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12 May 2019

73 Questions with Phoebe Waller-Bridge

By 1618digital

73 QUESTIONS: A Youtube series by Vogue
BRAND: Condé Nast/Vogue
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Image Partnership
OUR ROLE: Location Sound Recording

Vogue is one of the most recognisable fashion and lifestyle brands across a variety of mediums, spanning both print and screen. After a job well done on 73 Questions with Saoirse Ronan, 1.618 Digital were brought back by Image Partnership to record sound for another episode for the 73 Questions With series, featuring Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Creator Joe Sabia hosts and throws a rapid-fire interview to his guests every episode, following his subject around for 10 minutes in an uncut single-shot. To match the lightheartedness of the brand, the questions are casual and conversational to keep the audience engaged and entertained, and often involve lifestyle and fashion as recurring topics.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a British actress and writer, more recently known for her work on her Fleabag, Killing Eve and Goodbye Christopher Robin, and has written for the latest instalment in the James Bond franchise, Bond 25, which is currently in production at the time of writing. In this particular episode, Phoebe talks to Joe and the viewers about writing, beauty and anecdotes from her career as they wander around the Soho theatre.

73 Questions with Phoebe Waller-Bridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3mmqLVi_QQ

Phoebe Waller-Bridge Ronan on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3564817/

Fleabag on iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p070npjv/fleabag

Vogue UK Homepage: https://www.vogue.co.uk/

Vogue Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRXiA3h1no_PFkb1JCP0yMA

73 Questions Youtube Playlist: https://bit.ly/1HPg6B3

Image Credit: Vogue

27 Jan 2019

The 360º Cockpit Tour of Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX by IWC

By 1618digital

SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE Mk IX: The 360º Cockpit Tour by IWC
BRAND: IWC Schaffhausen
PRODUCTION COMPANY: TTX
OUR ROLE: Sound Recording & Audio Postproduction

IWC (International Watch Company), based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, has specialised in the production of luxury watches since 1868. This includes watches manufactured specifically for use by pilots, and in an effort to promote IWC’s Longest Flight Expedition, IWC enlisted Transmission TX to create a virtual reality tour of the cockpit of a Spitfire plane.

Filmed at Goodwood Aerodrome using a 360º camera, 1.618 Digital was brought on to the project to record on-set sound and dialogue and perform audio post production. Sitting in the seat of the viewer is Matt Jones, a spitfire pilot and the co-founder of Boultbee Flight Academy.

Jones takes the user on a tour of a Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX, in which he physically guides and narrates the functions and uses of each aspect of the cockpit. The latter half of the video gives a demonstration of how Jones would startup the engine, communicate with flight control, and prepare for takeoff.

Viewers may look around at each aspect, and receive extra identification through the use of on-screen labelling to attract attention towards the subject of the tour at that point in the video. However, viewers can also choose to view the cockpit at their own leisure thanks to the freedom of direction provided by the 360º camera, allowing them to explore on their own and even see outside of the plane and into the airfield and hanger.

Supermarine Spitfire 360º Tour Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxYJynJejiU&amp=&t=228s

IWC Homepage: https://www.iwc.com/en/company/history.html

Boultbee Flight Academy Homepage: http://www.boultbeeflightacademy.co.uk/crew

Matt Jones Bio: http://www.boultbeeflightacademy.co.uk/matt-jones?gclid=CNqF5uaI19ICFW0R0wodICYBow

History of the Supermarine Spitfire: https://www.flyinglegends.com/aircraft/spitfire-mk-ix.html

IWC Article on the Longest Flight Expedition: https://press.iwc.com/iwc-the-longest-flight-en/

Image Credit: IWC Schaffhausen

25 Jan 2019

Royal Caribbean Celebrity Edge App

By 1618digital

CELEBRITY EDGE ACCESS TOUR: Celebrity Cruises App
BRAND: Celebrity Edge Cruises
PRODUCTION COMPANY: East City Films (VR City)
OUR ROLE: Sound Recording

Celebrity Cruises launched in 1988, aiming to revolutionise standards for the luxury cruise holiday market. With a variety of ships travelling all over the world, trips offer both an on and off-ship experience of countries and international culture with flair.

