MPC and Grey London create a lifelong kiss for Vodafone

The emotive spot, directed by Frederic Planchon was filmed with hand held cameras to give the effect of one continuous shot. The piece charts the life cycle of one couples' relationship from their first kiss, to promote Vodafone red across multiple markets.

VFX Supervisor Kamen Markov led the team on the spot. “This is a really moving spot and totally unique in the way its been filmed. It was a challenging job to achieve these seamless transitions with no motion control, but we worked closely with Grey and Frederic and are really pleased with the final result.”

VFX Detail

The spot is filmed entirely with hand-held cameras, and no motion control whatsoever. This allows totally free and organic camera movement. Kamen explains, “Other spots that have a similar concept to this in terms of camera moves hide the transitions between people and objects. We worked with Frederic to give this spot something different- all of the transitions are in the viewers’ eye, but at the same time difficult to catch at the exact moment they are happening. This approach is quite different, and a very honest and satisfying way of working artistically.”

This was a unique undertaking for the team, who supervised over 600 shots during the 3-day shoot. The spot was filmed in chronological order and following each take the shots were matched. This required a constant dialogue between the VFX team, the editor and the director. 

The piece uses different actors in each sequence. As well as the transitions, the team worked to match the constantly changing backgrounds and scenery. The team utilized Flame and Nuke, as well as other morphing and distorting tools to achieve the final effect.

Kamen said, “Transitions are generally hard to achieve, let alone with no motion control. The flowing nature of this spot reflects that fact the fact that life isn’t controlled, which is beautifully portrayed in this piece.”