Cinebots, Volume Walls and Tight Budgets: Adrian Vieni on Bringing a Charitable Spot to Life
There probably isn’t a director on the planet who doesn’t care about their work being good. After all, the final cut is meant to represent your vision, artistic ability and skill, which means it’d be criminal to give anything but your best, each and every shoot.
However, this gets taken to a whole new level when it comes to productions related to charitable organisations. You’re facing all the pressures mentioned above, along with the knowledge that ultimately, your work might be the difference between the donations rolling in or not. It’s a high bar to clear, and one which director Adrian Vieni took very seriously in his latest collaboration with Ronald McDonald House Charities (director's cut below).
Working alongside Impossible Studios, 2D House, Cossette, Outsider and Studio Feather, Adrian – as with many on the project – was immediately drawn to the cause and wanted to make something beautiful. Navigating limited budgets and the fact that it was his first time shooting on a volume wall, he created a short but poignant timelapse of a family in the car – representative of the journey that four in five families make in order to give their sick children care. A labour of love from everyone involved, it serves as a testament to what happens when people rally together around a good cause, and how sometimes, the truest-to-vision work can come – against the odds – from moments like these.
To learn more, LBB’s Jordan Won Neufeldt sat down with Adrian for a chat.
LBB> From the top, what was the brief for this project, and why was this something you were keen to be involved in?
Adrian> Cossette and Ronald McDonald House Charities originally came to us with this idea of a visual loop to depict the never-ending drive that four in five families have to make in order for their sick children to receive the healthcare they need. I was immediately drawn to the cause, and the subject matter – it's heavy and real, but still full of hope – and I wanted to bring new life to the idea and do the story justice. Not to mention the creative team at Cossette was super collaborative and a pleasure to work with from day one. Even with only about a week to pull it off, I knew there were ways we could get really creative in the process of bringing it to life, and thankfully we had tons of support in making those ideas a reality.
LBB> Let’s talk about the storyboarding process. What exactly did you envision for this, and how did it lead to the final result?
Adrian> The original scope was a static shot focused on the mom driving, seeing a continuous loop from day to night and back to day, all within a 15-second window. It was similar to the ‘Lofi Girl’ YouTube channel where we see the world loop and the actions of our hero continue. I loved the idea, and got straight to work on how we could achieve it in live action.
Ultimately, I became determined to create this loop completely in camera, using practical effects and real-time transitions. We knew this was a huge challenge, and knew that working with our post partners in advance of the shoot would be key. We landed on the volume wall as the perfect tool to bring this to life, and it allowed us to even expand on the idea and achieve more than we could have hoped for. When 2D House brought the option of a Cinebot Mini motion control robot to the table, the idea started to blossom into something really special. I had this idea of depicting a really exaggerated passing of time, blending various scenes and locations into a smooth one-take movement, which is what you see in the final piece.
LBB> Notably, you were working with a pretty tight budget here. How did this impact your planning? What did it take to make sure every dollar was stretched to its limit?
Adrian> With the very limited budget and big dreams of how to tell the story, we called on production partners with big hearts who helped us bring this to life. Evan Blacker, James Hughes and Josh Ellis from 2D House were kind enough to work with us through the storyboarding process, guiding us on how best to bring the idea to life. Our editor, Daniel Karan, helped create a custom driving plate loop ahead of the shoot, and we paired it with carefully timed lighting cues that my DP, Adam Madryzk, came up with in order to transition us from day to night and back again, all within one setup.
This then grew into the longer spot you see here, where each plate had a custom look and chase designed for it to replicate the time of day and bring an emotive, painterly light to the film. The motion control camera system was the icing on the cake, allowing us to create a seamless transition from scene to scene in motion – not just as a static shot – by executing a repeatable pre-programmed crane and dolly move in real-time. We shot it a few times per environment and time of day, varying our actions between takes, and then created the seamless stitch that makes up the film.
LBB> As mentioned, you also still ended up shooting on a volume wall despite the budget limitations! What was this the right choice for the project, and what was working with it like?
Adrian> I still don’t know how, but 2D House and Impossible Studios made magic here in getting us the volume wall for this shoot. Being my first shoot on the volume wall, I was a bit nervous at the start, but those nerves subsided as soon as the wonderful, generous team at 2D came on board to help us. Realistically, there was no other way to achieve the vision other than the volume. Without it, we would have been on a process trailer driving around the province for days, trying to find the right variety of scenery and time of day.
LBB> Specifically, the way the vehicle captures and reflects the outside scenery and lighting is really impressive. How did you utilise the wall to ensure the final visuals would be so immersive?
Adrian> We learned pretty quickly to trust the process and let the wall provide most of the lighting. That's really the only way to keep it looking real. Embrace the reflections, the patches of changing light in the plates, and lean into the palette of the environments we chose.
A soft, painterly lighting look and colour palette only felt natural here, leaning into the dusky blue and magic hour tones which bring the most life and emotion to the visuals. Our DP and his team helped augment that throughout the shoot, adding hits of golden sun where it was needed, and little pops of texture from street lights or headlights in our nighttime scenes.
LBB> You also mentioned using a Cinebot Mini robot earlier. What inspired this decision?
Adrian> The Cinebot Mini motion control unit was the real star of the show here. It allowed us to programme the exact dolly and jib move we wanted, and repeat it with a push of a button. This meant that as long as we didn’t move the car or the track, we’d have a precise, repeatable move that would be identical every time. We captured each plate with this move, varying the action of our talent each time, and then stitched the takes together in post. The result is this seamless ‘one-take’ look where the camera moves and stays continuous, even as we jump through various times of days, scenery, etc..
LBB> Of course, despite the fact that the actors don’t talk, they play a big role in the final work. What was casting like? And how did you help them bring out their best performances in the car?
Adrian> Casting for emotional storytelling when there’s no dialogue can definitely be challenging. We only had a couple days for casting, but luckily we had a lot of fantastic submissions. What I was looking for, especially for the mom, were people who could bring a wide range of emotions simply through their facial expressions. I always like to let actors start with whatever they feel instinctually before giving them any specific direction, and these three had perfect instincts in their performances right from the start. I really wanted to illustrate the emotional toll these endless drives can take on a family, while also maintaining a sense of hope, and all three of them brought that to the table.
Thankfully, since we were shooting a continuous 30-second loop with no resets needed, we were able to bounce between many takes, and in post we just fished for the best little moments that made the film special.
LBB> What was the post process like? Did you have a hand in bringing the final edit to life?
Adrian> Outsider editor Daniel Karan was an amazing collaborator from pre-production to post. He understood the idea exactly as I imagined from the first call, and pieced it together so seamlessly. Once we got to put our heads together and find the best moments from each take, it really came to life.
Tricia Hagoriles and the team at Studio Feather also helped polish it, bringing out all that beauty from each frame and massaging the wall and colours to look as stylised yet real as possible. It was my first time working with Tricia since my very first commercial project about seven years ago, and it felt like a really nice full circle moment.
LBB> What lessons have you learned from the making of this campaign?
Adrian> The power of collaboration, and to trust the process. This was definitely the most collaborative project I’ve had the pleasure of working on, and each person brought something so special to it. It truly couldn’t have happened without each and every one of them.
LBB> Finally, are there any elements of the project you’re particularly proud of? And why?
Adrian> Honestly, just what we were able to pull off with very little. It was the little project that could. Within just about a week, we were able to go from concept to reality, without cutting any corners, and that is so rare and special. I hope the whole team is as proud of this as I am. This is one of the first times that what was in my mind was brought to life perfectly on screen, exactly how I had envisioned it. That in and of itself, is so refreshing.
