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.

With these ads marking the first example of a winter tyre being advertised on UK TV, the message and look had to be clear. Right from the start, we compiled a mood board of styles that would not only sell the message of winter, but also provide a welcome moment of calm amid the plethora of other adverts. Sticking to a cool, frosty, crisp feel meant they could play with the aesthetics to really produce a magical winter scene. This final mood also had to be reflected in the sound design; marrying the crunching of fallen snow and twinkle of snowflakes with the rumbling of a rolling tyre and the rush of arctic wind. Great care had to be taken to ensure the design came out ‘magical’ and not ‘Ice Road Truckers’.

Attention to detail was paramount, working with such a tight (and inflexible) schedule meant that we had to hit the right levels of detail and perfect the look early on to keep the client happy. The CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) animations take four different forms; Teaser, Breaking, Handling and Reveal. In order to maintain a consistency between the different scenes, the tyre rig had all the particle generators incorporated into it. This had the added benefit of huge time savings when animating, especially when adapting the route for client feedback.

When trying to achieve so much within a tight time scale it’s incredibly important to be working with a good agency. Palmer Hargreaves proved to be an excellent partner in this respect; quick feedback and concise comments meant all the deadlines were hit on time. Client feedback has been excellent with the final results far exceeding expectations!

Here’s hoping the contestants perform as well on the show as the little wheel does in the ads, though you know what celebrities are like; they tyre easily.

This dynamic landscape links onto topics, news and tools at FT.com. The images match that of the substantial 16,000 pixel render used for the poster, providing exceptional detail across every building.
To create this complex visual with Computer Generated Imagery (CGI), we worked closely with art directors at RAP to develop the composition before moving into production. The exterior of every building needed to be created from glass whilst enabling the viewer to see clearly into every furnished office, boardroom and cubicle to reveal business people going about their work. We carefully considered the balance of interior lighting against exterior lighting such as the sun, shadows and reflections. Taking into account the complex properties of the main material, exacting control of the glass was necessary to ensure clarity, controlling the tint and the levels of reflection.

With the buildings so tightly packed and standing in front of one other, rendering all the refractions and reflections was technically challenging. With a CGI image of this scale, renders would normally be split up to allow for a more flexible rebuild, but this was not feasible due to the complex level of refractions within this image. TJ’s R&D team conceived a method of using transparency alphas that allowed the render to be broken up whilst maintaining the visual of the original file. This technically intuitive solution then provided the retouchers the flexibility to alter certain elements of the image during the finishing stages with maximum efficiency.

The innovative FT.com campaign demonstrates the power of cross-platform advertising to actively engage viewers in print and online. Our CGI and post-production expertise and creative problem solving skills ensured that the ambitious project was realised to its full potential. For more information about behind the scenes of the production, visit www.taylorjames.com/glass-city

The outdoor banner campaign combined Griffin’s outstanding photography and Taylor James’ expertise in creating impossible, yet photo-realistic imagery from multiple shots. The campaign, launched by Guinness this month, was aptly entitled ‘The Power to Lift Us All’ to represent the force of spirit and pride the Hurling game brings to the Irish nation. Such is the popularity of hurling; the 2010 final drew the biggest sports audience for RTE of any event that year!

We pulled together multiple elements of varying scale and angle to achieve this complicated retouch, utilising bespoke photography shot by Kevin Griffin and augmenting with material from their own internal stock library, to make the impossible a photorealistic reality. Taylor James’ understanding of the components and technical challenges involved when capturing photographic images enables them to provide a unique and efficient production solution when working with single frames to large-scale multi-part compositions.

Josh Rogers, Creative Lead and Head of Retouching at Taylor James said:“The image highlights Taylor James’ creative ability to expand an initial brief and develop it into an epic moment in which the unreal feels totally realistic, exceeding both the art director’s and photographer’s creative vision for the image!”

