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Our friends at Adidas Amsterdam granted Munkowitz the opportunity to direct a short film featuring their most advanced cooling apparel ever, the Cilmachill line of apparel.. They also presented the opportunity to pair the shirt's technologies with one of the world’s greatest athletes on planet earth, Real Madrid footballer Gareth Bale..

The resulting film, produced by Munko's UK rep Ground Control, had the team set off to Madrid to concept and shoot Gareth Bale in studio and out to the Desert to grab the background plates.. They finished the film at Glassworks in London..

The story revolves around two swarms descending on Bale and forming key portions of the Climachill shirt around his body.. As this process occurs, he cools considerably as his performance increases, demonstrating the effects of the technology in the apparel. The range of shots in the film is diverse, with epic wide-angle establishing shots, cinematic reveals of the swarm in front of the sweltering sun, and captivating macro detail sequences of the aluminum discs and titanium weave forming along the layers of his skin..

The palette will be very warm at first, the sweltering sun being a key player in both the narrative and lighting design of the studio shoot.. A great deal of atmosphere will be added to the piece, to render an volumetric scene with a considerable amount of haze playing into the golden light.. Towards the end of piece, this grade will cool down to reinforce the effects of the Climachill shirt on the activities of our athlete..

There’s two swarm designs in the spot, each with their own distinct characteristics.. The Aluminum Disc swarm behaves much like a classic flock of birds, all flowing and echoing each other in harmony.. When this swarm dives towards Bale, it does so in a sequential fashion, like water would pour outward from a spout.. The detail and nuance in their animation is paramount as we must believe that they are flocking together, as a swarm would..

The Titanium Weave swarm is vastly different in its behavior, as it’s made up of long, meandering tendrils that travel together in unison.. We’re inspired to create a thunderstorm of this weave, a menacing structure that would wrap around Bale like a tornado of weaving tendrils, attaching to his skin and functioning as the final threads to realize the Climachill shirt..