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Fiesta - Mermaid

We supervised the shoot of the mermaid in Houston, Then we set a VFX shoot of a wig in a swimming pool in California.

Director	Locke Bryan
Producer	Camille Bryan / Mike Patterson
Director of Photography	Billy Velten
Production Company	Locke Bryan Productions
VFX/Posthouse	AN IDEAL WORLD / LOCKE BRYAN
VFX/Animation	Robb Hart / Sharon Diaz
Agency	Lopez Negrete
Agency Prod	Marlo Baker
Agency CD	Javier Gonzalez Herba

Due to the short turnaround on this spot, we had to use a practical solution for the underwater hair. That's why we shot the mermaid in Houston without hair, just wearing a tracking crown. Then in Tustin California we shot the hair in a swimming pool. The tricky part was for Molly who puppeteered the hair to match the original actresses movements. For each take Molly would surface watch the original on a Poolside Laptop and then submerge and replicate the sequence of her movements. Nod forward, back, to the side twice for instance! The footage was then time warped to match the mermaid footage.

The tracking crown was made with a headband from a party supply shop that was modified and tested by Robb Hart. Click here to see Robb looking very silly in his hotel room.

www.anidealworld.com/video/robb-wearing-tracking-crown

When we sank a green screen, electric lights, a $200,000 camera and one of our founders, Molly Talbot Hart, into a swimming pool, we had to be confident!