Jet Set Shanghai
Client
Michael Kors with 3-Legged Dog
Role
Creative Producer, Template Design, Projection Engineer, Systems Engineer, Creative
Team
Phil Gulley, Seth Kirby, Fubbi Karlsson, Nica Ross, Zack Shepard, Peter Burr, Garett Linn, Kevin Cunningham, David Ogle, Tom Henwood, Soren Nielsen
Year
2014-05
Tags
Experiential, Fashion, Event, Projection Design, VFX, R&D, Budget Management, Content, Post Production
Tools
After Effects, Projectors, QLab, Premiere, Photoshop, Isadora, RED
Let me set the scene: it's 2012 and I've just got my dream job at 3-Legged Dog Media + Theater Group. 3LD is a cutting edge arts and technology company. Working there was like working with the rockstars you worshipped as a youth. There's a mixed bag to that and it isn't always as glamorous as you'd hope it could be.
The executive director at 3LD, Kevin Cunningham is a blessing and a curse. He's an excellent creative leader with good instincts and fantastic at selling a project. The curse is that he's maybe too good at selling those projects. At this time in 3LD's history, Kevin was trying to intentionally set up a profitable arm of the 501(C)3 to fund the artistic work. This meant we were doing a lot of pitches, and throwing our all at them. One of those seemingly random pitches was a staged presentation for Michael Kors.
Working with Phil Gulley, Nica Ross, and David Ogle, we produced a ton of random fashion-forward content with the goal of presenting something with our Studio-C Eyeliner setup. Eyeliner is holographic technology (it's really just Pepper's Ghost and expensive mylar). We shot some original content and put together something that was over-the-top and beyond the scale of most media presentations. Phil and I stayed up all night creating a full-scale demo and oddly enough: the presentation was a success.
Over the next two years, we would conceptualize, design, and execute a media forward fashion show that would be Michael Kors' brand launch in China. Early on, we decide we were going to go to Kors' iconic locations and shoot a ton of high resolution VFX plates that we would then composite into a massive projection blend. We travelled all over the world: Denmark, Italy, France, China, Canada and Connecticut 🤣. We drove my Smart Car into one of the 3LD studios as a proof of concept for when we would shoot Kors' Maybach. We built out a two-story green studio so that we could brings in Mike's favorite models and comp them into our massive projection blend. We built a VFX studio from the ground-up. We researched new technologies to get frame synchronization across 17 1920x1200 projectors – and we didn't use anything proprietary. We built a scale demo of the show and presented it in New York.
I had a lot of different responsibilities on this project, but everything happened under role of Creative Producer. I managed the money. I wrote the contract. I shot a bunch of the content. I programmed some of the show. I composited and designed a bunch of the content. I designed the projection rasters. I coordinated with a team of 10 post-production creatives, more than a dozen production creatives, and the engineering team. I drank Japanese whiskey and smoked cigarettes inside a 5-Star hotel. I got sick on the plane.
Then, we went to Shanghai and spent two weeks in airplane hangar tweaking that content, up until the very last day. We also produced a series of content for the after-party. The event was awesome. One of the most memorable days of my life. 3-Legged Dog has a reputation, but the folks I worked with there I would go through the trenches with any time – still some of my closest friends and collaborators.
Alright, let's do the numbers 🎶
2 Years
3 Creative Directors
3 Directors of Photography
2 iMacs for post
3 Programmers
4 Mac Pro Cheese Graters for post
4 Video designers
6 Mac Pro Trash Cans for post
10 Post Production artists
11 Shoots (Concepts, NY Car, NY Boat, NY architecture, CT Jet, Banff, Capri, Paris, Shanghai, Party Textures, Models)
12 Mac Pro Trash Cans to run the show
23 Projectors
40 million pixel main composition
The biggest Eyeliner surface ever made (100x50')
Multimedia Concept, Design and Execution 3-Legged Dog
House Design Bureau Batek
Production Services Apax Group