This thriving cluster of businesses is what led Matt Biddulph to coin the term ‘Silicon Roundabout’ as he believed it had the potential of mirroring the Silicon Valley from over the pond. Biddulph created a Google map snapshot of companies in the area and watched it grow from 15 start-ups to now encompass 600 digital companies.

Seeing this clear visual representation amidst the hubbub, Matt Webb, MD of Shoreditch-based design consultancy BERG, wanted to draw on the growth and strive to bring more people into the area. Webb wanted to “create a virtuous cycle of start-ups, talent, money and kick-start more events” and so sprouted the Tech City map which Taylor James is proud to be a part of, connecting all the businesses in the area to form the powerful network displayed to the left.

Shoreditch is fast becoming the major hub for media agencies, creative production studios and tech firms with a digital edge – and Taylor James Creative Production studio if situated right in the heart of it on Curtain road. Taylor James has its roots firmly grounded in Shoreditch having been here over 12 years, and is one of the long-standing companies in the area. We are proud to be surrounded by a wealth of innovative creative and technological companies, it is a collaborative community and everyone appears eager to form creative partnerships still maintaining the boutique and niche ethos of many of the establishments. This is one thing Shoreditch is known for; its uniqueness and dynamism.

The welcoming support of the government to accelerate the growth of the Tech City for the Olympics in July 2012 will surely attract more business to the area between Shoreditch and Stratford; big companies as well as small start-ups. “The bigger the network, the bigger collision of ideas can occur,” said Carlos Espinal, manager and partner of Seedcamp. Shoreditch is a fertile mixing ground and as Richard Heap comments; “Where Tech City comes in is helping to attract more attention and bring the eyes of the world onto the area. I think it will help, and the two elements will work well side-by-side.”  Careful not to confuse the creative innovation of Shoreditch with the push for global technological corporations, Heap states “Shoreditch and Tech City Stratford will not become one. They will spark off each other’s strengths. Tech City is about big organisations, and some people would say that is totally unlike Shoreditch, which is about small companies, start-ups sparking conversations in cafes and bars. There’s dynamism about Shoreditch that is unique.”

And it’s that creativity Taylor James loves and thrives from! We always knew there was something stirring in East London……

Chosen for Lürzer’s prestigious ‘Ad of the week’  award, our Pretty Polly campaign has been making waves all over the country. From animated displays to nationwide billboards. See it in pride of place on Lürzer’s website or find out more information about the job right here!

The concept has been developed by agency Beattie McGuinness Bungay, to promote designs by fashion label, House of Holland, for its latest range of tights. The campaign is being widely featured in fashion and lifestyle publications and online, including Grazia, Glamour, Heat, Sugar, Harpers, Nylon, MTV, Daily Mail, as well as outdoor billboards and digital OOH displays nationwide. The campaign is running for 6 months.

Our team of artists integrated the photography of fashion photographer, Jolly, with Computer Generated Imagery to create 3 stylised executions with versions for moving image and print. It is this ability to seamlessly transform still images into motion that makes the studio stand out as a complete creative production house, able to control an integrated production under one roof. worked closely with Jolly on set at the photography shoot, to ensure the necessary shots were captured to be integrated with the CGI environment. The attention to detail and involvement of the studio even at this first stage in the production was essential in ensuring the combination into 3D and motion was successful. Head of Retouch, Josh Rogers, says “Knowing the print ads were to be adapted for animation meant ensuring we had sufficient parallax to accommodate the camera moves. Our key consideration when building the city background was ensuring we had enough ‘reveal’ on our sky and building elements, so that as the camera moved down the street all the buildings had subtle realistic parallax within our comic book world.”

This campaign is another strong example of the use of limited assets to produce a holistic campaign across still and moving image. With rapid developments in advertising technology, such as the use of digital billboards and the rising number of digital magazines for portable devices, this elegant and cost-effective solution is at the height of demand. Our expertise and ability to work flexibly with diverse techniques across print and motion enabled this campaign to come to life.

We’re really honored to accept this award, we’d like to thank Aitken Jolly (photographer), Beattie McGuinness Bungay (agency), our families, friends, our dog, God, the universe, everyone who believed in us.

Our Founder, Glen Taylor, is in NYC now working with existing & new clients to bring a bit of British style to the American advertising industry!

Glen will be available to personally work with the local advertising agencies and partners. He said: “The US is such an important market for us and New York is the perfect entry point to base the initial office. Ideally we would have made the move sooner but we’ve been working hard to build a production studio that’s ahead of the industry curve. Our recent success is based on our ability to package solutions that combine all services, delivering the highest quality of work in-house.  Across print, digital and broadcast, creative inspiration and innovation is always at the heart of everything we do; being based in New York will drive a lot of positive change for us, working even closer with our clients in the US.”

Glen Taylor continues “I want people to know how passionate and committed to each and every job we are, in a constantly evolving industry it’s often difficult for production studios to marry creativity with technical proficiency. Taylor James is here to show that those things aren’t mutually exclusive; whatever the brief, we’ll deliver the solution that ticks all the boxes”.

Keep up-to-date with the move by following us on Twitter & Facebook.

In an article on 22^nd August 2011, Russell Adams at The Wall Street Journal reports,

“Among the hardest hit in the most recent quarter was the Washington Post Company’s flagship newspaper, where print advertising declined 12% to $66.6 million for the quarter.”

