Most people remember Robert Scott`s attempt to reach the South Pole first, but many forget that he was beaten to it by Roald Amundsen. Amundsen`s secret was consistency: getting up and covering the same distance every day. This dramatization of the power of consistency fitted in perfectly with Prudential`s tag line: Consistency is the only currency that matters.

The Prudential – “South Pole” commercial required an overall visual effects treatment in order to achieve a desired look.

The footage was treated by colour grading each shot in a manner inspired by the colour restoration of black and white vintage photographs. To emulate the approach used on still photographs, a technique called rotoscoping was used to isolate individual elements in each shot. Once the rotoscoping process was complete, we were able to control the colours of individual elements in the frame separately. Furthermore, the digital footage was heavily degraded in post production to create the sense that the footage was vintage in origin.

The commercial made use of footage shot in an exterior environment as well as certain shots captured in a studio.

Most exterior shots required visual enhancements. This was achieved by replacing ground and sky elements as well as compositing additional props and atmospherics onto the plates.

The footage shot in studio was married with matte painted elements of exterior environments. Atmospheric effects were then added to create the illusion that the scene was shot outdoors.