Working alongside VR specialists Trigger Global and East City Films, 1.618 Digital was brought in to record sound aboard the ship for a new app giving users the chance to explore the Celebrity Edge Cruise Ship from the comfort of their own home, using a mobile device to pan around the guided area at their own leisure.

The app, Celebrity Edge Access Tour, provides an in-depth tour of the cruise ship through the use of VR, augmented reality, 360º audio and visuals, and is available for free download on the App Store and Google Play Store.

East City Films Article: http://eastcityfilms.com/royal-caribbean

Making of EDGE Access Tour App: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV6sb4V1IZg&feature=youtu.be

Celebrity Cruises Homepage: https://www.celebritycruises.co.uk/

Celebrity Edge Ship: https://www.celebritycruises.co.uk/onboard/our-ships/celebrity-edge/

Play Store Page: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.royalcaribbean.araudiotour&hl=en_GB

App Store Page: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/celebrity-edge-access-tour/id1438559709?mt=8

Image Credit: East City Films

31 Oct 2018

Magic Leap Halloween Hack Day

By 1618digital

MAGIC LEAP HALLOWEEN HACK DAY: A promotional video of the Magic Leap One AR headset
BRAND: Magic Leap
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Happy Finish
OUR ROLE: Music Production and Sound Design

Magic Leap has created the most lightweight and versatile yet powerful and world-colliding Augmented Reality headset known as the Magic Leap One. Blending AR with the natural light and environment from the world around us, the Magic Leap One provides an immersive experience like no other and sets the bar high in the world of AR.

To advertise the product, Happy Finish created a short promotional video for Halloween Hack Day to showcase the headset, its capabilities and the reaction of users. 1.618 Digital contributed to the video, covering the Sound Design and Music Production.

Magic Leap Halloween Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7qCB6RlrlQ

Magic Leap Homepage: https://www.magicleap.com/

Image Credit: Happy Finish

17 Aug 2018

Reality Check

By 1618digital

REALITY CHECK: An Educational Interactive VR Experience
BRAND: Ford
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Happy Finish
OUR ROLE: Sound Design & Audio Postproduction for trailer

Continuing on from their work on the “Share The Road” VR experience, VR production company Happy Finish have once again teamed up with Ford for their newest addition to the collection of interactive driving education experiences – Reality Check. For this project, 1.618 Digital was brought in by Happy Finish to work on the sound design for the trailer.

Assuming the position of someone driving their friends to a party, users must use their common sense and driving smarts to combat common distractions from inside the car that are the most common causes of crashes and accidents on the road. On the surface, the CG look presents the experience as more of a fun game, but Reality Check actually severely punishes players for succumbing to the distractions of mobile phones and chatty passengers, driving home the message of just how fatal it can be to lose concentration on the road.

The aim behind the creation of the experience was to educate young audiences, particularly newly qualified drivers and those learning to drive, and to promote driving safely. Using the immersive capabilities of a VR environment can demonstrate the full consequences of dangerous driving habits without putting the users in those situations with real life drawbacks and injury.

Made to work with Google Daydream, the Clicker and Gaze Tracking, every physical movement made by the driver can affect the narrative of the scene, often ending in the sobering realisation that it only takes a second of broken concentration for an accident to occur. Reality Check has been translated into 19 different languages and is currently being deployed worldwide as a part of Ford’s Driving Skills For Life program.

Happy Finish Case Study: https://www.happyfinish.com/work/ford-reality-check-vr/

Reality Check Trailer: https://youtu.be/402HZtPT3a0

Reality Check VR Experience: https://youtu.be/8MkzC4iI1fU

Ford Driving Skills For Life Website: https://www.forddsfl.co.uk/

Share The Road Case Study: https://www.1618digital.com/portfolio/ford-share-the-road-vr-experience/

Image Credit: Happy Finish

17 Aug 2018

Rain Stops Play

By 1618digital

RAIN STOPS PLAY: A 2018 short comedy film
DIRECTOR/WRITER: Mika Simmons
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Manic Butterfly Productions/Rain Stops Play Productions
OUR ROLE: Production Audio

Rain Stops Play is an upcoming British independent short film from the mind of Mika Simmons, and is described as “a modern day comedy of errors” starring Tara Fitzgerald, Imogen Waterhouse and Sharon Maughan.

