Tag Archive for ‘hang-gliding’ at Fischer Edit/FX Blog | Blog about Creative Editorial, Visual Effects & Finishing for the Advertising, Film & Television Industries

I love to tell stories. A good story becomes a great story by the way it is told. When I saw the boards for the Washington State Lottery spot “Birds” from Scott Rausmassen and Jeff Siegle at Publicis West, I thought it was good story. The challenge was how to tell it and make it a great story.

Creativity and excitement feed each other. I met with Fischer Edit Producer Bill Rogina and Fischer FX artist Jake Parker. I also had a conference call with Director Jerry Brown from Sticks ‘n Stones in Los Angeles. Jerry and Jake talked a lot about the effects work and green screen and how to make it seamless and totally believable. We could all sense this spot would be very cool.

Building emotional impact, and making people feel something. When I started editing with Jerry, it just clicked. I had seen his reel and could tell what a great storyteller he was. My editing background at The Sundance Institute, Moonstone, and the short films I have done, made me a good match with Jerry. I love the little nuances and shots that give detail and propel the story forward.

Hang-gliders in Washington Lottery’s ad

As an editor I pull from personal experiences: with the “Birds” spot, it was flying lessons. When I was getting some solo flight time out of the Crystal Airport in the Piper Tomahawk 2423November, I flew out west of Minneapolis to practice some maneuvers. I was flying over a farmer’s fields practicing turns and then leveling the wings when I’d cross a road. It was such a lovely free feeling out there, I was so into it.

I decided I had better get back to the Crystal Airport. It was then that I realized I was so into the maneuvers I was lost! I thought quickly and pulled out the map from my flight kit to start looking for lakes, railroad tracks, freeways, etc. I pulled it out and, WHOA, it’s for the Dallas /Ft Worth area! After the initial shock, almost stalling, I kept my composure. I found the Albertville Water Tower and made it back to the Crystal Airport – and made a perfect landing!

It’s just like editing.

- by Lindy Wilson, editor

Fischer Edit, Minneapolis, Minn.

www.lindywilson.com

View “Birds” here:

Washington Lottery’s “Birds” edited by Fischer Edit from Fischer Edit on Vimeo.

The “Birds” shoot was a great experience. The director, producer, crew and agency folks were all top-notch and a pleasure to work with. Unfortunately, the weather was not as cooperative as we all had hoped it would be. Every morning was socked with fog that usually lasted into early afternoon – which led to some creative thinking.

Fog on set

For one thing, the gliders we composited into the spot were shot against “white screen” (fog) instead of blue sky, as we had hoped. The emu element was shot against green screen (as planned) but they had to set up a “fog barrier” so we wouldn’t have the mist drifting through, thus contaminating the green.

Glider shot set-up

Since there were no insane glider pilots available to fly with a 150-pound payload suspended between them, the emu shot was built in the Flame. The biggest challenge was to figure out what a pair of gliders would do! Clearly, they would not behave as normal?gliders do in flight and as there was nothing to reference, it was a matter of best-guess (and trial and error) until we arrived at an animation that worked. In addition to the glider challenge, the emu’s “performance” was singularly uninteresting, so for the composite we needed to animate his legs and head first and as separate elements.

The emu’s rig

A couple shots in the spot required air-to-air photography. This was achieved with the Borg (”Resistance is futile”) helmet cam, which was a Photo-Sonics 16mm 1VN camera mounted on Joe Greblo’s helmet (”Glider Joe”). Look at the photo and you’ll see why I felt the Star Trek reference apropos. He did a great job filming while piloting a motorized glider above the subject glider. The other camera you see attached to his helmet is a consumer video camera which was aligned with the film camera and served as the video assist, as the Photo-Sonics had no video tap.
Glider Joe

One of the overhead glider shots required additional gliders. These were shot on green screen from above while being suspended from cables. The same rigging setup was used to photograph them from ground level with a second camera (against the “white screen” sky), so we had overhead and profile glider composite elements to use in post.