The vapor pioneers over at Puffco reached out to the Director of Dabs GMUNK and myself for some visuals to show off their new product — The Peak Pro. Working in tandem with our smoke liaison Phillip Gadrow, we filmed an arsenal of practical effects aimed at represent the Peak’s high tech dabbing experience. After several days of boba, lasers and small scale pyrotechnics - we assembled a library of visuals that formed an initial device teaser video and were incorporated into the official launch campaign.
 

Our first shoot focused on the core element of the peak pro — the atomizer. The element is intricately controlled by the user and heats dab oils before they are vaporized. In order to save ourselves from being permanently blazed for the remainder of 2020 - we substituted dabs for boiling olive oil. A combination of macro and probe lenses allowed us to get deep in the details of the melting oils. A combination of oil, water and alka seltzer tablets created a swirling formation of bubbles that animated its self without heat. Another sweet combination we tried was boiling maple syrup, which created intricate fractal patterns along the surface of each bubble.

The next phase of the Peak Pro journey involved filtration, a process where dab smoke is filtered through water in order to cool the vapor. We used dry ice to create thick smoke bubbles, which we filmed in various water containers. The most difficult angle was using our Laowa 24mm probe lens and submerging it into a vertical vase of bubbling water.

The third phase of the Peak Pro involves vapor entering and exiting the body. For this stage, we filmed several passes of smoke passing through various lasers and LED lights. We also filtered the shots with glass objects to simulate a perspective from within the Peak’s glass chamber. Dry ice placed on a thin tray of water ended up making the most dynamic smoke details.

Our vision scenes emulated what the Peak user may see after blasting off from reality. We referenced the same elements as the first 3 stages, focusing on oils, heat, water, bubbles and glass. For the first round of visions, we returned to focusing on oils and bubbles, but this time illuminating them with optical art animations or lasers. The op art animations were displayed on a TV screen and a tray of bubbles & oils were filmed on top of it in a glass container. We also experimented with firing lasers through bubbles to create some celestial sparkle action.

We pushed the visions further into abstraction by running lights through a crystal vase, supplied by the refraction master Bedtimes. With this phase of shooting, we began our descent into full GWAR. Why extactly GMUNK adopted the trend of screaming GWAR every time a lens filter was brought out, we may never know. (Absolutely no affiliation with the band GWAR) The inception process of filming glass within glass yielded a wide range of celestial visuals for us to use as transitions.

At this stage our 2 man team was surviving on our last bits of boba energy and gone full GWAR — it seemed like the perfect time to start working with pyrotechnics. Our goal was to represent pure heat and create a vortex that would transport the user back to reality. We filmed several layers of steel wool through the fractal filters. The layers were then composited together in after effects to create a tunnel of embers.

Our final shoot involved the product its self. We focused on showing off all the industrial design details and unique light animations it has to offer, including the disco effect (Gmunks Favorite). We purchased a massive mirror and rotated it on a motorized lazy susan to get all the angles without having to move our camera set up. Lens fractal filters also allowed us to visually echo the device in psychedelic ways.

Directors: GMUNK, Peter Clark
Director of Photography: Peter Clark
Process Photography: Bradley G Munkowitz
Editor: Peter Clark
Music & Sound Design: Enternull
Creative Director: Philip Gadrow
Client: Puffco