‘Life in Technicolor ii’ is the new single from Coldplay’s latest album ‘Viva La Vida’.  Directed by Dougal Wilson, the incredible promo shows the band live and direct in ‘glorious Technicolor.’  The record company was EMI and the job was produced by Matthew Fone at Colonel Blimp.  MPC integrated puppetry and added a total of 112 visual effects shots.

Dougal had ambitious ideas for the promo involving puppet versions of lighting effects, pyrotechnics and jumping motorbikes.  To make them sit in the scenes believably, the puppets, built to resemble the band members, had to be completely de-rigged and partly computer animated.  A total of 112 VFX shots were completed, these included extensive examples of rig removal and set extensions to backgrounds and parts of the stage, as well as compositing plates together and building CG blades for the helicopter. 

With the high number of shots and a limited time frame, a team of Flame and Shake compositors was set up and they divided out the shots between them based on the strengths of each piece of software.  Half way through the post schedule and on seeing the results, Chris Martin had the idea of adding some acrobatic shots.  These were shot on green screen and integrated into the cut with attention being paid to matching light conditions and the position of the puppets.

Jean-Clement Soret added the all-important master grade.  Dougal wanted to push the overall look, heightening the colours to give it a playful edge.  As the job was shot on 444 log, there was maximum latitude in the grade, which allowed JC a real creative experiment.  This latitude carried on throughout the VFX process.  In Matt Fone’s words: “so good you can’t see what MPC did!”

The promo will premiere on the 4Music channel in the UK at 7pm on Tuesday 20th January.