Filament Post Helps Samsung Spoof Game of Thrones in New Ad
Occasionally a project comes through the doors that allow a VFX team to have some creative fun. This month Peter Lydon of MindsEye selected Filament Post to work on his new vision for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2.
For the 60 and 30 second films Lydon has created a mystical world that reveals more than is expected at first sight.
The spots star Kristian Nairn, the Irish actor and DJ who is best known for his portrayal of Hodor in the HBO fantasy ‘Game of Thrones’. The films are clearly a nod to Nairn’s character and the TV hit, but presents a world that is intentionally different.
Nairn enters through an arch where a world of castles, mountains, waterfalls and a lone cow is revealed. A busy dragonfly darts about the screen. We’re instantly immersed in a magical world with Nairn standing at an impressive 6’11”.
Unexpectedly he turns and speaks directly to the camera. Nairn asks if we’re watching his challenging performance on an inferior tablet. If that’s the case then his efforts and those of the VFX team are being wasted, as we’ll be unable to appreciate the high definition quality.
The effects team are prompted to turn off the effects leaving us with the pitiful image of an empty green screen studio, where even the cow is a guy kitted out in a motion capture suit.
The whole green screen scenario is deliberately shabby to make the gag even funnier. From a post point though it meant that everything had to be rotoscoped, including leaves on trees!
Panoramic digital matte paintings were required to cover the whole camera move as it swooped down into the scene from the top of the arch down to ground level. In addition Richard Nelson and his CG team created the distant waterfall and modeled and animated the darting dragonfly.
The end result is a fun and irreverent film, which playfully reminds us that the new Samsung Galaxy Tablet is the perfect device to view high definition film on. The spots are now appearing on Australian TV before running on Samsung’s website.