Though not an entirely global trend, Western print advertising’s recent stagnation is often seen as an indication of its eventual demise. This is assumptive and largely inaccurate. Though the power and growth of digital and online advertising is indisputable, print advertising is far from powerless.

As the oldest form of advertising, print certainly has a well-established credibility, as well as a global reach and loyal following. It also has a versatility that other forms of advertising do not have; print can be displayed in magazines, on billboards, at bus stops, in newspapers, at train stations, and many more locations that do not depend upon a digital device or Internet access.

Perhaps one of its strongest features is its simplicity; users are less assaulted without sounds and movement, allowing message to be more subtly communicated. Print ads have the ability to integrate into their surroundings and feel at home in a way that motion and interactive adverts do not. Take for instance a magazine; no one thinks twice of the watch ads and hand cream samples when flicking through GQ. They are as much a part of the mag as the articles. Now compare that to adverts appearing in the middle of a TV show, the notable increase in volume, the loud, desperate attempts to re-gain the attention of the viewer. Advertising in print is a much more delicate art.

Trusting the potential of a print advert’s visual impact is key. In our print campaign, ‘Fashion Lives’, commissioned by CHI & Partners, London for Westfield shopping centre, the striking impact of the final print image was in the simplicity of its message. The project’s combination of photography (by David Hughes) and CGI, like much of our work, emphasises print’s more artistic nature as an advertising form. Yet it also demonstrates that print can be as innovative and cutting edge as motion and interactive advertising; the difference is that in our print, the innovation is more subtle and understated.

In 2010, the executives of Condé Nast, Wenmer Media, Meredith National Media, Time Inc. and Hearst collaborated to launch an advertising campaign entitled, ‘The Power of Print’. In one particular advert, a photo of the swimmer Michael Phelps accompanies the statement: “We surf the Internet. We swim in magazines.”

Charles Townsend, the CEO of Condé Nast, stated, “There’s a reason magazines are such an enduring and engaging media force. The format showcases our rich content and our advertisers’ brand messages like no other medium, resulting in a bond with consumers that is uniquely powerful.” Vogue, perhaps the most famous Condé Nast publication, is arguably founded upon the luxurious tangibility and artistry of the magazine’s content. The advertising in such magazines is almost a separate artistic industry in itself, and this is largely thanks to print advertising’s artistic production style and form.

Furthermore, despite magazines and newspapers creating online and digital versions of themselves, the appeal of a physical publication is evident in the loyalty of its readers as well as this, taken from the Simmons Multi-Media Engagement Study:

“Magazines are the No. 1 medium of engagement – across all dimensions measured. Magazines continue to score significantly higher than TV or the Internet in ad receptivity and all of the other engagement dimensions, including ‘trustworthy’ and ‘inspirational.’” (more)

Away from the West, there has been a growth of print advertising in Developing countries. In an article published online on 22^nd August 2011, the Nepalese advertising industry emphasises its own growth:

“Turnover from print media increased massively in the past fiscal year mainly due to lengthy power cuts and inclusion of advertisements published different magazines under print segment,” said Raj Kumar Bhattarai, president of AAN (Advertising Agency of Nepal).”

Similarly, an article in The Economic Times states that India’s print advertising has witnessed a growth of 16% in the first six months of 2011 (according to media market research firm Adex India). The total annual advertising sector in India is also stated to be worth $5bn, and print advertising is the leading contributor at 44%.

The latest figures released by the Financial Times on Oct 5^th 2011, show that print advertising has fallen by only 5% in the last year, still giving it a 16.7% market share with spending around £1.37bn. Whilst this is still a way from the £2.26bn spending online it is still very sizable portion of the market, much to big to ignore.

At Taylor James, our ability to combine photography, CGI and retouch means that our print advertising work is often thematically and aesthetically compatible with digital and multimedia forms of advertising. This brings us to a primary point; despite the advances in technology and new media, advertising is in danger of becoming overly concerned with only the newest and latest breakthrough in the industry’s technological capabilities. Print advertising, rather than being cast out and forgotten, should be integrated with newer, more interactive forms to create a cohesive and well-rounded campaign.

Commissioned by Glue Isobar, London, Taylor James’ 2008 project for the Toyota iQ is perhaps the best demonstration of this. From underground and train station digital displays to the IMAX cinema wraparound billboard, to TV; the Toyota iQ campaign encompassed all advertising mediums, in print, digital and broadcast. Despite the highly digital aesthetic of the project, we knew that we could not discard the power of print, since it would simply be a direct and still representation of the campaign as a whole. Similarly in our 2009 project for Citrix Systems, commissioned by Y&R, San Francisco, we created twelve separate deliverables: six for print and six for animation. It was in combining these two separate forms of advertising, print and motion, that perhaps gave us, and importantly the client, such good results.

Multi-platform advertising is more important than any one form, whether online, on television, in smartphone App technology, or even print. It is a combination of these forms, and in their ability to combine with each other coherently, delivering a simple and effective message, that will ultimately deliver the best results for the client, and ensure that the clearest and most versatile advertising work is produced.

Yet one particular aspect of Apple’s modern 21st century image was largely shaped by its advertising and intertwined with its product design: simplicity.

Of course, having a strong product is vital to the success of any advertising campaign. But the importance (and ubiquity amongst successful brands) of simplicity and clarity in their advertising is evident: Nike, Virgin, Amazon, and eBay are four companies whose international status is, at least in part, due to the success and simplicity of their previous advertising campaigns. Both the iPad and Amazon Kindle campaigns are current examples of simplistic advertising. They simply display the product and demonstrate what it does.

