WOW DIGITAL

Alfa in somerset again........

2011-12-07T16:33:00.000-08:00

New game to launch keep eyes open ?

http://www.visitsomerset.co.uk/

Appeal for a damn good film maker

2011-12-07T16:27:00.000-08:00

Hi guys,

Please support a super talented film maker......Our good friend stu has launched The Kickstarter campaign for a Russian tv series which has just gone live. they now have 33 days to raise $25K, so they need every bit of promotion they can get.

Here's the URL:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/406906786/back-in-the-soviet-bloc

Thanks for help spreading the word!

Cheers
Darren

EXCITING NEW VOICE OVER AND AUDIO SERVICES

2011-07-29T17:19:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

WOW is proud to announce that we will be launching a new Voice Over service for our clients in August 2011 with a unique partnership.

First and foremost Be”Spoken” is to be a unique personal service and not just another agency. Our BAFTA award winning creative team has been providing production services to the translation and audio industry for over 25 years. Our studios/ are based in London and Bristol working both nationally and internationally , we have easy access to a huge pool of amazing high end internationally recognised voice talent unrivalled anywhere in the world.

Also at Be”Spoken” we take the time to get to know you and your project personally not by email or automated services but with a human at the end of a phone looking after our clients personal requirement's, and we have a strong belief that our clients value the extra attention to detail we give them on there projects.

Also at Be”Spoken” all our readers with considerable experience and CVs that reflect lifetimes of working in the industry. Many of the voice over talent we have won voice-over and audio book awards. They are the finest readers of the audio world and our clients will know who they're paying for.

No other audio company can offer the kind of bulk buying discounts Be”Spoken” can offer. Our team have spent many years developing our relationships and talent base. These savings help us to secure large companies with a continuous flow of voiceovers requirements, in many sectors.

We launch in August 2011, however the business is allready taking bookings and we already have projects lined up in the museum and heritage interpretation industry (e.g Museums, Art Galleries, Stately Homes , internal comms, E-Learning, Telephone prompts, non-commercial podcasts, audiobook,. websites, won-commercial video, commercial radio, video, advertising, computer games, cartoons.

The new website and brand will launch shortly so please keep an eye out for this on the blog. If you have a Voice Over need we will be happy to discuss your requirement's in the meantime please email christine@wowdigital.co.uk.

West Coast Customs and Giant Film and TV CGI work.

2011-05-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

WOW....... recently we have been working on models for a new TV programme to be aired in the US for London production company Giant Film and TV - http://www.giantfilm.tv

Once the project has been broadcast we will be able to release some images to showcase. This was a nice project to work on with Giants Online edit and general good guy Richard Blackburn. We enjoyed supporting Richard with his technical requirements and hope to assist in the future, it was also great to work on the models of the greatest customised car company in the world the famous west coast customs from pimp my ride fame.

http://www.westcoastcustoms.com

It’s not all about high end finished clients also sometime's require assistance to develop models for there own graphics teams to develop and we are always happy to assist with any clients requirements.

Alien Alfa Lands in Somerset

2011-03-21T05:56:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to announce, Alfa has officially landed his spaceship in Somerset! Now it is time for the children of Somerset to help our Alien friend get home.

Alfa has been brought to life to help the children (and I am sure some adults!) explore the history, geography and local economy of Somerset through a fun, interactive and engaging way.

Alien Alfa consists of a suite of 19 interactive games and a whole host of added extras, created by our team, working in association with Imagemakers and Somerset County Council.

We hope you love interacting with our favourite alien friend Alfa as much as we have enjoyed creating him! You can visit him now at the Visit Somerset Website. Whilst your there don't forget to check out Alfa's moves!

Watch this space for more games to come! If you would like to create something similar please feel free to contact us at leona@wowdigialmedia.tv.

WOW assist Gloucester City Museum in the bid for Heritage Lottery Funding with CGI imagery

2011-03-20T07:24:00.000-07:00

Wow completed CGI imagery to showthe public and stakeholders the vision for one million pound redevelopment which is to be spent to update Gloucester City and Folk Museums.

The project, which is substantially funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, will improve educational facilities at both Museums and provide exciting new displays.

Museum visitors and schools have been consulted to help us design a new education building at the Folk Museum which includes a new Victorian classroom with full disabled (DDA) access and the City Museum will be given a fresh modern look with a new reception area, shop, cafe, complete redesign of both floors and updating education facilities in the Wheatstone Hall.

The top floor of the City Museum will have mobile displays so the area can be used for large exhibition openings, workshops and events.

Wow produced stills and walthrough assets for the museum.

Stills and a walkthrough will go up shortly on our new vimeo page.

Campaign needs just 100 MP’s

2010-11-12T02:54:00.000-08:00

To support our good freinds at shootingpictures we are placing this recent mailshot we recieved here on our blog to support David and his team.... Good luck.......

Darren and the team at WOW

You can do something TODAY that could help something extraordinary happen in Parliament TOMORROW.

Please click on this:

http://bit.ly/8ZmqZU, and enjoy members of the Fast Show interviewing a talking cow. What you do then can make a real difference but ONLY if you act RIGHT NOW.

We need just 100 MP’s to show up tomorrow and so far we’ve got 80.

Our very best and thankyou.

David L Williams Helen Baxendale

Director/Producer Actress/Producer

Shooting Pictures Shooting Pictures

http://www.beyondthepole.com/

www.shootingpictures.co.uk

Filming Set in London

2010-11-10T09:55:00.000-08:00

Studio Development

WOW are now working with a leading communications business in the city of london and as part of the new service offering we can now offer a photography / filming studio set up for clients and we are presently working with a number of leading brands developing the content for the agencies online content.

