“A month and a half of brain cramping and only four hours of shooting,” that’s how Bouffant producer, Boris Vossgatter sums up the Old Mutual epic for Ogilvy Cape Town (Creative Director Chris Gots, producer Iris Vinnicombe).

Director Dean Blumberg took the Initial script showing stop motion and square thought bubbles and decided he was going to take the agency and client on a journey into the unknown. “We took stop motion to another level and I believe it is the first time something like this has been done on this scale.”

With actors having to freeze in camera, wardrobe changes taking place in camera and a quest for a seamless take, the Bouffant and Refinery crew had their work cut out for them. “The pre-viz was crucial for set planning,” says Flame artist Iwan Zwarts, “As well as to get buy-in from agency and client because it was a very bizarre shoot.”

Iwan’s partner-in-crime was Refinery’s Adriaan Smuts (After Effects & Previz Artist) who sat on set on shoot day with his laptop doing pre-comps to make sure Dean had the correct takes – the post literally happening on set. “It was quite simply an evolutionary way of doing a big vfx job,” says Iwan, “We choreographed every single moment on the previz, rendered the clips onto Dean’s ipod and sat on set with the stopwatch and previz.” And what says Dean now he has seen his treatment come to life? He’s already onto the next big idea.

Refinery’s VFX producer was Lisa Haw and Christian Van Der Walt of Sinister Studios acted as Conceptual Development & Supervisor. Click here to download the previz and the finished commercial for a great before and after look.

Contact Information:Phindile Sambo Kezi Communications Tel: 011-616-1860 phindile@kezi.co.za www.kezi.co.za