However, the emergence of CGI and digital software to manipulate and create images and motion in contemporary advertising should be viewed in tandem with this simple style of advertising. At Taylor James, our motion work regularly demonstrates our belief in simple advertising, paired with our expertise in using CGI and retouch to achieve a stunning visual impact. Working with Y&R, San Francisco in our advertising campaign for Citrix Systems, we were asked to further promote the company’s computer virtualization services. Though we used both live action photography and CGI, the result is a crisp and clear motion result, which demonstrates the product simply, but with the visual impact that we are renowned for.

Starbucks are another internationally recognised brand opting for a simple advertising campaign for their ‘however-you-want-it’ Frappucino drinks range. Yet because the advert is dependant on the juxtaposition between sounds and visuals, the advert is only screened in cinemas, where the volume and impact of the combination is at its most powerful. The advert also has a consistent white background, and is simply a demonstration of the wide variety of customers who buy Starbucks Frappucinos – it is simple, crisp, clear and visually (and audibly) impacting.

Yet as well as motion advertising, the importance of simplicity in print advertising can never be underestimated. Brands have long championed print adverts that are founded on simplicity and good design; the classic Guinness adverts such as ‘My Goodness, My Guinness’ and ‘Lovely Day For A Guinness’ are now of iconic status. Today’s print advertising is increasingly dependant on the digital manipulation of images to achieve the maximum impact possible whilst still maintaining clarity; examples of this are now commonplace at bus stops and on billboards.

Working with Mullen, North Carolina, we produced our Nature Train project for CSX, the freight rail company to promote their fuel efficiency. Our retouch team worked on transforming the train from steel and iron into riverbanks and trees, and yet whilst the work and skills required for the project were far from simple, the final message is.

Simplicity in advertising is at the very heart of the industry’s concept: to promote a brand, service or product as clearly and efficiently as possible to generate or maintain consumer interest. In an age where people want their information faster, and have less time to decode adverts, a foundation of simplicity and clarity has never been more important.

The feature image for this blog is “Campbell’s Soup”

If you’re reading this, it should come as no surprise that we’re interested in imagery, of all kinds. Still, motion, digital, interactive; we turn our hand to anything and everything,in the pursuit of both business and pleasure. In 1999 when Glen Taylor first opened our doors the world was rapidly undergoing massive changes as was the way we consume images. Everything from art to advertising was opening up to people the world over with nothing more than a few clicks of a mouse. The Internet revolutionised all forms of communication, allowing people to expose themselves to whatever forms of entertainment they wished and equally allowing advertisers to reach right into peoples homes and deliver targeted adverts to relevant consumers.

Skip forward 11 years and everything is changing yet again. Mobile devices are now so prevalent in out society that a recent study performed by Google unveiled that there are now 20 million mobile Internet users in the UK, thats 1/3 of the entire population. 2010 also marked the first year where there have been more smartphone sales than PCs. Its undeniable that another huge change is underway, people want quick mobile acces to information on sites developed specifically for mobile browsers. New technologies such as HTML5 and WebGL are taking huge leaps forward in allowing people access to flash-like content without the usual trappings of high processor demand and large file size. Sites such as Vimeo and Youtube are in the process of converting their content to HTML5 to allow native support on mobile devices, the effects of this can already be seen with YouTube reaching 200 million mobile views in the past year. With the iPad, Apple essentially invented an entire new window through wich people could consume mobile content, having sold over 25 million to date thats 25 million more mobile users browsing on a format that 3 years ago did not exist.

These are all very impressive figures, and certainly proof that we are moving into a new era of mobile information but what does it mean for the creative industries? At TJ we always try to keep abreast of modern technology, from the build of our new website 2 years ago we understood that all our content must be accessible on mobile devices; we moved our entire library of videos and Step by Step guides to Vimeo, enabling us to utilise the HTML5 technologies as well as build a community of likeminded professionals to critique and interact with our work. To receive impartial feedback like this is an incredible boost for the artists who worked on the job, praise from ones peers is seldom unappreciated. We also utilise QR codes on all our print advertisements to give readers quick access to all the information surrounding a job, this allows us to show much larger, full bleed images without weighing the page down with reams of text as well as giving potential clients quick access to our contact information.

So what does the future hold? Mobile views are rising year on year, and certainly showing no signs of stopping. With only 17% of companies offering an alternative mobile website or mobile friendly content; the industry certainly has some catching up to do. Rest assured that with our creative marketing department and our research and development team, we will always be striving to push these emerging technologies forward. With our research on 3D printing, NFC and controller-free interfacing well underway, it looks like the next decade is going to be as exciting as the last!

You might recognise the image used for this blog as a modified version of our work for Citrix. Citrix are a great example of a company prepared for the future of mobile browsing, they provide desktop virtualisation across multiple mobile platforms allowing for seamless workflow between the office and remote locations.

