Captain Morgan 'Showstopper'

Captain Morgan and Framestore mix equal parts humour and beautiful visuals for their new spot, Showstopper. This Flame-heavy spot was a lot of fun for the Framestore team to produce, but it presented a few hurdles. Fireworks are not an easy thing to recreate, even when you have access to the amazing particle dynamics software and cutting edge talent found at Framestore.

"Fireworks are not rigid, static objects, so trying to create legible letters out of fireworks was our biggest challenge. Overcoming this meant we had to pull out all sorts of tricks to get the look and feel just right," said Framestore lighting lead, Spencer Lueders.

The technical team meticulously researched and designed each of the various stages that fireworks go through during an explosion in order to realistically depict the way they behave. Furthermore, they manipulated the individual particles and effects to form words – a substantial piece of work considering the ephemeral nature of fireworks. "The fireworks needed to be choreographed so that they remained readable long enough for the viewer to get the joke, yet still behave like fireworks," said Lueders.