sammi needham : cogitate

3D is so hot right now. Up, Avatar, Alice, Spiderman, Tron, Desktop mag, .net mag, Woman’s day even! YouTube, it looks like every piece of mainstream media is going nuts about 3D and in cinema, it’s a strong bid to get bums on seats again.

At VJ, we’ve been hanging to get in on some of this sweet 3D action, and the high movie-going demographic our new client Jay Jays was a perfect match. We set out to create the newest Jay Jays campaign using 3D videos and stills, online and in store. The plan was to not only have 3D appear in-store windows and in catalogues, but also on the web in an interactive video that would bring 3D into customers’ homes.

Mitch, throwing some glasses at the end of the Dance Off video

We printed hundreds of thousands of those old skool red/cyan 3D glasses and distributed them to Jay Jays stores around Australia and NZ. Customers are able to walk in-store and grab a pair of glasses for free, look around the store that is currently decorated with 3D price points and wall features and then take their glasses home to view the Jay Jays Dance Off 3D campaign site.

A time lapse from shoot day.

The 3D video workflow proved a real challenge as we ended up with 2 versions of every clip that we shot, adding a syncing step to each of the 20 videos that were created. In-house, our ActionScript team devised a system that would switch between an anaglyph 3D view and a standard single-image view seamlessly – this was key to the campaign as we didn’t want to alienate users that had not yet picked up their 3D glasses. The system uses side-by-side flash videos that are split, stretched, overlayed and re-coloured as each frame appears to achieve the anaglyph effect. This was done using the bitmaps draw function, and ultimately this means that the video itself is never on the stage, but is rather drawn to the stage after all of the effects are applied. It sounds complex, but we were surprised to find that this still allows the videos to run incredibly smoothly, helped by the fact that as all of this processing is done, the site is designed to do nothing but play the video. All the interaction happens once the snapshot is captured.

Xander, frozen in time

Each frame of the video is able to be frozen in time so that users can explore each piece of clothing in each outfit. Every video frame was mirrored as a still that quietly sits on the server until it’s requested. The still images have the same side-by-side affect applied to them based on whether the user has 3D turned on or off in the application. The still images load in on top of their compressed video counterpart to provide additional clarity in each image.

We shot on a custom designed SI2K 3D rig supplied by the good folks at LeMac who have been shooting plenty of 3D content of late. Images from the camera were supplied as RAW files that were flatly graded and compiled into standalone video clips for each shot in After Effects. All of the right eye (correctly orientated) clips were then bought into Final Cut for the edits to commence. Once complete, they were graded, married with their graded left-eye counterparts, and exported as side-by-side quicktimes to be output both as stills sequences and flash videos.

A source frame from the end of the video (pre-processing)

The 3D element steps this project up a notch and gives Jay Jays customers, hanging for more, cool 3D content, a way to be satiated online. YouTube’s (relatively) new yt3d:enabled tag provided us a great way to get this content out to even more users, as the clips were posted on the video sharing site in both 3D and 2D. An extended edit of the clip is currently available on YouTube for those wanting just that bit more.

click to view in YouYube (using the YouTube 3D player)

One of the choices we made was to converge the images at the point on the stage that the dancers are usually at, this means that the colours of the clothes remain in tact as much as possible, even if you’re using the 3D version but not wearing the glasses. Users are also able to turn the 3D on and off based on whether they have/want to have the glasses or not but are always encouraged to head in store to pick up a free pair.

Some of the many 3D glasses, available free, in Jay Jays stores

All of the 3D elements that appear in-store were composited in Photoshop from static 2D stills. These work great, but it was fun to use true left/ right images provided but the 3D video rig for the full effect in the video content.

Check out Ty Johnson’s take on directing the shoot and working with the 2D images in a 2D to 3D workflow for print, and also see here for Steve Woolcock’s tips for 3D video processing in Adobe Flash.

You can read more about the Jay Jays dance-off campaign here…

Or go and check it out now here

The campaign formula has remained similar for apparel company Jay Jays for some time. Traditionally a printed catalogue, perhaps some TV, new price points and store design, some photos of each outfit on the Jay Jays website and some eye-catching window-designs in the many Jay Jays stores across the country. But that’s all changed.

