Light Fantastic: Mill and Guinness Put on a Show

12th August 2008 - The Mill has worked with Irish International BBDO and director Peter Thwaites to give a new twist to the unmistakable Guinness brand. The 60-second spot ‘Light Show’, filmed over a six-night shoot in Prague, turns a high-rise building (actually the former Communist headquarters) into a multi-storey light spectacular which ultimately depicts a glass of Guinness as it foams, bubbles and settles into that distinctive creamy black-and-white pint.

The biggest challenge was the exterior end shot depicting the famous ‘slow-pour’ pint: here the lights had to be animated and reworked, with a few storeys added to the building to achieve just the right swirl of beer. Jordi and Andi worked with 30 frames of light patterns – created by Shake operator Becky Porter – and 16,000 textures in Houdini to create the lighting movements, using footage of a real pint of Guinness as a reference.

Finally Adam Scott worked in Spirit using the Revo to create a smooth, realistic grade in telecine and enhance the overall effect.
The light-switching was edited to the music by Rick Russell from Final Cut.

Product - Guinness / Title - Light Show / Agency - Irish International BBDO / Creatives - Catherine Lennon and Sophie Farquhar / Producer - Noel Byrne / Production Company - Gorgeous / Director - Peter Thwaites / Producer - Anna Hashmi / Editing Company - Final Cut / Editor - Rick Russell / Post Production - The Mill / Producer - Kate Stenhouse / Telecine - Adam Scott / Lead Flame - Jonathan Westley - Neil Davies / Flame Assist - Adam Lambert / 3D - Jordi Bares - Andy Nicholas / Shake - Becky Porter / Airdate - 31st July / Kit - Flame - Shake - Houdini

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