Simmons is known for her career in acting and voice acting in films, television and videogames, and has branched out into storytelling with this short being her first IMDb credit in Writing, Directing and Producing.

Co-production team Manic Butterfly Productions has film and tv work under its belt for companies like Matalan, Vespa and music videos for musicians such as James Blunt and Armin Van Buuren. 1.618 Digital was brought into production to record production audio on-set. Rain Stops Play is currently still in production and set to release on 4th October 2018.

Rain Stops Play on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8116576

Rain Stops Play Website: http://rainstopsplay.com/

Rain Stops Play on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rainstopsplayuk

Manic Butterfly Productions: http://www.manicbutterflyproductions.com/

Image Credit: Rain Stops Play

14 Aug 2018

PwC Resilience

By 1618digital

PWC RESILIENCE: Work Training Content
BRAND: PwC
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Happy Finish
OUR ROLE: Location Sound Recording, Editing, 3D Audio Postproduction

PwC, a virtual reality production company based out of the United Kingdom, is using the future of technology to help “the disrupted become the disruptive.” VR being originally intended for Sci-fi experiences, PwC is shifting gears and creating content to immerse individuals in a realistic future.

In Resilience, the user is able to sit in on a business meeting and observe the dynamics of certain tasks brought up in discussion. Towards the tail end of the experience, you sit down 1-on-1 with coworkers, giving you the ability to see their body language and mannerisms when bringing up certain topics.

PwC wants to create a future where you can make business decisions and see how they pan out in the virtual world before implementing them in the real world. By being able to examine the risks before they happen, businesses are able to go back to the drawing board and improve their ideas for future projects, eliminating any questionable or immoral effects associated. With PwC, we can see that the future does indeed look bright!

1.618 Digital was brought onto the project to cover location sound recording, edit and 3D mix.

Case Study – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-__AianiQus

Image Credit: PwC

11 Aug 2018

Eltek Virtual Reality Showroom

By 1618digital

ELTEK VR: An Interactive Virtual Reality Showroom
BRAND: Eltek
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Glitch Studios
OUR ROLE: Sound Design and Implementation in Unity

As a business, being able to demonstrate your product or service to potential investors is essential. But when the product is something large and expensive to build — like a large building or facility, or large machinery — creating a demo product to present to possible clients can add large expenses to a budget that may not be readily available, especially considering there is no guarantee that the client will buy it. Even small-scale models, whilst not as expensive, can often not present the true potential of a product in the same way as experiencing the product in the environment.

Eltek, working with Glitch Studios, have presented a solution to the problem using the limitless capabilities of Virtual Reality — their VR Showroom, a large virtual space lined with Eltek products. Users can explore and investigate the products without having to physically be in the room with them, being able to explore their own personal issues and how Eltek can provide a solution. For the simulation, 1.618 Digital was brought on to enhance a sonic experience and implementation of 3D audio into the Unity engine.

The low cost and portability of virtual reality also enable Eltek and other companies that present VR showrooms the opportunities to bring their demos wherever they go, be it conventions, meetings, excursions and other out-of-office meetups. And with less money going into demonstrations of products, more money can go into other areas that require the funds; Eltek reported an increase in bottom-line funds and positive influence towards buyers since using the showroom (as well as attracting large numbers interested in virtual reality and exposing them to the products in a memorable way).

Eltek has since begun using this marketing tool in the majority of their offices worldwide, with ongoing updates planned for the future.

