John Hillcoat partners with Leo Burnett Chicago and MPC to create holiday campaign for Samsung

The spot “Be Together”, which is part of the wider campaign “Do What You Can’t”, captures the simple yet powerful emotion of people, separated by necessity, using Samsung devices to connect with their loved ones during the holidays. It shows the reality that people’s lives and careers sometimes make it impossible to be present for important celebrations, but Samsung can help bridge that physical divide.

Serial Pictures’ John Hillcoat directs the spot from Leo Burnett, with grade by MPC’s Mark Gethin. MPC also handled all VFX, including adding a glacial background and a fleet of penguins to the epic arctic scene containing the climate researcher. The VFX team combined live action shot elements into the stock footage of Emperor penguins, placing a high level of attention on lighting direction and the perspective of the live action plates.

MPC’s Lead Flame Artist Andre Arevalo said: “We added a variety of elements to the arctic sequence to bring it to life, including matte painting, CG snow drifts and CG helicopter skids. These elements all created an authentic yet epic feeling.”

He added: “Working with John Hillcoat is an exciting prospect. The footage and moments he captured felt authentic and heartwarming, so it was our responsibility to maintain the aesthetic that he established.”

This campaign marks a continued partnership with John Hillcoat – MPC has previously worked with him on Toyota’s Super Bowl Spot “Mobility for All” and BMW “Relativity”, which were also graded by Mark Gethin.