Adding special effects to shots can turn a nice but rather plain image into something truly memorable. In this video, what behind-the-scenes as a commercial is made for a brand of flash-frozen coffee using dry ice.
I have been creating (stills) adverts for a number of years for products and it can quickly become difficult if you don't make a conscious effort to innovate consistently. That is, you can find yourself shooting similar styles of shots with different props, which can work for some briefs, but when a company wants something special, you need to dig deeper.
Dry ice has been on my to-do list for a while. I've wanted to incorporate it in a few different shoots over the years but it never quite fit. The volume and density of the smoke can easily take center stage, so while it can work brilliantly in video, I have found that variations of smoke machines are better for creating atmosphere.
In this video, Daniel Schiffer creates a commercial for a coffee company that flash-freeze their capsules, so dry ice is the perfect fit. The results are brilliant and not over-done, which is so easy to do with these kinds of effects. Perhaps I need to move dry ice up my list and use it!
Excellent! It was good enough that my wife went over and ordered some of the coffee!
While it is not a bad commercial I would not call it "epic". :)