In Sprite “Camo,” we travel through an entire city where the inhabitants literally blend into their environment, highlighting a lack of individuality and self-expression. This all changes when one young man takes a sip of Sprite and breaks free of that constraint, wiping off his camouflage and exploring the town, drawing the curious looks of bystanders and injecting life into an otherwise lifeless place. At the climax, the young man encounters a girl who has obviously taken the same journey as he has. Both of them have lived up to the brand attribute of being “uncontainable.”

In the production of Sprite “Camo,” a total of 672 man-hours were spent painting final background, make-up, and body artistry, creating the camouflaged effect in multiple locations across Prague. The intent was to use a minimum of post effect work, and instead create as much of the illusion in-camera as possible. Artists used locked-off 5D cameras linked to HD screens to camouflage each actor into the scene, often spending up to 8 hours on each camouflaged character. The total 5D camera hours spent creating the illusions was approximately 912.

For each actor painted into each scene, a minimum of four artists were required - 1 each for clothing, scenery, make-up, and body paint. Painting and on-location pre-shoot tests were conducted with talent for three days in advance of the shoot, and the total amount of paint used topped 200 kg.

Though the film is meant to depict a hot, sunny city from which Sprite provides a refreshing break, the actual temperature in Prague during the shoot averaged 5 degrees Celsius. Massive space heaters and long breaks between shots were required to keep talent and artists warm. In spite of this, after the first of four shoot days, our principal actor walked off set, protesting the conditions and refusing to return. We recast his role overnight and lost a day’s footage because of it.

The total production cost of “Camo” was $670,000, plus $85,000 for post effects.