Contemporary living.(broadcast)

A series of television commercials for cable/Internet service provider Bright House Networks features all elegant, contemporary--style home that is loaded with sophisticated high end consumer electronics. The setting--used as a metaphor for the Bright House services, which include digital television, broadband Internet, and video on demand--is cutting-edge on another level, as the majority of the set is virtual.

Click 3x, a New York City based effects and design studio, created the 13 spots, which are intended to introduce Bright House to cable customers in new markets. In each commercial, a camera pans through a cross-section of the home to reveal family members watching television, surfing the 'Net, playing computer games, and engaging in other forms of electronic entertainment. The family members are live actors, but the home and many of the objects in it are computer-generated.

Click 3x creative directors Iain Greenway and Christine Lin Barraud designed the digital house, approaching the task as if it were a real-world architectural project. "We looked at a lot of modern architecture for inspiration, then designed a home that we would want to live in," says Greenway. "We wanted the structure to convey a sense of reality in that every detail made architectural sense; we wanted a house that someone could actually build."

Next, a team of digital artists using Maya from Alias Systems began constructing a rough model of the virtual home, which was used to previsualize each commercial. This step provided the advertising agency and the client with an idea of what the final presentations would look like. It also served as a road map for the motion control shoot that followed.

That shoot occurred on a special effects stage operated by Arf + Co. With Greenway directing and Click 3x's Peter Corbett acting as visual ...