IDEA

To introduce Gatorade’s new G-Active water to the world, we created the first-ever human figure made from 100% liquid, animated in mid-air, without CGI. We used a completely new technology capable of generating a visual and literal representation of an active water. Our inspirational installation combined art, photography and science to synchronise tiny droplets of G-Active so that together they formed a character that jumps, runs and even kicks a punching bag. 

EXECUTION

In order to pull this off, we created an intricate water rig from scratch, using mostly custom parts. The rig released thousands of millimetric G-Active droplets in a millisecond forming a 3D character. Each unit contained 64 litres of water, with 8 units running at any one time. This meant we used half a tonne of water to bring the whole system together.

To make the water character true-to-life, we motion-captured a human athlete running, jumping and kickboxing. Then data from the motion capturing told the water rig when to turn its nozzles on and off.

The water droplets turned on and off using a series of 2,048 switches. The team used flash-lighting to illuminate and “suspend” the water droplets in mid air. This meant each frame had a millimetre and microsecond accuracy. As a result we transmitted an entire layer of data through the entire system in just a microsecond.

This rig was synchronised with a lighting system, which was also synchronised with a large-format digital camera that captured the frames and generated a stop-motion animation of this human-like water character coming to life. It was all done for real, with no tricks.

To have the camera positioned at the right angle for the shot, we programmed the water rig to sync with our motion control team. Every time our motion control specialists set a camera sync and a flash, the water was dropped at that precise moment.

Our amazing team designed and built the technical infrastructure in less than ten weeks. During which we brought together more than 20,000 individual parts and custom-made components. So in effect more than 5,000 man hours were taken up in the design and build of the system.