Director:
Rama Allen
Production:
The Mill
Agency:
BLT & Associates
How do you make a Stephen King-worthy promo? Drowning a little girl is a good way to start. "It's very challenging to put a seven-year-old girl underwater and capture the right behaviors on camera," says The Mill Director Rama Allen. "The brief from [agency] BLT & Associates included making the town feel like it was underwater, so we had to make it look believable but also make it look like dry land post-composite."
Allen found the setting for Bag of Bones 'Hold Your Breath' while on a road trip to the Catskill Mountains. "I pulled over to get gas and noticed this little abandoned town called Parksville. We took some test shots that night to make sure it had the right feel. It was then we knew we had found our world."
BLT wanted to create a spot that would tease the show but not use any of the actual footage, so all of the footage in the promo is unique. The Mill's production team built a tank to shoot leaves and other elements underwater. Using a macro lens and flipping it around which gave a telescopic effect, Rama was able to get very close to the elements through the tank's glass: "It was experimental, and after about six hours of playing around we got what we needed," he explains. Through a bespoke combination of striking live-action production, nimble editing from The Mill's Ryan McKenna and seamless compositing by Flame Artist Danny Morris, the end result is literally breath taking.
Agency: BLT & Associates
Creative Director: Erik Reponen
Chief Marketing Officer: Jenny Wall
Production: The Mill
Director: Rama Allen
Producer: Nic Barnes
Director of Photography: Max Goldman
Director of Content: Ian Bearce
Line Producer: Rich Schwab
Sound Design Company: Henryboy
Sound Designers: Bill Chesley, Rama Allen
Producer: Kate Gibson
Editing Company: The Mill NY
Editors: Ryan McKenna, Moss Levenson
VFX & Design: The Mill
Head of Design Production: Danielle Amaral
VFX Producer: Emily Branham
Shoot Supervisors: Tony Robins, Keith Sullivan
2D Artists: Danny Morris, Dan Williams, Lenz Kol
Assist: Randy Krueger
Matte Painting: Bryce Wymer
Designer: Rob Roth