COMMUNICATION ARTS INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 24
Visual Country Molly Mendoza ITAL/C Dean Alexander A Type Lover’s Half Dozen Student Showcase Exhibit
March/April 2018 Twenty-Four Dollars commarts.com
Where stop-motion magic is made BY ELLEN SHAPIRO
I
n a loft above a restaurant supply store in New York’s Lower East Side, three people are squatting on the floor, hovering over a few square feet of pastel seamless. With white-gloved hands, they move objects—a swimsuit, a straw hat, a beach bag, sunglasses, a magazine—a fraction of an inch at a time while a camera bolted to a pole near the ceiling captures every movement and a videographer scrutinizes the frames on screen. In a few weeks, the resulting ten seconds of content will attract many thousands of views, likes and shares on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Vimeo—and drive lots of traffic to the client’s website. This is what goes on every day at Visual Country by Meagan Cignoli. At least ten projects are always in progress, from written treatments and storyboards to shooting and editing to delivery in formats sized for everything from digital banners to promotions that are part of large-scale campaigns. In the advertising world, where there are few women owners, company founder and creative director Meagan Cignoli has had a lightning-fast trajectory. Five years ago, discontented with her career in fashion photography, she began experimenting with stop-motion on Vine, crafting and posting tabletop still lifes that moved. Within weeks, the results attracted the attention of corporate marketers and agency creative directors. “Brands took notice of the clean, fresh aesthetic and the microformat that hadn’t existed before,” says Visual Country’s chief executive officer Amber Lee. “They wanted to get on the platform.”
Cignoli and Lee met in 2009 at a downtown club where Lee was performing. Cignoli was the photographer who’d studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the School of Visual Arts. Lee was the singer/songwriter/business school grad with experience in account management and the technology sector. “Meagan offered to do a photo shoot of my band,” Lee recalls. “We started doing shoots together, with me providing craft services and consulting.” Cignoli adds, “At first, Amber helped book clients and determine rates for my work, while I helped get press coverage for her music. Now we’re involved in every aspect of each other’s lives, including heading a team where everyone plays lots of roles and wears lots of hats.” A million social media followers after becoming partners, Cignoli and Lee moved production from a Brooklyn apartment to their self-designed 5,000-square-foot studio. There, a staff of 20 have created work that’s won a Cannes Lion, a gold ANDY, and awards from the Art Directors Club of New York and the London International Awards, which “honor the legends, pioneers and embodiments of excellence in advertising, digital, branded content, music and sound, branded entertainment, design, and production.” By excelling at all those things, Visual Country has amassed a client list that reads like a who’s who of top brands: fashion designers, food and beverage makers, purveyors of luxury goods, hotel groups, banks, automakers, retailers, and tech companies. All of whom want a million followers too.
Captions supplied by Visual Country. Meagan Cignoli was the creative director on all projects shown, and Amber Lee was the executive producer. Right: “Fine-leather luxury goods brand Delvaux approached Visual Country to showcase the latest addition to its handbag collection, with the goal of highlighting the unique features of the bag in a surreal and magical way. Using fluid animation, we brought the personality of the bag along with its beautiful construction to life.” Kata Farkas, art director; Nick Graham, editor; Charmaine Ayden, Karla Otto, senior managing editor; Michael Popp, photographer/director/retoucher; Chelsea Lee, sound design; Jenita Spirtovic/Ayla Weisz, producers; Karla Otto, agency; Delvaux, client. 36
Interactive Annual 2018
Communication Arts | commarts.com
37
INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 24: ENVIRONMENTAL
Kontinuum— An Underground Journey Through Time “It’s not often that you witness a truly immersive, interactive multimedia experience that transports visitors to new dimensions.”—Jason White Overview: The journey started in an abandoned cinema. Kontinuum, an immersive experience coproduced by Montréal-based studio Moment Factory and the Ottawa 2017 Bureau, invited those celebrating the 150th anniversary of Canada’s confederation to walk through what would become Ottawa’s Lyon light rail transit station. First, visitors captured the “frequency” of their bodies via a 3-D body scan. As they descended further underground, navigating through a labyrinth of spaces—such as a kinetic moving tunnel and immersive light zones—each visitor’s frequency was visually processed in real time in order to be integrated into the finale, an “invisible train” that was re-created and projected every ten minutes. Visitors watched their own 3-D image pass by aboard the “train” before making their way back to the surface. At home, they could retrieve their unique frequency from the cloud in the form of a holographic photo. • During the show’s two-month run, more than 300,000 3-D body scans were created, used in the final show and uploaded onto the cloud. • The experience was tagged more than 5,000 times on Instagram. • The project took approximately one and a half years to complete.
