My producer asked me to conceptualize a Christmas card that could be sent to our clients, industry friends, etc. I came up with the idea of taking a company portrait against a green screen and then compositing the staff inside a snow globe. After discussing the idea, it quickly evolved into a more elaborate video Christmas card concept.
Stage 1: Creating the globe
Pretty much every snowglobe on the planet has something inside of it; a snowman, a picture, a house, etc. We needed an empty snowgoble. Since we couldn't find one, we made one out of materieals from a craft store. And since we couldn't find anything we could put inside for the "snow," we would have to create the snow in post.
Stage 2: Shooting
Myself, Mark Utley, Matt Garand and Stephen hunt created a set to shoot the snowglobe, and the staff members who would be "falling" inside the snowglobe. The greenscreen set was a pretty standard setup, but the shot with the snowglobe presented a challenge. We not only had to light the hands and snowglobe properly, we had to be very mindful of the speculars that were created on the actual globe. They couldn't bee too overpowering, but they had to be visible. They had to have the right shape so that they would look natural. And we created the "window" specular sort of at the last minute by placing a blue gel and carefully placed gaffer tape over a softbox.
Stage 3: Post production
A lot of work was done in 3D to create the snow. It was basically a lot of trial and error with the physics to get the snow to appear "shaken." The company logos were also brought into the 3D program and 3D-ified. After the final polish was put on, music added, we sent this video out to all our clients and friends, and brought a little holiday cheer to young and old. Check out the full video and breakdown by clicking on the thumbnail. And please leave a comment with your thoughts, ect. Merry Christmas!