Award-winning advertising photographer, Kevin Griffin, had confidence in TJ to get the final look for this image. “I wanted to keep the Guinness work purely photographic, I therefore chose Taylor James to retouch the elements,” he said. “Josh Rogers being one of the best photographic retouchers I’ve worked with in the business, his attention to detail, understanding of a job and patience is second to none”

To see the whole job and a step by step of how it was created, click here

“I was thrilled at the chance to be on set with the rest of our photography team, and Saatchi & Saatchi Health’s creative team. It was all hands on deck from the start- so I had no other choice but to the get stuck in!

“TJ was asked to create an image that would promote the image of a healthy heart. By using 6 Hand Models, each with different ethnic backgrounds, the objective of the day was to capture each shade of each individual’s natural skin pigmentation and/or colour. With the right shots, the ultimate goal would be to retouch the images and bring the hands together (various fingers of each Hand Model) to create an illusion that would form the sacred shape of a heart.

”The day began with setting up the equipment; two of the most important pieces to the puzzle were setting up the proper backdrop and solid lighting. The set up, at first, seemed to appear quite complex but after closer inspection, I came to find that it was kept quite simple. Having our own internal photographer present, and having commissioned LJ Hopkinson for the shoot, once on set, we got to work on pulling together the backdrop. We placed 2 C-Stands (held down with 2 sandbags) about 6 to 8 feet apart from each other in the darker and more secluded end of the studio. Tightened to the C-Stands was a rectangular frame that would be used as the backdrop. Once tightened into position, a black fabric was draped over it, cutting a couple of slits through the material, allowing for the model hands to be poked through.

“LJ set up the camera, which was tethered to her laptop, allowing the team and the client to give instant approval or position changes from the shots taken. Kate, our Lead Retoucher, also set up a space for comping the various elements together. This allowed the rest of the team and client to see how it might look as a final piece and if it matched the brief.

“Before the six chosen hand models arrived, we had to run some very important tests. To set up the right angles/lighting, LJ used a couple of us already on set as hand model mimics. Snapping photo after photo, LJ moved the lighting around to bring out the finer details of our hands and fingers. By this point, I had been given a Canon 5D to take “Behind the Scenes” photos for the website.

“Each model took up to 30 minutes to shoot; conducting their hands in various positions poked through the hole in the backdrop. We cycled through each model quite smoothly, calling them back if needed. Once we had photos of each set of hands, we began to double up sets of hands, having different combinations of models hold their hands together through the backdrop. This enabled Kate to compare the different proportions and shapes of each hand that she would be able to work with.

“Soon enough, after a long photo processing session, Kate was given some shots to play with to help give Saatchi Health an idea of what the end project may look like. Our client was happy with all of the final shots!  After 6 ½ hours of shooting, it was time to break down the set and handover to retouch- where they would be comping the images together, giving the different fingers a seamless and refined look in the shape of a heart; picture perfect.”

See what our clients had to say about our services, visit the ‘Heart Hands’ project page.

Our latest healthcare feature for PMLive (pharmaceutical marketing) has been published, head on over to their site and read it.  To see more of our pharmaceutical/healthcare work, visit our All Work page.

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

Clients love the videos, as many have varying experiences working with CGI and they often act as a reference point visually and the general file structuring involved in creating our work. The Step by Steps have also proved a hit with our high student following.

Having started life as a photographic retouch house, attention to detail is fundamental in every part of the work that we do, and so are accustomed to working to the highest quality and resolution for stills; as our standards are maintained throughout everything that we do, we have nothing to hide.  Allowing our clients to see our skills laid bare means they can always trust us to do a great job and meet the brief every time.

Take a look at one of our earlier and most iconic prints for British Airways, ‘More Beds’.

Technically, hair is one of the most challenging FX to create in CGI. Mark Knowles, lead CGI Artist on this project, explains the steps to achieving a great mane- find out how on our blog, just click here.

“Off-the-shelf plug-ins generally doesn’t give you the level of control nor speed needed to produce a realistic look and feel. However, we have recently been using Hairfarm which has changed the way we both model and style hair on our CG characters.”

