Working under the banner ‘You Are Powerful', the film/s highlight the fact that everyone has it within themselves to stand up against human rights abuse.
A series of seven modern-day characters were shot in contemporary situations, then composited into the existing news footage where they interact and prevent the violence happening in each of the pieces.
The characters' portraits were shot as individual vignettes on 16mm and then also shot against green screen, matching the timing and action of the existing news footage, on HDSR using stabilised shots as reference. They were then roto'd and composited into the film.
To create the degraded look of the existing films, whilst still recognising the modern outfits, the graded characters were sent through a VHS deck and re-composited.
The process was technically challenging for the team, especially dropping the new characters into existing news footage so that they blended in seamlessly and yet stood out on first viewing.
Crucial role
The central idea relied entirely on post production. 50 days of post work were required but with only 11 days available in the schedule. Rushes led what could be described as a 'Post House Amnesty' with Smoke & Mirrors London and New York and Framestore CFC also weighing in with their top operators so that the task could be completed in time.
Rushes' lead Flame artist Rufus Blackwell said that technically it was very tricky.
“The footage was already extremely degraded and often, as the sequences we were working with were hand held and the cameraman was walking, the perspective changes were problematic,” he explained.
“Before the shoot we stabilised the footage so our green screen actors could match the move. In addition to the Flame Artist supervising on set we had a Combustion Artist quickly making up rough comps of the Director's selected takes.”
“Naturally we wanted to produce the best comp possible. They looked technically correct but there was something missing ... so we used an old video deck from the basement and sent all the new elements through it for that authentic VHS look. The finished product is subtle yet powerful. It certainly makes you think.”
Quick turnaround
The turnaround time was tough so Smoke & Mirrors used both of its offices and their different time zones to its advantage. This meant that lead creative Sean Broughton could work through the night in NY with the London office picking up first thing the next day.
Broughton said: “This was an opportunity to do some real good, so pulling out all the stops was the only way to go. Taking Kim Gehrig (Academy Director and Mother Creative) through each scenario and figuring out the best way to shoot our replacement hero's, was a joy. Understanding exactly how she wanted each shot to feel, as well as work technically, was very important.
"She shot everything we needed perfectly to make the shots work as well as they did ... while still capturing the right emotional vibe in a single day.”
Framestore's contribution was created over two days in Flame by senior Inferno artist Stephane Allender.
“The actors had been shot blue screen,” said Allender, “I was working with genuine footage of a hanging which was pretty upsetting. The shot was of a noose being placed over a man's neck. To create our effect, we first reversed the footage, so that the scene was of a noose being removed.
"We then had to remove the executioner and replace him with our actor. It was actually a very difficult shot because of the inevitable small mismatches between the positions of the real hangman's arm and those of our actor - we had to stretch the arms and re-time the material.”
The vignettes were graded by Rushes' head of telecine Adrian Seery and premiered as part of The Secret Policeman's Ball 2008 on Channel 4. The films will also be released as a standalone cinema ad and online.
Credits
Product: Amnesty International
Production Title: ‘You Are Powerful'
Agency: Mother London
Agency Producer: Ed Sayers
Production Company: Academy Films
Director: Kim Gehrig
Producer: Lucy Gossage
DOP: Mattias Montero
Film Editor: Joe Guest / Final Cut
Sound Mix: Ben Firth / Factory
Post: Rushes / Smoke & Mirrors / Framestore
Rushes Producer: Emma Watterson
Rushes Colourist: Adrian Seery
Rushes VFX: Rufus Blackwell (Lead), Adam Watson, Richie White, Marcus Wood, Leo Weston
Rushes Combustion: Joe Dymond, Dan Alterman, Anthony Laranjo, Noel Harmes
Smoke & Mirrors Producers: Belinda Grew, Paul Schleicher
Smoke & Mirrors Creative Lead, New York: Sean Broughton
Smoke & Mirrors Flame, London: Marios Theodosi
Framestore VFX Supervisor: Stephane Allender
Framestore Producer: Pauline Piper
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