The film takes audiences on a journey where imagination is not bound by reality. A world of giant squids, robot geisha, fierce warriors and loyal salary men. It avoids a traditional narrative, and took a more surreal, music-video inspired approach. The loose 'story' leads to a mysterious Japanese character who collects giant squid and owns a secret research facility dedicated to pruning the perfect Bonsai tree. The idea being that kind of perfectionist would favour precision-brewed Asahi.

The team worked with the director to help design and build the complex ‘one shot’ look, with everything from robotic geishas to a gigantic CG squid in the mix, alongside a seamless blend of CG set extensions and beautifully shot live action plates. Each scene has extensive VFX that blend the real with the imagination, and offer a beautiful spot that is testament to the power and creativity of the teams involved.

The production designer designed sets in 3D, with 5 huge sets built for the shoot. The team then worked out camera speeds for timings based on these 5 sets and 7 plates. The DOP would suggest rigs and mounts, which our team were able to then test it in previs to see if it would work with the set. During previs, we worked out that we couldn’t get the resolution and the required frame rate to shoot the high frame rate samurais, so we had to use Alexa LF. Of course, that also helped the director, who wanted minimal lens distortion as it allowed wide field of view without the distortion of normal anamorphic lenses.

One complex scene involves a character battling a gigantic underwater squid, which was done via a process known as ‘Dry for wet’ – a film technique in which smoke, colored filters, and/or lighting effects are used to simulate a character being underwater while filming on a dry stage. The team did a rough animation of the squid to help drive the actions of talent and the stunt team on the day, before spending the final weeks perfecting the look of the photo-real monster.