James Nizman http://www.jamesnizam.com/
http://www.bravia-advert.com/sony-bravia-bouncy-balls/
250,000 super bouncy balls, 23 camera people, a hill in San Francisco and a colourful imagination manifested the Sony BRAVIA flat screen TV commercial in 2005. This amazing and massive live shoot produced what has been described as the best TV commercial ever made.
“Colour like no other” was the slogan for this creative commercial. The Danish director, Nikolai Fuglsig wanted colour, vitality and organic flow. The bouncy balls certainly brought the colours of the world into the commercial, giving life and soul to the shoot on San Francisco’s largest hill – Filbert and Leavenworth.
The message given by these colourful, bouncy balls was that you’d see colour on your BRAVIA LCD screens like no other colour you’d experienced before – alive and vibrant.
Another important element that mustn’t be forgotten is the music – José Gonzalez’s version of “Heartbeats” – which flowed throughout the commercial, bringing more life to the balls’ movement and enhancing visual experience.
THE MAKING OF THE COMMERCIAL
In preparation, three dumpsters filled with 35,000 balls each and twelve air mortars were loaded. As this was a live take the film crew had to be increased to 23. We can imagine the excitement in the air when the command was given. 50,000 balls were released from the top of the hill, to collide with another 50,000 balls released on a side street. Six takes were done during four days with the final film capturing that magical atmosphere.
Credit goes to MIZ’s Nikolai Fuglsig as director who worked on this commercial for Fallon London. The Whitehouse Post did the editing and post production took place at the Mill, both in London, with sound production taking place at Wave
Studios.
AWARD-WINNING COMMERCIAL
“Balls” Sony BRAVIA advert won a Golden Lion in June 2006 at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival and in July of the same year, “Balls” won the Grand Prix in London at the Midsummer Awards.