It is these modelling tools that bring a new approach to styling allowing for quick iterative styling changes, which is great for both the TJ team and our client. Knowles continues, “Its speed and efficiency is unparalleled in comparison to other off the shelf plug-ins. It integrates into our workflow well and allows us all the control needed in compositing/retouch to finesse the final look.

“The texturing and shading of the hair is driven by texture maps. If you imagine a lion without fur and took just its base skin colour that would be the map we use to drive the colour of the fur. The fine styling such as “Frizz”, “Kink”, and “Clustering” effects are controlled by modifiers and again those modifiers can be driven by what we term “distribution maps” to control how much of the effect appears on certain parts of the lion. Obviously you want a really long mane but very short hair on the back so it’s important to be able to isolate these characteristics.”

On this particular job, it was difficult to rely on lights and shadows to create the overall look and feel o f the lion as the fur is in an atmospheric effect. This meant going back to ‘old school’ methods of production and simulating global illumination with GI light domes, rim lighting, key lighting and fill lights by placing numerous lights selectively by hand. Knowles continues:

“It’s important to be aware of what each and every light is contributing to your scene. Thus, we built our lighting rig one light at a time, comparing the before and after renders to see what it had added to the overall look. Hair generally is very sensitive to rim lighting and it’s easy to blow out the hair which makes pulling it back in comp impossible, so it’s important not to over light your scene. It’s better to be darker and brighten in compositing than to be too overblown and not be able to rescue it. Fewer lights also make for quicker renders.”

The key to making great looking hair is to observe the subtleties of real-life in terms of lighting and colour and to then integrate those into a render. With all of our work, the initial stages of creative development and R&D are crucial in bringing a concept to life. We were fortunate to acquire some great reference from our in-house photography stock library which helped us to analyse the anatomy of a lion and recreate it realistically.

The final layouts demonstrate the level of photorealism that can be achieved in 3D, when the execution is finely controlled. Working alongside Lindsey J Hopkinson on set, a regular photographer for the studio who has a portfolio of sports star work under her belt. Our joint expertise was essential to plan and capture the necessary shots to be integrated with the CGI environment. There were key initiatives that ensured the shoot was successful.

The most crucial part was the day before the players actually came on set when we were able to have a pre-light shoot. With the CGI models as place-markers, we were able to set everything up to the exact measurements of the plane, ensuring that the POV (point of view), lenses and lighting were consistent throughout the shoot.

We also had an iPad working remotely on set to sync to the raw files as they were captured. This was not only helpful for the client as it allowed them to give instant image approval on set, but it also allowed us to show the players when they had to make slight adjustments to their position if needed. At one stage, Josh Rogers, creative lead on set over to Giggs and showed him a photo of him with the air hostess, and he said “I don’t look very happy with that meal!” which helped illustrate that he could smile more in the next shot. With such careful choreography, we were able to capture two poses for every player in less than forty minutes.

Being able to combine photographic portraits with a virtual CGI environment was crucial in achieving the realism required to meet the brief. Breaking through the smoke and mirrors that can be found in the 3D world, we try to be open and share details of how our images are constructed and have released a www.taylorjames.com/project/turkish-airlines/?thumb=2056&more=true

Once the CGI render passes were completed, our retouchers took on the task of integrating the images. It was important that we were aware of where the player’s body parts interacted with the interior of the airplane and in each instance created a variety of shadows to fully integrate them within the scene. The final stage was colour grading, it needed to look modern and friendly but ultimately realistic. Selective masks of each element within the cabin enabled us to fully control the colour, mood and focus.

Having handled the completed production, TJ had the flexibility to push the creative aspects and reach a top quality result whilst efficiently allocating resources. This campaign is a strong example of the key benefits an innovative and cross-disciplined creative production house can offer in bringing a concept to life.

