AFCG Archives - Effects

Liquid Tagamet - HB 200

Client: Smithkline Beecham Consumer Brands

Agency: Jordan, McGrath, Case & Partners

Director: Alex Fernbach

Production: Arf & Co./PAWS

Post: Black Logic

CGI: AFCG, Inc.

SCENE A: Open on a close-up of three tablets on a glass surface suspended over a textured background. As a spoon enters from the top of the frame and comes to rest on the glass surface, the Tagamet tablet comes to life and jumps up into the spoon where it trasforms into the new Tagamet liquid.

Arf & Co. shot motion control passes of the background and spoon. AFCG camera-tracked the live action pass and created the three tablets and the transformation to the liquid. In the end, AFCG also replaced the live action spoon with a CG spoon using a still frame of the spoon as a texture. All elements, including shadows and reflections were created in CG. The only live film element used in this final scene is the clean background pass.

SCENE B: Open on a close-up of a Tagamet tablet falling through frame over a textured background. The pill continues falling until it lands and bounces in the bowl of a spoon. The pill then transforms into the new Liquid Tagamet.

Arf & Co. shot motion control passes of the background and spoon. AFCG camera tracked the live action pass and created the Tagamet tablet and the transformation to the liquid. In the end, AFCG also replaced the live action spoon with a CG spoon using a still frame of the spoon as a texture. All elements, including shadows and reflections were created in CG. The only live film element used in this final scene is the clean background pass.

SCENE C: Open on an extreme close-up of two competitor tablets. A finger pushes the Tagamet tablet into frame as the camera pulls back and up to a wide shot of all three tablets.

Arf & Co. shot motion control passes of the background, styrofoam pill references, and an extreme close-up of an actors finger over green screen. AFCG camera tracked the live action pass using "RasTrack" and created the finger push and the three CG tablets. The finger was created by using a simple capped tube with a projected still frame of the finger image.

Special thanks to Alex and Andrew at ARF & Co. and especially to Peter Cohen and Gene Case at Jordan...