Framestore has provided a one-stop service for Mindshare by concepting, shooting and post-producing a truly integrated 3D cinema and digital campaign forLG. Framestore’s digital team, headed by Simon Whalley, enlisted the help of its long-time collaborator, director Richard Ayoade, to deliver the hilarious but informative campaign.
Laura Scanlon, Creative at Mindshare said: “It was a relief not to have to split the campaign amongst different suppliers with differing skills. We threw a lot at Framestore but the entire process was very collaborative and the end result exceeded our expectations.”
Framestore’s Simon Whalley, Executive Producer said: “This production proves that if you partner with Framestore, you get hi-quality content for any platform in a cost and time efficient manner. We relished the opportunity to work across the whole campaign, taking ownership of both the concept and the executions. The benefits of working this way are immense: not only does the campaign become truly integrated with the digital element becoming a genuinely coherent part of the whole, rather than being a simple after-thought; it also drastically increases budgetary efficiency by allowing the creative and the production to run in parallel. And by having the same director, cast and other key personnel working on content for both platforms, the end result feels more cohesive and of the same family.”
Based on Mindshare’s refreshingly simple and open brief of ‘demystifying 3D’, Framestore developed the concept of using a comical 3D ambassador to talk viewers through the technicalities of 3D. Richard Ayoade, who has previously worked with Framestore on award-winning promos (Vampire Weekend, Arctic Monkeys, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs), commercials (Nokia and Peugeot), and recently his acclaimed debut feature film (Submarine) was brought on board to develop the characters and refine the concept with additional wit. Ayoade subsequently recruited the extremely talented Tim Key and Lloyd Woolf, to fulfil the role of 3D ambassadors.
The resulting campaign encompasses a 3D cinema spot in which Key and his sidekick Woolf take viewers through a brief history of 3D and an update on its latest developments, the main point being that there is plenty of 3D content to watch in the comfort of your own home. Framestore used its extensive stereoscopic 3D knowledge gained from working on Avatar and subsequent stereoscopic productions (eg – Philips Parallel Lines' 'The Foundling') to create the spot. The ad will break across UK cinemas on December 10th, showing alongside the new Narnia sequel, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (another Framestore VFX project) and Tron Legacy.
The digital element of the campaign takes the form of a sharable and embeddable LG-branded widget in which people can ask Key and Woolf questions about 3D or any other topic. Although some of the 3D answers are potentially prosaic, Key and Woolf deliver them with unexpected humour. For example, they explain passive 3D technology with help from some very poorly timed flash cards. The widget will be available via LG’s website and YouTube page and is live now.
Mike Woods, Digital Producer says “The widget was cleverly designed to make users feel like they are involved in a live debate with Key and Woolf. So rather than viewers seeing an obviously pre-recorded answer being downloaded in response to their question, our talented pool of software developers created complex algorithms that allowed for a locked-off video loop of the empty living room set to be always present on the site. At any point in the loop, this video then seamlessly transits into the pre-recorded answer video to create the false impression that the question is being answered live via a webcam set up in Key and Woolf’s living room.”
Framestore and Ayoade filmed a vast quantity of videos to ensure all popular questions would be answered. Likely 3D questions were established in conjunction with LG’s call centre; non-3D answers were scripted by researching the most popular questions asked in similar campaigns.
AGENCY Mindshare
PRODUCTION COMPANY Framestore
DIRECTOR Richard Ayoade
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Simon Whalley
DIGITAL PRODUCER Mike Woods
VFX Framestore