Macallan X Bentley Horizon

The Macallan

120

Cameras on a 20 metre curve

1/100 to 1s

Shutter ramp across the array

CGI. Everything in camera

A Macallan and Bentley collaboration shot entirely in camera: 120 cameras on a 20 metre curve, with a shutter ramp that slides each shot from crisp to ethereal.

What Did We Do?

Director Bugsy Steel and Greenroom Films came to us to make an advert for The Macallan Horizon, the horizontal whisky vessel Macallan designed with Bentley Motors. We ran 120 cameras on a 20 metre, 180 degree truss curve, which left plenty of floor inside for the multiple set and prop changeovers the film needed.

Every effect in the film is in camera. Each pass starts at a 1/100 shutter and transitions across the array up to a full one second shutter by the last section, with the other settings adjusted along the way to hold exposure. We tested iterations of the timings with DOP Tim Fok until the shot moved from crisp into an ethereal sense of movement at exactly the right point.

The scenes were built practically on set: a working furnace with a master glassblower forming a bottle, a foundry pour with molten alloy cast in front of the cameras, angle grinders throwing sparks close to the lenses, and choreographed actors through all of it.

Common Advert Production FAQs

What does shot in camera mean?

No CGI. Every effect you see, the sparks, the molten metal, the slide from crisp to dreamlike, happened in front of the lenses and was captured as it happened.

Can settings change during a bullet time shot?

Yes. On this film the shutter ramps from 1/100 up to a full second as the shot travels across the array, with exposure compensated along the way. Speed ramps work the same way.