Adidas x Messi Advert – 50 Camera Bullet Time
Eight setups in Paris on an extended 50 camera Argus rig, with Messi, body doubles and a full ensemble cast
What Did We Do?
Adidas came to us for a global campaign built around Messi, and we shot the whole thing in bullet time across eight separate locations inside a Paris studio, the same venue that hosted the Olympics a few years back.
For this job we extended our Argus rig from 40 cameras to 50. Ten new cameras, new lenses, and all the cabling looms to run them. The rig sat on an 8 metre arc covering 180 degrees, with the cameras equally spaced. Across a setup day and three shoot days we moved that rig eight times, breaking it down, repositioning it, and fully realigning it for every new location. Eight complete resets, eight clean captures.
On set we had Messi himself, three or four body doubles, and a large ensemble cast playing the other characters in the adverts. We delivered 600 finished sequences straight to the post production team, who took them on through VFX. The campaign is now live across Adidas channels, in cinemas, and on social.
Common Bullet Time FAQs
Can you shoot a moving subject?
Yes. Because every Argus camera is synced, so we can freeze the subject mid action. That is exactly how we captured the actors in this advert in motion.
Can the rig move between shots?
It can. On this job we moved the rig six times across the studio, realigning it at each location so every sequence stayed sharp and consistent.
How many cameras can you run?
For this campaign we ran 50 on the Argus rig. We scale the camera count to suit the job.