Jay Jays approached Visual Jazz in 2009 with key insights that their customers are consuming less print, watching less TV, and engaging with more fun, social content online. Jay Jays have a great handle on their brand and a solid, loyal relationship with their customer base – they have over 40 thousand Facebook fans and as such, a growing online focus.

The (just launched!) Jay Jay’s Dance Off 3D campaign is a first for Jay Jays and it’s focus is online engagement, entertainment and of course showing off the new Jay Jays range. Visual Jazz has worked with the brand to create an immersive and exciting new experience that really needs to be experienced to be fully appreciated. It launches alongside an entirely new Jay Jays website filled with customer engagement opportunities and barrels of fun.

Here’s how we went about the Dance-Off online campaign element…

A casting call was put out for dancers with unique skills of differing backgrounds. Two busy days of auditions took place and 9 dancers were chosen. We ended up with the following range of performers…

• a robot popper
• a ribbon dancer
• a jazz dancer
• a salsa dancer
• a ballet dancer
• a freestyling locker
• a breaker
• a arcrobat
• and a ballroom dancer

Jay Jays are a brand with diversity, inclusion and freedom of expression at it’s core. The chosen dancers represent a wide range of styles, backgrounds, age-groups, attitudes and ethnicities.

Shooting took place over one grueling day in an amazing warehouse in the Melbourne CBD. Two of the many spaces in the warehouse were decked-out and fully crewed for two distinctly different shoots. One was for stills, with shots to be used in store window displays, on price-points, and other predominantly offline collateral. The other contained a 3D video camera rig to capture the motion that was to be used in the online execution. The dancers came in and out throughout the day and performed brilliantly within both areas on a tight schedule. Costume changes took place after both locations had their fill of sweet moves and they did it all again.

The Jay Jays Dance-Off 3D campaign shows Jay Jays new range of winter street clothes in a fresh light in an interactive and entertaining way. You can mix your own edit of dancers, or sit back and watch the master edit play out. And at all times you are able to pause the action and explore each dancer’s outfit in detail.

Ultimately we had 20 videos to cut for the full campaign. One solo video for each of the 18 outfits was created, and two main edits that appear on the dedicated site and YouTube utilising the new features of the YouTube 3D video player.

All items of clothing were tracked in each frame of every video. Clicking your mouse or pressing space bar while a video is playing brings up a still image allowing users to explore the outfits in detail and save still frames and wallpapers.

The 3D component adds a real wow factor to this campaign. Interacting with the videos and watching the dancers presents a really fun experience on it’s own, but I feel like we’ve really stepped it up by having everything in 3D. The process has presented many more challenges than expected and it’s been a real learning experience, but the re-burgeoning nature of this technology was too exciting to leave out. After many headache’s and late nights, Visual Jazz are extremely proud to present Jay Jays Dance Off in 3D.

Head in to your nearest jay jays store to pick up your free 3D glasses and then check out Jay Jays Dance Off 3D at http://jayjays.com.au/danceoff

If you’re interested, please stay tuned for a future post about the 3D process in greater depth..

Our Ocean Recon Submariner website for Defence Force Recruiting has just been recognised as .net Magazine’s Site Of The Month.

You can find out more about this issue of .net magazine (titled Practical Web Design in the US) at www.netmag.co.uk/zine/latest-issue/issue-200

Dance-Off, Jessica Mauboy style.

Today Ocean Recon was awarded the FWA site of the day. Huzzah!

Just in time for christmas we got an early present, Ocean Recon was a long time in development and utilised the sweet skills of many people within the studio in many different respects. We made up some pretty sashes to celebrate our moment in the sun.

Our sweet FWA sash

“The FWA is an industry recognized award program, showcasing websites who use cutting edge technology, together with inspirational ideas, that lead the way for future generations.” – Rob Ford, FWA Principle.

Ocean Recon is the 4th FWA SOTD award for Visual Jazz and the first that i’ve been involved in, so i’m totally chuffed like a chuffle-board floating down a stream of chuffle through chuff-town.

We also got a mention on the always inspirational ‘inspiration room‘ – thanks guys.

To check out Ocean Recon and ‘Experience Life Beneath The Surface’ visit
http://www.defencejobs.gov.au/submariners/