We have been working closely with The New York Times creative department T-Brand Studio to create 3D animated VFX for cleaner oil and gas initiatives by Statoil. This project is about oil and gas initiatives to drive efficiency while reducing environmental impact. Brought in at the design stage, we discussed the clients vision with T-Brand studio and developed a number of artworks to pitch to Statoil. After a few rounds of feedback we were able to settle on visual effects concepts for their three main headings, “Subsea Factory”, “Perfect Well” and “Water Conservation”.
Move your mouse over the image to play the sequence.
Working from source videos for Subsea Factory and Perfect Well, we first tracked the footage to obtain a 3D camera solve. The desired effect was for the wording to be hidden in plain sight and to let the camera movement reveal the message. This has been fantastically implemented by T-Brand studio to enable user interaction by either mouse dragging or tilting a mobile device to control the image sequence timing and form the lettering. To create this effects we first laid out the lettering in 3D space in a single plane to get approval on the overall composition. Once the camera movement and formation frame were locked in place, we manually adjusted the letter elements depth relative to the cameras point of view so when the camera moves, the letters break up to their individual pieces.
Move your mouse over the image to play the sequence.
The Water Conservation sequence needed a different approach with a ‘frozen in time’ water splash effect that reveals the wording in the negative space. For this, we took a full 3D approach using a very high resolution 3D splash model which we then intersected with 3D text specifically modeled to line up with the camera position and focal length. It was important to the client that the render have a realistic finish with strong of depth of field to give a sense of scale. To push this further we added hundreds of additional water drop elements around the splash and close to the camera to give a stronger understanding of the 3D space.
Move your mouse over the image to play the sequence.
We have been very impressed by T-Brand studios execution of the concept on both desktop and mobile platforms and it was a pleasure working with their creative team to bring this project from concept to implementation. Make sure you check out the interactive site they have built for the campaign and if you are interested in commissioning your own animated piece, please do check out more of our work and get in touch for a quote.