Artist-owned-and-operated visual effects studio Brickyard VFX has wrapped a :30 spot for Timberland via Arnold Worldwide, Boston. The spot, shot and directed by The Cronenweths on a sunny day was turned into a stormy afternoon with the help of Brickyard's talented effects and CGI teams. Broadcast and cinema versions of the spot break nationally on Oct. 24.
The spot opens on a wide cinematic view of a lone man walking across the top of hill into the face of a rapidly advancing thunderstorm. As the storm and man meet, both stop their advance as if in a standoff. He reaches out his hand to touch the raindrops then zips up his Timberland coat, looks down at his Timberland boots and pulls on his hood. Then with a subtle smirk, he resumes his walk into the storm with a confident stride.
Knowing that the rain would be added later in post, a rain rig on set was used to capture plates that could be used both for reference and composites. However, the opening and closing shots were so wide that all of the rainfall had to be created in CG. Geoff McAuliffe was on set as visual effects supervisor and worked with Brickyard VFX CGI team Robin Hobart and Yafei Wu to design the computer- generated rain and mist. They worked together with the client and editor Andre Betz of Bug Editorial to time and art direct the movement of the rain and define how far it would come down the hill in the foreground as the storm advances forward.
"This spot was a lot of fun to work on because it posed the challenge of creating something out of nothing and maintaining a consistent believable look across several very wide shots," explained McAuliffe, "The Cronenweths always shoot great looking footage and it was a lot of fun to work with them again."
Additional effects included adding soft movement to the tree that appears in frame to be affected by the downpour, adding interactive raindrops into the close-up shots of the hand and boot and compositing in rain clouds, sourced via stock footage provider Prairie Pictures in Texas. The client and Arnold were so pleased with the spot that Brickyard is also working extended effects for a soon-to-be-released :60 second version of the clip. Kirsten Andersen served as vfx producer.
Located in Boston and Santa Monica, Brickyard VFX (www.brickyardvfx.com) is an independent visual effects boutique specializing in top quality visual effects from 3D characters through to compositing. Completely artist owned and operated, the company was founded in 1999 to bring clients a level of customer service, craftsmanship and focus difficult to find at facilities today. Brickyard's problem-solving expertise on set and in the studio has been applied to model, animate, light, texture, track, rotoscope, color correct and render seamless digital effects for XM Radio, Citibank, Volkswagen, Target, Tyson Foods and many other accounts.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
