Cardi B and Offset feed each other McDonalds french fries

The Cardi B & Offset Meal

To promote its new combo meal and celebrate love just in time for Valentine’s Day, McDonald’s kicked off its campaign by teasing Super Bowl LVII viewers with a string of sweet, heartfelt interviews with real life couples, showing them how knowing their partner’s order is an act of love in itself.

Animation
Concept Design

Cardi B and Offset dressed up in nice clothing at a nice restaurant where they are served McDonald's food

Featuring Grammy-winning artists Cardi B and Offset as one of those real couples, the look and feel of the spot was essential in conveying its honest message. To give us an intimate look at each of the couples, director duo rubberband. in collaboration with Wieden+Kennedy chose to shoot the campaign on 35mm film.

In the digital age, it is rare to have the opportunity to collaborate on a project that is shot on film. Framestore’s compositing team relished working within the natural confines of 35mm film, creating and implementing invisible VFX, while maintaining the authentic feeling captured on celluloid.

McDonalds Still
McDonalds Still

Following on from its Super Bowl teaser, the brand formally introduced audiences to ‘The Cardi B & Offset meal’ to spotlight their relationship on Valentine’s Day in a fun, stylized live action spot. Framestore’s design team supported with balloon-like animated typography for the end card, which appeared cloth-like and dynamic in the nature of its movement, inflating to appear as if the words themselves were colliding into each other and kissing, then bouncing into their final resolved positions.

“We worked closely with the team at Wieden+Kennedy to get to a finessed, strong place with the look and feel of the animation,” said Framestore Creative Director Brian Drucker. “We used Cinema 4D to create and animate the end tag and Redshift to render the animation.”

McDonalds Meal Still
McDonalds Meal Still

Framestore’s compositing team also worked closely with the directors and agency to craft subtle fantastical VFX elements to further romanticize Cardi B and Offset’s ‘Dream Date’– including gently contorting chair legs and a perfect match cut revealing the couple is enjoying their meal in an actual McDonald’s restaurant.

Final color grade was completed by colorist Sofie Friis Borup of Company 3.

McDonalds Meal Still
McDonalds Meal Still

Credits

Agency
Wieden+Kennedy NY
Production Company
SMUGGLER
Director
rubberband.
VFX
Framestore
Executive Producer
Heino Henning
Producer
Nathan Niamehr
Creative Director, Design
Brian Drucker
On Set VFX Supervisor
Ray Giarratana
Lead Compositor
Keno Naidoo
Compositors
Robin McGloin, Theuns Van Rensburg
Designer
Daniel Moore
Editorial
Cabin Editing Company
Mix/Sound Design
Heard City
Color
Company 3
Senior Colorist
Sofie Friis Borup