Ribena Migrates to Rushes

25th May 2007: It's a tragic notion but some berries, no matter how hard they try and how much they have endured, do not make it into Ribena drinks.

The commercial, directed by Daniel Greaves at Tandem Films and with special effects and finishing touches by Rushes, follows the different varieties of fruit; blackcurrants, blueberries, cranberries, and pomegranates as they migrate like a single-minded herd of wildebeest across vast tracts of treacherous land, including rivers, forests and plains towards the holy grail of the ‘Ribena Gates’.

The previous three slots that Tandem shot for Ribena were done in their rather large basement but after reading the script for 'Migration' it was clear that this required being shot on location and that there was no avoiding truly epic environments ... cue New Zealand.

Even though most of the scenes would be done from the perspective of the berries, suggesting macro photography that highlighted blades of grass, it was also important to feature the enormity of the landscape so as to emphasise the fragility, insignificance, and humour of the berries struggling against the forces of nature.

Mad Cow were brought in as the live action company, employing their experience and skills, especially in the low dramatic angle shots needed for the berries shuffling along the ground. The four-day shoot in New Zealand involved a bull wrangler, live trout and an eccentric old man driving a lawn mower over pomegranates!

Tandem Films used the Rushes’ animation team, led by Andy Hargreaves, to create photorealistic fruit with character to show the migration of the fruit and the trials the berries and fruit have to go through to reach the gates. The 3D team created initial animation tests, animatics for timing and animation for the generated fruit. Additional animation passes were created for dust interactions, water interactions and grass interactions for the fruit to give the animation a completely realistic feel. A combination of hand animation and procedural animation was used to create the millions of berries in the wide and the closer shots. The level of detail in the animation is amazing and on repeated viewings you pick up more and more humorous details.

Multiple lit and rendered passes were produced and Rushes’ Flame artist Adam Watson composited the live action fruit for the river sequence and the computer generated fruit to create a believable photorealistic style.

Combustion operators Joe Dymond and Anthony Laranjo created matte for the live action clipping planes and Adam Watson completed fine compositing for the 40 second, 30 second and 3 x 10 second commercials over 15 days.

Product: Ribena

Title: 'Migration'

Agency: M&C; Saatchi

Producer: Estella Alvares

Creative Director: Graham Fink

Art Director: Simon Briscoe & Orlando Warner

Production Company: Tandem Films

Director: Daniel Greaves

Executive Producer: Mike Bell

Producer: Lynn Hollowell

Post Facility: Rushes

Telecine: Adrian Seery

VFX: Adam Watson

3D Animation: Andy Hargreaves, Chris Hutchinson,

Janak Thakker, Sylvain Delaine and Mark Pascoe

Combustion/VFX: Anthony Laranjo & Joe Dymond

Animation Director: Mark Waring (Tandem Films)

DOP: Steve Downer (Mad Cow Films)

Editor: Chris Gavin (Tandem Films)

Sound Design: Russell Pay (Shrooty)

Music: Toby Jarvis (Mcasso)

Location Shoot: New Zealand

Co-Director: Mark Waring (Tandem Films)

Co-Director: Steve Downer (Mad Cow Films)

Producer: Nicholas Unsworth (Mad Cow Films)

Line Producer: Mark Matthews (Flying Fish)

Rushes Postproduction Ltd.

66 Old Compton Street

London

W1D 4UH

Tel: +44 (0)20 7437 8676

Fax: +44 (0)20 7734 2519