Working with director John Hillcoat, The Mill was brought in to recreate the1800's of Ireland and show what happened when the train, aka 'Iron Horse', first rolled through the country. With a mix of CG, matte paintings and antique train tracks the spot sees a train running away at full speed whose most precious Jameson Whiskey cargo must be rescued.

Corey Brown, The Mill's 2D lead artist, explains "On the shoot we had a short antique track and a period train, built by our art department. These were pushed or pulled by a small diesel locomotive, but by the end of the day we also took to pushing by hand, urgently trying to get as much out of the daylight as possible! The horses were also afraid of the FX smoke and steam being used on set, so we decided to film this separately and add it in afterwards.

For the end shot, when the train runs into the sea, we found ourselves almost 700 miles from the nearest coast, so an artificial "end of the track" was used. The train crashing and going over the cliff along with the underwater shots of the boats and train were all the work of our CG team.

Lastly, and crucially, the Romanian countryside needed to look like Ireland! A great deal off attention was paid to the matte painting of the wide train reveal shot, combining elements from Transylvania, the Bulgarian coast and footage of the Ireland's Cliffs of Moher to perfect the authentic look!"

- The Mill

Date
February, 2013

Role
Senior Compositor

Director
John Hillcoat

Agency
TBWA Chiat Day