The ad returns to the epic fibre tunnel of Virgin Media’s infinity service viewers were first introduced to in
‘Delivering Awesome’.
This time Virgin Media are bringing to life all the elements of an epic football match, including the thousands-strong crowds of fans, sports reporters, football stars, and team flags.
As the large hoard of fans march-on through the tunnel, each frame is cleverly used to zoom in on the key moments often seen at any match, heightening the viewers feeling of immersion in that scene.
Mill Head of 3D Mike Chapman explains; ‘The job was shot in the same 180ft tunnel as the previous Virgin Media ‘Delivering Awesome’, but with some key adaptions to accommodate a fresh lighting setup in order to give the film a darker and more atmospheric look.
We worked closely with Director Mark Jenkinson to maximize the impact of the extra bodies, which was around 150 people.
Using flare interactions and smoke we were able to enhance the pre-game atmosphere, planning where we would extend the tunnel and add CG crowd for the hero wide shots.’
Mill 2D Lead Artist Richard De Carteret comments; ‘Our main objective in this second installment for Virgin Media was to lengthen the tunnels and fill them with CG people, smoke and flags.
The choice of football kits worn were kept under-wraps until the film actually went to air, meaning we had to shoot the Southhampton players and fans separately.
Luckily we had 300 very excited volunteers for these shots, which we then tiled up to look like a few thousand fans. The embargo also meant that we had to hand paint the new strip onto characters in the previous scenes.’