Microsoft got one of the hippest commercial directors around when it chose Method Studios to make two spots promoting the Zune, Microsoft’s answer to the iPod. Dive in

If you can’t beat them, join them, was perhaps the thinking behind the two new ads released to great acclaim by the team behind the Zune, Microsoft’s answer to the Apple iPod.

Hip music promo director Patrick Daughters, whose video, 1,2,3,4, for Canadian singer Feist was used to promote Apple’s new iPod nano, was chosen to direct the two spots.

A coincidence? Yes, says the company: “The Feist video showing up in the iPod spot happened during our pre-production and had no relevance to our choosing Patrick Daughters,” they said in a statement.

“He was chosen because he shoots authentic-looking film with practical-looking effects and can achieve a sweetness to his film that we really wanted for Zune.”

That’s definitely true: the two 60-second advertisements were designed to lift the Zune from faceless iPod copy to viable iPod alternative. And judging by the resulting ads they might actually succeed.

In the first, The Ballad of Tina Pink, a woman is sitting at an outdoor café sheltering from the rain. She touches the Zune screen and dives through – Alice in Wonderland-style – into her digital life.

Once there she is thrust into an offbeat video shoot featuring fluffy giant rabbits. Taking a break in her movie-star trailer she walks into a gallery of her photos. Jumping into one – a pop concert – she crawls through the drummer’s drum kit to emerge the other side sitting on the sun like a swing, which sets in an ocean full of jellyfish.

The dreamlike sequence finishes when she touches the Zune screen from the inside and re-emerges in the café. In the second, Academy of Dreams, a young guy on a bus falls into his Zune in the same way.

He runs through a long gallery where his photos come alive before climbing a pyramid of his friends and diving off the top. It’s all about social networking and taking control of your digital life.

California-based Method Studios did the work. Producer Luisa Murray had worked with Daughters and the commissioning agency TAG/McCann Worldgroup before, but says the brief was still very challenging.




“Both spots had a hard delivery date,” she says, “but our initial reaction was definitely excitement, as it was clear this was an opportunity to work on a very creative and dynamic spot.”

The team was given extensive storyboards by Daughters, says Murray. However, there were only five weeks in which to build the sets, film the spots and complete postproduction.

“Patrick’s treatment was full of great ideas – but more than could fit into a 60-second spot. We had to figure out how to fit as many of the ideas in as possible.” Louisa had several meetings with Daughters and the production designer K K Barrett.

“It was in one of these first meetings that [lead 3D artist] Laurent Ledru suggested creating an Ames Room for Tina Pink.” An Ames Room is a distorted room used to create optical illusions. Built to look square they are in fact trapezoidal with a slanted roof and floor to create illusions of height and scale.

A custom-built Ames Room was used when the character, Tina Pink, enters her dressing room to find it turned into a gallery. The pictures animate themselves – a kangaroo hops in from the Australian Outback while a Quechua Indian climbs into a picture of Machu Picchu.

Katrina Salicrup, lead 2D artist on the project explains how it was done: “The actors stood on platforms behind the frames and a green screen was placed several feet behind them to allow spatial separation and create depth as the camera moves.

“The green screens were removed in post and replaced with background imagery and several layers of CG reflection and gloss passes to make the framed scenes feel more like photographs.

“The same CG layers were also used to create the transition effect as the girl walks through the rock-concert frame on the way to the sunset sequence. The individual characters that run into frames were all shot separately and later combined in post as well.

“Finally, the light rays coming from the ceiling were added as a 2D element to add some atmosphere to the room.” The goal, says Murray, “was to do as much practically as possible.”




However, she says: “It was also clear that much could not be done practically – so we worked together to figure out the best way to complete each shot. In some cases – such as the block shot in Academy of Dreams – it was decided that to save time the shot would be entirely CG.”

The films carry Daughters’ signature style of lollipop sophistication – glamorous characters interacting in a fun way with storybook characters in a fairytale setting.

They combine CG elements with live action to create a seamless look – it is very hard to tell where the effects start and finish. Murray says the biggest challenge was to complete all of the effects in three weeks.

“Everyone knew we had to be on the same page,” she says. “Most technically challenging was cutting up our hero through the net,” says Murray.

“The transitions in both spots were also a challenge, as we had to come up with creative ways to make the spot work together smoothly as we moved between these different worlds.”

One of the most eye-catching sequences in Tina Pink is when she swims underwater surrounded by giant jellyfish. How was this done? Lead 2D artist Katrina Salicrup explains: “The shots were created using a combination of 2D and 3D elements.”

The jellyfish themselves were taken from high definition stock footage and later colour corrected, re-timed, and composited in Flame. “This shot proved deceptively challenging as far as achieving the desired colour, lighting and creation of depth. Several 2D layers and multiple-layer transfer modes were used to create the colouration and transparency of each jellyfish.

“A custom Z- depth matte was also created in Flame, along with several layers of fog and particulate, to create the illusion of depth while retaining as much detail as possible in the foreground jellyfish.”

The ethereal lighting was added next: “The glow effect was developed using both 2D and 3D elements. The jellyfish plates were match-moved in 3D in order to create central glow and rim elements that synched to the 2D elements and the audio track.

“These elements were then used in conjunction with several Flame tools and plug-ins to achieve the final glow effect.” One of the scenes the team is most proud of is the sunset. Here the character sits on the sun as it sets in the ocean.

“The sunset sequence was created almost entirely in post using both 2D and 3D elements,” says Salicrup. “The on-set shoot consisted of the actress against black being lowered, on a rig, into a swimming pool here in Los Angeles.

“Back at Method the matte painting and sun elements were created from scratch by creative director Laurent Ledru using Photoshop and Maya, and composited in Flame by me.

“The CG elements saw extensive colour grading and the addition of steam, real cotton clouds and wire filament strings to achieve a more theatrical quality.

“The water was also completely redone in post to achieve a more open feeling to the shot. Our goal was to create a beautiful, yet simple, backdrop to accentuate what the character is experiencing as she continues her journey through the Zune.”

This sequence in particular was a very collaborative effort, says Salicrup, with the director, creatives, and artists all providing “ideas, inspiration and execution”. The end result is slick, fun and photo-real.

“Overall we are most pleased with the fact that people find it difficult to discern what was done practically and what was done in post,” says Murray. “It shows a job well done.”

Ed Ewing

Source: http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk