Samsung Taps 3D Dream Team for its LED TV Launch
Leo Burnett deploys Rabbit's TWiN directing team, Digital Domainulls VFX expertise and Union Editorial's Jim Haygood for "Wonder-full" experience.
|
Samsung Taps 3D Dream Team for its LED TV Launch Leo Burnett deploys Rabbit's TWiN directing team, Digital Domain’s VFX By Anthony Vagnoni
The cast of characters on this campaign includes the production company Rabbit and its directing team TWiN; visual effects studio Digital Domain, which created 3D VFX for the upcoming Disney release “Tron: Legacy”; and post production company Union Editorial and editor Jim Haygood, who’s currently cutting “Tron: Legacy.” They were tapped by Samsung agency Leo Burnett; the job was produced by the agency’s Executive Producer Vincent Geraghty, who holds the title Sr. VP/Content Architect. "Wonder-full" features a family of three who, on a visit to an aquarium, conduct the improbable feat of slicing out a large cube of water—fish intact—lashing it the roof of their car and driving it home, where the father sets the square on the living room entertainment center and compresses it into their spiffy new ultra-slim Samsung 3D LED TV. As the family relaxes on the couch, Samsung 3D active glasses on, a stream of sea creatures pours from the screen and appears to hover over them in the living room, giving the sensation of 3D action even to viewers watching in 2D.
In fact, it was Fiore who shot the Samsung ads—he was tapped by Rabbit, which recommended Haygood as well. The production company has people on its roster with prior experience working in the 3D realm; one of its directors, Catherine Owen, the former creative director for the Irish supergroup U2, shot a 3D concert film for the band, explains Rabbit EP Joby Barnhart, who produced the Samsung spots. Geraghty says it was always the intention of Samsung to shoot theses spots in 3D, as opposed to taking the more risky approach of shooting in 2D and doing a post-conversion. There were numerous reasons for this, he says: the work had to be able to stand out visually in environments ranging from point of sale at retail outlets, in cinemas and in the home. Another advantage was the ability of the creative and production team to be able to judge during the shoot just how the scenes were playing out in 3D as they were being shot. This was accomplished by everyone standing around on the set and watching the monitors with 3D glasses on. As for awarding the job to TWiN, Geraghty says the decision was based on the fact that the directors had often integrated live action with visual effects in their work, and the treatment they submitted synched well with the creative team. In addition, he was impressed with Rabbit’s experience with 3D and their level of commitment. “They really wrapped their heads around this,” he says. The TWiN team—they’re twin brothers, Josh and Jonathan Baker—said they approached the job by doing extensive research into what works well in the 3D format.
They were also well aware that the spots had to have the same magic in 2D as they’d have in 3D. “We needed to come up with a way to promote this concept to an audience that's still basically viewing this only in 2D," adds Jon. "It required a really careful coordination between the live action and VFX teams to strike exactly the right mix of the two platforms. Luckily, we had some of the best talent in the industry to help us along—Mauro and Jim are legends, and Digital Domain has been behind more important VFX revolutions than we can count. With that level of talent to work with, a positive outcome was almost inevitable." One observation about working in 3D is that quick cuts don’t work well—they’re jarring to viewers, especially if the areas of convergence change quickly from scene to scene. The directors say they took this, and other things, into account while working out their shooting boards. “We found that, as a whole, there were a bunch of small limitations in a variety of facets on the job,” says Jon. “We support shooting in stereo 3D immensely and we love the process, but we found that one of those was the length of the shots, as they may need to be slightly longer to allow your eyes to adjust to different convergence points within the frame. If you’re in a wide shot and you’re focusing on the back of the frame, and then we cut to a close up, your eyes are going right to the foreground. There’s a little bit of time it takes just to be comfortable. It’s about leaving the viewer with a positive viewing experience, so they can really immerse themselves into the story.” Neither of the fabulous Baker boys felt that working with the PACE Fusion 3D camera presented any limitations on how they shot the board or how spontaneous they could be on the set. “We used one of the smaller rigs they have,” says Josh. “It was handheld, and we had an operator working on every shot for four days straight. It’s not as cumbersome as some people might have thought. It really worked fine.” For its part, Digital Domain leveraged its expertise working with the S3D format, which dates back to the late ‘90s when the studio produced a 3D “Terminator” theme park ride film. The studio’s Ed Ulbrich—President of its Commercials Division and Executive Producer—points out that the enormous success of films like “Avatar” and the hotly anticipated “Tron” sequel are spurring demand for the format. “It’s created huge opportunities for manufacturers, broadcasters, marketers and producers,” he says. This demand can get magnified in the crucible that is the big-budget TV commercial shoot, he continues. “In creating 3D ads, one of the biggest challenges is finding experienced crews to take these projects from concept to completion at the highest level,” Ulbrich says. “When you factor in the urgency of commercial production, it adds another layer of complexity and a fair amount of managing expectations and educating both the ad agencies and the client. The value we brought to the table is that we have one of the most sophisticated S3D pipelines in the business. We’re able to take the infrastructure, experience and knowledge we’ve developed on huge 3D movies and apply that to the needs of ad agencies and advertisers.” Jay Barton, Digital Domain’s VFX Supervisor, joined the creative team early in the design process to consult closely with TWiN and the team from Burnett. “Because these spots will be seen at point-of-sale, in addition to cinemas, it was even more crucial that the visuals be beautiful and attention-getting, and really highlighted the Samsung 3D LED TV,” Barton observes. “When you’re at the retail location making your purchase decision among several options, what you see first is picture quality. The visuals are often the differentiating factor. To achieve that quality we applied the same approach that we used on a movie like ‘Tron: Legacy.’”
