Concern Ad.

This ad was funded by Development Cooperation Ireland and Concern. It is intended to raise awareness of the Millenium Development Goals.

This ad focuses on the goal to achieve universal primary school education for children by 2015.

I developed the idea of juxtaposing children from the first and third worlds talking about their ambitions. The camera tracks into a child in a prosperous school library while he talks about becoming an astronaut etc. When the camera is close enough we can see a semi-transparent brain overlayed on his head, the image of the child is replaced by an African child in a shanty town but the brain stays the same. The camera tracks out and the African child talks about her ambitions etc.

After meeting with John O’Connell from Screenscene it was decided to shoot the actors in front of a green screen and create the backgrounds as CGI models. Initial green screen tests were carried out at NMTC using the Panasonic AGX100 DV camera - this camera uses new technology which allows it to shoot at 25fps - like film - this makes it suitable for green screen work which normally requires a film camera.
The library could have been shot on location but the shanty town would have to be developed digitally. The decision was taken to create both digitally so that they would match in colour and contrast.
The tests were sent out to Screenscene. The green was successfully removed and replaced with a full colour image and colour graded to match.

A CGI brain was animated using 3D Studio Max by Sean McDermott. This was incorporated into the ad between the shots of the Irish and African children.

I shot some stills of locations to be used to create the CGI backgrounds. These images are used both as reference images and actual textures in the CGI models.

Casting took place at NMTC in November. The actors were cast via the National Performing Arts School Agency.

Voiceover recording was completed in December at NMTC studios. The Irish child was recorded speaking about his school and opportunities and also aspirations for the future. It was innitially decided to not give the African child a voice but to use an adult voiceover artist to identify the millenium development goal and to give some information about it. The childs voice was later added to balance the two sections of the ad.

The actors were shot in front of a green screen in the studio at NMTC. A camera tracking system was used to move the camera in and out without changing perspective (necessary for digital post production). John from Screenscene attended the 1 day shoot and made the necessary measurements needed to create a CGI background that matched the subjects lighting conditions. He was also able to advise on suitable camera techniques and lighting.

The live action and CGI models were composited using a Flame system. Atmospherics were also added.