Star Wars and Adidas Originals mesh for World Cup Spot

News, Trailers

In this latest Adidas Originals spot, Adidas has teamed with Lucasfilm to promote the FIFA World Cup. A strange pairing to be sure, but the payoff is worth it. Though, I’m sure some Star Wars purists will be offended that Han Solo doesn’t shoot first. Hell, he doesn’t get a shot off at all. Featuring soccer players David Beckham, Franz Beckenbauer, musical artists Snoop Dogg, Noel Gallagher and Ciara and actor Jay Baruchel, they all converge to play havoc with Han, Obi Wan and others. It’s a fun spot that I think you’ll get a kick out of.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zd_khk6zXo&feature=player_embedded

How the spot was accomplished (from Starwars.com):

To seamlessly integrate new shots of David Beckham, Snoop Dogg and company into original Star Wars footage, a set was created to replicate the original dimensions of that bar featured in the film. This enabled the performers to work realistically with the props, make the correct eye-lines and so on. Where they were required to interact with Star Wars characters, stand-ins were used to ensure a realistic performance. The color palettes and lighting conditions of the new shots were also carefully chosen so they could be easily blended with the original footage. To bring the new ad up to date, television screens featuring a football match together with various pieces of football memorabilia were also created and added to the bar scene.

Software called Flame was used to composite (superimpose) the old and new shots together and remove old characters from the footage – taking care to blend the edges and make the joins seamless. Finally, the film was graded by The Mill’s colorists using a grading system called Baselight to ensure that both the original cinematic footage and newly shot HD footage matched and the overall effect was flawless.

Travis Leamons is one of the Inside Pulse Originals and currently holds the position of Managing Editor at Inside Pulse Movies. He's told that the position is his until he's dead or if "The Boss" can find somebody better. I expect the best and I give the best. Here's the beer. Here's the entertainment. Now have fun. That's an order!