24.03.2010
Taylor James is cooking on Gas with First UK TV Commercial
Creative production studio Taylor James has completed work on its first UK TV commercial, for Calor Gas, through London Animation Company, TANDEM. The advert, combining the use of striking CGI animation with 2D/3D visual effects. The spot entitled Think Tank launches Calor Gas’ latest LPGenius system, which acts as an alternative to oil mains for rural homes and businesses.
Commissioned by Cogent Elliott, the UK-based advertising agency, Taylor James co-directed the project with Yoav Segal to produce the 30 second one-shot fly-around advert set in a ‘quintessential’ English village. The advert guides viewers through a full 3D animation of an idyllic home set in rural England, supported by 2D info-graphics presenting viewers with the benefits of Calor’s product. With a career spanning over ten years, this commercial signals Taylor James’ successful move into broadcast as its third TV commercial in the last six months- the first, commissioned by GlobalHue for Bermuda Tourism, was aired in the US last autumn.
Having worked with TANDEM on past projects, the joint venture was a welcome creative challenge. Taylor James and Yoav Segal successfully pitched against five internationally renowned production studios to win the commission. Whilst co-directing the vision of the brief, the studio played a vital role in the script development and the highly technical approach. The entire spot was created in CGI with the background landscape a blend of 3D and matte painting, combining Taylor James’ in-house photo collage and hand-painting techniques employed by their retouch and photography departments.
“It was an ambitious script to a tight budget but, by utilizing our existing 3D assets and combining them with time-saving techniques such as camera mapping and matte painting, we were able to maximise the level of detail in each shot without restricting ourselves creatively. One continuous camera move carries the story along at a good pace, allowing us to seamlessly introduce the key communication - the underground tank, the wireless ‘top-up’ technology and the everyday benefits of Calor LPG, over-arched with the gradual transition of light, from morning through to evening” said Brendan Haley, Creative Director at Taylor James.
“It’s been an amazing project to work on and one that really builds on our animation capabilities and our flair for creating CGI landscapes and vegetation. The grass was particularly complex and required R&D of several software pipelines to achieve the result we wanted for Calor. We’ve had a lot of success developing terrain and vegetation on previous campaigns, such as ‘Tourism Ireland Maps’ and our recent ‘Bermuda Tourism’ TV commercial, which has led to us winning other projects requiring similar expertise.”
Segal, an award-winning director with a background in short films and commercials teamed up with Taylor James to deliver Think Tank. He said:
“The aim throughout was to create an ad that was a dynamic, evocative and essentially simple watchable experience. The final product displays great sophistication whilst still having the warmth, humour and friendliness that Calor was looking for. There is a synergy between the very high quality render and finish, the surprising ‘science’ look with the house graphically highlighted on a simple background, and the audio voiced by the rich and familiar tones of Stephen Fry.”
Combining 3D expertise with 2D and moving images came as a natural progression for Taylor James, which was initially established as a high-end retouching house. Haley continued:
“Understanding the fundamental principles of lighting and perspective are key to seamlessly integrating the 2D mattes into the 3D environment. With our own extensive image library and in-house photographic studio, we have scope and to build whatever matte-paintings are required. This expertise was essential on Calor when it came to changing the same daytime ‘matte’ into the night scene, using colour and tonal corrections only.”
“We are successfully evolving and driving our way into the broadcast market by utilising all of our skills honed in-house. This helps us to keep production costs down and focus our time on perfecting creative ideas and delivering quality results. As our first UK TV commercial, Calor has been a great project for Taylor James and clearly marks where we are setting our sights in the coming months.”
Sarah Haythornthwaite, Head of Marketing at Calor said: “In our 75th anniversary year we are looking to re-energise the Calor brand. The new advertising campaign will help achieve this by highlighting our technological advances and our environmental credentials to show our relevance to today’s consumers.”
Credits for Calor advertisement as follows:
Agency: Cogent Elliott
Client: Calor Gas
Directors: Yoav Segal & Taylor James
Production: Tandem Films & Taylor James
CGI and VFX: Taylor James
Voiced by: Stephen Fry
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