How ITV Put Real Lionesses into Everyday Routines for Its Women’s World Cup Trailer
Last year’s success of the Lionesses in the 2022 Euros left its lasting impact on the way Europe and the rest of the world view women’s football. That echo was expected to ring through the ways brands and sponsors treat the game and its players and ultimately continue to equalise the playing field between men and women in football.
This week, the world is gearing up for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 starting on July 20th in Australia and New Zealand, and memories from last year have resurfaced, harbouring great hopes for England’s team. In line with this, ITV Creative has collaborated with Framestore to put women’s football front and centre for viewers and support the tournament.
After the Lionesses proved their skills last year, UK broadcaster ITV banked on embodying the real spirit of the World Cup with its campaign without concentrating on training shots and tricks. Instead, they put real lionesses in the public’s morning routines. An unconventional exercise in sports communications, the broadcaster’s creative team took the leap with the help of Framestore and South African production company Ground Glass.
In the work, we see real-life lionesses (aided with CG) step through and carry an air of respect and pride in the mornings of people in London and beyond - both representing football watchers from all backgrounds and encouraging viewers to engage with the morning games broadcast from down under. LBB’s Zoe Antonov spoke to the teams behind the campaign to find out more about the creation of the lionesses, the production process and the messaging of the campaign.
Taking us through the work are ITV Creative team Joaquin & Bailey, ECD Chris Vernon, senior producer Cressida Ranfield and senior campaign manager Rachel Cann, plus Framestore director and ECD William Bartlett.
LBB> Tell me about the beginning of the campaign - what was the brief and the ideation process?
ITV & Framestore> ITV Creative wanted to create a campaign that celebrated the Lionesses as the best sports team the country has right now. Of course it’s really great to acknowledge women’s sport as distinct from men’s, but we wanted to try to make something where there was no implicit comparison, something simple, that just said “These sportspeople are superstars, the best of the best, and we should all get behind them because it’s going to be very exciting.”
LBB> Why was Framestore the best team to tackle it?
ITV> Although one of the leading names in VFX, it was the fresh approach suggested by in-house director and ECD William Bartlett of not only using CGI animals, but filming real lionesses and integrating them into our scenes that really made this creative seem possible. And Framestore, with its hugely talented team of VFX specialists, were the team to do it!
LBB> What was the ideation process like for the inclusion of the lionesses - why was that the best approach?
ITV & Framestore> Much like the players, lionesses are not something you trifle with - they command respect. We focussed on the lionesses as a force to be reckoned with, with no other obligation than to be the incredible team they are. These beautiful and majestic creatures represent the presence of such a strong and exciting team, as they enter a fierce tournament. We know the whole country will be just as hyped to cheer them on as if they saw a real lioness in the city.
LBB> This is also quite non-traditional sports advertising - why did you think now was the time to try that out?
ITV> They made history - the Euros and the Finalissima. They’ve proven that they have the skills, so we didn’t feel it was necessary to feature them doing cool tricks or training. The women’s game is really exciting and isn’t bogged down with a lot of controversy that the men’s tournament has, so it’s a chance to celebrate the true spirit of the World Cup.
LBB> Was there a lot of pressure on getting the tone right after last year's major success of the Lionesses?
ITV> Yes, of course! We wanted to celebrate them. They deserved a campaign that was worthy of the excitement they’re bringing this summer. Luckily we had such a good team of people on this project, everyone across ITV Creative and marketing teams, plus Framestore were so collaborative and on board with making the campaign the best it could be.
LBB> Tell me about the process of creating the lionesses in the film - how did you mix live action with CG to get this final result.
ITV & Framestore> We relied on filming real lionesses for the majority of the advert but also used CG for some shots that would have been very difficult to capture for ‘in camera’. Filming the real animals was an effective way to deliver the authenticity we required, but there are natural limitations. For the scenes where we wanted more control we turned to the VFX team at Framestore to create a photoreal CG lioness giving us the best of both worlds.
We filmed the plates first and took careful notes of camera angles and lighting conditions, as well as digitally scanning the geometry of the locations. We used this information both for the CG shots and also as precise reference for the greenscreen shoot in South Africa. Before flying to Johannesburg we edited the material we had shot in London partly so the CG team could get underway, but also to give us a clear template to understand exactly what we needed to film with the lionesses. Filming with large carnivores is a challenge and it’s critical to have everything you need planned to the smallest detail.
LBB> What was it like filming in South Africa and what production processes went into making that possible?
ITV & Framestore> We worked closely with South African production company Ground Glass during pre production to understand what was achievable. Filming the animals required precise technical planning, to exactly match the lighting conditions and camera perspective of each shot in their natural habitat
LBB> Were the people on location here in the UK? What was the process of putting the scenes together?
ITV & Framestore> All the live action scenes with actors were filmed on location in the UK. The creative and production team worked closely to find locations, scenarios and actors which were representative of the diversity of the British public and their daily lives, and would offer an unexpected backdrop for our lionesses to invade.
LBB> We see the lionesses cruising through people's morning routines - why did you choose these particular locations and what was the process of choosing them like?
ITV & Framestore> To represent the whole of England, not just London. Not just your typical football fans either. Everyone comes together to celebrate this team, that’s the beauty of the Lionesses. Plus the World Cup is happening in Australia so we wanted to encourage the UK to watch the morning games.
LBB> How long did the production process take and what was the most challenging aspect of it?
ITV & Framestore> From the initial creative script sign off to final delivery of films, we had around twelve weeks which was probably the most challenging aspect. This time involved scouting, casting and planning for a two day UK multiple location shoot, a shoot in South Africa on location and a pick up day at the coast. After a fast turnaround edit, we went into post production where the Framestore team worked miracles on a hugely tight deadline to seamlessly integrate our real and CG lionesses into their environments.
LBB> How does the campaign reflect ITV's brand pillars?
ITV> We are so happy to be able to put women’s football front and centre this summer. We strove to bring the drama and excitement while not taking ourselves too seriously. World Cups are fun, they bring people together. We wanted to get that across. And having just launched ITVX, bringing all sorts of new, quality shows to the platform, we want that quality and inventiveness to be seen in our campaigns too.
LBB> Any final thoughts?
William> I'm really pleased with how it has all turned out. ITV Creative were great to work with and we had a lot of fun imagining the scenes we could drop our lionesses into. And as ever, the VFX crew at Framestore hit it out of the park delivering outstanding work worthy of such a strong creative idea. Now all that's left to do is sit back and enjoy the tournament!
