executive producer

Nokia Gulp – Work from the archive

| Zapfly

Back in 2012, my team at Wieden + Kennedy created Nokia Gulp, shot solely on a Nokia N8 handset.  The plot as based on a Jonah-style adventure of a fisherman getting caught in a belly of a giant fish.  It was the successor to Nokia Dot, the smallest animation ever, which W+K also made with Sumo Science and Aardman, again using a Nokia N8 handset.

Here is a look behind the scenes how the world’s largest animation is shot on a Nokia phone handset.  We needed an army of locals to help us prepare the beach everyday for the shoot.

The advert was release across Europe initially and then globally.  It has since become a favourite on Vimeo and still enjoys good ratings years after making it.

Useful links:

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulp_(film)
Wired: http://www.wired.com/2011/08/gulp-stop-motion-animation/
Creative Review: http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2011/august/nokia-gulp-wieden-kennedy
DesignBoom: http://www.designboom.com/art/gulp-worlds-largest-stop-motion-animation/

Guinness – St Patrick’s Day shoot

| Zapfly

On an icy cold Thursday and Friday in January, as the snow fell and the temperatures tumbled below zero, I was on the set of a Guinness shoot, to celebrate St Patrick’s Day this March 17th 2013.

The team was made up of our Guinness client, creatives from Saatchi, Michael Sugerman (Director) and Production team from Holster, my team from Tribal, a live action / post production team from Rushes, as well as the assembled cast and crew.

The complexity of the shoot was based on the fact that we were interjecting personalised elements into the experience and therefore had to carefully choreograph the key sequences that my post production team at Luma could then create assets from and pass them over to the render farm team at Crystal CG / Hoopers.

One point of interest was that the bar set we used was from the hit TV comedy ‘Only Fools and Horses’.

The final output is available on Facebook: http://bit.ly/GuinnessPaintYourTownBlack

Here are a few behind the scenes images I managed to grab whilst on the two day shoot.

Behind the scenes
Behind the scenes
Behind the scenes
Behind the scenes
Behind the scenes
Behind the scenes
Behind the scenes
Behind the scenes
Behind the scenes
Behind the scenes
Screen captures from the shoot
Screen captures from the shoot
Screen captures from the shoot
Screen captures from the shoot
Screen captures from the shoot

Here are some links about the film in the press:
Marketing: http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1173008/Guinness-unveils-St-Patricks-Weekend-marketing-drive/
The Drum: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/02/26/guinness-invites-world-paint-town-black-st-patricks-day
IBB Online: http://lbbonline.com/news/guinness-paint-the-town-black/
More About Advertising: http://www.moreaboutadvertising.com/2013/03/saatchi-paints-the-town-black-for-guinness/

HTC One global launch

| Zapfly

During my time at Mother, I was the Head of Integrated Production on the HTC account and worked on the launch of the company’s latest and greatest smartphone, to combat top models from Apple and Samsung.

My production team co-ordinated the creation of all global launch material, ranging from a photo shoot of the new handset, the TVC of a photorgaphy student sky diving with the HTC One handset to collateral for all the subsequent digital channels with interesting behind the scenes material as well as social commentary and a PR event at the launch of the HTC One on the site of the TVC drop zone, in the desert around Arizona.

Here is how we made the TVC.