Gaddie’s The Colony lenses new Sony 3D world spot via O&M on location in Ho Chi Minh City

New York based The Colony recently completed a spot for Sony’s new 3D World products via Ogilvy & Mather Vietnam. Shot on location in Ho Chi Minh City, the commercial features large animated animals in the streets enacting a traditional Vietnamese fable. 

Its release coincides with the Vietnamese New Year, called Tet. It is traditional during this holiday to decorate one’s home with Tet paintings, the most famous of which is “The Mouse Wedding” depicting a traditional wedding of field mice that is disrupted by a fat cat who tries to block the wedding procession unless he is paid in bribes by the mice.  The spot takes on this story – with a twist.  

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Led by Aussie expat co-founder and visual effects pro David Gaddie and production designer turned director Carlos Menendez, the Colony team combined animation with elements of traditional Vietnamese puppetry to achieve the look of the spot.  

Speaking to The Colony’s creative approach, Gaddie says, “We knew we preferred a live action shoot over CG so we worked with the agency creative director, [Kiwi expat] Todd McCracken, to figure out alternatives. Vietnam has a rich history in puppetry with their famous water puppets. We used this influence to bring life to the story in a unique way that would resonate with the audience.”  

The shoot was a particular challenge as it had to be lensed to accommodate for the scale of the puppets – which in real life would have been 15-20 feet. This became an issue in many locations as Vietnam’s streets are typically filled with snaking bundles of overhead wires. The Colony stuck with larger, clearer streets and embraced the power cables where possible as

an obstacle and part of the aesthetic.

The technical process was complex as it combined miniature photography with live action plates. The team worked to have all angles covered with the live action elements in Ho Chi Minh City then oversaw the international team through post as it was being worked on simultaneously in New York, Sydney and Shanghai. To properly achieve the puppetry look involved shooting three rod puppets against blue-screen, then removing the rods, operators and rigging in post, as well as adding eye movements, to bring the characters to life.

The commercial’s subtle branding comes out of Sony being in the unique position as the only manufacturer to offer a full line of integrated 3D products from point and shoot cameras to PlayStations and Televisions instead of one particular product being pushed. Says Gaddie: “The agency believed that the end line ‘Make. Believe.’ is a very powerful statement and wanted the spot to speak to that message. The spot is a branding message for the whole Sony 3D range, so it’s more about that feeling of magic in Sony 3D rather than any particular product.”

This was the Colony’s second collaboration with Ogilvy and Mather, the previous being a spot for Vietnam Airlines, which took the collective on a whirlwind global tour to find film imagery.

Production Company: The Colony @ The Shanghai Job

Writer: Du Tang