Aptly titled ‘Chameleon’, this execution is a continuation of Citrix’s previous print and digital campaign, also produced by TJ. Combining CGI and live-action, the team created a photo-realistic chameleon, seen sitting in an ‘exotic’ virtual environment within a main computer screen flicking his tongue and seizing other smaller computer screens. Citrix’s ongoing campaign promotes the brand’s services which enable the user to store and share information from one computer system.

Bringing this little character to life meant the team had to effectively capture its every detail and movement, pooling expertise within R&D, CGI and concept development. Alex Pickup, our creative lead on set said:

“The brief required the chameleon to look as life-like as possible. An unorthodox animal to create, it was important that we did sufficient research and mirrored all of the subtle movements unique to their species. Through extensive research we developed references and moodboards to hone in on the perfect look for the client, an essential stage to sign off before production can begin.

“We then built the chameleon in CGI with a realistic skeleton utilising rigging tools to recreate the correct motions. Capturing the nuances breathes life into any character animation, with no motion capture one of our artists lovingly hand-animated its every move. We employed our tried and tested 3D pipeline which was then used to augment the life-like creature.”

Initially the team had planned on creating the background environment in CGI but quickly decided this wouldn’t give the desired results within such a tight deadline and explored alternative production methods. The solution was to photograph and film outdoor foliage to use for both the print and animation. Alex continues, “This added an extra weight of realism as you have photographic filmed movement that is reacting correctly with the lens. With all of our services held in-house, we have the flexibility to adapt to technical constraints or unforeseen situations.”

Having CGI, retouching, photography and live-action services under one roof allows us to offer a broad spectrum of innovative solutions for their clients. Our ability to work equally with such diverse techniques enabled our team to deliver a dynamic and crafted range of print and motion work on Chameleon.

We were also able to re-use motion-tracked black and white video footage of the hand from the previous campaign, providing production time and budget savings for the Citrix. The re-use of digital assets is a valuable and cost-effective way for a brand to realise the full impact of any campaign. Taylor James’ ability to deliver print and motion campaigns using a cohesive digital workflow provides huge efficiencies in comparison to traditional production methods.

Handling the complete production meant they could organise and allocate resources efficiently whilst maintaining quality, providing the flexibility to push the creative and develop ideas with the agency that would otherwise have been restricted. This multi-platform campaign is a strong example of the key benefits an innovative and cross-disciplined creative production house can offer to bring a concept to life.

See the full project at www.taylorjames.com/citrix-2011

From the initial brief, TJ was able to generate exciting designs for the copper sculptures and create complimentary gallery spaces – to best showcase the extraordinary range of copper products available. The client wanted the five images to be as realistic as possible. For each image we created a sculpture of sparkling copper pipes, with unique copper products interwoven within them…our challenge was to give the objects a sense of scale (even when seen from above) and make them appear reflective and appealing, whilst also sitting convincingly in the gallery space. Working to a very high resolution, we paid considerable attention to fine detail, scratches & blemishes and did a great deal of research into the plethora of materials we’d be generating to make sure they were convincing. To make the roofs and windows convincing (elements one is familiar with seeing in an outdoor environment) and suspend disbelief, we brought some of the familiar reflective “cues” – i.e a hint of the blue of the sky, into the gallery space to give a familiarity which added to the sense of realism.

An additional challenge involved designing the sculptures to fit within both a landscape and portrait composition. Working alongside our in-house retouch team, we were able to create a single very high resolution image that, thanks to great care in setting up the limitations of our frames from the start – worked for both crops. Our retouch department completed all the images working their magic to refine the raw 3D image by carefully balancing and refining tones, adding further texture, and lighting effects and generally polishing up a shine where appropriate! Our history as retouchers and our experience in handling metals, liquids and reflections combined with our relentless attention to detail helped us turn this tightly scheduled project around swiftly, whilst maintaining the uncmpromising standards we are renowned for.

Francesco Guerrera, Executive Creative Director, TBWA\Italy, said: “It has been a really complex project, which required a lot of attending and fine-tuning of KME materials and products. But the great team of professionals at TJ helped us overcome any logistical problems. We chose them, not only because we needed a good team to assist us, but also one which would bring added-value to our creative solutions. Quality is important to us, so we always look for professionals. Together with TJ we made a brilliant team.”

