Bridgestone 'Hot Item' (Super Bowl)

Caught up in the pleasures of driving their Bridgestone-clad vehicle around one of Saturn's moons, two hipster astronauts forget that other, less cool presences may be lurking nearby, waiting for the opportunity to strike. Taking House of Pain's old dance floor smash, ‘Jump Around’, as its soundtrack and keynote, the spot has a joyful, funky feel in the shots of the buggy rampaging around the dusty environment, and a gleefully comic payoff at the end.

 

The part of another planet was played by the Mojave Desert, with the action captured over two sweltering days. “We used a real dune buggy during the shoot,” says Senior Producer James Razzall, “The space buggy was then created in CGI and tracked over the top, leaving the windshield clear so that we can see them partying inside.”

 

The Mojave was transformed with matte paintings and composite work created from stills that were taken in a number of rocky desert locations by Shoot Supervisor William Bartlett. One shot was created in full CGI, and throughout the sky was replaced and filled with CG planets and stars.

 

The 30 second spot features some 24 VFX laden shots, so getting it all done on schedule was quite a challenge for the Framestore team, led by Murray Butler. “Tracking the shots was quite tricky,” says Razzall, “As we shot out of a camera car following the hero buggy, there was no way of placing tracking markers. Likewise, lighting and environmental reference could only be taken at the more static set ups. The wheels and tires had to stay live action because of all the interaction and dust being kicked up, so we had to design the CGI buggy to work with the suspension of the real one. Finally, digital touches such as jet boosters, zero-g rocks and alien spaceships all added to the fun.”