Dameyo

New Matrix-Style Ad

// March 26th, 2009 // News

A new TV ad made using 200 camcorders has landed itself a Guinness World Record.

The commercial for Toshiba’s range of HD products was shot using the “bullet-time” technique, as seen in sci-fi movie The Matrix, starring Keanu Reeves.

The technique freezes the shot, while circling the freeze-frame. The advert was filmed using a custom-built, 360-degree rig of Toshiba Gigashot handheld cameras. The shoot used up 20,000Gb of hard disk space and took over 336 hours for computers to process.

Those stats helped earn it a world record for incorporating the most moving image cameras used in a composite film shot.

Matt McDowell said: “We’re delighted to have achieved a World Record, and this record is testament to a highly creative campaign.”

The cameras used were domestic rather than professional, a key part of the brief given to ad firm, Grey London.

“The objective was to prove we could make a mould breaking commercial, using only consumer camcorders as a testament to their quality,” said Grey’s creative director Andy Amadeo.

“The World Record was a nice bonus.” The timesculpture campaign is currently running on prime-time TV throughout March. It’s also become a hit on YouTube, notching up over half a million views.

Matt Smith, Entertainment correspondent