Visit the awards site for more information.

To learn more about the project please click here or go Behind the Scenes for an exclusive look at how we made it.

The team embraced their full artistic license on this project, especially when it came to the sculpting of the shells. Alex Pickup, Creative Lead at TJ explains the creative development process used to create this unique campaign:

“To bring this concept to life, first there was a three day photo-shoot to capture HDRI images of the models in their before and after poses, as well as the full 360° environment. This allowed us to capture every angle necessary to rebuild the models to their exact proportions and likeness in their CGI ‘shell’. Shooting the space also meant we could light the CGI objects exactly as it would have been on set, even capturing the correct shadows cast by the model in order to make it as realistic as possible.

“The photography was then used as a base to create the cracked glossy ‘shells’ through a process of sculpting and modelling in 3D, much like a fine artist would. This requires a lot of technical skill but also an artistic eye to ensure the models were instantly recognisable and that the shell looked photo-real in density and size. There is no automated process that can do this; we had to make each from scratch, like an artist would with clay. Creating the exact likeness of a person, whether it’s in illustration or sculpture can be really difficult.”

This attention to detail also proved crucial when creating other characteristics of the shell, like the cracks. Pickup continued, “The scale of the shot dictated how the cracks would look- they needed to stand out from quite far away but still be believable as if something had just come out of that gap, telling the story whilst also leaving enough of the body shell for the viewer to still make out that it belonged to that model.” Once the different facets of CG were completed, our retouch team took over, introducing additional cracks and imperfections along the breaks on the shell, as well as the fragments lying on the floor, which helped to organically pull the scene together.

TJ relishes all creative and technical challenges and working on this campaign was no exception. Pickup concludes, “When any project starts to come together at that final finessing stage, it’s always great. With Westfield, it was placing all of the CGI and photography into one, finally bringing the work to life.

“Many production houses don’t have that luxury, they get to the 85% stage of a project and they haven’t got the skills to bring the final elements together into a real-world environment, connecting CG to photography. With our long history in retouching we are at an advantage. We know what balancing and colour corrections are needed, how shadows should form to tie an image together. These are simple yet fundamental skills to make it look completely real.”

To watch the You Tube Making Of video please click here!

Reputed for both technical expertise and creative vision, we were ever so pleased when the lovely people at Creative Review invited us to participate in their annual CGI issue. The magazine has more traditionally approached artists and designers who work in a more hand-crafted and 2D style and was keen to explore the capabilities of incorporating CG skills with that of a designer or illustrator and how the combination could alter the outcome. The full version image forms part of a special six page feature, including other artistic collaborations.

Given the editorial time constraints, a previously completed piece of Von’s work was selected from his website, www.hellovon.com as inspiration. Von had seen Taylor James’ step by step guides of projects on our website and liked the juxtaposition between photos taken and the 3D/CG elements being added before the image was fully rendered. Von explained “we went with a drawing of an Owl I did in 2008 because it already had a very angular 3D feel which provided a great starting block for Taylor James to do their magic.”

Ed Taylor explains the creative development process: “I wanted to make the original image come out at you by introducing some subtle but dramatic lighting but without making it too over the top. I didn’t want the piece to be typically 3D i.e. with highly convincing form and shading…and I certainly didn’t want it to be a demonstration of “fancy shaders” chromes, HDRI reflections, or any kind of gimmicks.”

With the introduction of subtle 3D elements and delicate lighting and shadows, the abstract forms in the original have been embellished with translucent feathers. Two final versions have been published, a de-saturated tonal image, true to Von’s original and a bolder colour version with brilliant eyes.

“We are proud of the outcome of this creative collaboration, it respects Von’s work as inspiration and showcases our abilities at Taylor James” concludes Ed Taylor. The striking digital images of an owl can be seen in the June issue of Creative Review and at www.taylorjames.com.