Standard Bank’s proposition, “Moving forward’, took a new twist with an ad that goes back in time.
Conceptualised by TBWA Hunt Lascaris, viewers are treated to archival scenes starting with the Wright Brothers’ first flight; through World War 2; the independence of an African nation; the advent of YouTube; and a freshly filmed nod at South Africa’s upcoming Square Kilometre Array telescope – or was that really archival footage of a newly independent African nation?
When I put the question to Egg director Kim Geldenhuys his response was: “You tell us…’
It is tough to tell archive film from original film made to appear historical and many people will find it a treat to watch this ad for this reason alone.
Coupled with the upbeat music track, Life Could Be a Dream, viewers are bound to enjoy it even more as bystanders in close proximity of historical figures and other characters sing along to the tune. Ultimately the ad takes you forward in time and poses the question: “Doesn’t it feel good to move forward?’
The ad is a combination of archival footage married with scenes filmed on green screen, as well as completely original film. There are over 17 scenes that appear archival and many are garnered from stock footage for which Egg had to secure the rights.
“This was incredibly time-consuming and tricky as it affected what we shot,’ says Geldenhuys. “It became a moving target due to permissions granted or declined. Each time footage was declined the entire edit had to be reconsidered.’
Another aspect that proved tricky was matching the lip sync of the new footage with that of the archive footage.
“Old footage was often shot at a different frame rate, so for these scenes we had to slow the playback track down by 15-20%, the performers would then have to sing at this slower pace, a challenge in itself. These takes were then sped up again in order to match the speed of the original footage. ‘
There were a number of steps in marrying the new footage with the archival shots. Pre-shoot, the Egg team with the assistance of BlackGinger studied each of the archival scenes to determine what lens it was shot on, the camera position, movement, frame rate and the lighting used. This extrapolated information was then used to inform the execution of each green screen setup (with the actors). The footage was then keyed, stabilised and retracked to each shot.
“The hardest part of the process was matching the degradation of archival footage,’ says Geldenhuys. “All in all a fantastic job done by the technicians on set and the many people that worked behind the scenes at BlackGinger.’
By Anton Crone
Screen Africa magazine – November / December 2013
