MTV Gets a Private Consultation09/08/10

TJ has teamed up with MTV Networks UK & Ireland (MTVN UK) on a brand new online initiative, launching through both broadcast and online platforms on Sunday the 8th, entitled ‘DIGITAL SURGERY’. Exploring the powerful use of digital enhancement in today’s media, we helped to transform MTV news presenter, Rickie Haywood-Williams, into a woman in a bid to shine a spotlight on the influential techniques used.

The social initiative is running this month in conjunction with the ‘MTV’s Got Issues’ theme (the networks social programming series). At our in-house studio, the team filmed and photographed Rickie along with two female models before working their retouching magic in order to bring the concept to life. MTV commissioned the creative stunt to demonstrate to its 16-34 audience what digital enhancements are performed in everyday media and advise them not to take everything they see at face- value. Lisa Stokoe, Executive Producer, Production, MTV Networks UK & Ireland said:
“We wanted to create something visual, immediate and impactful that would highlight how unattainable the ideals created by the media are and reveal the techniques used by professional retouch artists. That’s where Taylor James came into their own!   With their extensive experience and excellent reputation within the industry, we knew they could bring our concept to life.   In a matter of clicks, they made the impossible possible. The results surprised us all!”

As always, we welcomed the unusual challenge, working on this creative concept with MTV.  Josh Rogers, Head of Retouch at TJ, who also featured in the video, explains the process:
“Having captured Rickie, we photographed our female models in exactly the same pose, position and lighting.  We then began the transformation, to manipulate Rickie’s photo using the female elements for the body, hair and eyelashes. We then applied some makeup, blusher, eye shadow, lipstick. At this stage, Rickie still had very short hair and muscular physique, so we went about swapping Rickie’s torso and hair for that of our females. Extensive colour work was required to carefully match up the skin tones – this was vital in achieving the seamless join between Rickie’s face and our female hair and body elements. As we work primarily on advertising campaigns, this was a rare and fun chance for us to retouch people to the extreme.”

The final part of the segment is the big unveil which was made to Rickie, and a group of unsuspecting audiences on the streets of London, who were asked to mark the new Rickie out of ten. “Seeing and hearing peoples final reactions to the final image was great! No-one suspected a thing” concluded Josh.

And what did Rickie think of his new look and what does he hope to achieve from this experience? “With a growing celebrity culture in the UK and an ever impressionable young society, it is our responsibility to make sure that our audience is made fully aware of what’s real and what’s not.   If it means I get turned into a woman in the process, then so be it!  Taylor James did a fantastic job and I’m confident this will make our audience think, as well as laugh!”

See the movie on the MTV website here: www.mtv.co.uk/shows/mtvs-got-issues-vote-2010/episode/mtvs-got-issues-digital-surgery

See the final artwork here: www.taylorjames.com/mtv-digital-surgery

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