Integrated production/post/effects house Crash + Sue's teamed with Indianapolis agency Young & Laramore to produce a three-minute branding video, “Sensori by BRIZO.” Showcasing Delta’s upscale line of shower fixtures, the project tapped a wealth of in-house design, production and post services and is a tribute to Crash + Sue's comprehensive creative capabilities—from helming the live-action shoot with a Vision Research Phantom camera to crafting CG elements and performing editorial, color correction and finishing.

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Echo Boys, Crash + Sue’s sibling audio house, created the evocative original score and sound design. The end result is a visually compelling piece that highlights BRIZO’s latest products and features while affirming its role as a leading high-end retailer of shower fixtures.

Crash + Sue's recruited veteran DP Jeff Stonehouse to shoot all the live action with a Phantom camera because of his expertise working with water as subject matter and his experience with the high-speed digital camera, which raised the bar considerably for the production.

“During the pre-viz, we had interactive pow-wows with Jeff and the agency creatives to determine the choice of camera, style of moves and the editorial workflow required by a digital file-based camera like the Phantom,” notes Crash + Sue executive producer Donna Drewick. “This process proved very helpful, especially with our tight shooting schedule and quick turnaround on the deliverable.”

Agency art director Uriaha Austin Foust says, “The team Donna assembled was extremely flexible and enthusiastic when it came to developing a strategy to make this project happen. A meager budget, a mountain of product to shoot and a super-tight timeline never made them flinch. I've never felt more welcome and inspired than when I've worked with Crash + Sue's and Echo Boys.”

Shower sets were built on stage to house BRIZO’s customizable shower system and permit extreme close-ups of the gleaming, high-design fixtures and the slow-motion play of water on skin. In the video, Stonehouse—shooting at 1,000 fps—captures BRIZO’s fashion-forward style and the sensuous effect of water jets, sprays and water droplets on skin as the voiceover observes that “Sensori not only spirits you away, it revives your spirits.”

"Jeff [Stonehouse] and I were on the same page from the first phone call,” notes Y&L’s Foust. “When we got on set it was all an experiment, but his experience was evident. We knocked out stellar shots one right after the other. It was a fun couple of days."

Crash + Sue's creative editor Carrie Shanahan was on set during production to maximize the efficiency of the shoot. “This was a great opportunity for me to get some intimate experience with the Phantom,” she says. “Being on set was a major time-saver as we pared down the mammoth clips generated from the high-speed output. The team could immediately play back takes and ditch anything that didn’t hit the mark, essentially pulling selects on set. Stonehouse and his team made a tricky shoot look easy, and Uriaha and Kurt [Ashburn] from Y&L were innovative, efficient, and felt like a collaborative extension of the Crash + Sue's family.”

Shanahan cut the video on Apple Final Cut Pro HD, implementing a series of speed changes and further manipulating the footage to illustrate Sensori’s unique water technology. “The extreme slow motion of the water was a perfect complement to the elegant and sensory tone of the piece, and the footage could make a speed-ramp fan of anyone,” she reports.

“Carrie’s eye and attention to detail transformed already spectacular footage into art,” declares Foust.

Animators Sean Hall, Matt Sattler and Adam Celt were called on to generate CG "builds" of several shower systems to depict Sensori’s customizable looks. Simple, elegant titles created by Celt highlight key copy points: “Beauty by design,” “Smart luxury” and “Limitless possibilities.”

The video ends as the last droplets of water cling to a showerhead, slowly let go and splash on a naked shoulder. The video cuts to the title card, “Their Own Ultimate Sensory Experience,” and dissolves into the BRIZO logo animation designed by Celt.

"The 'Shower Builds,' as we call them, are something that we've actually done for years in other videos. It's sort of a unifying element,” explains Foust. “Let me say that we've worked with houses from both coasts, and the boys at Crash + Sue's brought a smoothness and elegance like no one else. And don't get me started on Adam. He knows how to effect and manipulate without taking things over the top. He always finds the right balance of technology and sophistication."

Sue Lakso color corrected on a da Vinci 2K system. She kept the cooler cast of the original Phantom footage, finessed bright and dark shots for a balance of contrast, and ensured that the water sequences stood out against the showers’ neutral backgrounds. Online editor Mark Anderson finished the job on Autodesk’s Smoke, laying off to HDCAM SR, then the media department rounded out Crash + Sue's full array of capabilities, authoring the beautiful program on Blu-ray disc.

"Mark is a pro. There were so many little imperfections given the super close-up nature of the shoot and Mark made them disappear like a magician,” Foust reports. “And Sue is always a pleasure to work with.”

Echo Boys Audio
Echo Boys’ composer Alex Berglund post-scored the video creating music every bit as beautiful as the visuals. He crafted a track that is peaceful and meditative in spots and dramatic in others, indicative of the slow-motion water elements and the stylish Sensori fixtures. Berglund mixed acoustic and electronic instruments, including guitar, marimba, cello and synth to lend both organic and non-organic notes to the score. Tom Lecher created sound design that further enhanced the stunning imagery.

"Alex is a genius. As is Tom,” says Foust. “I've worked with a number of studios and Echo Boys is truly something special. I think part of it is because their process is so organic and seamless when it comes to working with Crash + Sue's. We brought them in at the first possible moment, and we cultivated the track together. Over time it became more and more refined and resulted in a piece that isn't music, but truly sound designed. I really value all of their individual talents at Echo Boys as well as those of the Crash + Sue's family as a whole,” Foust concludes.