Patrick Daughters directed ‘Wrong,’ Depeche Mode's first single from their latest album, Sounds of the Universe.  The dark promo shows us a car going backwards crashing into things with an unexpected outcome (not for the faint-hearted!)  The promo was produced by Mute Records and Lana Kim at The Directors Bureau, with post by MPC.

MPC supervisors from LA and London assisted the two night shoot in LA.  To allow a timely workflow and for cleanup to start straight away, 2K scans were graded before the edit was approved.  MPC’s main challenge was to remove the camera arm fixed onto the front of the car.  The 2D team had to paint out this arm on moving shots and patch pieces of clean road over the top, which was made harder by the fact that it was raining in the live action plate.  The camera’s shadows and car reflections also had to be removed frame by frame as well as the stunt driver who was in the back seat steering the car.

Some of the hero’s action in the car had to re-shot using green screen.  These shots needed a background tracked and composited, involving very complicated hair keying.  This was achieved using Shake’s extensive keying tools.  The band was also shot green screen on a separate day in New York and the location material was shot later in Los Angeles.  This material had to be composited and a light change over them had to be tracked to reflect the headlight interaction.  For the final scene when the car crashes the actor had to be shot separately and composited.

Colourist Mark Gethin worked closely with Patrick Daughters to create the dark, moody atmosphere for the spot.

The promo goes on air on 2nd March.