Tuesday 03 Jun 2008 - 10:29
Studio Sticks+Stones and Minneapolis-based post house Fischer had to create extremely convincing, unobtrusive compositing to make penguins, chickens and even an emu 'hang-glide' for an ad for the Washington Lottery.
Commissioned by agency Publicis in the West, the ad was directed by Jerry Brown. "The agency brief was to make a modern piece of film that didn’t smell too much like self-indulgent conspicuous consumption or advertising," he explains. "With “Birds” they wrote a very pure and simple piece that required a natural approach. The whole point was to execute a story in a way that fit their objective of making spots people could feel good about, spots that hint at the good things lottery winners can accomplish – to show someone doing something for someone, that they couldn’t do for themselves."
Brown says that the biggest challenge on the spot was "how to seamlessly composite birds with hang gliders and still make it all feel spontaneous, natural and observed." The compositing was supervised by Flame artist Jake Parker. Brown continues: "And then the weather decided to throw some curve balls at us just for fun. Essentially we rolled with the weather and stayed flexible doing an effects shoot that would have normally required a very inflexible approach and methodology. I think this flexible approach really shows on the film in a fantastic way."
He says that working with the birds was risky but ultimately rewarding: "The birds were amazing to work with. Probably the biggest challenge was that we were not allowed to actually fly with any of the birds, so for me the challenge was all about showing the birds enjoying “flight” from camera angles that while interesting, didn’t stretch credulity."
The animals were far from predictable: "The animal trainers worked with the birds for more than a week; suspending them in harnesses and getting them used to being in their rigs. The still pictures I saw along the way were NOT encouraging and therefore I became a bit apprehensive. Then on the days we actually shot, the birds they performed amazingly. Unexpectedly, the chicken roosted on the hang-gliding bar, the penguin flapped its wings unlike it had ever done to that point, and the emu stayed suspended far longer than it tolerated previously. It was like they saved their best performances for shooting. I also learned that penguins can bite, and an emu doesn’t really relish having its feet suspended, even a foot off the ground, not to mention that it has a kick that will leave a permanent mark."
Click here to watch the spot.
Digital Arts staff
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