Something Really Cool, or, Colour Like No Other

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Has anyone ever seen the Sony Bravia commercial with th 250,000 bouncing balls in San Fransisco? Really fun advert, something really different to watch. I saw it a couple times while in the UK, and what caught my eyes and ears recently was the fact that the song Heartbeats, by Jose Gonzalez, is the background song. He's one of my favourite artists, and the song is quite good.

Naturally, this got me thinking about this. What are the logistics and random other headaches that would be brought on by this? That's a lot of bouncing balls. How did they clean up? I found (I'm actually not sure how I came across this) a website that Sony set up for the commercial, with a couple of similar and new ones, with the advert, but also with a couple of short videos on the behind the scenes filming of the commercial.
Granted, keep in mind that this is a 2 + minute advert. On one hand, the fact that they have several 7 minute features devoted to the filming is quite odd, but granted, the advert is pretty different, and as I mentioned, it got me thinking.


The site also included this:

How we did it
In an age when CGI is commonplace, this makes the commercial all the more extraordinary. Every single frame was shot over two days - with the main sequence involving a 23-man camera crew and only one chance to get it right.
An entire block was closed off and special compressed-air cannons shot the balls into the air, while earth moving equipment poured thousands down the street. Not that you'd know it from the finished product, but these balls can do some damage, so all the cars were props and crew members went so far as to having protective shields and crash helmets.
But when you get it right, you get it right. The goal at the beginning was to deliver a "really simple, visual celebration of colour". We think you'll agree the results speak for themselves.

It's a fun commercial, and one that really stands out. Good marketing. Like the song? The site also posted up a clip of it:

Heartbeats.mp3

It's a great song, and worth getting, either through the CD Veneer or via download .