...Audrey Hepburn and chocolate...I refuse to hate the concept...

I rarely watch television traditionally anymore and this ad escaped me until recently.  Out of the corner of my eye I caught a nymph on the screen, one who's beauty has no equal.  I cycled the DVR backwards and I thought it was cut footage of Audrey into an ad.  Usually, I can spot these out, but there was something a bit odd here.  It was in HD with a filter to give it that late 60s noise, so it could not have been from prior footage.  (The noise could have been done better, it is much too uniform to look authentic.)

After reading around, it was CG, but only the face.  They shot the entire commercial on the Amalfi Coast in Southern Italy, using two different actresses as stand-ins for the late actress.  Besides the face, the rest is all new footage.  Interlaced by ad agency is the post-production work of a company called 'Framestore'.

From the Vogue article, one of the limited with behind the scenes footage.  It appears that there was footage of the making of, but Galaxy/Dove nixed it to maintain the mystery of the ad.  Photos that follow are from the actor in the car that whisks 'Audrey' away, Nick Hopper.

 

As you can see between the gif and these stills from the stand-in, the hair is intact.  Imagine the spline and matching required to mesh the ears and the face as the shot moves in.  You can see a little bit of the 'off' around the far right jaw line as it meets the neck.  All in all, still incredible.  Considering that this all CG, the expressions and eye blinks are spot-on.

The amazingly beautiful stand-ins.  The taller woman to the left appears to be the
'standing/walking' Audrey whilst the one on the right is the sitting/close-up stand-in.

 

 

Reading through the CG company's (Framestore) article, the company relied on a renderer dubbed "Arnold" by Solidangle.  It's been used, most notably for me is in "Halo 4".  The skin textures were amazing, as is described, "enabled the team to perfect the soft, translucent feel of real skin", with a "fur system...to break up the perfection of a raw CG render."  Framestore attempted to replicate the eyes of the stand-in actresses, but it proved to difficult, so they went full CG.  If anything, like it or no, it is an arresting ad.  It also brings the allure of Audrey back again.

Audrey's Poem (spoken at her funeral):

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness..

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.