Superfad Seattle brings more than just eye candy to this surreal exploration of live action and vfx for Sony Bravia HDTV. Unfolding in three parts, “Birth of Color,” “Explosion of Color,” and “Release of Color,” the piece takes us on a dreamlike journey, with each section visually manifesting Sony’s global brand message of “make.believe”.
Drawing from the theatrical world of fashion photography, Superfad chose spherical objects to represent the dot in “make.believe” and serve as a thread that runs throughout the piece.
For an extra bonus, we’re including both the final piece and a behind the scenes video in HD. Also check out the process frames and style boards sent from Directors Will Hyde and Carlos Stevens.
The creative approach defined by Sony and Will Hyde was to use high-speed photography to display the dynamic color and value range of the new line of Sony televisions. It was assumed from the very beginning of the project that it would be heavily live action mixed with a minimal amount of effects.
In the end, we went a little heavier on the effects than we had originally planned, partially because it is difficult to find a blossoming apple tree in the middle of January. We also have a difficult time bottling our imaginations into something that can be entirely captured in camera.
What was most compelling creative aspect?
The most compelling creative aspect of the job was the brief, which was presented to us as “it needs to be colorful and surreal.” Once we learned the open-ended creative nature of the job, Will and I had a field day coming up with ideas and interesting ways of combining high-speed photography with visual effects.
What hardware/software was used?
The heavy lifting of the job was done in Photoshop, Maya, After Effects and Flame, but we also used Nuke, 3d Studio Max, Real Flow, Cinema 4d and PF Track for some specific tasks.
What was the overall process?
Will Hyde was one of the directors approached by Sony during the pitching process, and he delivered a solo treatment that won us the job. It was loosely based on the use of high-speed photography and vivid imagery.
Once we were awarded the job based on Will’s treatment, I began talking to him about developing concepts in line with the project brief. We both spent several weeks researching and developing ideas for all of the ways we could exploit high-speed photography and surrealism combined together.
It was fun stitching ideas together to create loose stories that had visually stunning pay-offs. Together with our production designer, Jason Puccinelli, we spent some much needed time engineering and testing the props that we used for many of the effects. We did a four day shoot in L.A. where we really started to see the magic of this thing come together. We had both a Phantom and a WeissCam framed up on most of the shots, and we also shot with the Sony F35. At the end of the project, I believe five different models of cameras were used.
Will and I spent the following two weeks directing a team of artists to produce the final spots.
Credits
Client: Sony Electronics
Video Program Manager: Lisa Gonzalez
Agency: chickINchair Productions
Executive Producer: Kim Tierney
Live Action Production Company: Superfad
Director: Will Hyde
Director of Photography: Martin Ahlgren
Production Designer: Jason Puccinelli
Wardrobe Design/Stylist: Heidi Meek
Make Up: Bryin Smoot
Line Producer: Scott Ludden
Design & Animation: Superfad
Executive Creative Director: Will Hyde
Creative Director: Carlos Stevens
CGI/VFX Director: Dade Orgeron
3D Artists: Tom Oakerson, Phiphat Pinyosophon, Andrew Butterworth, Yas Koyama,
Alex O’Donnell, Dimitri Luedemann, Billy Maloney
Compositors: Tom Oakerson, Paulo Dias, Loren Judah, Dorian West, Sohee Sohn,
John Stanch, Soyoun Lee, Dimitri Luedemann, David Holm
Editor: Ryan Haug
Flame Artist: Andy Davis
Head of Production: Chris Volckmann
Executive Producer: Rob Sanborn
Music: Matt Hutchinson
