HDW-F900R captures MasterCard ads

Two of the latest MasterCard commercials were shot using the HDW-F900R HDCAM camcorder for agency McCann Erickson NY by Therapy Films. The post facility was Golden Square in London.

The rushes were on HDCAM, which were worked in both HD and PAL formats during the on-line process, with the finished films outputted in PAL. Director Christian Bevilacqua says, “These jobs were a really tough post production challenge. Not only was it a tricky post job, there was also a tight schedule too.”

MasterCard Studious Pupil

MasterCard Studious Pupil is designed to promote a unique competition for MasterCard customers. Working with a script about a man with an overactive eye, director Christian Bevilacqua developed his treatment with inspiration from the photographs of Andreas Gursky.

Shot entirely on green screen in London, the Golden Square team built the backgrounds in Photoshop and Flame from stills shot in New York by the director. The images were worked up to heighten their natural symmetry and then separated into virtual planes in Flame to create parallax when the camera moves were applied. Subtle lighting changes, birds, fog and extra people were all added to help bring the backgrounds to life.

The hero’s wandering eye was created in Flame by building a 3D eye which was texture mapped with an image of the actor’s eye. This allowed the eye to move wherever the director chose with minimal adjustment. Finally, a strong filmic grade was applied in Flame to bring it all together.

MasterCard Seven Wonders

The Seven Wonders viral was part of a series of priceless gift prizes available through MasterCard. The idea was for the viewer to enter into a magical Phileas Fogg’esque popup book that would transport you to the Seven Wonders of the World.

A series of popup book scenes were shot on HDCAM with the HDW-F900R in the studio and passed on to the Golden Square team to enhance and bring to life. Flame was used to manage and distribute the shots, while After Effects and Maya were used to assemble around 50 per cent of the scenes before handing back to Flame for grading and delivery. The challenge was to deliver a huge amount of treated shots within a very tight schedule; this was managed using a combination of Flame, 3D particles, stop frame animation, and filmed footage.

Transporting the viewer from the humid Amazon Rainforest with river dolphins and parrots to the Great Wall of China fending off marauding Mongol hordes. All the scenes included a few intrepid tourists, snapping away at the incredible scenery.

11 March 2008