Sophie Gateau & Paranoid US: “White” for LG and LIGHTS

Simple is beautiful. In Lights, Paranoid US and new SF-based agency, DOJO, keeps it simple and retells the classic story of boy meets girl. With director Sophie Gateau at the helm, the piece dually functions as an advert for LG and a music video —similarly named— for electropop artist, LIGHTS.

At the heart of it, the piece is a canny take on an old story —fancying a straightforward approach to create something elaborate, yet deceptively simple. Technically, the piece is exquisitely executed —so well that, on multiple viewings— the animated images appear to be the result of practical effects. The kicker is that it wasn’t. In a most spectacular display of CG stagecraft, Gateau, with a background in CG and motion graphics, utilized her skillset to the utmost degree. To sum it up:

“Utilizing motion control to shoot the available 45 pre-production models , Sophie shot twenty passes–moving the phones along in each pass. The Paranoid Design Studio team then assembled the passes, tracked animated characters and environmental drawings, and composited them into the scenes.”