BAFTA-winning studio
Platige Image, specializing in creating CGI, 3D animation, and digital visual effects, participated in a prestigious project for Tourism Australia. Films and commercial spots created by Platige Image will be displayed as part of an international campaign aiming to encourage more people to visit Australia. The objective is supported by a digitally brought to life mascot of a kangaroo – the most recognizable symbol of the country.
Tourism Australia is the Australian Government agency responsible for attracting international visitors to Australia, both for leisure and business events. The organization is active in 15 key markets and activities include advertising, PR and media programs, trade shows and industry programs, consumer promotions, online communications, and consumer research.
The new ambassador of Tourism Australia is Ruby – a souvenir kangaroo brought to life by Platige Image with CGI animation. The spot prepared by the studio also features actress Rose Byrne who became the English voice of the campaign. The new film premiered on October 19th in New York. The spots appeared on billboards in Singapore, Berlin, New York, Paris, and Tokyo. The producer in charge on behalf of Platige Image was Nichole Ryan.
The campaign of Tourism Australia evoked great interest. Within just the first two weeks, the 9-minute long video on YouTube was viewed by almost 20 million users, while all videos have more than 100 million views. The spot was also shown on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon – one of the most popular talk shows in the USA.
Besides the 9-minute video, 60, 30, and 15-second commercial spots were created as well. Additionally, two versions of 30-second spots and one 15-second video were made for the project collaborator, Australian national carrier Qantas Airlines.
Producer Nichole Ryan explains how Platige was selected for this prestigious project. “Michael Gracey, director of the spots commissioned by Tourism Australia and a huge fan of the work of the Polish studio ever since he saw the commercial for Citizen watches, knew that Platige Image was the perfect choice for the project. Choosing us for the execution of these animations was prompted also by our vast experience in working for numerous famous international brands, including Aston Martin, Lego, Samsung, etc.,” Ryan adds.
The project also included the creation of the forced perspective large-scale animated 3D billboards intended for DOOH displays at such prestigious locations as Times Square in New York, Moxy in Los Angeles, and K-Pop Square in Seoul. “Creating content for large format displays requires experience in both CG and advertising, and also a lot of streamlined computing power at one’s disposal. We are dealing with projection mapping onto large 12K displays. Fortunately, having completed this type of projects in the past – e.g. with Samsung – we managed to plan everything ahead and create it without a hitch,” Arek Arciszewski, VFX Supervisor at Platige Image who worked on the 3D billboards, explains.
Although Platige Image was mostly responsible for generating digital characters and their animation, the role of the Polish studio was not limited to this single task. “We also supported the creative process of the project’s commercial parts, in direct cooperation with the agency. Moreover, we ensured that creative ideas took full advantage of the available media, technology, resources, and creative power of all the artists involved in this project,” says Arek Arciszewski from Platige Image.
According to the Leading VFX Supervisor of the project, Łukasz Dziedziński, from Platige Image, creating these animations proved to be not only a challenge in and of itself, but also a genuine test of logistic skills.
“In the 9-minute video we were working with over 150 shots, including 116 digitally animated ones, all of which required setting the proper camera track, adjusting the light, as well as rendering, 3D animation, and composition. Each of these steps required various people to coordinate with one another, and the client’s cooperation (to approve each subsequent step). It really was quite a challenge,” the Leading VFX Supervisor in charge of work on the 9-minute film assures.
The creators involved in the project have fond memories not only of working on it, but also of the atmosphere in the international team. According to producer Nichole Ryan, the cooperation resulted in an enormous success. “It was a case of a frankly incredible mutual understanding between all the participating sides. Despite the fact that we worked dispersed – across the whole wide world – the communication was virtually perfect. This enabled us to solve any issues as they arose, and make sure that we were on the right track,” Ryan states.