1stAveMachine directors Bob Partington and Mathery (directing duo Erika Zorzi and Matteo Sangalli) have worked with Deloitte’s award-winning and full-service creative agency, Heat, to deliver a sleek spot for Deloitte, the world’s largest professional services organisation.

The video, entitled 'Seeing Possible,' highlights how Deloitte can bring unique perspectives to help its clients unveil new opportunities and develop innovative solutions. Partington and Mathery fully embrace the brand’s message through optical illusions carried out in their atypical and inventive visual style. “Usually with perspective tricks, it is the ‘break’ that is the visual ‘wow’ we focus on, but that conceptually is not so constructive,” says Partington. “So, with this spot, we tried to make the illusions constructive, revealing solutions.”

Each scene is filled with vibrant color, characters walking on walls, mirror rooms, and impossible staircases, yet the team committed in the very beginning to a practical effects-driven approach. “We decided that we would do this for real — we wanted the feeling of a one-shot, so the edit was used only for timing,” explains Partington. He also notes that there is no green screen or VFX beyond wire removal and minor cleanup.

The greatest challenge was locking the final design of the structure and grounding the optical illusions in realism. The pre-visualisation process was an indispensable piece of the puzzle. Everything was worked out in 3D, such as when and where to situate the camera, before a finger was lifted on the actual build. “The exciting thing for us was to create a flawless path for the camera — the set was designed following the illusion scheme and narrative to capture the feel of a long, uninterrupted take,” says Mathery.

The overall collaboration with the agency and client was both productive and communicative. Creative representatives from Heat and Deloitte joined the directors on set and everyone strategized early on in the shoot. After the structure was built to meet their storytelling needs, Partington and Mathery found themselves jumping right into the action and making a lot of directorial choices on the fly.

Partington and Mathery were eager to share their respective filmmaking styles and develop a unified vision. To Partington’s enjoyment, “This was our first team-up and it won’t be the last. People who follow our work might speculate, of course, who did what, but, overall, it was truly a bonding experience.” Mathery echoes this sentiment, saying, “Collaboration means making decisions together, but in this job, you also have to be quick. That’s why trust is important. We knew each other’s talents and split up different responsibilities of the project in a very natural way.”