mireille Antoine
VFX: Leo Weston , Matt Jackson
Colourist: Simone Grattarola
ASDA - 'Tweets'
A dancing chick. What could possibly be more cute? This is Asda’s brand ad for their 2014 Easter campaign. Director Christian Bevilacqua didn’t want this to be another CG dancing animal advert so we created this spot using real baby chicks. The little chicks were placed on strips of cardboard and gently moved around to seem like they were dancing. The cardboard rig was then removed in Flame by reconstructing the floors and walls that they obscured. This required camera tracking the shot environment and re-projecting painted clean backgrounds. The chicks were then rotoscoped back over the cleaned up set. We also reconstructed parts of the chick’s legs that had been obscured by the cardboard rig. Shadows of the dancing chicks were then recreated and projected back onto the reconstructed environment. There was no CGI, no puppets, no robots and no glue used in the making of this commercial. Although the chicks were unharmed during the making of the ad, somebody did tell me that they were fed to a snake after filming. Maybe they were joking. You can see a breakdown of the VFX work on this page here.
Product: Asda
Agency: VCCP
Producer: Sally Miller
Creatives: Jermaine Hillman, Paul Kocur
Creative Director: Janetta Lewin, Mark Orbine
Production Company: Stink
Director: Christian Bevilacqua
Producer: Malachy McAnenny
Editor: Al Sinclair
Post Production Company: Rushes
Exec Producer: Kristy May Currie
Producer: Mireille Antoine
VFX: Leo Weston , Matt Jackson
Colourist: Simone Grattarola
Foxes - 'Holding onto Heaven'
Foxes turns the world upside-down with some help from a Milo Motion control rig, lots of maths and a load of Flame time. I previssed these VFX shots in Flame first alongside director Henry Schofield to work out what was possible on the Milo. We then matched the moves on set. The same scene was shot twice on set with green screen from head height upwards. The moves were then flipped on the rig and shot again on the same floor. We flipped one of them upside-down again in Flame and joined the 2 plates together. Then smoothed over the joins and removed the tracks for the rig. I think the 4 effects shots work really well. This video is of the Director’s edit.
Production Company: Cavia
Director: Henry Scolfield
Post Production Company: Rushes
VFX Supervisor: Leo Weston
VFX: Leo Weston & Johnny Hicks
Colourist: Simone Grattarola
Motion Control: The VFX Company