Winning a:
- PLATINUM award for our Illustrative/CG work for Kalbitor
- Tourism Ireland was honoured with a GOLD
- GOLD for our illustrative and 3D interpretation of an owl on the cover for Creative Review in the News and Editorial section
- SILVER for our US TV ad for Bermuda Tourism

Creativity strives to recognise the brightest and best in the design and advertising industry, and is one of the longest running independent international competitions there is. Established as a travelling exhibit in conjunction with Art Direction Magazine in the 70s, it became one of the only books to showcase a cutting-edge work from across the US and abroad. Over the years this book has grown in size and style, and now takes a comprehensive look at winners from the awards. In 2011 the travelling exhibit was brought back and together with the Awards Annual and Creativity web site. Our Platinum win for Kalbitor meant there were lots of happy TJ faces around the office, so what made it stand out?

Owner and Creative Director, Jim Nisson, said: “Medical Illustrations are normally very dry and for the most part utilitarian as opposed to creative. Your work for Kalbitor was so amazingly real, with a seamless integration of techniques, like photography and CGI, which really arrested our attention. One judge gave it a perfect score and another stated “good use of craft.” The entry has also received numerous comments of admiration from viewers of the winner’s exhibit at the design shows.”

Wow…we’re blushing! The competition is judged by a panel of advertising and design professionals who volunteer their time and knowledge. To provide fresh perspectives, new judges are selected from year to year. With such a great range of work from all over the world, it meant the package had to be just as good. The beautifully bound book was designed by Sw!tch Studios, and was inspired by an old-age saying…

“As amazing as all of the winning pieces were, we could only imagine the amount of blood, sweat and tears that went into every little detail throughout the thousands of entries! With that in mind, we used splatters to add some interesting details to the book, like the splatters changing on the different page numbers. ” says Kathleen Ritchie, Marketing Director.

Created by artist Josh Gurrie, the film transports viewers into the luxurious world of Mulberry’s Spring/Summer campaign. As the camera swoops through the various rooms of a quintessential English manor house, the models can be seen posing, oblivious to their peculiar surroundings, on a backdrop of, oh so glamorous(!), surroundings of chandeliers and velvet chairs, and some rather unconventional animals, including live foxes, owls and birds peering out from a traditional and somewhat bijou setting.

The beautiful piece was brought together by Framestore by creating loose edits of empty background plates; they were able to design and pull together the 2D elements in post-production. Using a 3D tracking process, they animated and composited them into the moving backgrounds, and then adding in the live foxes, as a narrative thread, bringing the whole piece together seamlessly.

Mulberry has described it as “altering proportion to blur the edges of reality.”

Real-environment projection mapping differs slightly from its 3D form but the principles of how it works are the same. These, like in the 19^th Century, are usually done against a flat surface and buildings, where the technique shows up best. 3D geometry is mapped with a 2D image, shining a light or video onto a surface to create the 3D effects. Shapes are set up with the same outline as elements within the image, so when the final image is projected back onto the scene the 3D shapes can catch the light from the subjects in the frame giving the ability to shift perspective slightly and creating the illusion of a 3D scene (in reality its more like 2.5D). The angles are somewhat limited, but the overall effect is pretty awesome. As you can see in the example below, the top image shows the scene through the eye of the master camera, all the textures appear correct and the scene works, if we rotate the camera away from the pre-determined path we can see the distortion in the scene as well as the true nature of some of the objects (eg, the ambulance where it was only necessary to model two sides as the top does not appear in the original image.

There are clear benefits to both: 3D can give campaigns a more stylised look, giving it a ‘super slow motion effect’ (see our work for Sungard and AT&T), and can reach a higher-level of realism without having to make an entire scene in full 3D. For campaigns running across print and motion, the assets are being shared across both, unifying the images perfectly , like our TV campaign for Derdubor, the famous Norwegian search engine. we were able to use real location photography with CG animation, allowing us to fly-through the different scenes, taking the viewers on a compelling journey. With a modest budget, we would not have been able to achieve the brief in any other way.

With real-environment, many companies and brands have jumped on the opportunity, creating staged events advertising their products. The primary benefit being that it allows dialogue between consumers, stimulating their visual perceptions of a brand. It is also a way of communicating with a captive, yet message-overloaded audience- making you stand-out amongst the noise from other advertisers. The marketing logic is the hope that the buzz will help the video go viral and boost product sales. The last year has seen a surge in this kind of projection mapping, with brands worldwide capitalising on the technique.

GlueIsobar’s award-winning work for Toyota Auris Hybrid, saw the focus shift from traditional projection on a building or flat surface to the actual car. The car was placed on a back street in Shoreditch, London, where unsuspecting passersby were treated to a magical display of blue ‘energy’ pulsating out of the car, interacting with objects around it, turning on lights, opening circuit boards and spilling coins. People’s reactions were captured along with their filming on the event via mobile devices, which later went viral in a big way.

Brands like Nokia, Samsung and BMW have all emerged victorious, displaying beautiful 3D videos on buildings around the world but the music, fashion, and theatre-arts have by no means lagged behind, producing some stellar examples of the technique. The fashion industry, faced with the constant pressure to stand-out was amongst one of the first outside of the advertising industry, to experiment with the technique. But just like fashion is cutting edge, it’s about knowing the next trends and getting ahead of those trends. Ralph Lauren staged an impressive projection on their flagship store on New Bond Street, with another similar event taking place at the same time at their Madison Avenue store in NYC. Racing horses, 50ft models, and even a scented mist, were used to complete the experience. They described it as a “collision of fashion, technology, art, commerce, and architecture.”

A recent production for Of Mice and Men saw projection mapping take a new direction and head for the theatre. Audiences were captivated by the top-down projections, showing railway tracks, speeding trans and rabbits, setting the stage alight enhancing moods and vistas. Beyonce’s performance at the 2011 Billboard Awards also left audiences enthralled. She spent a large proportion of the show interacting with projections of wings, flying spears, and dancing in perfect sync with other versions of herself. However, like 3D Stereoscopic, this is not new technology. It’s a technique in video art since the 80’s- and it works.

So what does the future hold? Well, at present, there still isn’t a lot of research showing the ROI on this technique, so it’s important that it reflects positively and is relevant to the product and brand. At the end of the day, you want the message to hit home and people to remember what it was all about in the first place. Recent examples have shown that its use has been anything but a niche-market gimmick, with various industry sectors using the technique. However, one thing is for certain, when done correctly the media attention is irrefutable, and you can never take too lightly the power of word-of-mouth.

After twenty-six successful years in the industry The Knowledge commissioned us to create the cover and dividers for their 2011 installment of their renowned directory, used by over 24,000 TV and film production professionals along with 300,000 online visitors a year. The shots have also been used as inspiration for their summer 2011 website re-launch!

The images feature some instantly recognizable objects from within the film and production industry, formed in 3D letters to make subtle but identifiable words. Our team’s collective passion for film-making and story-telling meant we were instantly drawn to this unexpected project, and wanted to create images that accurately reflected the industry. The Knowledge is all about the day-to-day functions of film and TV production and the hurdles you may come upon whilst on set. I wanted to create common scenes that looked incidental, as if you had just come upon the objects in a real-life environment. It would’ve been simpler to have placed the objects against a studio backdrop but for me it was important that we took photographs that would serve as a backdrop and suited the perspective of our shots.

We created the objects for each scene with CGI, integrated these with the backgrounds shot by our photographic department and brought the elements together with focus effects and colour grading by our retouching team. Having all of our services under one roof means we can control the production efficiently and ensure consistency in the quality of our work.

Due to time-constraints, we had our dedicated team of R&D technicians write a bespoke script and software plug-in that would automatically cover the shapes with lettering. Giving the images that ‘incidental’ feeling of coming across the objects in their natural state also meant extra time was invested in creating unique shaders for each object, allowing the hat, sandwich, and scissors to take on a feel of their real-life counterparts.

Edward Canavan, Associate Publisher at The Knowledge, said:

“We were so impressed with both the quality of the work you did for us and the professionalism of everyone involved. As one of London’s leading creative studios, we knew they would be the perfect fit with The Knowledge’s values of quality and creativity.

“The designs are stunning representations of real production environments on set, beautifully lit and rendered in amazing detail. We couldn’t be happier with the finished work and are confident our subscribers will love the design Taylor James created for the 2011 edition.”

ABOUT THE KNOWLEDGE

The Knowledge is the UK’s leading production industry directory, used by over 24,000 production staff within UK production companies.  First published in 1985, The Knowledge has become the first port of call for production professionals to find crew, facilities, studios, production services, and location suppliers, for their productions. The Knowledge contains over 18,000 companies and crew, and is recognised by the industry as being the most accurate source of contacts available. The Knowledge is also accessible online via www.TheKnowledgeOnline.com

Birrs is an ex- Art Director and Copywriter with over 17 years experience working for some of the world’s biggest advertising agencies, including: Ogilvy One, Poke and McCann Erickson. He is also a member of the IPA Taskforce for Behavioural Economics and works with various industry awards.

Since, he has founded education company Additive (http://getadditive.com/) where they help “traditional agencies understand how to use technology in a way to better engage with consumers.”

To listen to the podcast in in full, click here!

Or to skip to glens section click here!

This month I was interviewed for Warc about the recent surge in brand’s use of AR. I’ve written about this subject before when I looked at how packaging would benefit from AR integration. A second chance to speak about the subject prompted me to think more about the wider commercial applications for the technology and address the main question, “How can AR evolve from being just a short-term gimmick?”

One of the areas where I foresee the largest growth in the next two years is the retail industry. For e-commerce in particular, AR can yield an extra dimension to the experience allowing customers to explore products they are interested in, in a more personalised way. When deployed well it can shorten the gap between discovery and purchase.

The fashion industry has taken some of the biggest strides forward. Recently Taiwan technology company Ya de Li Technology worked with the Citizen watch brand, to deploy software that allowed customers to virtually try on watches. This could be done via a piece of downloadable software and a webcam at home or at dedicated kiosks in department stores. The resulting images could then be shared on Facebook, bringing all important social validation into the mix, exposing the brand to more people and allowing Citizen to capture use data for future marketing activities. Despite less than perfect visual quality it’s easy to see the direct value of this technology, especially for driving purchase intent online. Citizen declared the campaign a success; after two weeks more than 36,000 had used the service and 3,000 shared pictures on Facebook, although no sales figures have been released.

Some technology companies have even grander ambitions. Swivel, a platform developed by FaceCake, launched at the DEMO 2011 conference. Essentially it is a while label virtual fitting room solution that can be used by clothing retailers to recreate the in-store fitting-room experience for those purchasing online.

