Beer labels fill the skies in latest Miller Genuine Draught spot from Framestore

'Labels', a new spot for Miller Genuine Draught in the U.S., features thousands of beer labels peeling themselves off their bottles and filling the streets and skies in migratory flocks.
The spot was created by The Martin Agency and directed by Bruno Aveillan for Believe Media, with spectacular digital VFX courtesy of Framestore CFC.
'Labels' is a case study in the new ways of working that are continuing to evolve in the global marketplace. Through judicious use of state of the art production tools, Framestore CFC was able to coordinate events over three continents, to create a sophisticated 30 second spot in just a few short weeks.
The project came to Framestore NY with little advance warning, and VFX Supervisor Mike McGee flew to Auckland without even a storyboard to start from. Working closely with the director, Bruno Aveillan, McGee swiftly began to home in on the VFX the production would need. The two-and-a-half week shoot included six days in Auckland for the city shots, as well as the more suburban looks that were filmed in and around Queenstown.
Meanwhile, back in London, Head of 3D, Commercials, Andy Boyd began creating some sketch animations of possible movements for the flapping labels. These tests were sent to Aveillan and McGee on the shoot via 'front', Framestore CFC's proprietary suite of production tools.
"Using front, we could make the 12-hour time difference work in our favour," said McGee, "I would brief Andy in the evening and get results on my desktop the following morning."
Boyd used two different software packages to create the animations he needed. The 'hero' label shots - close-up, hand animated shots - were done in Maya and the 'flocking' shots - involving up to 15,000 individual labels - were done in Houdini.
The animated labels were created over two weeks of intensive work. As they began to roll off the production line, they were sent to Framestore NY, where compositors Maryanne Lauric and Murray Butler seated them snugly in their locations.
(SP)