Aflac “Film Noir”: Mill NY Rescues Damsels and Ducks
1st March 2004 - Aflac’s latest commercial, as debuted during this year’s Oscars, uses a stylish 1940’s film noir path to tell a classic tale: private investigator meets femme fatale meets duck.
An authentic film noir look was achieved by placing black and white film stock in the able hands of director of photography, Frederick Elmes (Blue Velvet, The Ice Storm).
The actual shoot took place in an unglamorous LA studio back-lot, so The Mill was brought in to generate a little more drama. For an added moody touch, rainfall was multiplied by compositing additional rain footage into shots whilst adding some specially generated 3D raindrops.
However, the biggest challenge came in bringing life to the duck. Most shots were achieved using an animatronic model. In the lamppost scene, the duck was shot static, so The Mill used Flame to manipulate its form into making it look like it was leaning against the post. Its feathers had to be moved and its wing warped to make its interaction with the lamp seem more realistic. A webbed-foot was created in CG and added to make the duck appear more dynamic. In later shots its beak was augmented to synch with its saying of ‘Aflac’.
The duck’s ‘kicking’ came from marrying two separate plates of a live-action duck. Its head and neck were replaced with CG animation so as to create a characterful reaction. Finally, all shadows were created in 3D; whilst the duck in the last shot , as pictured here, was entirely generated in 3D.
Product - Aflac / Title - Film Noir / Agency - Kaplan Thaler Group / Producer - Tim Legallo / Creatives - Eric David & Tom Amico / Prod Co - Headquarters (LA) / Directors - Joe Public / Producer - Paul Ure / Film Editor - Red Car (NY) / Editor - Jerry Fried / Mill NY / Producer - Wendy Garfinkle / Lead Inferno - Richard deCarteret / Inferno Team - Phil Crowe - Judy Roberts - Jamie Scott - David Parker - Dirk Greene - Jeanette Williford / Shoot Supervisor - Jeff Robbins / Lead 3D - Dadi Einarsson / 3D Team - Yann Mabille - Aron Hjartarson - Arlene Persaud / Airdate - 29th February 2004
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