Partizan Lets Us Flavour 'The Sound Of Taste'

What does flavour sound like? How would you visualise it? A satisfied sign for a mug of cocoa? A fizzling jolt of electricity for the tang of lemon? A slap round the chops for a teaspoon of wasabi? Whilst hardly a question that has kept us awake at night, it nonetheless forms the basis for a cracking bit of TV advertising from the magicians at Grey and Partizan's London outfits, drafting in the talents of the remarkable Chris Cairns to picture the tastes in 'The Sound Of Taste'.

The cast - several tons of black peppercorns, cardamom, turmeric, paprika, cumin seeds, ginger, chili and coriander, all rigged to explode in perfect sync with a bespoke musical composition. Shot in super-slow-motion, the effect is a visual cacophony of perfectly soundtracked colours and textures. The project brought together an eclectic collective of creative collaborators - DJ/Producer MJ Cole, who was approached to translate the sensation of taste into a musical composition; filmmaker Chris Cairns and pyrotechnic designers Machine Shop, whose job it was to make the idea a physical reality.

We thought the finished film was a marvel, so caught up with Cairns to quiz him on the idea, the prep and the technical prowess involved in bringing flavour to screen.



How did you get involved in the 'Sound Of Taste' project?

Grey sent me an idea about blowing up herbs and spices in slow motion.

What was the brief that you got from the creatives at Grey? Did they already have a clear idea of how they wanted the ad to look, or did you have free rein on this?

The brief from the Agency was to create an audiovisual representation of taste. I love making things where the visuals match the sound really tightly and here was an opportunity to build both from scratch. I wanted to write a piece of music which had a real build to it, and use a progression of musical techniques which would allow the visuals to develop before having a real crescendo. Something that feels like our experience of tasting spicy food. Normally I like to represent sound visually so it was an interesting challenge to think about how you represent taste audiovisually.



The concept of the film is expressing 'taste' through sound and visuals. Was that something that piqued your interest? Were you daunted or excited by the challenge?

I love describing sound visually so I was really excited to try to get another sense into the mix as well!

How much involvement did you have in the creation of the track?

Lots. I worked really closely with MJ Cole. He created something sonically beautiful and I guided him so that the music would give us interesting and surprising visuals.



Did that include working closely with MJ to get the choreography right with the music?

Yes. I met Matt through cycling a few years ago and I'd been really keen to work with him. I briefed him on what I was after and he did some longer rambles on the piano. I told him the bits I thought would work well for what I had in mind visually and we went back and forth until we were both happy. He was a pleasure to work with and brought loads to the project. My approach was to write a sparse, restrained piano piece and to have each piano note trigger an individual spice explosion.

Matt wrote the music with the visuals it would create in mind, then we pre-visualised the whole sequence in 3D. This allowed us to efficiently explore camera lenses, angles and moves and to create materials which conveyed exactly what was required to all departments. Both Matt and I thought that something delicate and restrained - contrasting with the violent visuals - would be more powerful than a, more literal, bombastic soundtrack. We had the feel straight away and then developed the structure iteratively.

How much planning goes in to a project like this? Is it mostly pre-viz, or is there a practical element?

A combination of the two. Full 3D previs and explosion mechanism R&D alongside one another because of the quick turnaround.



What did you use to create the explosions? Did you have to do a lot of tests to get the look right?

Containment was the key for us. We used plastic bins with a rubber membrane stretched across them. Below the membrane we triggered stage maroons - theatrical pyrotechnic charges. When triggered the maroons burst because of the high pressure created inside and release a large volume of gas very quickly which moves the membrane and throws whatever's on top of it into the air. Once we'd established this tactic, which created the shapes we wanted and was repeatable and economical, we experimented with different amounts of each material and different strength pyrotechnics, to account for differences in air resistance and inertia acting on the different particles - leaves behave differently to powders.

What was the shooting day(s) like? Were there many issues?

Only 1 day so just lots to do in a short space of time. Meticulous planning allowed us to maximise the resources we could afford.



When you're shooting with the Phantom, is there a worry that the tiniest of mistimings/issues could mess up the whole shot? Do you have to prepare differently?

Everything was triggered from Flair, the motion control software so the camera movement, explosions and image capture were designed to work together. The team we assembled gave me confidence that this would work, but when you only have one bite of the cherry you still cross your fingers a bit.

How did you find working with Machine Stop? How did they aid the process?

They thrive on solving complex (and often ludicrous!) engineering problems in a pressurised environment. They make imagination reality. They're a diverse bunch of interesting and interested people who build crazy machines and have fun doing it. I LOVE them and can't wait for next time!



What were the biggest challenges in creating the spot? Were there any unexpected difficulties along the way?

We had only one day to shoot so all the explosion shots were done in one take. Hats off to Machine Shop who ensured there was no need for resets. I'd had limited experience with pyrotechnics so it was a great learning experience. It was fantastic working with the team at Machine Shop and the guys at is this good? It's certainly whet my appetite for destruction! I wanted to shoot everything ten times slower than realtime so the timing system for the pyros had to be millisecond accurate to hit the piano notes perfectly. This required some R&D and testing.

The biggest challenge was not sneezing. I love creating arresting visuals and tackling technical challenges so this certainly tickled my taste buds.

Weird question, but what did the studio smell like after the shoot? I imagine it was a lot more fragrant than your average day's filming.

I love the smell of burning turmeric in the morning… Smelled like… victory.

The whole piece certainly looks like it was captured in-camera. Did you have to utilise any post effects to cover any cracks?

A bit of cleaning up and retimed a couple of naughty explosions in the final shot.



Alongside the film itself is a brilliant making-of. Do you think it's important for people to understand the intricacies behind projects like this?

I'm certainly always interested to find out how stuff's been done.

What with this and the Printer Orchestra, you and Grey seem to like to team up on installation-esque reappropriations of items. Is it something that you're particularly adept at? Is there an element to your filmmaking style (preparation, attention to detail) that makes these kind of jobs up your alley?

I really enjoy working with Grey who are killing it right now. I love working with technology to bring inanimate stuff to life with music and am doing lots of stuff in this area with the is this good? collective.

The installation only really 'works' when viewed at the slowed-down speed. Would you like to work on more live-action installation pieces, like the Neurosonics Live piece from back in the day?

Definitely. Live musical installations are of particular interest.

What's up next for you?

I'm working on a music-making, image-capturing machine right now!