GLOBAL, OCTOBER 26, 2011: A daring commercial for an appliance company goes cinematic.The new spot from Saatchi & Saatchi, Istanbul for Vestel, Turkey’s largest export company, pits Somali pirates against Vestel robots—at sea, of course.
German directing duo Alex & Steffen, who have worked on the brand in the past two years, explain the concept for the Vestel ads they have worked on over the past two years. “Basically every product from them – dishwashers, washing machines, TVs – can transform into a robot, but they are not supposed to be seen by adults. In this commercial, it´s the first time they are seen by them,” said director Steffen Hacker.
Saatchi & Saatchi came up with the idea of the robots freeing the cargo ship, which the directors then transformed into big visuals. Added Hacker: “We wanted to have it ‘dirty’, action-packed, full of small visual ideas, but yet light-weight in tone – no one gets hurt, no one´s really in danger.”
Even so, the material touches on an issue that would be seen as sensitive in markets that have been affected by piracy. Families of kidnapped crew may have mixed feelings about the treatment, but there is a place for superhero stories everywhere you go.
One of the challenges in production is filming on a container ship because of the costs and the state of the vessel. To resolve this, it was shot on an empty ship, on a container lot onshore and on a fully loaded ship as seen from a helicopter. These were all integrated into one set through visual effects, as seen in this behind-the-scenes video.
“On set we used Unexpected´s new motion capture suit, Xsens MVN, for the first time, getting the interaction between live actors and our digital characters more precise, faster and more importantly, live. Without it we would´ve never been able to complete the two minutes film within four weeks of post,” said Hacker. Alex & Steffen also head up VFX at Stuttgart-based Unexpected GmbH, which handled the postproduction.
To see the previous Vestel spots, visit www.alexandsteffen.com.
CREDITS
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Istanbul
Director: Alex & Steffen
DoP: Simon Coull
Production: DEPOfilm, Istanbul
Postproduction: Unexpected GmbH, Stuttgart
VFX Supervisor: Alex & Steffen
Lead 3D Artists: Sebastian Badea, Jörg Häberle, Alexander Kiesl, Harun Celebi, Stefan Kleindienst, Oliver Vogel, Casper Wermuth, Daniel Blöcher
Lead 2D Artists: Claus Rudolph, Steffen Hacker, Peter Egeberg, Manuel Rivoir, Josua Stäbler
Music by: schnack. music manufacture, Stuttgart
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