Framestore NY has completed work on an artful :30 spot for BBH NY: Baileys BUBBLE, directed by Kathryn Bigelow (POINT BREAK, STRANGE DAYS) and lensed by Janusz Kaminski (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, SCHINDLER'S LIST). It's a expert example of the sort of work that Framestore NY has been creating for nearly a year now from its SoHo, New York City premises.
BUBBLE follows the progress of a bubble, formed in a glass of Baileys Irish Cream, as it floats up and across a crowded bar, eventually escaping out into the streets. It settles briefly on the hand of a woman waiting in a cab, before she sends it on its way, as the tag Don't burst the bubble appears and the spot ends.
The two-day shoot in Montreal was supervised for Framestore NY by Maryanne Lauric, who then completed around two weeks of post-production compositing in inferno. She was assisted in one shot by CG lead, David Hulin, who created the 3D bubble that first appears as the Baileys is poured over ice in a glass. Said Lauric, "At first, we wanted to see what we could manage with the real thing, so we had a 'bubble wrangler' on set. Some of his work was beautiful, and I peeled off one or two, resized them and used them in a couple of shots; but ultimately the practical bubbles proved too unreliable and variable for our purposes. I made sure I had plenty of blackscreen bubbles on film to take back to the studio with me, and got to work."
This was Bigelow's first foray into commercials, and she was pleased with the vfx supplied by Framestore NY. "My experience on [BUBBLE] was, in a word, flawless. Framestore NY created realism that was both intuitive and uncanny as well as being invisible as an effect, which is the greatest challenge of all."
The U.S. spot marks a nice transatlantic double for the company, which has already created a Baileys spot for the U.K. market with director Daniel Kleinman and agency BBH.
Credits for Framestore NY:* VFX Supervisor and Compositor: Maryanne Lauric* CG Lead: David Hulin* Compositor & Development: Murray Butler* Post Producer: Jon Collins
Framestore CFC (www.framestore-cfc.com) opened its New York office doors in Varick Street, Manhattan, in 2003, with the aim of building on its burgeoning international reputation with U.S. agencies. 2004 has seen the New York office blossom with spots created for Ambien, Bacardi, Skittles, the Maryland Lotto, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Choice Hotels International and Baileys Irish Cream. Early 2005 will see the relocation of the NY office to its new premises in Spring Street, SoHo, complete with roof meadow!
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
