Absolut Electrik
It takes a fraction of a second for a lightning bolt to hit the earth; milliseconds for the filaments of a light bulb to glow “on”. But we had a full 10 seconds to captivate the world with electrifying visions of Absolut Electrik. Asked by international creative services firm Sid Lee to develop and produce a set of 10-second spots showcasing Absolut’s Electrik Blue and Electrik Silver limited edition bottles, we said, “Yes, please!” and turned up the amps for some high-voltage creative play.
Electrik Silver opens with a spinning plasma ball flashing filaments of light as it morphs into the bottle shape. Crackling blue and white energy arcs highlight the bottle’s edges before resolving into a melt of typographic messaging to “Turn Tonight Electrik.” For Electrik Blue, pink and blue bolts zap the bottle logo, illuminating the glass and sending voltage shimmering through the liquid–again resolving with the typographic invitation to an Electrik night.
All of this visual extravagance was created entirely “in the box”. Viewing the lighting and camera movement, most people think the product was shot in real life, with the lightning effects added in post. That’s ultimately how we want any CG product to feel: REAL!
We used a combination of Houdini, Maya, and Cinema 4D to create both spots, finishing in After Effects.
With hero bottles and camera movements created in Maya, the footage was imported into Houdini to generate the energetic forces occurring inside and outside the bottles. The final composite was done in Nuke.
Concepting ideas, we visualized energy bursts and plasma balls electrifying the iconic Absolut bottle shape. Taking advantage of every frame, we created silver and blue narratives full of drama and suspense for both products.
This is one of the situations where our original frames were very close to what we finished with. That was especially important on this project because it was a very fast turn.
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Executive Creative DirectorErin Sarofsky
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Executive ProducerSteven Anderson
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Senior ProducerJames Babiarz
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Creative DirectorJohn Filipkowski
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DesignersDuarte Elvas
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Dan Bruce
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Michael Siegel
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Houdini ArtistAnthony Morrelle
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CompositorsBrent Austin
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Alex Kline