Hollywood - Throughout the recent holiday season, television viewers across the U.S. saw an unlikely team effort during commercial breaks, when two mice, two lizards, two prairie dogs, two ferrets, a cat, and a poodle formed a sled team to whisk a snowed-in pet shop worker to the safety of home… and the joy of Bud Light.
“A52 was instrumental in making this spot happen,” Joanou notes. “The job presented some real challenges, in that I didn't want to do any of the animals in CG. That meant we had to track and composite all the different critters in all their various shapes and sizes into the snow and make it feel like they were running at the same speed while pulling a dog sled. Not an easy task. But with careful collaboration and planning, we were able to make it work with minimal manipulation of the real animals. I could not be happier with the results.”
With a crew that included director of photography Jeff Cutter and A52’s on-set VFX supervisors Tim Bird and Chris Janney, Joanou prepared for two days of shooting at LA’s Universal Studios. All the live-action plates with the sled and the principal character were shot on day one on the Universal backlot, where half of the street was dressed with prop snow and a rig was used to tow the sled. The animals were all shot running on a treadmill in front of a blue screen on day two, with the camera’s angle, height, lens, lighting, and other characteristics matching those specifications from the prior day's shoot.
When the filming was complete, Whitehouse editor Livio Sanchez provided A52’s team with the footage from each animal’s best performance, and the creative compositing began. “The biggest challenge was making all these animals of different sizes and locomotion characteristics appear to move along at the same speed,” Bird says. A combination of varying playback speeds for some of the animals and the artistic use of foreground elements delivered the desired results.
A52’s CG team used Maya to create each animal’s sled harness -- as well as enormous amounts of turbulent atmospheric snow. The CG snow was combined with a digital matte painting and some additional 2D snow elements for the wide shot of the sled moving through the storm.
“The little prairie dog at the end of the spot was also achieved without any CG,” Joanou adds. “We were able to get the little guy to stand on his hind legs in one piece of film and then got him to reach out for a treat in another piece. A52 seamlessly integrated the two shots to make it look like the animal was raising its hand on cue. It looked both real and funny, without any CG enhancement. Once again, A52 delivered spectacularly."
DDB Chicago’s project credits include creative directors Dan Fietsam and Mark Gross, copywriter Jason Gorman, art director Kraig Krueger and producer Brian Smego. MJZ’s line producer was Paul Manix. A52’s team included executive producer Mark Tobin, producer Scott Boyajan, Inferno artists Tim Bird, Justin Blaustein and Alicia Aguilera and 3D artists Chris Janney and Vania Alban-Zapata. Company 3’s Stefan Sonnenfeld handled telecine, original music and sound design credits go to the team at Elias Arts in Santa Monica, and the final mix was engineered by Chicago Recording Company’s Dave Gerbosi.
BUD LIGHT "SNOWED IN"
PROJECT NAME: Bud Light “Snowed in”
DATE OF FIRST AIRING: Nov. 12, 2006
RUNNING TIME: :30
AD AGENCY: DDB
CITY/STATE: Chicago
CREATIVE DIRECTORS: Mark Gross, Dan Fietsam
ART DIRECTOR: Kraig Krueger
COPYWRITER: Jason Gorman
AGENCY PRODUCER: Brian Smego
PRODUCTION COMPANY: MZJ
CITY/STATE: Los Angeles, CA
DIRECTOR: Phil Joanou
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Jeff Scruton, Lisa Rich
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Jeff Cutter
LINE PRODUCER: Paul Manix
TELECINE: Company 3
CITY/STATE: Santa Monica, CA
COLORIST: Stefan Sonnenfeld
EDITORIAL COMPANY: Whitehouse Editorial
CITY/STATE: Santa Monica, CA
EDITOR: Livio Sanchez
PRODUCER: Sue Dawson
VISUAL EFFECTS COMPANY: A52
CITY/STATE: Los Angeles
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Mark Tobin
PRODUCER: Scott Boyajan
ON-SET VISUAL EFFECTS SUPERVISORS: Tim Bird, Chris Janney
INFERNO ARTISTS: Tim Bird, Justin Blaustein, Alicia Aguilera
3D ARTISTS: Chris Janney, Vania Alban-Zapata
MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN COMPANY: Elias Arts
CITY/STATE: Santa Monica, CA
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Dayna Turcotte
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: David Gold
FINAL MIX: Chicago Recording Company
CITY/STATE: Chicago, IL
MIXER: Dave Gerbosi
VOICEOVER: Dale Inghram