While the technical challenge was daunting, so too were the expectations for Barclaycard’s “Rollercoaster,” a :60 out of BBH London. Anticipation was high in that the spot is the sequel to the acclaimed “Waterslide,” a commercial which helped director Peter Thwaites of Gorgeous Enterprises, London, earn the DGA Award last year as best commercial director of 2008.
“Waterslide” showed a swim trunks-clad employee taking a wondrous amusement park-like commute home from the office–his mode of transportation being an enormous waterslide that winds its way throughout the city, eventually arriving at his suburban abode.
Fast forward to 2010 and now the waterslide has been traded in for a rollercoaster, with the commute instead being in the morning and the passenger being on his way to work. The spot begins with him standing at the elevator doors of his apartment building. The elevator doors open, revealing a rollercoaster which he boards. The rollercoaster picks up speed and takes him on a liberating journey high above the hustle and bustle of the city below–as well as giving him a quick view through a high-rise apartment window of a pretty woman shaving her legs. The coaster keeps on zipping, only slowing slightly when he makes a contactless payment via his Barclaycard at a “drive-thru” convenience kiosk for a quick breakfast.
Nicolai Fuglsig of MJZ directed “Rollercoaster,” lensed on location in NYC by DP Alwyn Kuchler, with a motion control shoot in L.A. and visual effects by The Mill New York. The final ad was a culmination of many different live action and digital elements.
“Rollercoaster” combines the use of a real rollercoaster cart and 40 feet of working track; what’s believed to be the first usage of Spydercam in a commercial since it was developed to film parts of the Spider-Man movies, as it could capture the variety of perspectives on location and mimic the feel of a rollercoaster; and complex CGI to help create a realistic vision of a rollercoaster weaving in and out of New York.’s skyscraper-lined cityscape. The Spydercam was devised to achieve fast and smooth shots in between buildings. It flies through the air on cables at the desired height or speed and from assorted varied angles.
Collaborative rapport Fuglsig and The Mill have teamed on various projects over the years, which came in handy according to The Mill’s joint head of CG Ben Smith, who served as shoot supervisor/CG supervisor on “Rollercoaster.”
“Over a period of time, through a kind of osmosis working together, you get to know what a director likes and wants, so you’re not starting from square one,” related Smith.
One of those past collaborations was the lauded Coca-Cola commercial, “It’s Mine,” for Wieden+Kennedy. That spot also had Fuglsig and The Mill working wonders on Manhattan’s skyline, filling it with larger than life Macy’s Parade balloon characters.
Also helpful was the fact that The Mill, London, handled VFX on “Waterslide.” Initially The Mill’s U.K. operation was tapped to do the “Rollercoaster” sequel, for which it had done the first pre-vis. But the job wound up making its way to The Mill, N.Y. Artisans from both shops shared info and insights, including lessons learned from “Waterslide.”
The process “The pre-vis was massive for the director and editor,” related Smith. “Once we had hours and hours of footage of empty plates of New York City–a panning shot for example with nothing in it–we would create ‘digital rushes’ as Nicolai called them. We took 130 plates and animated in a kind of roughly tracked, low-res version of the rollercoaster, often multiple different versions per shot. We churned them out quickly and turned them over to editor Rick Russell [of Final Cut] and Nicolai to cut, getting a sense of the action that could happen.”
The Spydercam was deployed in downtown N.Y., running 500 feet down the length of a street and elevated high in the air. “Once selects were made from that footage, we created 3D camera moves, tracking the footage and animating the rollercoaster within that 3D camera move,” explained Smith. “And once we had that, we extracted the movement from both the camera and the movement of the rollercoaster and applied that movement to a motion control rig and a gimbal rig for the second part of the shoot in L.A. We had a practical rollercoaster sitting on a gimbal. Using the data we had created, we drove the motion control rig and the gimbal simultaneously to recreate footage that would fit exactly into the Spydercam footage. That allowed us to do real mid to close-up shots of the talent, looking into his eyes and seeing the wind blowing through his hair.”
Furthermore The Mill created a CG double of the actor, with multiple facial expressions, dynamic hair and cloth. This complemented the protagonist’s performance. The Mill also contributed dramatic compositing, and paint work done almost frame by frame in order to, as Smith described, “make the visuals sing.”