Glitch Case Study: https://www.glitchstudios.co/portfolio_page/eltek-virtual-reality-showroom/

Eltek VR Showroom Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdnhyELmTbs

Image Credit Glitch Studios

10 Aug 2018

Kellogg’s Augmented Reality Island Adventure

By 1618digital

KELLOGG’S AUGMENTED REALITY ISLAND ADVENTURE: AR Mobile Game
BRAND: Kellogg’s
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Blippar
OUR ROLE: Sound Design & Character Vocalisation

Breakfast food giant Kelloggs has a history of not just providing nutritional meals to kids and adults alike, but also including activities and entertainment in the forms of small toys, videos and puzzles both on their cereal boxes and in mixed media formats. In July 2018, they’ve collaborated with Augmented Reality specialists Blippar to create a new interactive app to be released in 6 different languages that feature its flagship products. The app is currently featured on the boxes of Kellogg’s cereal in seven countries across Europe (with an additional rollout to 17 additional countries across Europe and the MEA region in the works), starring the mascots of Coco Pops, Miel Pops, Frosties, Rice Krispies and Honey Loops.

By having parents download the Blippar app and scanning their promotional cereal boxes, kids can join their favourite mascots on a treasure hunt collecting coconuts and finding school equipment and play an assortment of games which unlock jungle animal selfie masks that they can take their own photos with. The activities prime kids with different animal and jungle facts that will come in handy once all the tasks are completed, as the final “classroom test” puts their knowledge to use in a 20 question quiz. Once the quiz is passed, the players unlock the final animal selfie mask and win the game.

1.618 Digital was brought into production to design sound that responds to the visuals on screen naturally in terms of their visibility and proximity to the player, as well as create vocalisations of the main characters and animal selfie masks reacting to the user’s expressions and movements.

With games based on rhythm, reflexes, mathematics and trivia, Kellogg’s and Blippar aim to use their cereals to promote fun learning experiences and have kids engaged with this virtual treasure hunt to get them working their brains to keep their minds sharp and ready to go back to school once the summer holiday period has ended.

Blippar Article: Kellogg’s uses augmented reality to inspire & educate kids in preparation to go back to school

App Trailer: Kellogg’s Augmented Reality Island Adventure by Blippar

App Advert: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6450375409442779136/

Blippar Website: https://www.blippar.com/

Kellogg’s Website: https://www.kelloggs.co.uk/

Image Credit: Blippar

10 Aug 2018

Two For Joy

By 1618digital

TWO FOR JOY: A 2018 Feature-Length Indie Drama funded by Creative England and the BFI Film Fund.
DIRECTOR/WRITER: Tom Beard
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Blonde To Black Pictures
OUR ROLE: Production Audio

As writer and director Tom Beard’s first feature, Two For Joy is a British feature-length drama starring Samantha Morton, Billie Piper and Emilia Jones.

Following Aisha, mother of two children (Vi and Troy), the film explores themes of grief and depression after the death of the father and husband. With the loss of the typical nuclear-family dynamic severely affecting Aisha’s mental health, Vi suggests a family trip to the beach which leads to meeting with another equally-dysfunctional family.

A bleak and melancholic story, the film is full of subtlety both narratively, performatively and technically to highlight the heavy strain on the family’s dynamic. For this project, 1.618 Digital was brought in to help with sound recording to achieve such a delicate yet powerful affect through the sound and audio accompanying its gloomy visuals.

Tom Beard brought this film to life to shine light on the issues of grief and familial death, which he felt were “underexposed in [England] and should be talked about more”. Real people do go through periods of darkness and misfortune that are a struggle to overcome, and Two For Joy approaches this element of life in a poetic yet realist way.

Two for Joy featured at Edinburgh Film Festival 2018 and has been praised by critics for its performances and approach to the subject matter.

Two For Joy on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6493292/?ref_=ttco_co_tt

EIFF 2018 Review: https://thepeoplesmovies.com/2018/07/eiff-18-review-two-for-joy-2018/

British Film Council: http://film.britishcouncil.org/two-for-joy

EIFF Red Carpet Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=impyj6ayzsE

Blonde to Black Pictures: http://blondetoblackpictures.com/

Image Credit: Blonde To Black Pictures

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