London, UK – Najma Bhatti, a lead director at LOVE Commercials and principle at award-winning production company, Square Zero, has just completed work on an innovative TV commercial for the release of legendary rockers, Bon Jovi's, Greatest Hits album.
The spot, which was conceived and created by Bhatti, is produced by LOVE Commercials with the post production, animation work and CGI provided by the team at Square Zero. The commercial celebrates the band's momentous career and draws on its broad fanbase and universal appeal.
Filmed in New York with the Red camera, the TVC features Bon Jovi performing in a series of different rooms which represent eras in the band's evolution, executed by shooting against a green screen, allowing them to be composited into the different scenes, each rich with detail to represent the diversity of the band's catalogue. Jon Bon Jovi pauses in each room to sing a different track, which was captured using a MILO motion control rig to set the pacing to match in each room and see the parallax shift. Each walk was timed to hit left and right points of room so that the whole piece was modular and would work for different soundbeds, enabling Square Zero to switch out a room for a different song and the sequence would still flow. When Jon Bon Jovi enters the final room, the walls suddenly rise up becoming relay screens and the whole space transforms into a fan-filled stadium. This final scene was shot using a combination of green screen and a 3D stage setup placed in existing crowd footage that was multiplied and layered to create a sense of scale.
In order produce shorter international versions, Jon Bon Jovi's walk was timed and synchronized to generate a modular piece, allowing footage from each room to be joined together in different orders. Square Zero then handled the CGI-heavy commercial's animation and post-production process. The MILO data from Bon Jovi’s walk was used in Maya and the edit was completed in Final Cut Pro. Keying, Comping, and Grading was performed in Nuke, and the Bon Jovi Heart & Dagger logo was created as a 3D element in Maya.
"Bon Jovi is one of rock's most legendary bands, and has influenced generations of music lovers. We wanted the commercial to represent the journey and re-invention the band has made along with its huge fanbase, symbolized by the different rooms and culminating in a huge event to echo the Greatest Hits," said Najma Bhatti, Director, Square Zero. "Working closely with LOVE Commercials, who coordinated the shoot, we used cutting edge CGI to produce the stadium scene finale. Creating a flexible collection of completed footage was also key during the post production process, so it could be arranged and reordered as required. We were delighted to be invited to work on this project, using our technical expertise to stamp a mark in rock history. "
The Bon Jovi - Greatest Hits TVC was directed by Najma Bhatti, an award-winning director at SquareZero whose previous projects at the company include the acclaimed 'Nothing is Impossible' hologram for the 20th Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors' Showcase at Cannes Lions 2010. It was exec produced by Andy Thackery for Love Commercials, produced by John Lathan for Love Commercials and edited by Nathan Perry Greene at Cut and Run. DOP was Russell Griffth and the Lead VFX artist was Jonson Jewell for SquareZero.