Spots were shot on 35mm film and in HD using the Sony
CineAlta HDC-F950, and were finished in high definition. One spot opens with a
woman strolling through a living room of Pier 1 products. As she walks toward
the middle of the screen, she twirls and transforms into a different woman
while at the same time transitioning into another room. As the new woman dances
around her dining room table, she spins, transitioning into another woman in
another room of Pier 1 furnishings.
In post, the takes were put together to line up the twirling, while a third
motion control pass of the clean set was added to replace the background. Jerry
Steele, co-founder and lead VFX artist, reanimated their limbs during the
composite stage and repositioned the joints to smooth out the frames in
between.
The Fall Accents spot called on the
expertise of Steele's 3D animation department. Directed by Uncle's Alain
Gourrier, the spot uses motion control and photorealistic CG integration to
create a pop-up book, showcasing featured products. The live action book was
replaced with a CG version notes Steele EP/CD Brian Adler. CG lead Jason
Shulman then turned photos of the furniture items into the pop-up pictures,
added interactive shadows and lighting, and animated the book. Objects
were then tracked and match-moved with the live action motion-control camera
move to finish the effect.
Steele used Quantel eQ, Adobe After Effects, NewTek LightWave and Autodesk Maya
on the project.