1stavemachine and Mother London focus attention on the global water crisis with a spectacular spiral zoetrope directed by Tim Brown and 1stave’s resident master of physical magic Bob Partington for the ongoing partnership of Stella Artois and Matt Damon’s Water.org.

Behind the scenes:

Dani Rotsein, Line Producer at Palma Pictures in Mallorca: “The zoetrope structure was very complex indeed. Bob Partington, one of the directors, came over to Mallorca weeks before the shoot to run some tests with the Art Director Martin Van Der Meijden. The art department team worked for two months on the project from design to completion. The sculpture was built in their workshop, tested and then four days before the shoot it was deconstructed and moved to the studios in Binnisalem.”

The finished ad:

“Since the construction of the helix involved so many moving parts as well as suppliers it was essential that we kept to the very strict schedule. We arranged for the chalice’s to be laser printed locally, so it was crucial we had the drawings for each on time to allow Martin and his team the time to cut and place them on each glass by hand.”

The version with Matt Damon:

“We had the special Motion Control camera brought down from the UK. The production team had one shoot day to catch the locked-frame rate animation shots. The second shoot day was used for the other camera angles as well as shooting the double for Matt Damon.

“Also what you do not see in the final films was the complex lighting scheme. The plexi and glasses reflected everywhere so we had to keep the lighting the same throughout the day but since it was a daylight studio you would see the light changing with the sun’s movement. We had three cranes with lights on them outside as well as lights in the neighbor’s terraces next to the studio in order to help keep the lighting constant.”

Client: Stella Artois, Water.org

Agency: Mother London
Creative Director: Kit Dayaram
Creatives: Jess Reynolds, Chris Vernon
Agency Producer: Sam Dowling

Production Company: 1stAveMachine
Director: Bob Partington
Director: Tim Brown
Producer: Isabella Parish
Production Manager: Kerry Smart
DOP: Ed Wild
Post Production Producer: Chris Allen
Editor: James Rose
VFX Supervisor: Tony Landais
Art Director: Martin Van Der Meijden

VFX/previz: CherryCherry
VFX Supervisor: Tony Landais
Executive Producer: Chris Allen

Spanish Service Co.: Palma Pictures
Line Producer: Dani Rotstein
Production Coordinator: Marta Jimenez