SABRA HUMMUS
“SNACKS”
DIRECTOR’S CUT
A really fun opportunity. We were tasked with creating unique looking and acting characters in a luxurious photographic environment. It’s a rare mix of style and design, a fun and challenging process. Not to mention comedy acting. In fact we had to tone down the comedy, to help Sabra get their desired branding message across. A very difficult needle to thread. Here’s how we did it:
Role: Co-Director
Finished Stills
Location Shoot
We shot the three room settings (kitchen, living room, office) in a soundstage in Montreal, using a translight backdrop of the room, with a table top setup in the camera foreground. Using a tight depth of field helped create a sense of atmosphere and realism that most contemporary food photography thrives on. And there was lots and lots of food styling.
Stop Motion Characters
We then shot the bodies of each food character in stop motion at Screen Novelties in LA. Matching the lighting from the live action plates, on a blue screen, allowed us to drop them into the scene with the flexibility to position and scale as needed.
Our result to this point was already promising.
CG Faces and Limbs
Adding the faces and limbs was done in CG, which was a challenge in itself to base the animation off what was started in stop motion. How to enhance the intention of what a stop motion artist started, while also bringing new life and ideas to character within that context.
