Rowena True Directs Time-bending Stop Motion Spot for Mother London & Boots

Using her distinctive stop motion style, Park Village’s Rowena True directs Boots’ latest commercial ‘Slow Mo Your Skin’. The fast-paced beauty spot, created by Mother London, promotes No. 7’s Early Defence Day Cream for young women. 

The 30 second film takes the viewer on a colourful journey through the daily routines of a busy young woman. The hero flicks through multiple outfits and situations, from yoga to sofa, to shower in rapid succession, all of which are cleverly composed into 15 seconds of film by Director, Rowena. Time is then manipulated as our hero introduces No.7’s Early Defence Day Cream to her skincare routine. The cream appears to slow time, or at least the effects on her skin, even though the rest of her life may still be set to fast forward.

Rowena comments on the brief and direction of the film, “This was such a fun brief from Richard and Jolyon at Mother. I found the concept of a visual jump from racing time to slow motion really exciting. I especially loved directing our hero in action within the living space on the shoot day, discovering spontaneous moments that came out through her performance. Our initial casting select hurt her ankle at a gym class and had to go to A&E on the morning of the shoot, so our amazing back up stepped in. Although we had to make some quick, last minute changes, it meant the stand-in could improvise in areas which had been more rigid before, but ultimately it was a bonus. It made the film feel fresh and gave it a real energy.”

Discussing the composition of the stop motion, she adds “I wanted a very staged, almost theatrical, locked off framing to the whole spot. The stop motion sequence was created with bursts of live action so we were able to capture it relatively quickly. 

The transition sequence was done in multiple passes without a motion control rig so editing the clothing changes together required a bit of Flame work at Absolute Post to stabilize the frames and make them seamless. Charlie at the Whitehouse also did a great job of editing the live action sections to give it that poppy stop-motion feel.”

Rowena concludes, “This was a very fast turnaround from pre-production meeting to shoot and the commercial itself was shot in a single day which meant we all had to work relatively fast but it was an absolute pleasure working with the creative team at Mother. It was my first time working with Jolyon and Rich and they were fantastic.”

The online campaign launches on the 15th April 2015 based around #SloMoYourSkin. The 30’ film is set for release online on 16th April 2015.