The Mill Lets Lava Flow

London-based visual effects
facility The Mill recently completed visual effects work for the
latest Guinness commercial "Lava" by way of agency AMV. Director
Rupert Sanders shot the spot on location in Poland. In the
commercial, a small village is hit by an exploding volcano and lava
flows through the streets. People are fleeing their homes but the
local bar is in jeopardy, so the townsmen head off to save it. They
manage to stop the flow of hot lava but must walk across it to get
their Guinness. The Mill's Dave Levy worked for a month on a
customized 3D shader to create the flowing lava seen traveling
through the streets, while 3D artist Russell Tickner was back in
Poland at a steel foundry shooting footage of molten iron. The custom
program allowed Tickner to use the footage and create a unique
rendering of lava, then flame artist Ant Walsham and his team tracked
the CG molten lava into the live action plates. They also took
elements from the molten steel footage and composited them onto the
road surrounding the bar. In addition to building the volcano which
sits behind the town, Walsham added flames to many of the scenes and
enhanced the look of the lava that was walked over to get to the bar.