Sound evokes an emotive rather than visual response. With this in mind, director Tim Hope was intrigued when San Francisco agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners gave him the rather esoteric brief to "visualize sound" for Hewlett-Packard.

Hope says the three parties brainstormed to find a way to represent sound visually. "It was a big experimental project on a limited time scale," says the London-based director on the project produced through Passion Pictures and Notorious. "What the music and sound would look like became a huge issue because it could have easily looked contrived."

What they came up with was a soft, free-spirited spot demonstrating how HP customer Bang & Olufsen builds sound systems that reproduce "perfect sound".It features airy line-drawn sound waves emanating from numerous sources including birds, dogs, insects, musical instruments, people and, of course, B&O's stereo equipment.

Conceived by GS&P's Stephen Goldblatt and Mike McCommon, the self-titled spot, "Bang & Olufsen", is set in the park of a semi-futuristic metropolis. An old man plays a penny whistle, creating ripples of sound akin to gentle waves on a lake; lovers engage in intimate banter as a boy rides past, whistling loudly on his bike and creating powerful sound waves that disturb the air; a dog suddenly barks, his large yelp booming out toward the cyclist, while the sounds of birds and insects fill the air with modest waves of undulating sounds.

The interconnected action ends with a man in his apartment, overlooking the park, closing the window to the world and relaxing as peaceful music emanates from his elegant Bang & Olufsen sound system.

A three-day shoot with DP Alex Barbour (the agency won't disclose how much it cost) captured the required footage, shot in an architectural park in London's East End. Hope chose to use The Big Freeze, currently a popular setup that captures an image from every conceivable angle. The setup consisted of 90 still cameras used to freeze the specific footage Hope wanted to use.

Both client and agency were initially reluctant to use this method because they were worried that it would look too clichéd. "Everyone was understandably nervous when I mentioned using it," Hope recalls, "but I explained the system's potential if used properly." He outlined how the technique would help convey the impression of "freezing" sound. "I wanted to investigate what frozen sounds would look like and explore them [in post] in 3D, rather than as a graphic 2D Fantasia-style animation. After that, the agency was cool with the idea."

He says the trick to using the rig effectively and fulfilling its effects potential is to "mess around with its capabilities" in post-production. Enter London-based Glassworks, where seven weeks of experimental work was required to complete the spot.

Hope worked closely with the in-house artists, helping to produce a mixture of hand-animated work with 2D and 3D effects to layer and produce the necessary look on screen. All frozen moments captured on The Big Freeze were fine-tuned using the inferno visual effects software toolkit before Twixtor, a plug-in, came into play. It enabled Hope and the team to change speeds and frame rates by interpolating and warping frames from Barbour's original sequences. In addition, the team used all kinds of visualization and image manipulation programs including flame, XSI, Maya, 3D Studio Max and Lightwave.

"It was an interesting post process because we were visualizing sound in addition to music," Hope concludes. He says the agency's attitude was important because it "allowed a constant state of experimentation to take place", resulting in "a unique idea for a big client."

CREDITS:
Client: Hewlett-Packard
Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, SF
Creative Directors: Steve Simpson, Steve Luker
Copywriter: Mike McCommon
Art Director: Stephen Goldblatt
Producer: Hillary Bradley
Production Company: Passion Pictures, London/ Notorious, LA
Director: Tim Hope
DP: Alex Barbour
Exec. Producer: Andrew Ruehmann
Line Producer: Russell McClean
Editorial: Tony Kearns, Swordfish
Telecine: Dominic Aarons, Rushes, London
Effects: Glassworks, London
Effects Supervisor: Hector McLeod
Post Production Producers: Jay Lichtman, Louisa Thomson
Sound Design: Stimmüng, Santa Monica
Sound Designers: Reinhard Denke, Gus Koven
Asst. Sound Designer: Michael Baird
Exec. Producer: Ceinwyn Clark

View the spots at http://www.boardsmag.com/screeningroom

WEBFILES:
Goodby Silverstein & Partners> http://www.goodbysilverstein.com
Stimmüng> http://www.stimmung.tv
Passion Pictures> http://www.passion-pictures.com