In an age when CGI is commonplace, this makes the commercial all the more extraordinary. Every single frame was shot over two days – with the main sequence involving a 23-man camera crew and only one chance to get it right.

An entire block was closed off and special compressed-air cannons shot the balls into the air, while earth moving equipment poured thousands down the street. Not that you’d know it from the finished product, but these balls can do some damage, so all the cars were props and crew members went so far as to having protective shields and crash helmets.”

To learn more about the making of the Bravia commercial, check out Sony’s behind the scenes page.

While doing some basic research, I noticed an odd coincidence. Superballs are made by Wham-O, a company headquartered in — of all places — San Fransisco. Sony chose the city for it’s hills but the coincidence does add something to the coolness of the commercial.

On a personal note, I also noticed that the commercial was made by Fallon London, which I am assuming is related to Fallon USA. I only noticed this because Fallon was the company behind BMW Films’ UnCapTheRide alternate reality game, which I played and completed (I had a 1:200 chance of winning a BMW Z4 and got to attend the endgame party in Las Vegas). Fallon is pretty darn cool.

And for those of you wondering how Sony cleaned up the quarter million bouncy balls, they had a series of large nets and numerous crewmembers with shovels. Stuff like this is why I want to make films.
Photo credit: © 2005 sepiatone, via flickr