Summary
TBWA Chiat Day, Skunk and The Mill go back to 19 Century Ireland with Jameson and create a fully CG train crash
Working with director John Hillcoat, The Mill was brought in to
recreate the1800's of Ireland and show what happened when the
train, aka 'Iron Horse', first rolled through the country. With a
mix of CG, matte paintings and antique train tracks the spot sees a
train running away at full speed whose most precious Jameson
Whiskey cargo must be rescued.
Corey Brown, The Mill's 2D lead artist, explains "On the shoot we
had a short antique track and a period train, built by our art
department. These were pushed or pulled by a small diesel
locomotive, but by the end of the day we also took to pushing by
hand, urgently trying to get as much out of the daylight as
possible! The horses were also afraid of the FX smoke and steam
being used on set, so we decided to film this separately and add it
in afterwards.
For the end shot, when the train runs into the sea, we found
ourselves almost 700 miles from the nearest coast, so an artificial
"end of the track" was used. The train crashing and going over the
cliff along with the underwater shots of the boats and train were
all the work of our CG team.
Lastly, and crucially, the Romanian countryside needed to look
like Ireland! A great deal off attention was paid to the matte
painting of the wide train reveal shot, combining elements from
Transylvania, the Bulgarian coast and footage of the Ireland's
Cliffs of Moher to perfect the authentic look!"
Check out the Mill on: