Roll on Jersey Royal Season

Bespoke Pneumatic Launching Rigs for Albert Bartlett’s “Roll on Jersey Royal Season”

MACHINESHOP fabricated highly specialized practical special effects for the vibrant commercial campaign “Roll on Jersey Royal Season” by Albert Bartlett. Developed alongside leading creative forces, this high-energy agricultural brand spot relies on unexpected, high-velocity practical physics to capture the excitement of harvest season in-camera.

Our workshop brought this dynamic visual concept to life by engineering a completely bespoke, high-pressure custom firing box designed to launch potatoes into the air on cue. The embedded commercial and behind-the-scenes videos showcase the mechanical prototyping, pressure calibrations, and millisecond-precise triggering required to execute these food-launching sequences flawlessly and safely under the director’s lens.

Advanced Pneumatic Engineering & Practical Launching Rigs

Projecting organic objects safely and predictably at high speeds across an active soundstage or location set demands strict pressure regulation, custom mechanical valves, and tight camera synchronization:

• Bespoke Pneumatic Firing Box: Custom-engineering a multi-barrel or multi-chamber pressure rig capable of firing real potatoes into precise arcs within the camera framing.
• Millisecond-Precise Firing Sequences: Programming electronic trigger solenoids to launch the produce perfectly on a live cue, matching the high-speed tracking camera movements exactly.
• Adjustable Velocity Pressure Calibration: Integrating precise digital regulators to modulate air pressure, allowing our on-set technicians to safely adjust launch heights and speeds between setups.
• Seamless Set Design Concealment: Working hand-in-hand with production designer Elizabeth Melinek to hide all underlying compressed air lines, brackets, and mechanical boxes behind the scenic field dressing.