Drake From State Farm: Makes its Super Bowl debut this year with an all-star lineup that includes Kansas City Chiefs quarterback and 2020 Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Paul Rudd, and Adrian Martinez as Cheesehead, and none other than rapper Drake (not to be confused with Jake… from State Farm).
Erich Joiner, the renowned director and founder of Tool, collaborated with The Marketing Arm and Framestore to bring this seemingly simple spot to life.
However, this endeavor proved to be anything but straightforward due to COVID limits, celebrity schedules, and changing narratives.
Drake From State Farm: Makes Its Super Bowl Debut
Murray Butler, Framestore’s Shoot Supervisor, said, “It was a thrilling challenge to help build a new commercial using divergent components, and a perfect illustration of how we’ve been able to overcome some of the hurdles that the epidemic has thrown our way.”
While Mahomes (who will also participate with the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV), Rodgers, and Jake (from State Farm) were shot together in the exact location, Drake and Rudd were shot separately.
The Framestore team set out to rotoscope various composite plates into an utterly distinct locale to bring the final scene together. It required months of planning to combine aspects from the original photo with an altogether new environment.
The team worked closely with Director Erich Joiner and Director of Photography Bob Richardson to ensure that eyeliners were aligned and that plates from the studio environment matched camera location and lighting direction perfectly.
One of these plate pairings can be seen in the scene with Mahomes and Rodgers (who were shot in LA) seated exactly next to Jake (who was shot in New York) — which would never have been guessed if not for the magic of compositing.
The main challenge for the composite team was to put Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers in the same environment as Jake while the majority of the footage was shot separately,” said Framestore 2D Lead Martin Lazaro.
This meant that we had to extract them from different backgrounds as opposed to greenscreens, which are more commonly used for this type of project.” “Finding the ideal comping approach that would preserve every aspect of the skill was consequently critical.”
Clark Griffiths of Framestore used his grading magic to ensure the finished spot had a cohesive aesthetic in keeping with the State Farm commercial tradition.
The national commercial originally aired on television during the Big Game, online, and on social media.
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