It's the little moments in a day that make up a grand life, but when you stop to think about it, a day is made up of 86,400 moments - and that's a lot of living to do. Coca-Cola needed a spot that conveyed the message that in this hectic world, illy brand coffee-flavoured energy drink is a great way to get a boost. Artistic Image (AI) took that "on the go" idea and ran with it, creating the a captivating concept and taking it to completion to deliver a commercial with a fast-paced, urban contemporary feel tailored to the product's target market.
Initially, AI was called in to bring its award-winning design and visual effects talent to the project, to create a spot that features a can of illy transforming into planes, trains and automobiles that travelled through a sculpted landscape. When the client switched gears and decided to go with a live-action spot that would be an extension of its print campaign Artistic image fluidly adapted, creating an innovative approach that utilized the full range of their design, production, visual effects, editorial and finishing services.
The print campaign features black-and-white images of bustling people in a hectic urban environment. Recreating the background landscape of these ads, which incorporate a silver can of the product that has little hits of color - and making it stand out from the black and white footage - was one of the more challenging elements of the production.
To achieve a similar look to the print campaign, which has an "in the moment" documentary feel, Artistic Image director Ken Soons and DP Jason Maris spent three-days travelling throughout the city of Atlanta - in well over 100 degree temperatures - shooting HD footage that captured vignettes of people, quickly navigating their way through the busy streets to keep pace with the demands of their hectic day.
"Getting all of the talent together was a challenge. We wanted to show an abundance of people from different walks of life in busy 'on the go' situations," explained Soons. "We came up with a shot list and just started making our way through the city. Shooting guerrilla style was ideal for this particular job. It allowed us to move from place to place with a limited amount of time and gear."
Soons, a director/editor, had the advantage of knowing exactly the shots he'd need in post. He matched form to content while also creating a strong visual link between the print and broadcast components of the campaign. To achieve that look, he removed frames in post, giving the spot a choppy look that helped created the sense of "busy" pace and the effect of photographs in motion.
"Artistic Image collaborated with Maris, a local Atlanta photographer, who is a master of this style of photography," explained AI director of VFX, Ed Dye. "Using his Canon 5D we were able to match the depth of field and general quality of photography we needed."
Once Soons completed the initial edit, he passed the project on to Jim Roberson who put considerable time into the process of matting out the can to retain its color and keep the rest of the frame in black and white. Roberson also fine-tuned the shots as needed along the way and created the end graphic. Ed Dye handled the color correction, and met the challenge of perfectly matching the black and white imagery of the print campaign. Artist Image used a mix of tools to finish the spot, including Final Cut Studio, After Effects and Photoshop.
"Artistic Image worked as a very tight, efficient team on this project - which enabled us to produce a spot that we are particular proud of, on a short timeline," added Dye.