The TJ team love to throw their creative and technical hands at a TJ campaign each season, and for Winter 2012-13 we've added a little sparkle with a fully-integrated production, combining print, interactive and a sassy cinemagraph. Conceived and produced entirely from our London studio, we'd like to take you on a tour of the multi-discipled process...
Creative Lead, Ed Taylor, describes the initial concept "Our goal was to capture the magical feeling of fresh snow tumbling silently to earth in the dead of night as the last festive partygoers make their way home. Our urban angel character brings glamour and theatrical charm, her flowing cloak in striking contrast to the Georgian Terrace in the background. She's riding, of course, a brightly coloured single-speed bike, as currently found tied to every lamppost here in London's creative and technical hub, Shoreditch."
The campaign demonstrates the breadth of TJ's capabilities, having been conceived and realised entirely in-house... and in its execution illustrates all that we do: Photography and live-action (our model, Karina, shot in our studio), 3D Computer graphics (the environment of a London Georgian terrace and the flowing scarf) and creative retouching... where the image is refined and balanced and additional detail and grading are added.
The final result encompasses an 8,000 pixel image for press and greetings cards, which can be explored in great detail interactively on our website, plus two cinemagraphs to exemplify the beauty that can come from elements of isolated motion.
Our first concept images, the first expanded to create a wider perspective; allowing an even more theatrical cloak whilst also expanding the background vista to include the charm of snow-capped rooftops.
One of our concept artists explores costume design for our urban angel
The model of the Georgian Street location takes shape.
Plenty of photographic reference and texture material was gathered from a nearby Georgian street location
Photographic diffuse textures are carefully aligned to the 3D models of the street, snow is added in retouch and Bump and specular maps are then created reading for rendering.
The cloak was created entirely within the computer, via a cloth simulation. Wind, drag, gravity and the weight of the fabric were all carefully balanced before a wave of motion was run through the huge fabric sheet to achieve a dynamic form. (just as you would a bedsheet before laying it over a mattress).
Test shoot to explore poses for our character
Selecting wardrobe for our angel
A pre-shoot day involved carefully balancing the lighting (with stand in model) and ensuring the camera position perfectly matched the angles and lensing in our CG scene... all in preparation for our model's arrival and hair & make-up..
Our angelic model Karina Diglyte (BMA Models). The studio lighting was carefully balanced to exactly match the look and feel we'd developed in the CG scene. (note the moonlight catching the back of her dress and feathers). We explored a number of different costume styles.
One of our concept artist's (who's fortunately also a keen fisherman) helps to keep the wings nicely posed!
From concept to dazzling cinemagraph, here's an interactive treat created by our London Studio especially for you. Sprinkling creativity over a seamless blend of live-action, photography, CGI & retouch, and a helping hand from BMA Models, we wish you a truly magical experience. Explore the glistening motion & detailed still here: Urban Angel