Bringing Animal Magic to Weetabix
July 27 2010
Magic Camera Company has created three life-size animal costumes which feature in the new Weetabix commercial that airs in the UK from this week.
The advert sees three marathon runners dressed up in life-size character costumes — a giant teddy bear, dinosaur and rabbit — preparing for a race after eating their Weetabix, with the message behind the advert being: once you’ve had your Weetabix, you’re ready for anything.
Commissioned by London-based Blink Productions, we worked with Blink to draw up sketches of how the three character costumes would look. Once the final designs were agreed, we made 3D clay miniatures of each costume and from these models began crafting the suits. Using highly durable latex foam, each costume was handmade and hand stitched using materials which would withstand a physically demanding shoot.
José Granell, head of Magic Camera Company, explained: “Blink really wanted costumes that wouldn’t fall apart after a couple of takes. Because of our background as experienced model makers for the film industry, we were able to create costumes that are hard wearing, realistic, but most of all cost-effective for their budget.”
Sandstorming Persia
May 24 2010
Magic Camera Company was tasked by the visual effects supervisor of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Tom Wood, to shoot physical sand elements to achieve a catastrophic sandstorm for a key sequence in the film.
We were approached at the later stages of the post-production process with the brief to replicate an actual sandstorm to enhance the CGI sand that Framestore had already created. José Granell, head of Magic Camera Company, built a tower 38 feet high and constructed a ramp in front of it at their Shepperton Studios facility. To film the shot, José and our team released six tonnes of sand down the ramp on each take, filming it from multiple camera angles. The ramp system could also pivot so we could create huge sand waterfall effects.
The entire shoot took three weeks and also included shooting dust trails. During the filming the VFX supervisors were present to ensure that what was being created matched their existing CG elements. “We had some great feedback from Tom Wood who was extremely positive about the end results,” said José Granell. “It was a great shoot for us to work on because it allowed us to push our creative boundaries and showcase that anything is possible with physical effects.”
Our physical sand elements contributed considerably to the final sequence, showing that physical effects and CGI easily compliment each other.