Baillie Walsh has directed ‘Extreme Detail,’ a new ad for Sony’s High Definition brand range. The Agency is Fallon with production through Josh Barwick at Home Corp. The 70” ad (with cut down versions) was shot as one continuous sequence and stars Daniel Craig demonstrating the unrivalled capability of Sony HD products. MPC provided the vital pre-visualisation as well as 2D Compositing and 3D animation.

The film is 70” of explosive action, during which the viewer is taken on a journey of unimaginable experiences. The original master grade was carried out by MPC’s Mark Gethin, now working from our LA studio. The main success of the project was the total collaboration between the entire team; Director, DoP Damien Moriset, Fallon, physical effects company Asylum FX, the motion control team and MPC.

The production commenced in an unusual way with two days of intense motion control rehearsal on location at Elstree Studios. This formed a critical part of the planning process prior to the start of the shoot and highlighted the need for highly realistic interactive lighting to combine Daniel Craig into the sequence. This was ‘supplemented’ by an extensive and detailed pre-viz created at MPC. This in turn gave the opportunity, early in production, to determine the content of each sequence, the scale of the environment, the framing, duration and camera speed and angles. By working closely with the motion control operators, the team was able to relay data into and out of the rig which enabled us to successfully track the live action plates and perform multiple plate composites in post.

During the 4 day shoot, which took place within a full scale and third scale set, the compositing team captured scores of background passes and principle plates. These were married together into a seamless and photo-real 70” sequence at MPC. Due to the nature of the sequence, it was necessary for pixel perfect tracking throughout. Complimentary CG elements were photo-realistically generated to enhance sequences throughout the spot including set extension, glass shards, atmospherics, debris, explosion elements, dust and smoke. We also employed proprietary tool, PAPI, to produce collision simulations based on real physics to aid the generation of true integrated debris within the live action plates.

The spot goes on air in the UK on October 15th. There are also 60” and 30” versions being aired in various markets around the globe.