All work

Estée Lauder

A chain reaction at Tower Bridge

VFX / Houdini simulationBehind the scenes

Giant foundation bottles topple across Tower Bridge, ending in a liquid spill that brings the scale of the scene into focus.

My contribution
VFX pipeline, Blender product modelling, camera tracking, Houdini FLIP simulation, lighting, relighting and After Effects compositing
Created at
One Agency

A bigger stage for the idea.

The film began at a different London location, with telephone boxes replaced by a row of oversized product bottles. Moving the sequence to Tower Bridge meant rebuilding the shot around new footage while retaining the original visual direction.

Matchmove. Simulate. Relight.

I modelled the bottle in Blender and matched the camera movement so the product line stayed anchored to the bridge. The final spill uses a FLIP liquid simulation. With the location change leaving little control over the weather, the shot also needed a substantial relighting pass before the final composite and sound design.

Why the film was built twice.

The breakdown follows the move to Tower Bridge and the practical work needed to make the new plate support the same idea.

Narrated breakdown: the original location, bottle modelling, camera tracking, liquid simulation and final composite.
Final film / vertical version, v5
The final spill and product interaction.
The final spill and product interaction.