DesignUK's brief for Virgin Media seemed simple enough. Create a futuristic cityscape incorporating a shot of a businessman. The real challenge came when they said they needed 9 different executions, and the businessman to appear viewing the cityscape from 9 different angles. The only solution was to create the whole location using CGI - thus allowing the agency to dictate unique landscape shots with original landmarks. A lot of people have asked me where it was shot!! And the answer, on a very powerful computer. Meteorite's campaign was for Expedia, but briefed on a Friday night it was more like lastminute.com. I had to create exploding boxes held up by a real life hand. I pulled the rabbit out of the hat sorting library shots and a hand model (my daughter got a free manicure out of it). The layout was then created using CGI and a master Photoshop file was created making it easy for their in house studio to adapt for different versions all created under one roof. Network Rail wanted to bring awareness to country folk so Iris's brief was to create a still almost peaceful, setting using Constable as a point of reference. I have a recollection of the art director whispering in my ear "I want to hear the dawn chorus when I look at this." Not easy when you're shooting at 5pm on a rainy October afternoon in Scunthorpe with a 20 part composite to tackle. Another major challenge on this job was to make it work for 48 sheet and 6 sheet. It was also cited for the best use of photography at the MCCP awards in 2004. See PDFs for methodology. What's the opposite of panorama? Actually according to the dictionary - there isn't one. Maybe it's an un-erama. Someone took a lot of time creating these worldwide panoramic images. I probably spent longer turning them inside out or outside in, who knows!, to give a unique viewpoint and to create a small planet for Expedia. There are so many uses for this good idea, I've yet to see another. Undergroundblc. Fruit soft drink Hopper came with the line 'The soft drink born in a brewery'. They wanted to convey all the traditional elements of British brewing tradition with a modern twist. What better way than to create barrels that looked like fruit without the expense of using a model maker and all that entails? The fruit barrels were created in CGI, and blended into a background shot of a family brewery with a packshot in the foreground to produce a real sense of heritage. Hard to believe it's non-alcoholic, hmmm!! A simple idea from Letuscreate for a Nokia campaign. Like all the best simple ideas you can't find a suitable library shot and comping would have taken days. CD Lee Rooney thought why not create the O2 in the underground Car park. The next day we rounded up everyone in his office plied them with as much pizza as they could eat, got some coloured gels, arm bands, and a CD of Kasabian. 24 hours later - a print ready ad. When Shell and Ferrari wanted to commemorate their fifty years partnership someone had the idea to have the Formula1 car racing though the streets of Tuscany and Singapore. Even Ferrari and Shell's money wasn't going to make that happen. Instead we settled for a random shot taken by one of the mechanics from a practice lap at Silverstone, Res'ed up, redrawn and montaged in, and the residents never even complained. As an experiential agency with neuroscientists and psychologists on their staff, One Agency briefed me to find background imagery that was 'optimistic, inspirational, spiritual' to create a 'visionary utopian environment', for their idents. I found it in an inner city shopping mall, adding a CGI matrix later. I love jobs like this when I can tap into the art director's vision. How many hours could you spend looking on a photo library on the search 'visionary and utopian'? I can go and shoot this, (covertly in this case) and put it together in a couple of days. Pack shots may be getting cheaper, but what happens when you need one right now and you only have a flat image? And don't forget you still need to maintain all the integral elements of the brand. It's enough to make your eyes water. Here's the solution for Acuvue. No photograph. No retouching. And produced in a couple of hours. CST's advertising campaign for the Missing Persons charity. They wanted to show that it's not just junkies or rent boys that go missing, sometimes business men do as well. The businessman in this case was me, the guy we had lined up got cold feet. If you roll your mouse over the image, you can see how uncomfortable I am in the situation. Beyond the call of duty. The rent boy actor was the only one paid, 50 quid, he hasn't been seen since. The Missing Person's executive wept when they saw this work! Not sure why. Savidesign were commissioned to produce an interactive online campaign for Yell.com. I shot all the elements, retouched them ready for animation and worked with flash designers to produce the quirky vision of an underground car park. Don't feed the shopping trolleys and watch out for the giraffe.
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A common kind of job these days, with a lot of agencies having to work with library shots and tasked with making it look like part of a coherent campaign shot at the same time. If you roll over the image you can see the before and after. All the glasses were also sourced, shot and comped on to the geeks, It made them at Them smile anyway.