Palma Pictures Takes Us Behind the Scenes with Matt Damon & Stella Artois

Mother London and Production Company 1stAveMachine have developed a delicate, painted-glass zoetrope composed of unique Stella Artois chalices for new charity campaign ‘Buy a Lady a Drink’. The project continues Stella Artois’ association with Water.org, a charity committed to ending the worldwide water crisis.

The campaign is comprised of two films, both shot in Studios in Mallorca with Palma Pictures. The lead 90-second spot features a tower of Stella Artois glasses spiraling skywards in the centre of a pure white studio. As the tower begins to rotate, the painted images tell the story of a woman’s journey for water. A companion film also features an address from Hollywood actor Matt Damon, who contemplates the story on the zoetrope.

Dani Rotsein, Line Producer at Palma Pictures, describes how the creative team put together the plexi-glass sculpture in Binnisalem, Mallorca:

 “The zoetrope structure was very complex indeed. Bob Partington, one of the directors, came over to Mallorca weeks before the shoot to run some tests with the Art Director Martin Van Der Meijden. The art department team worked for two months on the project from design to completion. The sculpture was built in their workshop, tested and then four days before the shoot it was deconstructed and moved to the studios in Binnisalem.

“Since the construction of the helix involved so many moving parts as well as suppliers it was essential that we kept to the very strict schedule. We arranged for the chalices to be laser printed locally, so it was crucial we had the drawings for each on time to allow Martin and his team the time to cut and place them on each glass by hand.”

To achieve the fluid effect presented in the final film –described by Director Tim Brown as a “three dimensional flip book” – the camera was tracked upwards so that the film of the Zoetrope had a stable frame that did not have the typical ‘rising’ effect.

“We had the special Motion Control camera brought down from the UK.” Adds Dani; “The production team had one shoot day to catch the locked-frame rate animation shots. The second shoot day was used for the other camera angles as well as shooting the double for Matt Damon - which was an exciting first, asI got to play his body double!”

“Also what you do not see in the final films was the complex lighting scheme. The plexi and glasses reflected everywhere so we had to keep the lighting the same throughout the day but since it was a daylight studio you would see the light changing with the sun’s movement. We had three cranes with lights on them outside as well as lights in the neighbour’s terraces next to the studio in order to help keep the lighting constant.”

Stella Artois and Water.org have brought clean water to over 290,000 people in the past year. By visiting BuyaLadyaDrink.com and donating $25,the contribution will guarantee someone in the developing world can access five years of clean water. Those who donate will receive a limited edition Stella chalice designed by artists from nations as diverse as Haiti, Peru and Kenya.The choice of beverage is left to you.