BritBox celebrates British TV with epic time-lapse of an actress morphing into different roles

In an impressive production feat, a campaign from British streamer BritBox follows one actor through 11 sets, four genres and several costume and makeup sessions to showcase the breadth of the British silver screen—filmed all in a single take. “See It Differently,” created by Uncommon Creative Studio, depicts a woman shapeshifting through four TV and movie genres—mystery, crime, drama and comedy—to celebrate a return to cinematic craft and transport viewers into BritBox’s programming. Throughout the film, viewers get a rare look behind the scenes of a production to evoke the feeling of being transported into the show, from makeup to costumes, stage setting and camera tricks. Edited to appear as a timelapse, the film was captured in a single sequence at one frame per second using a precision motion control unit, an undertaking that totaled 14 hours, 45 minutes and 31 seconds of continuous recording over three days. The final spot features various film techniques and perspective tricks ranging from matte painting backdrops and special effects makeup, prosthetics and costumes, to intricate miniatures and set design, in-camera explosions and LED-screen CGI. The epic production takes viewers behind the artistry, techniques and dedication it takes to craft great British television, as BritBox looks to expand its entertainment portfolio to the U.S. “It’s a celebration, a love letter to the industry, really,” Sam Walker, global creative partner at Uncommon, told Ad Age in an interview. “A viewer gets taken on a journey and goes through the different genres—a lot of streaming services have done that story. But no one’s done it like we’ve done it.” “It’s kind of got the history of film in there in a subtle way,” he added. “We decided to do this the hard way because there is value in doing it the hard way and people will appreciate it more.” To pull it off, each technique was captured live, in-camera, with the crew replacing the camera shutter three times, placing ice packs and fans on and around the camera to prevent overheating, and taking shifts to ensure the camera was rolling continuously. Throughout filming, the actor had to remain completely still for the duration and make any changes to her position in a highly choreographed way at an extremely slow pace. The entire crew was in view of the camera, so even their steps across the set had to be coordinated. Uncommon had an on-site physician monitoring the actor’s well-being while 10 makeup artists and wardrobe stylists constantly worked on her. The production required a 50-person crew. “It’s a homage to all of the amazing traits of storytelling and craft,” Diana Pessin, chief marketing officer at BritBox International, told Ad Age. “It’s about opening up your mind to see things a bit differently and shifting perspectives, and so, in a sense, it’s not only demonstrating what British content is but dimensionalizing why it can be important. We want to spark the realization that you have actually loved British content all along, even if you didn’t know it, because it stands for all these amazing attributes of storytelling.” The campaign will run in the U.S. and Canada, with later plans to run in Australia on TV, online, digital and social media.

BritBox celebrates British TV with epic time-lapse of an actress morphing into different roles

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