Aaron Willmer on Creating Liquid Magic for Sky

Last week, Sky's latest offering secured a hot shot rating thanks to its cinematic execution and creative use of liquids and CGI.

Brothers and Sisters' creative director Aaron Willmer talks to shots about the challenges in creating such a tech-heavy ad and the importance of being a perfectionist.

Tell us about the brief and Sky’s intentions with the campaign?

Simply, the brief was to announce the launch of Sky Q and bring ‘Fluid Viewing’ to life. We needed a big brand commercial, but we also needed some ads that talked about specific product benefits. That said, we wanted the entire campaign to feel beautiful and cinematic.

Did they always have a VFX-heavy spot in mind, or was that in your pitch?

When we had the idea of liquefying content we knew it was going to be a visual ad, with a good amount of CGI. I suppose the challenge fairly soon became about how to not make it feel like a techy ‘VFX-heavy spot’. Telling a story with warmth, humanity and narrative was the pitch and it’s what informed our decisions on director and post house.

Tell us about the challenges of taking on a project over such a long timeline and working with the technology…

The biggest challenge for everyone was being a perfectionist for over a year, the other was keeping the idea as simple as it was at the start. It turns out that liquid is one of those things that can be done in lots of ways, especially when you start adding the film content in. One of the most important things we did was to film hours of liquid for real, which meant that we could base all the CGI on a real movement and find the serendipitous beauty in each droplet. This isn’t really a story of tech, it was about working with artists who were focused on creating filmic beauty.

How closely did you work with the other parties in that time? Was it a matter of letting them get on with the post for certain periods then going back, or did you work side by side throughout?

Exceptionally close. Johnny Green, the Mill and I worked together at every stage of the process: five months of R+D, then everyone was on set filming, and then we put it all together. We’ve probably spent a bit too much time with each other really.

Why was Johnny right to bring the ad to life?

Johnny is a perfectionist. Also this is a high-tech piece of film about a high-tech product, it could so easily have been cold; Johnny bought so much beauty, warmth and humanity to the film. He also built tones of narrative into the journey of the liquid.

How did you choose the movie/scene to use on screen?

I won’t lie, it took a long time to decide on the right scene. We knew we needed a blockbuster film, something all the family in the house would be interested in seeing. Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron provided the content, we chose a clip featuring the Avengers grouped together, it gave us the brightest, widest range of colour and texture. We also wanted the liquid to take on the personality of the film it contained and the Avengers gave us loads to work with.

And the music, tell us why this track worked so well?

Again, we wanted the campaign to feel warm and human. Sammy Davis Jr is inherently cool, and his live rendition of I’ve Gotta Be Me, is big and feels like a celebration. Not to mention the lyrics fit it pretty well too.

It’s a great example of achieving an idea’s full potential through technology. How important is it for the industry to keep pushing the boundaries with big ideas like the Fluid Viewing concept?

I think it’s more of a personal thing. We work in an industry full of amazingly talented people who will push themselves to make something truly extraordinary when given the chance. So given opportunities like this, why wouldn’t you have a go at making really good stuff. It’s fun.