Asus Vivobook S
Client: ASUS
Agency: DIALECT
From mid January until the start of March I worked solidly on an ad for Asus laptops via Bath based agency Dialect. A delightfully ambitious project, Dialect’s creative team put together a script that follow a couple of fictional agency creatives using their laptop to solve their work challenges.
Working side by side with the utterly brilliant DOP Dan Hilltout to visualise this story we brought in the cream of the Bristol and South West’s freelance community (that I may have dubbed the Top Gun of the UK’s film crews in an emotional moment or three😜) and, in an extremely tight and intense turn around, worked around the clock with Dialect and SANDSTORM FILMS to complete Pre Production on time.
Five beautifully built and lit sets later, a crew booked, actors cast and an exec on an aeroplane on her way from Taiwan, we were ready to create something, that if we didn’t mess it up, could be really special..!
I’ve been very fortunate throughout my career to have worked all over the world and this includes studios and locations. And to be clear I love BOTH.
The perfect real location can elevate a scene beyond anything a man made set can. Just ask Terrance Mallick. But it does come with all kinds of challenges: from sound issues to changing light, from insect attacks to sudden thunder storms.
However a great studio set also has it’s trump cards: Controlled lighting and sound, movable walls for camera angles that would not be possible otherwise and, of course, practical effects. More on that later.
The film shoot was at SANDSTORM FILMS in Swindon which is a fantastic resource. I’ve known the owner, Tom, for years and I really rate the Sandstorm set up (and bespoke pencils) so was delighted that Dialect. had already pencilled the studio build in with Tom’s team before I’d even come on board.
Although the creative for the piece had been pretty much decided by the agency (a creative needs to finish their advert by the morning just using the hero laptop) I had added some new elements to the piece including a second character to create a better sense of humanity and some fantasy elements including a big practical special effects scene involving the walls of a room opening up so that a character could walk through to a completely different location beyond.
This meant a very bespoke approach to the build. Not only had the studio be big enough to build multiple sets back to back but also facilitate the walls sliding open to reveal said new locations.
Sandstorm pulled this off brilliantly and our lighting team (led by DoP Dan Hilltout and gaffer Adam Pickford) then came in and wove their magic, creating some truly incredible set ups sometimes having daytime scenes immediately adjacent to night.
The planned camera work throughout was very much what you’d hope for from a glossy modern ad and featured a combination of dolly movements, cranes and camera tricks, but day 3 was especially exciting as that’s when the techodolly came out to play. This piece of equipment was especially important for a handful of effects shots and we had a full time VFX advisor on the crew to ensure that there were no mistakes made on set that could lead to unpleasant consequences in post.
All of this would be for nothing though if we didn’t have convincing actors in place and fortunately our cast was excellent. Looking after make-up and wardrobe was one of my all time favourites and Pughe-Crew regulars, Claire ‘Bendy’ Bender and, as always, she went way beyond call of duty to ensure everything was perfect (including, impossibly, sourcing last minute retro space helmets)!
Wrapping 30 seconds before we ran out of our agreed extended time I still cannot believe we pulled off what felt like a behemoth of a production and the quality is a real testament to the incredibly high skill level of the involved cast and crew!