“There was no room for failure, at all. There was one take for everything.”

Indeed. Sony’s latest ad for it’s Bravia television line was a tremendous undertaking, a project involving hundreds of people for months of pre-production and 10 days principle shooting time. The cleanup alone occupied 60 people for 5 straight days!

Filmed at Queen’s Court estate in Glasgow, Scotland, the ambitious commercial features rainbows of paint exploding all over a campus of buildings in a sort of beautiful kaleidoscope of organized chaos. In one shot, color bursts sequentially from each floor of a tall building to create a multi-colored spectrum, like a strange reverse demolition. The latest ad follows in the footsteps of the Bravia advert that started it all, an equally ambitious project that involved 250,000 bouncy balls pouring down the streets of San Francisco.

Stripped down concept advertisements like these are refreshing in this age of computer graphics and slick post-production. The agency behind the “Colour like no other” ads is Fallon. “Paint” was directed by Jonathan Glazer and edited by Paul Watts of The Quarry. MPC handled post-production tasks, keeping 6 people busy for 4 straight months. I think you’ll agree that all the hard work paid off. Check both spots out below.

Bravia “Paint”

“Paint” high-quality version and the making of.

Bravia “Balls”

“Balls” high-quality version and the making Of.
José González acoustic track “Heartbeats” that was used in the first ad is available at iTunes.

Some statistics on the Glasgow “Paint” project:
*70,000 liters of environmentally friendly paint
*330 meters of steel pipe (for launch tubes)
*57 kilometers of copper wire
*622 bottle bombs
*1700 detonators
*455 mortars

(Via HD For Indies)