Unfortunately, it is at this point where the wheels start to fall off. As can be seen in the video, the outfit overlay is crude and no amount of improvement in visual quality will address the bigger issue; trying to fit a virtual garment to the nuances of people’s body size is near impossible with current technology, particularly when dealing with the limited hardware of the average consumer’s PC. Jennifer Van Grove makes this point in her review of the technology on Mashable. In a comment on the article Matt Szymczyk, CEO of a similar platform Zagura, was quick to point out that these platforms are intended as a “visualization tool to help determine style and colour – not fit.” However for online retailers who are keen to find ways to lower the rate of returns, this isn’t a selling point likely to get them excited.

Also worth considering is the use of AR in experiential marketing. Delivered via kiosks with customised graphic setups, a much higher visual quality can be achieved. A recent example is the campaign run by Lynx in the UK. A marker was placed on the floor of London Victoria train station which encouraged people to look up at the big screen above. When they did an angel would appear alongside them on the screen and would interact with them as they moved around. While simple and perhaps still quite gimmicky, as a concept this sort of activity stops people in their tracks and encourages them to talk to each other, something that brand reps on the ground can take advantage of. In some cases, footage of the event can be incorporated into subsequent TV adverts increasing the scope of a campaign and reducing overall costs. A great example of this, albeit minus the AR, is the recent T-Mobile flash-mob campaign.

Another interesting variation of this model is using AR to create virtual shopping locations. An example of this comes from Y&R New York who created ‘invisible’ pop-up shops for Airwalk shoes. Like a traditional scavenger hunt, consumers travelled to predefined locations and were able to view a pair of trainers at a set destination, via an app downloaded to their smartphone. Taking a photo of these trainers gave them instant access to a discount voucher to be redeemed at the Airwalk online store. The campaign was a success and they reported their busiest weekend for visitors to their online store.

Popup stores in major cities are a popular choice for a number of high-end brands at the moment but costs and availability of space can be a major limiting factor. GoldRun, the technology company that worked with Y&R on the Airwalk campaign, provide a solution that allows brands to recreate some of the pop-up experience. What’s also interesting is that these campaigns tap into another marketing trend which is gaining popularity; location-based gaming. By encouraging users to collect items and interact virtually with brands in exchange for rewards there is an added thrill to taking part. If users can be encouraged to share this activity on their social graph brands benefit in the same way as Citizen; increased brand exposure, social validation and the ability to collect user data.

Like any broad new technology medium it will take some time and a lot of experimentation to find the correct balance between providing a meaningful experience and developing ways to make money from it. An explosion in the number of companies and applications being created to take advantage of AR and heightened venture capital interest, to the tune of $5.5 million in the case of AR technology company Total Immersion, could be taken as a sign of an impending gold rush. In a fight for market share we will almost certainly see increased collaborations between the companies that develop the hardware and software and the studios that deliver the creative solutions in an effort to mature the technology. If advertising agencies continue to take risks and experiment on behalf of their clients it would not surprise me if in 18 months AR features as regularly in brands marketing mix as iPhone/iPad apps is today.

As CGI experts, Taylor James, is investing in R&D to be able deliver creative material that takes quality and interactivity onto new levels and we look forward to working both internally and with our clients to deliver some fantastic campaigns.

You can read the article in full next month on www.warc.com/

How did AllCity come about?

My business partner, Pete Hanson, and I formed AllCity (www.allcitymedia.com) in 2000 after becoming frustrated in our present positions working for other people. Pete came from a film design background, and so we decided early on to focus on the independent film sector. We also knew we wouldn’t compete with the larger film-based agencies who were working on studio productions, so we targeted the indie and foreign language releases which were about to increase in popularity in the UK. In turn, this part of the film market allowed us to be more creative as it wasn’t constrained by studio obligations and rules, and our clients (the distributors) were able to be more free-thinking and ground-breaking.

What is the creed that AllCity lives life by and what makes you stand out from other media design agencies?

Ideas come first- design second. We believe our USP is being the ‘alternative thinking’ creative agency.

How do you come up with the concept for a movie poster- do you get given an exact brief or do you take inspiration from the film itself? If the latter, do you get special film screenings before anyone else?

We work with the client to form the brief, and if possible see the film prior to initial meetings. But we work on films in all their stages of production, from script through to finished product. We work from sketch-up rather than mac-visuals, so our presentations are based around ideas visualised as sketches with reference for style / finish. This means the client is drawn to the idea rather than the poster. From there we concentrate on one or two routes to visualise further before preparing the final artwork.

You recently worked on the poster for the King’s Speech- how was working on such a high-profile film and has it had a notable impact on the demand for All City’s creative services?

We were commissioned by the international sales agent to produce the Key Art. It was a very smoothly run project, managed by our Creative Developer, Charlie Loft. It had the potential to be a banana skin due to the sudden explosion of interest in the film, but the producers were delighted with the result. It’s good to be associated with such a film, and perhaps it has raised our profile, but it’s difficult to say if it has had a direct impact on work coming in.

What’s your favourite movie campaign / poster of all time?

I would say from the distant past, Metropolis was an incredible image and has had some great variations over the years. When I was growing up in the 70/80′s I remember Rocky, ET, Ghostbusters, Rambo, Alien, Terminator, Close Encounters… there seems to be so many classic images from that period.  Recently, there’s been a few stand-outs in terms of film marketing, such as Trainspotting, Blair Witch, 12 Monkeys and Cloverfield; and of course our own creations, such as Control, I Am Love and Moon.

AllCity has been around for over a decade now, what’s the secret?
A belief in what we do and how we do it, coupled with the privilege of having worked on some great products. There are a few competitors in our sector, but we have invested heavily in our infrastructure including our premises to ensure stability, and always employ the right people.

