Muller 'Lick the Lid of Life'

FRAMESTORE: PROBLEM LICKERS

Lidlickers is a new campaign from Muller, created by TBWA\London. A 40-second and two 30-second spots were directed by Luke Forsythe at Independent, and feature a distinctive look created in post by Framestore.

The premise for the spots is a simple one. Real people, aged from one to one hundred years old, are seen against summertime, rural English backdrops, singing the praises of Muller's yoghurt, and recommending that you, too, 'lick the lid of life'.

When Framestore were approached with the brief in October 2006, the production had already run up against the logistical problem created by the need for shooting a huge cast of ordinary British people of diverse ages in a summery, English outdoor environment, as winter was just commencing. Working with the agency and director, Framestore came up with a practicable solution to the problem. The look they arrived at is neither completely stylised nor completely natural, lying somewhere in the middle in such a way as to allow the performances of the non-professional cast to shine through.

The spots were shot at Black Island's largest studio over five days, with VFX Supervisor and Inferno Artist Alex Thomas in attendance. A large set of rolling (real) grassland was created for the foreground, with blue screens up for everything else. This material was edited and returned to Framestore for its post. After further look development, Thomas then spent 7 weeks completing the Inferno work on the three spots. In addition to sky and cloud elements shot by Forsythe, Thomas also incorporated a number of matte paintings created by Jason Horley and Paul Chandler.

The distinctive visual style was further enhanced by Framestore Senior Colourist, Dave Ludlam. Partly because the look hadn't yet been finalised, and partly because almost half of it is generated, at Ludlam's suggestion, from early on in the process a halfway grade was created, aimed at simply balancing the elements. Once complete, the taped material was shot back out to print and a further TK was created by Ludlam, giving it the more vibrant, cinematic feel that Forsythe was aiming for.