Fredrik Callinggard Keeps Things SimplyLite

In agency Cramer-Krasselt/Milwaukee's new national TV campaign introducing CorningWare SimplyLite bakeware, Director/Cameraman Fredrik Callinggard proves that cooking light applies to more than just food. It's a new live action/CG spot done through Marina Del Rey, California-based Bully Pictures, the spot production company headed by Executive Producer Jason Forest.

FLOAT, conceived by the Cramer-Krasselt team of VP/Creative Director Chris Buhrman, Art Director Blake Winfree and Sr. Copywriter Joshua Kemeny, presents an elegantly-appointed dinner party as guests, place settings and CorningWare float effortlessly above the dining table to demonstrate the effectiveness of SimplyLite, which is 50 percent lighter than traditional CorningWare. "But in every other way," as guests and food settle gently down onto table and chairs, "It's still CorningWare."

For Callinggard, the challenge was to create a mood of carefree ease and fun in a gravity-free space, not an easy thing to do when floating weightlessly around a room, and several options, presented themselves. "We considered shooting in a NASA weightless test zone or to go up in a weightless 'vomit plane,' neither of which proved ultimately feasible," he said. "We decided to shoot the spot as a mix of practical and CG-created elements that would give us complete control over the action, starting by shooting the actors held aloft by wire rigging against a green screen."

To give the action a natural appearance, Callinggard dressed his actors in heavily starched clothing to create permanent wrinkles, and planted a variety of sculpture devices, including hidden pieces of metal, in the actors' hair to replicate the effects of weightlessness. Forest added, "Fredrik shot the actors singly or in pairs so we could better design the frame and set up a template for the effects artists. In addition, the set was photographed from all possible angles, and then rebuilt with SynthEyes 3D camera mapping software, with most other objects built and shaded by hand. The goal was to give the VFX company as many options as possible in order to stitch everything together."

The workflow on FLOAT was an international effort. Callinggard shot the live action at 4K res on a RED ONE camera in Montevideo, Uruguay in a restored 18th Century building. After the offline was approved, final animation, effects and compositing was done by Copenhagen-based post house Gimmick, using Maya 2008 XSI 3D animation software, HDRL lighting and an Autodesk Flame 2008 HD at HD 1080. The spot was edited in Final Cut Pro, with additional elements composed in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

Added Forest, "It's nearly impossible to tell the CG from the real elements, which is a major achievement when you are working in that kind of resolution. Fredrik did a beautiful job of creating a seamless execution that enhanced C-K's vision."

Credits:

Agency: Cramer-Krasselt, Milwaukee; Chris Buhrman, VP/Creative Director; Dinah Goris, Producer; Blake Winfree, Art Director; Joshua Kemeny, Senior Copywriter; Ann Stadler, VP, Account Supervisor; Heather Juhnke, Account Supervisor

Client: World Kitchen; Rick Zaksas, VP/Marketing Director; Courtney Marsala, Brand Manager, CorningWare; Lee Muir, Chief Marketing Officer

Production, Bully Pictures, Marina Del Rey, CA; Fredrik Callinggard, Director/Cameraman; Jason Forest, Executive Producer; Mads Norfelt Marstrand, Producer

Post/VFX: Gimmick, Copenhagen; Julie Klitgaard, Post Production Producer; Mikael Balle, Visual Effects Supervisor/Compositing; Morten Bartholdy, Visual Effects Supervisor/3D

Editor: Rikke Selin, Rikke Films, Copenhagen

Music Production: Nylon Studios, New York, NY