As far as cutting goes, he adds, “There's no formula to apply—you make aesthetic calls as you would with any other material. In general, we cut just like a normal 2D job, and view it in 3D from time to time to see if we'd make any adjustments. Then you see if there are big jumps in convergence from one shot to the next, or if a shot just holds your interest longer because of the specific nature of the 3D.” The issue of convergence is what drives most 3D production, says those who’ve worked in the format. Depending on various shooting set-ups and camera calibrations, filmmakers can vary the point of convergence—or what Ulbrich calls dealing with ‘the fourth dimension,’ which he describes as the ability to vary or shift the 3D effect. The TWiN directors say they were most concerned with the process of calibrating the dual lenses of the PACE camera system, which they said took about 20 minutes each time they had to move or adjust the camera—but it was this alignment that was key to getting solid 3D results. Haygood was asked how the shift between various levels of convergence factor into cutting between scenes and takes. “Some of this is determined by the approach to the 3D that the director chose,” he says, adding that how this is done is not something that’s quite settled yet among filmmakers. “On ‘Avatar,’ they used the 'convergence at the point of focus' approach,” he explains, “and on ‘Tron’ we're setting convergence independent of focus. We'll see how that plays out over time. Again, as to how that affects editing, there's no formula, though in general it's just an additional consideration to the traditional things that affect those choices. Normally you think of timing, composition, where you think someone's eye will be focused on the screen, etc. With 3D, it's just one more element to add to that list.” Clearly, key production players are moving quickly to establish their stereoscopic bona fides. “We believe 3D is going to be mainstream far sooner than anyone thinks,” says Rabbit’s Douglas Howell, “and we intend to be in the vanguard of studios that will be ready to adapt the format on a wide scale.” Despite the paucity of 3D commercials in active production—Ulbrich says you can currently count them on one hand—there appears to be intense interest in this from the advertiser, agency and production communities. “It’s really a new frontier,” says Geraghty, and he’s not far off the mark. Rabbit’s EPs have been making presentations at top agencies, and the recent SourceEcreative-sponsored panel on producing 3D TV commercials that took place in Las Vegas during the NAB show, produced in conjunction with our parent company, DG FastChannel, was a sell-out. (For more on that event, click here.) Meanwhile, the TWiNs say they’re fielding calls for 3D work, and sound not a bit surprised by the development. “You do one of the first stereoscopic 3D spots in the world and the phone starts ringing,” says Josh. “Everyone is really interested in it—what is it, how much does it cost, what’s it going to take to make our next ad that same way? We’ve had some talks with agencies where we’ve discussed the process, but it’s mostly just exciting to get in there on the ground floor. This is a technology everyone has embraced since ‘Avatar,’ and we thought it was really cool to get our hands dirty with a commercial so soon in the process.” Additional agency credits on the project include EVP/Executive CD Bob Price, Executive CD Mark Gettner and Creative Director Mike Doyle. Rabbit credits include Head of Production Jeff Sommar, Producer Shelby Ross, Production Supervisor Jay Spangler and Assistant Production Supervisor Lana Greenaway. Digital Domain credits include Executive Producer/Head of Production Karen Anderson, Visual Effects Supervisor Jay Barton, CG Supervisor Richard Schuyler Morton, VFX Producer Chris Fieldhouse, VFX Coordinator Stephanie Escobar. For Union Editorial, Michael Raimondi was Executive Producer. |
Dad pulls out a piece of an aquarium in a stereoscopic 3D spot for Samsung titled "Wonder-full."Samsung, one of the first consumer electronics companies to bring 3D TV to home viewers, broke an ambitious TV spot in March titled “
The family also takes some critters from "Monsters vs Aliens" to watch in 3D at home.The spots—a second commercial, “
The TWiN directing team--brothers Josh and Jonathan Baker--say they wanted to use 3D effects to draw viewers into the ads' stories. “One of our goals was to minimize the amount of headache you can get from 3D, pushing it as far as it can go but not going in such a clichéd style or approach—so that you’re not getting things stabbing you in the face, says Josh Baker. “We felt that form of 3D was a bit of a gimmick. Movies like ‘Avatar’ did a good job of opening a window to a new world, and that was the method that was taken with this commercial.”
Union Editorial's Jim Haygood also edited the new 3D feature "Tron: Legacy."Haygood says his role was less affected by technology and more by creative decision-making, adding that the assistant editor’s job is the one most affected on a 3D job, mostly having to do with what he describes as “the technical details of bringing material in and making sure it links back to the 3D originals. So I'm spared that, for that most part.”
Membership
