Mr Snuffles on the Underground

Sarah Klan one of our talented animators has been selected to show a short piece of her work across London's underground stations in the Smile for London campaign. The creative intermissions show on selected stations between 17th and 28th January. The idea is to to beat the January blues with a showcase of film, art and animation. The films will be displayed on digital platform screens across the stations weekday mornings and evenings during the rush hour commute. The Mr Snuffles film can be seen here on Vimeo.

This is not SquareZero's first content for the CBS cross track platform system. We previously produced a British Legion commercial featuring the Poppy Man character. You can see details in this  blog entry.

Merry Xmas from SquareZero

click picture to play movie.

Holographic ballerina wins MAMA award

Musion's MAMA awards were held at the University of Westminster last Saturday and SquareZero won the prize for best corporate event. The holographic dancer was filmed for the Yota Launch of Mikhailovsky's Swan Lake in London earlier this year.  The visual effects included having the dancer turn into a glass swan and then into a flurry of butterflies. The prima ballerina in her white costume made a very effective subject for the Pepper's Ghost technique of stage illusion. View the movie here.

SquareZero pick up two awards at IVCA Livecom

We had a nice day out at the awards ceremony where we picked up Highly Commended awards for both of our entries.
The Paul Arden hologram ' Nothing is impossible'  for Saatchi and Saatchi was prized in the Award for Innovation category.
Our holographic attraction for Abbaworld won in the International Event Experience category.

3d animated flight for the Royal Bank of Scotland

We were commissioned to make an animation which spanned continents for the RBS website. Scott Cooper worked in Maya to create the journey of a blue ribbon through cities of the world which highlighted features of the business. You can see the movie here.

Greatest Hits TV ad for Bon Jovi

Najma Bhatti, a lead director at LOVE Commercials and award-winning production company, Square Zero, has directed an innovative TV commercial for the release of Bon Jovi’s Greatest Hits album. The ad is produced by LOVE Commercials and the post production, animation work and CGI was done by the team at Square Zero. The commercial celebrates the band’s momentous career and draws on its broad fanbase and universal appeal. See the spot here.

Filmed in New York, the TVC features Bon Jovi performing in a series of different rooms, executed by shooting the band against a green screen, allowing them to be composited into the different scenes, each laden with detail to represent the diversity of the band’s catalogue. Pausing in each room to sing a different track, when Jon Bon Jovi enters the final room, the walls suddenly rise up becoming relay screens and the whole space transforms into a fan-filled stadium. This final scene was shot using a combination of green screen and a 3D stage setup placed in existing crowd footage that was multiplied and layered to create a sense of scale.

In order to be able to produce shorter international versions, Jon Bon Jovi’s walk was timed and synchronised to generate a modular piece, allowing footage from each room to be joined together in different orders. Square Zero then handled the CGI-heavy commercial’s animation and post-production process.

Najma Bhatti, Director, Square Zero, says “We wanted the concept to reflect the band’s legendary career and huge fanbase – symbolised by the journey through the rooms and culminating in a huge event to echo the Greatest Hits. Working closely with LOVE Commercials, who coordinated the shoot, we used cutting edge CGI to produce the stadium scene finale. Creating a genuine flexible collection of completed footage was also key during the post production process, so it could be arranged and reordered as required. We were delighted to be invited to work on this project, using our technical expertise to stamp a mark in rock history. ”

The Bon Jovi – Greatest Hits TVC was directed by Najma Bhatti, an award-winning director at SquareZero whose previous projects at the company include the acclaimed ‘Nothing is Impossible’ hologram for the 20th Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase at Cannes Lions 2010.

See the spot here.

Holograms in Nigeria - Mobitel and Afromedia

SquareZero produced animations and composites for two concurrent Musion hologram celebrations in Nigeria last month. Prominent Nigerian companies Afromedia and Mobitel were celebrating events with holographic presentations in a year which sees Nigeria's Fiftieth anniversary of independence. Afromedia is the largest provider of billboard advertising and was also celebrating it's 50th anniversary. Mobitel is one of the country's principal mobile phone and telecoms companies and they were celebrating rebranding of the business.

Recruiting at SquareZero

We are recruiting for various roles now and into the new year. We are interested in meeting potential employees or freelancers and request that if you are interested in working here that you send us CV's and links to your work. We are interested in receiving details from experienced producers, designers, animators, technical directors, compositors as well as graduates. There are more details on vacancies and how to join our team here.