th1ng, the award-winning mixed media and animation studio, has created a dedicated creative department for television identity and advertising commissions.
The new department is founded on the creative talent of three directors -- Russell Appleford, one of the team behind Channel 4's current and recent idents; Richard Morrison, the award-winning director behind TV idents and film titles sequences; and Alon Ziv, one of the U.K.'s most promising commercial and animation directors.
Ziv has directed the team's first major commission, a 30 second bumper, for Escape Partners and its client NBC Universal to launch NBC Universal's new subscription film service titled "PictureBox." The bumper features filmstrips taken from some of the movies launching on Picture Box, such as KING KONG, GLADIATOR and STARDUST.
Each filmstrip -- made up of pieces of moving film representing a close-up of the star of each movie -- is composited together to form a visual rollercoaster snaking and twisting across the screen. At one key moments the breakneck speeds slows, the metallic screech of the rollercoaster and its passengers fade away, and King Kong roars out of the screen. In another, the rollercoaster hurtles forward again and on its next pass, it's Russell Crowe reprising his gladiatorial role of Maximus who screams out loud. The sequence ends as the rollercoaster completes its run, culminating with a fade-in of the Picture Box logo and strapline "Movies full of emotion. Enjoy the ride."
NBC Universal is initially launching PictureBox on BT Vision, Tiscali and TopUptv in the U.K. and will also air on other TV platforms across Singapore and Poland. Press advertising features a segment from the bumper promoting the 28 films available to subscribers for 5 pounds a month on BT Vision.
Dominic Buttimore, Executive Producer of th1ng said, "th1ng and Escape are two groups of people sharing the same passion and dedication to producing great ideas. It was a pleasure to work with Mike and his team at Escape to bring their concept for Picture Box to life, and we look forward to many more collaborations in the future."
