Another Outstanding Collaboration Between Riff Raff, The Sacred Egg and The Mill
Smirnoff, the world's #1 vodka, has announced multimarket activations to boldly champion the power of the collective and reignite social connections around the world, in a celebration of the spark that's created when different people, flavours and ingredients come together.
With a little help from us, Smirnoff created a new global creative Atomic to underpin the activity, bringing their inclusive ethos to life through a playful "life is like a cocktail" metaphor. Embodying the spirit of togetherness, the spot shows a diverse group of people spontaneously turning into bubbles which mix together before turning back into human form and finally connecting with one another.
In order to create this intensely enjoyable spot, our team delved into the intricate world of transformations, where characters seamlessly morphed into four distinct spheres, each symbolizing an element of their costume. It may sound cliche, but from the day the scripts and The Sacred Egg’s treatment hit our inboxes, we were sold. The creative was pleasingly simple, but we knew the VFX production would be anything but...
It was clear from the outset that there was no margin for error when lining up the live action performances not only with each other, but also the garment ball characters they transition into.
We caught up with our exceptionally talented team to tell you a little more about this technically challenging but wildly rewarding film.
Pete Hodsman, VFX Supervisor discussed the "rigorous preplanning, testing and rehearsals key to ensuring that the performers were in exactly the right place at the right time for their transitions and interactions." Vittorio Barabani, VFX Supervisor, elaborates, "creating the seamless CG transitions between human forms and fabric balls proved to be the main challenge of this project. We quickly realized that a one-size-fits-all approach wouldn't suffice, as each performer posed unique challenges related to their distinct wardrobe choices."
Post shoot, Pete said the team "had a huge amount of backend preparatory work to rotoscope and roto-animate layers (sometimes up to 48 in the most complex of sequences)." This was entirely necessary to "enable the FX, Lighting, and Compositing teams to meticulously synchronize each individual inflation and deflation effect, as well as seamlessly integrate every CG element and interaction with the live-action performance," Vittorio added.
Selcuk Ergen, Head of CG, provides further insight.
"The main challenge with the vortex was to breathe life into thousands of fabric balls, instilling them with a fluid, tumbling essence. The task of managing the flow of such a large number of elements was taken head-on by our adept FX team. Through innovation and persistence, they crafted a workflow that not only allowed us pinpoint control over each ball's movement but also ensured the unique cloth attributes of every individual character were retained."
Crafting this metamorphosis was no walk in the park, but the team couldn't be happier with what we produced. Want to find out how we did it? Watch this!
