MPC get Tango Strange Soda 'taste buddies' going

Ulf Johansson of Smith and Jones has directed the new Tango Strange Soda 'Taste Buddies' UK campaign for Clemmow Hornby Inge, London.
'Taste Buds' and 'Trainers', 2 x 30 second commercials and 1 x 10 second spot, 'Classroom' promote the Britvic drink and demonstrate how “you know when you’ve been Tango’d!”
Each commercial features a teenage youth surrounded by four of his 'taste buddies' - smaller versions of himself who vibrate excitedly and lose control when their 'owner' drinks Tango Strange Soda.
'Taste Buds' sees 'Stephen' leaving the living room followed by his taste buddy mates, to go into the kitchen to get a Tango Strange Soda, on drinking, the taste buddies are tingled into action and begin to tremble haphazardly about the room. In 'Trainers', 'Ken' and his taste buddies are out shopping for new shoes. When Ken takes a sip of Tango Strange Soda, the buddies start to vibrate and wreak havoc. Similarly, in 'Classroom' chaos reigns when Ken has a swig of Tango Strange Soda, his buddies daub on the white board and vibrate around the teacher’s desk.
The 'buddies' themselves were shot live action with the actor standing on a moveable circular frame which was then manoeuvred via a handle to give the trembling effect of each of the buddies seen on screen.
Lead Inferno artist, Nick Seresin, scaled down the sets of four smaller characters in each spot and then composited these human elements onto the three main backgrounds shown in each of the commercials. Subsequently, in Combustion, Darren Christie manipulated each of the characters, building final shots, some encompassing more than five layers.
Rather than being created in 3D, the title plate was hand painted in Photoshop giving a 2D image a 3D look by MPC FX artist, Martin Cook. He also hand painted the Tango droplets and animated them in After Effects to give the shot a 'fizzy' effect.
Telecine was carried out by Jean-Clement Soret at MPC.
Postproduction was carried out by MPC.
(GB)