Previs made this British Telecom spot BT-ICT Networking (7.9MB) possible. Directed by Joseph Kahn, the dazzling vfx were produced by The Syndicate. All images © British Telecom. Courtesy of The Syndicate.

If you have the QuickTime plug-in, you can view the completed BT-ICT Networking spot and earlier versions by simply clicking the link.

Previsualization, while rare for commercials, can go a long way toward smoothing the production process for a complex spot. A case in point: BT-ICT Networking, a 60-second TV ad for British Telecom that’s been nominated by the VES for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial. It used acrobats portraying businesspeople, architects, doctors and customers to demonstrate BT’s network commerce capabilities in a wide range of industries, including commodities, currency, medical and government. The previs process accounted for nearly six weeks of the five months spent creating the spot, compared to the two days to two weeks typically set aside for previs on commercials.

BT-Networking, one component of a £26 million BT advertising campaign, was directed by Joseph Kahn out of London production company Exposure Films through London agency St. Luke’s, and executive produced by Kenny Solomon of The Syndicate (TS). TS completed the visual effects at its Santa Monica facility and its CaféFX division in Santa Maria. The spot debuted in September 2004.

The fast-paced action moves through a detailed, fully CG city that combines elements from London, Vancouver, Los Angeles and Ghent. It included live acrobats and fully CG people and animals; many scenes feature seamless transitions from live-action to CG characters and back again. Two to three of the CG people appear in close-ups while the rest are mid-distance or transitional, according to TS’s David Lombardi, the digital effects supervisor, who worked closely with visual effects supervisor Eric Durst during previs. TS used LightWave 3D to model and animate the CG city and objects, Maya for character animation and Digital Fusion and Discreet flame for compositing.

The spot shows off a detailed, fully CG city that combines elements from London, Vancouver, Los Angeles and Ghent.

The strong treatment and storyboards made it clear there was twice as much information as could easily fit into a 60-second spot. “We knew it was a really tight window to get all the ideas across,” says Lombardi. “We knew whittling down and picking out places to cut would take time. We knew there would be a lot of creative decisions.” In addition, everything going on in the spot would require complicated camera moves and split-second timing to capture the acrobatic interaction.

All of that meant TS needed to build in adequate time for planning: Hence, the unusually long six-week previs period. The objective was not only to figure out how to shoot the commercial in terms of timing, direction and equipment needs, but to create a roadmap to help explain all the moves and camera angles to the crew. “If you say, `It’s a fully greenscreen environment with people flying around,’ it can get a little ambiguous,” comments Lombardi. The work done during previs would help the crew interpret how to make the spot happen.

The previs probably accounted for 5% to 10% of the spot’s budget, Lombardi estimates. The shoot itself took one to one-and-a-half weeks, with the remaining 12 to 13 weeks spent on post. While 10 to 20 people were working on post duties at a given time, just two primary people were involved during previs.