Wireless has put the world at our fingertips - to an almost literal degree. In a spot for CTIA (The Wireless Association), that is built upon a visceral, larger-than-life representation of wireless technology in our everyday lives, Absolute artfully shows us the power of innovation to control many things by unleashing the capabilities of our wireless devices.
A woman who forgot change for a parking meter does better than begging to change a dollar in a store: She uses her nimble fingers - mirroring the interactive experience of the wireless world - to access her bank account to pay for her parking meter. A man beside an industrial building uses the same authoritative, tech-savvy hand gestures to command a fleet of semis. A doctor on her lunch break sorts through a digital world of MRIs before her, highlighting the ease with which the internet co-exists with the medical world. And even the fireman, who epitomizes the active, on-the-ground hero, fights his nemesis virtually, waving his digits about to identify the source of a raging high-rise fire.
After Hello & Company Director Mehdi Norowzian, via GMMB, shot the scenes described above, Absolute used a combination of Flame, Combustion, Maya and After Effects to inject the fun into the spot. They built photo-real CG coins for the parking meter scene and then composited them into the live-action footage. For the truck sequence, Absolute composited six semis into the scenes, working with multiple plates to give them as much flexibility as possible. They created the MRIs in 2D using stock footage and enhanced them in Photoshop, then composited them into the footage and added the reflections, glows, and other effects.
The emergency workers scene, for which Absolute developed a blueprint and thermal look, proved to be the most challenging, as it required extensive research and development. The studio conducted several rounds of tests to get the look as close to the director's vision as possible, then applied and refined it once they earned Norowzian's approval.