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WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (Aug. 15, 2002) -- Visual effects and design company A52 today announced details of their visual effects and design work for Anonymous Content and director Andrew Douglas for J. Walter Thompson Detroit's dramatic new Ford Super Duty Power Stroke :30 spot entitled "Ice Breaker," which debuted on Jul. 26.
The latest spot in JWT's No Boundaries campaign - which first broke on Feb. 25. and which celebrates the go-anywhere, do-anything spirit of the Ford brand - features a Russian icebreaker carving its way through an icefield under the power of six diesel engines. When it gets stuck, however, it relies on a seventh diesel, the one under the hood of a new Ford F-350 that's lowered onto the ice. In the spot, the Ford is soon towing the icebreaker through the ice. [an error occurred while processing this directive]
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"Andrew is known for his live-action cinematography that he's captured on locations all around the world, and going to the Arctic to film this story was a perfect adventure for him," explained A52's creative director Simon Brewster, who served as the project's Inferno artist. "Our role was to support Andrew in executing his vision."
Commenting on A52's preproduction involvement, JWT's project copywriter Curt Catallo explained, "I think A52's best contribution was to reassure us that the stunt that Andrew was proposing could actually be pulled off. Simon Brewster was looped into the earliest of conference calls, so our creative director Jon Parkinson and our art director Todd Ruthven could have their questions answered from the get-go."
To capture the footage, Andrew Douglas and his international crew, which included A52's project producer Scott Boyajan and A52's on-set visual effects supervisor Michael Gibson, traveled to the Arctic Circle.
"The captain of our Russian picture ship, who's been in command of this ship since it was built in 1980, took us two days north of Norway," Boyajan explained. "The crew included a film crew and a chef from Oslo, a helicopter pilot from London and our American contingent. We also had ice specialists onboard who made sure the ice was thick enough to support the film crew and trucks - and we even had guys with rifles protecting us in case the polar bears got too close... which only happened once. Luckily, a flare was enough to scare off our visitor."
A52's team used Inferno to create and visually enhance the pathway through the ice in the ship's wake, to create the ship's movement and then to composite together the scene where the truck is lowered onto the ice from several plates.
When the truck begins to pull the ship, an underwater scene shows the ship beginning to move. That scene was shot on a stage and featured a model built under the direction of Anonymous Content's project art director Bruce McCloskey. To finish the scene, A52's CGI and visual effects artists added 3D bubbles, water turbulence and other 2D water and ice enhancements.
For the hero shot showing the ship being pulled by the boat, the location film crew rigged a snow plow on one of their picture F-350s to create one plate. For a second plate, they shot a slow move in on the picture ship's hull. The third and final plate is the truck moving with a rope leading up to the ship.
"The ropes in the finished spot are actually a combination of 2D and CGI ropes," explained Scott Boyajan, "because on location, every time the truck pulled forward there was always too much wobble in the rope. So Simon had to paint out the real rope and composite in CGI or 2D ropes in three shots."
"Scott was on the ice cap for every inch of film, so we knew that the A52 crew would have every ingredient to build the end-result they'd promised," added JWT's Curt Catallo.
Andrew Douglas' location footage, shot in anamorphic aspect ratio, went to Company 3 for telecine conversion to 1.85:1. Using Company 3's flat passes, Simon Brewster provided color-grading for finish. Brewster also added a layer of snow to many scenes and enhanced the skies. A52's CGI team also provided CG tracking support for several shots during the post process.
"I think that A52's biggest contribution to the finished spot was in taking the mind-blowing footage that Andrew delivered and enhancing it to make it even more amazing," said JWT's Todd Ruthven. "Simon is a brilliant colorist; he took the film and added to it in the most dynamic manner. The combination of Andrew and Simon created, for us, a very epic-feeling commercial that was not only dramatic, but also very believable. Since they were so involved in the preproduction process, the pieces came together seamlessly.
"They hit the ground running," Ruthven concluded, "which isn't easy on ice."
JWT/Detroit's creative team included creative director Jon Parkinson, art director Todd Ruthven, copywriter Curt Catallo and producer Leslie Rose.
Led by executive producer Darcy Leslie Parsons, A52's project team consisted of producer Scott Boyajan, on-set visual effects supervisor Michael Gibson, creative director/Inferno artist Simon Brewster, 3D animators Westley Sarokin and Jeff Willette, Flame artist Marguerite Cargill and Henry artists and online editors Scott Johnson and Lisa Tomei.
Production was overseen by Anonymous Content's executive producer Andy Traines and producer Suzanne Hargrove, and also included art director Bruce McCloskey. Andrew Douglas directed and also served as director of photography.
The editorial team from Santa Monica's Whitehouse was led by executive producer Sue Dawson and included editor Rick Lawley and assistant editor Cory Livingston.
Music and sound design were handled by Stimmüng in Santa Monica. Stimmüng's credits include executive producer Ceinwyn Clark, composer Jason Johnson and sound designer Reinhard Denke. The final audio was mixed by Robert Feist of RavensWork in Venice.
About A52
Established in 1997 as a home for the very latest high-end visual effects technologies and the industry's most talented graphic design artists, West Hollywood visual effects and design company A52 creates award-winning imagery for the world's most visually ambitious commercial and music video projects. The company's work has been honored as being among the very best throughout its marketplace, having received top honors from AdWeek, Advertising Age, Creative Review, Creativity, Shoot and Shots... and also having received AICP Show recognition for three consecutive years along with recent Automotive Advertising, British Design and Art Direction, London International Advertising, Clio, BDA, PROMAX and International Monitor Awards. For more information, please call Darcy Leslie Parsons at 310.385.0851.
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