MPC works with Park Pictures' Terence Neale on Facebook's F8 dynamic launch film
To kick off F8, Facebook’s 10th annual developer conference, they needed an engaging film to set the stage for Mark Zuckerberg’s introductory keynote. The film was shown at the beginning of the event, which is aimed developers, creators, entrepreneurs and innovators from around the world. It tells the story of Ella, a young woman who moves to a new city and uses Facebook to establish a community of friends and networks.
The MPC team, led by Creative Directors Rupert Cresswell and Alvin Cruz, handled VFX and design, working closely with the Facebook team and with Terence Neale. The film was graded by MPC’s Ricky Gausis.
The venue featured three screens and the film was conceived as a multi-screen experience from inception. Each screen played a unique timeline which created a truly engaging experience for the audience. “It’s great to work on a film with such a site-specific purpose. It’s so perfect for the space that it was presented in - it really looks amazing on the three giant screens, and the collage of New York textures and UI graphics works well to tell Ella’s story in a fresh and engaging way,” said Rupert, adding, “the main technical challenge was to work with a film which was split over three screens, making sure all elements were seamless.”
Three screens were set up at the MPC studio to replicate the format of the event, making the review sessions more effective. MPC’s 2D Lead Thiago Porto explained, “We recreated the stage’s same multi-screen setup, which was linked live to Flame, so that we could create animations and immersive shots quickly, and so all decisions and changes could be viewed in context and in real-time.”
Matthew Loranger, MPC’s Executive Producer, explained the importance of this type of film, saying, “It’s great to work directly with Facebook and with Terence on such an interesting project and on such a huge canvas. The multi screens give the audience a lot of content in a non-linear way - it’s a completely new way to tell a story and we’re proud to be a part of it.”
In addition to the dynamic set up, the film itself is sure to relate with many people on a personal level: “It’s a very human tale, following a girl as she makes a new life for herself in a new city with the help of a social network to build her new community. As a relative newcomer to the city myself, it really resonated,” Rupert added.
This marks a continued partnership with Facebook – MPC has worked with them on campaigns including ‘Wolfpack Hustle’ and ‘The Best Part of Facebook isn’t on Facebook’.
