Recom Farmhouse worked with agency Uncommon and photographer Christopher Anderson on this original and confident campaign for British Airways. Minimalist and bold, the billboard’s eleven executions reverse the classic ‘out of the plane window’ shot to capture the wonder on passenger’s faces.
“Only truly iconic brands can say less.” – Nils Leonard, co-founder at Uncommon
With the daring crops and the strength and simplicity of the idea, it was of absolute importance to create immediate belief in the mind of the viewer. Most of us have experienced that moment of exceptional light and beauty when flying, and the recreation of it needed to be perfect, so the light places you in that moment. We brought the warmth and reality of this beautiful aerial light to the surface of a CG fuselage, whilst maintaining the flexibility with the airline’s livery that was vital for the audacious cropping.
Scroll on for more, including a peep behind the scenes...
“Only truly iconic brands can say less.” – Nils Leonard, co-founder at Uncommon
With the daring crops and the strength and simplicity of the idea, it was of absolute importance to create immediate belief in the mind of the viewer. Most of us have experienced that moment of exceptional light and beauty when flying, and the recreation of it needed to be perfect, so the light places you in that moment. We brought the warmth and reality of this beautiful aerial light to the surface of a CG fuselage, whilst maintaining the flexibility with the airline’s livery that was vital for the audacious cropping.
Scroll on for more, including a peep behind the scenes...
Here’s how we did it .
Preparation was absolutely paramount; photographer Christopher Anderson is known for his treatment of sunlight so we tested the lighting in CG to see where it needed to be in order to light the model’s face with those deep windows. We then did a second session with him to work on the details making the sunlight natural. Post Artist Kate Brown created an initial grade from these sessions with stand-ins, which informed the actual shoot.Many of the models were BA staff, who were shot on a set specially built for one window’s width of fuselage.
Creative Director of Recom Farmhouse London Christoph Bolten and CG artist George Russell joined the creative team at Uncommon as Christopher Anderson shot the talent. They took HDRI spheres of the environment and in-depth lighting references for the talent.Although the shots appear simple, in order for them to bring the sense of the moment, there’s a huge amount of subtle detail.
With the creatives at Uncommon, we thought about the story of each flight: when you wake up, what do you want to see? Perhaps a beautiful mid-flight moment in a cloudscape, perhaps the first glimpse of your destination? And how do we tell that story through light and reflections?
CG artist George Russell made different environments - a city, clouds, sunset over fields, sunset over the ocean. Each environment is reflected in the fuselage and brings its own subtle differences to the light. He also worked meticulously to position the livery correctly for each crop, ensuring it was always visible and unaffected by the sunlight’s movement over the metal.
At Recom Farmhouse London, over breakfast meetings with the fabulous creative team at Uncommon, the project came to life. Post Artist Kate Brown composited the talent into the CG fuselages, and brought the elements together with a happy grade - simultaneously warm and real. Each individual crop was finessed, including site-specific ones.
Preparation was absolutely paramount; photographer Christopher Anderson is known for his treatment of sunlight so we tested the lighting in CG to see where it needed to be in order to light the model’s face with those deep windows. We then did a second session with him to work on the details making the sunlight natural. Post Artist Kate Brown created an initial grade from these sessions with stand-ins, which informed the actual shoot.Many of the models were BA staff, who were shot on a set specially built for one window’s width of fuselage.
Creative Director of Recom Farmhouse London Christoph Bolten and CG artist George Russell joined the creative team at Uncommon as Christopher Anderson shot the talent. They took HDRI spheres of the environment and in-depth lighting references for the talent.Although the shots appear simple, in order for them to bring the sense of the moment, there’s a huge amount of subtle detail.
With the creatives at Uncommon, we thought about the story of each flight: when you wake up, what do you want to see? Perhaps a beautiful mid-flight moment in a cloudscape, perhaps the first glimpse of your destination? And how do we tell that story through light and reflections?
CG artist George Russell made different environments - a city, clouds, sunset over fields, sunset over the ocean. Each environment is reflected in the fuselage and brings its own subtle differences to the light. He also worked meticulously to position the livery correctly for each crop, ensuring it was always visible and unaffected by the sunlight’s movement over the metal.
At Recom Farmhouse London, over breakfast meetings with the fabulous creative team at Uncommon, the project came to life. Post Artist Kate Brown composited the talent into the CG fuselages, and brought the elements together with a happy grade - simultaneously warm and real. Each individual crop was finessed, including site-specific ones.
Some shots needed specific CG work to frame the livery correctly on the plane - absolutely vital for this concept. CG Artist George developed an innovative way to move these around quickly and easily for the creative team to get the perfect impact.Look out for the billboards creating a stir all over the UK right now - a campaign that’s flying high in iconic locations from Piccadilly Circus to Edinburgh Airport
British Airways: Windows
Photographer: Christopher Anderson
Photographer's Agent: Wefolk
Photographer: Christopher Anderson
Photographer's Agent: Wefolk
Post Production: Recom Farmhouse
CG Director: Christoph Bolten / Recom Farmhouse London
CG Director: Christoph Bolten / Recom Farmhouse London
CG Artist: George Russell / Recom Farmhouse London
Post Artists: Kate Brown / Recom Farmhouse London, Steven Orts / Recom Farmhouse NYC
Motion Compositing: Pineapple VFX
Motion Compositing: Pineapple VFX
Agency: Uncommon
Creative Director: Benny Everitt
Creatives: Ellie Daghlian and Elisa Czerwenka
Key Artworker / Designer: Shaun Rodgers
Account Director: Katie Shrubb
Business Director: Alice Barnes
Producer: Jasmine Jones
