adam&eveDDB, Seb Edwards and The Mill take us through life’s twist and turns in Aviva’s latest spot

Adam&eveDDB and Director Seb Edwards out of Academy Films enlisted the help of our VFX and Colour teams to create Aviva’s ‘It Takes Aviva’. The spot follows a woman who is inspired by a vision of children playing in an idyllic Scottish landscape, as she sets about making her dreams come true. Her journey north to find her imagined paradise serves as a metaphor for a broader journey through life.

On creating the spot Mill VFX Supervisor Ben Turner states: “We loved this script from the start, and Seb and Producer Ash Lockmun were quick to make us feel a part of the production process which really helps us to be able to offer up far more production value to the VFX work, especially with such a tight turnaround. We started concepting up stills from the location scout, which meant that we could support Seb to make location decisions based on what he wanted the end result may look like.

We had casting stills from our lead actress so that we could start to explore the de-aging process and how far Seb wanted to de-age her. The project required a gentle touch to ensure that we kept any de-aging totally believable.

Due to the tight turnaround, I was able to send back Lidar Scans and technical data so the team could start to model up locations. 3D Lead, Alan Williamson had just finished a project with water in a street scene, so we were in a fortunate position that he had not only the experience but a set of tools for creating the street water reflections ready to use.

With the team able to turn around shots with such speed, we really felt like we had time to craft each shot with Seb, and it didn’t feel like the deadline was pushing the creative decisions we were making.”

You can get in touch with our VFX team regarding any upcoming projects here.