LONDON — Anomaly and DBLG teamed up with Envy (www.envypost.co.uk), here, to launch a new campaign for Freeview. The Other Way uses 1,000 extras to create hundreds of highly contextual TV ads that talk to viewers in realtime. Filmed entirely in-camera without VFX, the spots capture a beautifully choreographed sea of bodies forming vivid patterns. The campaign aims to address two challenges in Freeview’s market place by being ever present and actively competing with pay TV providers by highlighting the value equation.
Envy helped bring the idea to life by creating natural, human soundscapes or songs. Rich Martin, sound designer at Envy, created 20 different soundtracks, each with a unique energy because of the individual crowd sounds.
“When DBLG invited me for a meeting before the shoot, I was really excited because it doesn’t happen often enough,” says Martin. “I suggested that we should try to capture the sound and energy of the cast of 1000, and use that as the backbone of the soundtrack.”
The involvement of a large cast and multiple mobile components presented unique challenges in terms of the grade. Danny Wood, colorist at Envy, notes, “The Freeview spots are about the overall effect of having 1,000 people moving around for real, so the grade was very clean and about separating the colors to bring out the patterns as much as possible. With so many people in a shot at once, dealing with skin tones was a challenge, but we ended up with a nice balance of warmth without pushing too many warm tones into the rest of the image. The overall effect is pretty spectacular, especially when viewed on a large screen or projector.”
“I’ve really enjoyed working with Anomaly on these spots – they did an amazing job on the shoot and working with the 6K footage was a treat,” adds Flame artist Kieran Baxter. “Each ad is uniquely mesmerizing. They will really stand out and I can't wait to see them on air.”
“This was a really interesting project to work on,” adds Sara Faulkner, editor at Envy. “It’s rare to work on something of such impressive physical scale. Every time you re-watch each one, you notice another quirky little moment.”