Ad-Making Lizardry

In the Super Bowl spots for Budweiser from Goodby Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, two lizards attempt to murder their rivals, the frogs, so the lizards can replace them as Budweiser’s spokesreptiles. Here is how Digital Domain of Venice helped create the spot:

1. The lizards, actually life-size mechanical puppets, are filmed against a blue screen. The images are fed into a computer. The lizards were built by a company affiliated with Digital Domain, Stan Winston Studios.

2. The swamp, actually an indoor set that includes a 7-foot-high shack and a miniature lake, is filmed from many angles, and the images are fed into a computer. The lizards are then digitally inserted into the swamp. Since the puppets don’t have tongues, digital tongues are added.