big ticket

California Lottery launched their biggest scratch off ticket ever. In the film the ticket appears to be truly gigantic in size. It’s loaded onto an 18-wheel flatbed truck that carries it through different California landscapes on its way to the store. At the end it is revealed that it was actually a scale model truck carrying this big, actual size ticket.

The intention was always to use the actual size ticket, so the challenge was to use only one scale model truck. In a time when everything is done CGI, we went the opposite direction. It took extensive testing and close collaboration with the model makers. Scouting for the right locations was crucial,  as they needed to have beautiful backgrounds and no middle ground that would give away the effect. And we had to make sure the truck was high enough so the camera could be positioned appropriately for important perspective shots. To make the close-ups of the wheels on the pavement look real, we had to design paper roads with smaller scale pavement. We shot at a higher frame rate to make the truck look realistic and life-size. With honest craft and in-camera effects, a visual illusion was achieved that was both surprising and self ironic.