Director Christian Bevilacqua of Anonymous Content teamed with visual effects house MPC New York on this Ad Council/American Heart Association PSA which shows how women have progressed over the years, breaking through one figurative glass ceiling after another–from a nurse who literally breaks through a ceiling to arrive in another era as a factory worker akin to Rosie the Riveter who in turn breaks through the ceiling to emerge as political/social activist at a press conference. And one more ceiling breakthrough brings us to a woman of today in a corporate executive suite.
The corporate exec then explains that today women can do anything men can do. She then collapses to the floor as we are informed that this equality also refers to a so-called man’s affliction–heart disease. In fact, one in three women die of heart disease, a rate that’s higher than that of men.
Part of a campaign from Deutsch NY, the spot–titled “Ceiling Crasher”–then directs viewers to GoRedForWomen.org where they can sign up to be members, learn about heart disease, their risk for developing it, and find tools for living healthier, longer lives.
The MPC New York ensemble on “Ceiling Crasher” included VFX supervisor/creative director Alex Lovejoy, VFX supervisor/2D lead Marcus Wood, sr. producer John Skeffington and colorist Adrian Seery. MPC reached into a toolbox which featured Flame, Nuke, Houdini and Maya.
Wood said of the ambitious PSA, “The main creative challenge was maintaining consistency as each scene transitions from one era to the next. To keep the rhythm as each scene breaks through a host of ceilings, we created seamless VFX to emphasize the action, pace and heightened drama throughout the film, all the while building the spot as each scene progresses–pausing to deliver another piece of the story and pushing the action forward again. It was one of the few cases where ‘more’ seemed to be appropriate considering the amount of implied destruction called for.
“Production design was an important aspect of the shoot,” Wood continued, “as practical sets were required to break apart and animate, with a heavy CG and compositing component, including the foreground set and staging, debris, particles, additional lighting, texturing and effects work. Much of the particle simulations were constructed in Houdini with MPC’s extensive library of live action elements helping to bring shots to life. The main CG compositing work was executed in Nuke with additional effects, elements and grading in Autodesk Smoke to give the shots their final polish.”
MPC’s Lovejoy noted that each set had to be constructed to account for precision camera moves which required moving down to as low as to the floor as possible to capture the main action with characters. A counteracting tilt up move–sans actors–was made on background plates. When combined, this helped to realize the desired effect of furniture and actors moving up to the ceiling.”
Lovejoy noted that it was helpful to have a director, Bevilacqua, who was “very post savvy and someone we work with quite a bit. We explored various options before coming up with the solutions needed.”
Wood also cited the director’s visual acumen. “MPC was involved from the earliest stages, working with Christian to translate the idea of women breaking boundaries into a visual language, namely the transitioning from one era to another,” related Wood. “MPC has developed a fantastic relationship with Christian and Anonymous Content, which brought this project to MPC’s doors. Christian was great to work with because he is extremely VFX-savvy, understands the process, and is very receptive to collaborative creativity. We also had an incredible team of artists who really got their heads into the project, wanting to make something special. That enthusiasm was evident and thankfully Deutsch NY was supportive at every turn and aligned from the earliest stages.”
As for the alluded to working relationship with Bevilacqua, MPC New York has teamed with the director on several projects, including a University of Phoenix spot, “Rockets,” that melds one woman’s everyday life and her dreams to underscore the possibilities of her education at the university. MPC NY has also worked with Bevilacqua on spots for Fidelity and Acuvue, and a soon-to-be-released “3D Printed Food” spot for Cox Communications.