Moment Factory (Montréal, Canada), project design and development Ottawa 2017, coproducer/client 136
Interactive Annual 2018
“This is a really impressive, thoroughly immersive execution with killer art direction.”—Erika Tarte
Comments by Yael Braha, multimedia director, and Geneviéve Forest, producer, Moment Factory: What are the project’s core features? “Across the multilevel experience, Kontinuum features one zone with twelve interactive sign-in kiosks, one immersive double-mirror video room, one 300-foot-long lighting and video zone in the main tunnel that uses both platforms, a kinetic moving tunnel, and additional interactive and immersive light zones. Its deepest level, the platform, boasts a 320-foot-long installation composed of more than 2,000 feet of LED strips, hundreds of lights and six projection screens visible from both sides of the platform. The original musical score is carefully coordinated with bold light sequences to amplify visitors’ sense of immersion, carrying them on a surreal imaginative journey where time and space are suspended. The end of the experience is staged like a public transit station exit.”
had to adapt the visual content, interactivity, music and scenography to a location that had not yet been completed. Ultimately, this challenge was integrated as a central component of the aesthetics— we gave the experience an ‘under-construction’ look that included pipes, tarps and other construction materials, and it featured custom audio announcements.”
What was the thinking behind the navigational structure? “During the experience, visitors choose whether to enter a door on the right or the left. These two immersive experiences were inspired by the emotions evoked by different ways of traveling and by drawing a metaphorical connection to the functions of the left and right sides of the brain. Inbound, or the left door and the left brain, transports visitors to a cool, monochromatic and introspective space. Outbound, or the right door and the right brain, offers a warm, colorful and extroverted environment.” What was the most challenging aspect of the project? “The site’s ongoing construction and constant evolution made it unusually challenging to create this experience. Our team Communication Arts | commarts.com
137
INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 24: ENVIRONMENTAL
Coca-Cola Times Square Billboard “The robotic billboard is truly impressive, but what spoke to me was the thoughtful orchestration of creative content across the individual tile modules.”—Jason White Overview: In 1920, Coca-Cola debuted its first Times Square sign. Fast forward to August 2017, when the brand introduced a Times Square sign that moves. Concepted by Minneapolis-based digital ad agency space150, the 42-by-68-foot billboard features 1,760 independent, computerized LED modules that seamlessly extend and retract, bringing dimension, shape and motion to out-of-home advertising. Introducing the world’s first and largest 3-D robotic billboard—one that’s sure to grab the attention of even the most blasé New Yorker. • The billboard was created and fabricated by Coca-Cola’s engineering, information technology and marketing teams, with help from space150 and other partners. • The LED modules are individually programmable. • The billboard is designed to withstand the elements—rain, snow, sleet—and even has its own weather station.
Andrew Beckman/Jae Foster/Travis Stearns, designers Ollie Bauer, associate creative director Barrett Haroldson, group creative director Brian Ritchie, executive creative director Brock Davis, worldwide creative director Ned Lampert, strategist Billy Jurewicz, principal Shawn Roske/James Squires, technology directors Julio Obelleiro, interaction director Vincent DeZutti, assistant editor Marc Jensen/Dutch Thalhuber, executive directors Matt Hunstad, video director Becca Schwitzer, integrated producer Katie Brown, integrated production director Josh Lundquist, visuals editor space150 (Minneapolis, MN), project design and development/ad agency The Coca-Cola Company, client 140
Interactive Annual 2018
“The digital transcends the screen and becomes a 3-D physical—and almost sensorial—effect. It’s as if the liquid is alive on the billboard and will overflow. It’s as if the curves of the logo shape into a 3-D bottle.” —Fanny Krivoy
Comments by Mickey Nelson, director of public relations, space150: From concept to completion, how long did the project take to produce? “The billboard was custom built from the ground up and refined over the last five years. This has included multiple working prototypes with various arrays of LED modules to allow for rigorous testing and iteration in order to ensure that the hardware, software and visual integrity of the sign would come to life. This also included content exploration and optimization at each iteration and evolution. In fact, for the last year, a smaller working test sign made up of 150 modules has been running continuously in Colorado.”
the motion algorithmically to ensure the most fluid sign motion and optimal design aesthetic. Agency space150 designed the software to be user friendly; extensive software development, programming and design knowledge are not required to upload new content.”
What software, back-end technology and programming languages were used? “Whereas previous billboards for the brand required creative assets designed specifically for them, the new billboard takes a more collaborative and innovative approach. We developed APT (agency preview tool), a custom software platform for the sign, to allow for 3-D simulation and enable the brand to easily preview, modify and export content for playback on the Times Square sign. This makes it simple for any creative partner to create beautiful motion and shape on the billboard.” Are there any other technical features you’d like to call attention to? “The system only requires two content files, one of which is the visual; the other informs the position of each module. Once content is uploaded, the software communicates to individual modules and executes Communication Arts | commarts.com
141
1
FRESH JASON A. FRANK
160
Interactive Annual 2018
To most people, skateboarding and photography are apples and oranges. But not to Jason A. Frank. “When I’m creating photos, I chase that same exhilaration I feel when I’m skateboarding,” the Los Angeles–based photographer says. The resulting images recall an adventurous spirit that wouldn’t feel out of place on giant waves and rocky mountainsides. Frank got his start by attending the Hallmark Institute of Photography, and after graduating from the school with honors, he worked part-time in the rental department of a camera shop. “Working as a photo assistant also taught me invaluable lessons on how to run a business and obtain and manage clients,” says Frank. He’s been pushing forward ever since. His portfolio includes a personal project featuring Paralympic and adaptive sports athletes, and he’s also got his eye on shooting ad campaigns for companies like Patagonia, REI and Vans. No matter where his work takes him, one thing is certain: during Frank’s shoots, creativity will always run wild. jasonafrank.com