Festive Fizz – resin casting techniques to create realistic visual effects

Realistic visual effects are in demand at this festive time of year for window displays, point-of-sale and attention-grabbing in-store concessions.  Using artificial food and drink obviously avoids the issues of short-shelf life and spillage hazards.  Our wide-range of in-house creative skills enable us to test, develop and replicate everyday products for visual displays or to use in photography and filming for advertising.

One recent project for set designer, Miri Katz, raised fresh challenges for the team. The end-client was looking for a wow-factor display to feature in a champagne brand advert. Having designed and pitched her idea, our client wanted to know how it could be delivered. The key requirement was to create realistic visual effects for the audience to imagine real bubbly in the glasses.

Outlining the brief

Our client came to us with the concept to explore what would be possible. The key concerns to address were:

Authentic 1920’s look – the designer wanted to create a finished look from the 1920’s, which required the art-working skills of our experienced prop maker, Elaine. She created life-like fabrics to clothe the arms, applying specialist painting techniques for skin and added a bracelet to complete the effect.

Safeguarding glass – this display featured real champagne glasses, which involved project manager Cheryl, sourcing and testing appropriate materials to cast the contents of the glasses whilst protecting the fragile glasses.

Colour matching – to convince the audience it was real champagne, we had to match the colour precisely with the actual product.

Bubbly fizz –  to create realistic bubbles, we had to test different treatments that could be varied slightly from glass to glass. If the display were too uniform, the visual effect would be unnatural to the eye.

Visual effects to reflect movement – opaque liquids are relatively simple to cast; creating the effect of pouring liquid from a bottle to a glass presents issues. We use different techniques depending on location and purpose of a display. For flowing champagne, integrated lighting worked well as opposed to applying texture or paint effects.

Life-casting – to make the display stand out, the designer wanted life-size hands holding the glasses and pouring from the bottle. Working with a large team of creatives under one roof made it easy for us to source suitable life-casting models for the job.

Finding solutions to make your visual display stand out or blend in is what we thrive on.

Give us a call to talk through your budget and plans – because even while you’re still choosing between concepts, our experienced team will love offering practical ideas on how to bring them to life.