How our VFX team devised a 3D Piccadilly Circus Activation for Glenfiddich’s UK mass media campaign

Our VFX team was tasked by Agency Space and Scotch Whisky brand Glenfiddich, to create an eye-catching 3D installation that would turn heads in London’s Piccadilly Circus, showcasing the CGI photorealistic stag and brand mascot featured in last year’s TVC.

On crafting the installation, VFX Supervisor Sam Driscoll explains, “We created a library of video references of deer in their natural environment, which we examined frame by frame, in order to get the best performance out of our stag character. We wanted him to feel impressive, but not scary or aggressive, as this could become quite disconcerting once projected onto a 17.5-meter high screen!

“We used a force perspective technique, which meant that if you, as a viewer, witnessed the film from the correct angle – a location that was pre-defined in a safe pedestrianised area – then it would appear as if you were looking INTO our 3D world and not just AT it. That meant we were able to create the illusion of this character moving out from his own world and into ours.

We learned that when working on something that will ultimately become so large in real life, it is important to take into consideration the scale of the movement. A relatively small movement on a small screen can look greatly amplified on a screen this huge. We were able to test our animation on the actual physical screen in the small hours of the morning, when foot traffic was quiet, in order to give us some visual feedback.

If you look closely, you can see that we also added some wind to the stag’s fur, to the plant life, and even went as far as to give him some steam from his breath to try and make the experience subtly more immersive.”

The installation will be running at Piccadilly Circus until the 28th of November. You can get in touch with our VFX team about creating your own OOH campaign here.