TJ UNVEILS 3D CHARACTER ANIMATION FOR CITRIX’S LATEST GLOBAL CAMPAIGN17/01/11
TJ collaborated with Y&R, San Francisco, to produce the second phase of Citrix Systems’ campaign promoting their computer virtualization services. The campaign, launching worldwide today, signals further demand for Taylor James’ creative services, having handled the complete production from initial concept development to final production for print and motion.
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