Apartments.com
Framestore looked to the future for a set of ads for Apartments.com, featuring Jeff Goldblum as Silicon Valley's prophetic 'Brad Bellflower'.
The task was to design, direct and execute a simple yet beautiful graphic world around Goldblum, as he extols the game-changing features of the future internet - Apartments.com included. Easier said than done for Framestore Director Sharon Lock, who looked 'at where we are in terms of generic future and tech graphics, the UI style designs we're used to seeing now', to form a base from which to fashion a distinctive, futuristic style.
Most challenging was the need to, quite literally, design the future - says Lock, “all of the references were ’make something like this - but not like this!’” Inspiration came from artists who work primarily with light, to give the necessary nod to the 'future' without having to define the exact virtues of a theoretical Web 5.0.
Framestore's role started at treatment stage, with the five day shoot presenting greater design opportunities than originally planned. The eight spots required a delicate balance between fore- and background, as Goldblum's satirical (and oft brilliantly ad-libbed) musings take their place against gleaming graphic backgrounds. The anticipated 2D background elements were replaced entirely with an infinite black shiny floor created in CG, with further background elements for each spot designed and added separately. The team used AFX, C4D and Maya, whilst the final composite was created in Nuke.
The first spot launched during 'The Walking Dead', with further prime media placements across more than 70 network programs and 30 cable networks in the US.
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