Directorial duo Eidur Snorri and Einar Snorri (aka The Snorri Bros.) were recently tapped by ad agency Commerce House to tackle a technically challenging campaign for Texas Health Resources. The “Your World” campaign includes two :30 spots shot with a unique 360-degree camera rig.
The campaign aims to promote Texas Health Resources’ well-being initiatives by illustrating that each part of a person’s life impacts their overall mental and physical health. For a striking visual illustration, the Snorri Bros and Commerce House opted to utilize immersive imagery that would make each spot’s main character truly feel like the center of his or her world. However capturing moving immersive imagery without feeling gimmicky proved to be a challenge.
After testing various camera rigs, the Snorri Bros combined a 360-degree camera (one rig housing ten GoPro cameras) with their own SNORRICAM, a body-mounted camera rig with a swivel feature. The combination let the directors avoid some common challenges of working with 360-degree cameras – including keeping crew and equipment out of the shot – by having the camera mounted directly to the hero actor, with the swivel feature allowing the actors enough space and flexibility to freely interact with the rest of the cast.
The directors were then able to follow each hero actor in one continuous camera movement, keeping them as the focal points as the scenes and supporting cast changed around them.
Postproduction presented a new set of challenges, as the footage from the 10 cameras needed to be stitched together seamlessly. The Snorri Bros worked with The Artery and Brickyard VFX to merge the footage and track back into “planet view,” creating the camera movements in post. Artists Vico Sharabani and Nikola Todorovic developed a unique pipeline combining tools like 360-degree plug-in players with panoramic photography software in order to gain full control of the camera movement and program its path throughout the immersive environment. Brickyard VFX’s Patrick Poulatian handled final color and stitching of the images to complete this unique final package of spots.
“The Snorri Bros were incredible partners in bringing this concept to fruition,” said executive producer Peter Steinzeig. “We were blown away by their dedication to experimenting with various rigs and VFX methods to ensure that this campaign would be the best it could be. The results speak for themselves.”