Do you have any career or personal aspirations you’d like to achieve in the next five years?

Part of our attraction to clients is that we are a boutique agency; so we will always look to manage the growth of the company accordingly and build steadily but we are also forging relationships with specialist suppliers whereby we can offer a more comprehensive package to our clients, which includes AV and CGI. This means we can achieve an integrated campaign, without the strain of running those departments internally. Clients are happier with not spending too much with one agency, but they also see we can manage the branding to ensure it achieves consistency across all platforms. Long-term we are planning on exporting our business model to alternative territories, such as the US.

And finally, what inspires you to get out of bed in the morning?

I enjoy work, I like the people we work with, I enjoy (mostly) the day to day of running a company, and most days throw-up new challenges and opportunities. Its inspiring building up your company and it’s satisfying to see the fruits of your labour, knowing you’re doing something right.

I took my seat in a lecture room on the Creative Arts Campus at the University of West England. It’s my second week at Taylor James so as well as helping Keith give a lecture to students from multiple courses on the current state of the creative production industry, it’s a good chance for me to learn more about it too.

“How many of you watch TV?” was Keith’s opening question. The point he was making is that increasingly programs are watched on phones and on platforms such as YouTube and iPlayer. People choose what they want to watch and when and can do it without sitting through long advert breaks.

With hardware getting better and internet speeds getting faster it is possible to deliver rich visual content right into people’s hands. It’s these interactive experiences that will replace the traditional advert break in the future.  And therein lies one of Taylor James’ strengths and key differentials; the ability to deliver CG assets that are of a high enough quality that they can be reused across print, TV and interactive. Keith took the students through our work on the ‘Nissan Qasqhai’ campaign as a good example of a print campaign extended across into a commercial and ‘Motorola City’ as an example of a print piece extended into a fully interactive microsite.

Keith spent time explained how Taylor James has deliberately geared itself this way. Our background for a start, as photographic retouchers, has been an advantage. The move into CGI 6 years ago was done with a team experienced in delivering high quality, photo-realistic work for print ads. This photo-realism when applied to moving image work leaves people unable to tell whether it was captured in camera or CGI. In practice it is often a careful mix of both and as Keith emphasised “our designers are doing their job properly when people can’t tell the difference”.

Today’s students will graduate into an industry where CGI is developed enough to make it a cost effective alternative to a photographic or live action shoot. Location scouting, prop hire and transportation, crew costs and travel all eat into a client’s budget and can all be reduced when using CGI. Further savings are achieved as the client receives a library of CG assets and environments that can be reutilised should they want to extend or update the campaign in the future.

Our work on the ‘Turkish Airlines’ advert is a perfect example. With no access to a plane and only a small window of time with the players, the scene had to be created in CGI. When the day of the shoot came camera angles and lighting had already been approved and we were able to position the Manchester United players exactly as required. The photos of the players were then blended into the CGI environment and expert retouching gave the whole layout a photo-realistic quality.

At university students benefit from a great deal of creative excellence and input from tutors but it is important they also make an effort understand the commercial environment when picking their career route.

Keith concluded with some parting advice for the students. Most important is to collaborate with the best people whenever possible and specialise on the areas in which you have an interest. Also important is to research an agency’s particular strength and tailor their portfolio accordingly, keep showreels short and be honest about your involvement in collaborative pieces and finally to follow key players at their favourite agencies but to not let this turn into stalking! All in all a great day out and hopefully a good insight into creative production industry for many entering the creative sector.

Jim Campbell, Senior Lecturer Visual Culture & Programme Leader BA Photography, had this to say “I just wanted to thank you and Taylor James once again for your lecture last week. There were some valuable lessons about the nature of the creative industries and I know the students really enjoyed and learnt a great deal from the experience. I’ve just been reading a piece by David Baldwin (NYC advertising guru) talking about media integration– which I think is the main thing that stuck with me about your pitch last week.”

The studio is a new addition to the East London landscape; tell us a bit more about the studio and the ethos it was founded on?
Kingsland road has been a fast growing place in the past 5 years and felt that this was a great place to build our future. Artists and image makers have always struggled financially; we’re in the same boat and sea as the rest, so our studio provides us with an income to stay in London and continue to create work. We more than understand the financial demands of people who want to ‘create’ and that’s why our ethos is to keep the studio as affordable as possible by offering the best prices on the strip.

How do you all know each other/your background and why did you decide to set-up shop?
Christopher Fields is a fashion photographer and I am developing my practice as a fine art photographer, we worked together in our own studio at Holborn Studios but first met at Photo College in Lincolnshire. The old place just wasn’t big enough and we needed more of a varied dynamic in the group to realize our boundaries. Alex is our port of call for business, without his experience we would be a stumbling mess of delinquent art dreamers.  Our lifelong friend and photographer Ian Higginson was next to join- he’s our ‘karma police’ if you like, not to mention he has a great eye for photography.

What has been your favourite exhibit so far?
Not long since the white walls had been painted everyone was eager to show off our shiny new castle so we organized a party but then on reflection we didn’t want our studio to become a destination for more underground drink activity. It is about loving what we do, so we scrapped this in favour of our film night. We got lots of sofa’s and cushions and loads of candles and turned the studio into a bohemian abode for the evening.

