Cantera Negra’s Volcanic Spot Burns Brightly
Picture the scene – as you sit to enjoy a drink of tequila, volcanic ash and embers fall around you. An unusual drinking experience - yes – but the setting nonetheless for the latest campaign from tequila brand, Cantera Negra.
Opening with patrons drinking in a volcanic environment, the spot, aptly titled, ‘Keep Burning’, is led by a daring female protagonist, who deftly sidesteps falling rocks and straddles a horse in a bid to convey the unique qualities of the spirit. Forming an emblematic tableau as the horse rears on its hind legs, the scene transforms into a typical bar setting, with a painting in the background displaying the same frozen horse image.
The work of ad agency Colossus Creative, production company Minted Content and post production studio Subset, the fiery campaign champions the unique qualities of Cantera Negra. Designed with an old-school Hollywood inspired look and feel in mind, the spot required a combination of practical VFX, CG, stop motion, face replacement and atmospherics to create a believable, tangible experience.
To find out more about how this was achieved, LBB spoke with the team at Subset.
LBB> You raised the temperature of this spot with a fiery volcanic eruption, how did you set about crafting this setting? What was the most important thing to get right?
Subset> Our CG team started experimenting on the look of the volcano early using Houdini and it was a huge collaboration between us, the agency and production to get the look just right – where the physics of the volcano felt correct, but the look of it felt like it belonged in the old Hollywood matte painting that we were all trying to achieve.
LBB> Falling embers of fire continue to descend during the spot, adding an extra element of detail and depth – how did this enhance the overall look and feel of the film?
Subset> That was something we spent a while massaging. The challenge was placing them appropriately in the matte painting, which is a 2D element with no depth, to make it look as though there is 3D depth. Often it was a bit of a mind-bender, trying to merge something with dimension into something without any, but we love the overall final look.
LBB> The bottle of Cantera Negra tequila is unveiled within the leaves of a rapidly growing cactus plant. How did you craft this moment to ensure that the reveal of the bottle was built up to and anticipated?
Subset> That was a shot the director was adamant about shooting practical and we think it paid off. The leaves of the agave were puppeteered to open and push the bottle upwards and of course we sweetened that up a little with some animation of our own, but the bones of it were practical and the final result is definitely something special.
LBB> One of Subset’s responsibilities in this project was face replacement, can you tell me more about this?
Subset> We shot a stunt double about the same size as our talent, who was an incredible rider, on the back of the horse. We then placed the talent in the same light, with the same lens at roughly the same height of the back of the horse and she leaned back as though she was riding the horse. It was actually pretty seamless. Sometimes these things don’t work out, but this one did because of all the pre-production time we spent planning it perfectly.
LBB> How did you collaborate with the wider production team to create the perfect atmosphere and environment?
Subset> Subset was involved from the beginning pitch stage. We have a lovely relationship with Minted and Joachim [Back, director] and we helped guide them through the beginning design stages. The director wanted this old-school Hollywood feel to things, and we were there to help him achieve that with modern visual effects, which was really fun.
LBB> Did you use any specific technologies or tools during the post production process?
Subset> I think like most studios, we’re starting to creep into AI a bit and get a lot more comfortable with it. We generated stock elements using various text-to-video models and also used AI to extend the matte painting beyond what was shot. Beyond that, we got to flex our muscles doing heavy simulations in Houdini and we brought in some absolute rockstars to composite and bring this thing to life.
LBB> Finally, what was the most challenging aspect of the spot, and how did you approach the task?
Subset> I would say the most challenging aspect of the spot was going through a bottle of tequila into a boiling bowl of lava and back out through a painting. That took a lot of creative previsualisation and experimentation to get right. Ultimately, we married just about every technique together, from liquid simulations to stock elements to hand animation, to pull off the effect in a way that everyone was happy with. Shout-out to the wonderful agency Colossus for bringing a lot of creative clarity to some of these technical challenges, we couldn’t have pulled it off without them.