What makes Kingsland Studios unique?
We’re not just studio managers. We are all practising in the same field. We pool our knowledge together so we have a real depth of understanding when it comes to shooting. We desperately want to share knowledge and often end up helping out on set. We offer a very affordable price and we can provide a flourishing atmosphere to take stage. We are not monotonous in the way which we work- if things don’t work, we do something different, as we change so will our studio.

We wish them great success in their venture and encourage anyone seeking studio space to contact Brendan or Christopher on bookings@kingslandroadstudio.com or 020 7254 9900.

http://kingslandroadstudio.com/

Having had the pleasure of working alongside sound design & music company, Radium Audio, on several of our digital and broadcast campaigns, including Citrix, NetApp and our showreel, we thought it was only right that we got up close and personal with its founder Andrew Diey to see what he has up his sleeves for 2011.

Where has Radium come from?

I founded the company in 2007 and now have a team of 12. We have a reputation around the world and as a sound design & music company, recognised and respected by big name brands and creative agencies.

What is the creed that Radium lives life by and what makes you stand out from other sound design agencies?

First and foremost, we are artists and apply our work to both not-for-profit art-based and commercial projects. Our mission is to become THE leading sound company on the planet! Our ethos is to produce the highest quality sound, no matter how big or small the project is. We are open with our clients and always share our well thought out and considered vision of their work, taking on board their needs and suggestions.  

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

Our passion for Radium is immense- all staff are highly motivated and share the energy needed to push our craft forward. Our studio is a workshop of the latest technology amongst some more unusual sound making devices. Working with these ideas inspires and motivates us to get out of bed!

What has been the greatest achievement for Radium so far?

Our recent work with Taylor James on Rolex, as well as Ford and Mercedes; Our product design work for Bentley, Ferrari, Nokia; and sound installation work for Universal at Cannes. Along with being listed as one of the top 20 sound houses in the world by Motionographer, winning multiple awards and always creating a Hollywood standard sound for all of our clients.

What’s the wackiest method you’ve used for creating a particular sound?

Again, working on Rolex, the music score became interwoven into the sound journey. We wanted to capture the heart of the watch so we investigated how to capture the sound of sweeping movements and the coils within. Their watches are too quiet, so we found a microphone in Japan which is designed to capture the heartbeat of a snail. We applied it to the watches, which gave us a microscope into the world and sound of Rolex and its inner movements. We applied this to the ad, and you can hear the sound that has become a living soul as well as a painted picture in the mind.

Do you have a favourite source of inspiration when/if you hit a creative block?

The real world! It’s the best place to find new sounds, objects, locations, machines! They all have a unique sound which we are able to incorporate into our work.

Have you made any resolutions for 2011? Any ambitions you are burning to achieve?

Develop our new interactive department where we’ve already started to make prototypes with staff.  We will continue to grow our creative department and generally improving our craft.

We suggest that you take a look at some of the projects and intriguing ‘in-depth’ behind the scenes video’s on Radium’s website, showing that sound design is a true art: www.radium-audio.com/

28 years later and here we are once more, the long awaited sequel Tron:Legacy is living up to its predecessors reputation. It’s truly amazing to see how special effects have changed in under 3 decades. From huge computer generated environments to an entire CG reproduction of Jeff bridges’ head. Naturally the sequel is far more accessible than the original, with far more ways for audiences to connect with the film; It could be seen as a simple blockbuster- babes, motorbikes and explosions. or just revisiting of a favourite movie. Maybe it’s the Father and Son reconciliation story. For at TJ, the most exciting elements are the advancement of special effects, predominantly the cities, lights and environments. Everything that made the Tron movie so groundbreaking all those years ago is exciting a new wave of CG artists today.

Legacy is a veritable showcase of cinematic technology. In post production for a total of 68 weeks, visual effects supervisor Eric Barba is quoted as saying “yeah, it’s been a while”. Without doubt the most ambitious effect in the movie is the de-aging of Jeff Bridges character Clu – by 28 years(!), something that has never been done entirely digitally in a movie before. The process was a combination of several advanced techniques. Head-mounted HD cameras captured high-res shots of Bridges’ face when acting the scenes. Laser scans mapped every contour of his face and thousands of reference images of Bridges in his 30s from films, press and magazines all went into recreating this CG marvel. With 52 motion tracking markers on his face alone the level of detail is astounding and allowed for scenes to be filmed that would not have been possible before now.

Tron is filmed in a mix of dimensions, with scenes in the real world shot in 2D and scenes on the grid in 3D it truly utilises the technique as a means of enhancing the story rather than simply as an audience-driving tactic; a refreshing use of the extra dimension since Avatar. This is something our R&D department have been experimenting with for a while now and we hope to develop it further over the coming months.
Tron is a visual spectacle never before seen and well worth a trip to the cinema! . If you can, go the extra mile and see the 3D iMax presentation in London, for full immersion in the world of Tron. If 3D is your thing, you won’t be disappointed.

These processes are handled by a number of different devices but mostly it’s a simple RGB camera and a depth camera (the depth camera works with a laser and micromirror array to create a ‘structured light’ depth pattern).  This allows for all kinds of fun with video games, controller-less play and body mapping.

Oliver Kreylos has gone a little further than this and written software that allows his computer to read data from the Kinect. This enables him to manipulate the feeds and merge them together. The results are astounding and has really interesting potential for the future; we’ll be monitoring his progress closely. In the meantime, check out these videos and hold on to your pixels!