Set in development for gardening photo shoot

We are able to develop sets to fit and can offer H&S, POS, Brochure Photography, Online Content, Commerical and Corporate.

Product photography

This will be offered to our clients for projects in 2011 and we will be developing deals for clients for 2011.

Kitchen set for online content for a major supermarket chain

The kitchen studio can be rebranded to fit each clients needs at very good rates and we can develop content from online recipe videos through to e-learning health and safety for hotel and food and beverage brands with content developed to fit into our new e-learning services.

Speak to Darren or Leona to find out more.

The British Ceramics Biennial DVD

2010-05-02T17:41:00.000-07:00

Following on from the successful delivery of the inaugural British Ceramics Biennial (Oct-Dec 09) our client required a promotional DVD showcasing key achievements and future aspirations.

All turnaround in a 4 week period working closley with Stoke Council, NSRP and palmersquared.
This DVD showcases the British Ceramics Biennial 2009 events and pinpoint's the success of the overall project.

The Biennial cast new light on a historic industry. It presented a provocative and intelligent ten-week festival of exhibitions, awards and events.

NEW CGI MODEL FOR OUR CLIENTS

2010-03-28T00:25:00.000-07:00

Animation has long been seen as an expensive art form which requires so much time to turn around projects, however here at WOW we have developed a program that allows our clients to have a dedicated team of artists and a team leader committed to just their work.

We have developed this in response to a request to us nearly two years ago by a client that was looking to outsource but did not require the inconsistency of freelancers and the lack of control of existing outsource companies.

Essentially we have developed a service that gives our client's the full use of a team and direct email contact with a team leader who is solely working for that client. Our client’s art or creative direction is communicated direct to the team leader as well as all logistical aspects worked through Geoff our technical manager in Hong Kong.

Our studio in Hong Kong is operational seven days a week and fifty two weeks of the year so our clients always have communication with either the client’s dedicated team leader, Geoff our CGI Technical director based in Hong Kong or Darren and the UK team.

It is important for us to point out that we do not at any stage employ freelance artists within our CGI studio’s in Hong Kong as we insist that all the clients work stays within the studio to maintain the confidentiality of there work.

Now with the technologies in animation software and rendering this allows for a lot faster turnaround time, also due to the work we have completed we have expertise in the studio to enable us too use develop large amounts of the content in digital and print media.

We currently have a number of teams from Heritage, Museums, Motorsport Agency and Toy Manufacturing.

For more info contact Darren - darren@wowdigitalmedia.tv

IMG/ROLEX INTERNATIONAL BROADCAST CGI PROJECT DELIVERED

2010-03-28T00:19:00.000-07:00

We have the pleasure to announce that we have just completed the delivery of our first global broadcast production for IMG Sports Media.

The programme is part of the Rolex Spirit of Yachting Series for IMG - distributed to over 40 countries worldwide including in-flight.

IMG Sports Media is the world's largest independent producer and distributor of sports programming and they commissioned us to work on the IMG/ROLEX project and we worked closley with the director George and his editor David at IMG.

We also worked closley with the team at Reichel/Pugh Yacht Design the designers of the super maxi Alfa Romeo and our team in Hong Kong worked under NDA to work with the CAD information. The work done with the designer team in the US made the project flow very well and thus allowed Geoff and the team to keep the animation true to the design.

Reichel/Pugh are a yacht design company based in San Diego, California, USA and there yachts have successfully competed in many major races, including the America's Cup. Their designs currently hold the course records for a number of the best-known yacht races, such as the Sydney-Hobart race.

George Miller from IMG said “I was very pleased with the CGI part of this project, it exceeded my expectations and the whole WOW team was very attentive to detail and responded quickly to changes and were more than accommodating – I am more than happy to work with WOW in the future”.

This project was a true international production in the US, UK, and Hong Kong and the workflow that WOW has put in place made the whole process simple and highly effective for the client.

Now we have delivered the project we are currently developing High Def versions of the project for our client IMG and Reichel/ Pugh Yacht Design.

This was a amazing project to be involved with and the team had great fun working on this, we delivered a number of high quality animations needed in a short 3 week turnaround time.

We thanks IMG and George for allowing and believing in WOW to be involved in the production, and of course we look forward to future developments with IMG.

Staffordshire Hoard

2010-03-27T23:55:00.000-07:00

WOW is excited to announce that we are engaged on a project with The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery and Stoke County Council where we are developing imagery to showcase the Staffordshire Hoard Exhibition which was a huge success recently, as part of a digital legacy production.

We are producing visualisation of the exhibition via flythroughs and buildup animations and still images to give a overview of the exhibition that has now been dismantled.

More information will follow in the next few weeks.

The Staffordshire Hoard is to remain in the region after the £3.3m purchase price was met.

WOW is currently involved in a CGI project both for the hoard and other projects locally with the museum and council and developing our long term strategic partnership with the museum.

The museum has world's best collection of Staffordshire ceramics -'unrivalled on both national and international levels.' and the work that we are presently developing in Asia for the Heritage sector showcased Wow’s worth to such projects.

We are proud to have been asked by both Keith and Peta to get involved in this wonderful project.

Beyond the Pole embraces the power of their fans through social media marketing

2010-02-11T06:49:00.000-08:00

We would just like to say well done to David L Williams and Helen Baxendale at Shooting Pictures for embracing the power of the people whilst launching the hilarious British comedy Beyond the Pole.

During the development of the beyond the Pole website David L Williams (Director/Producer) and Helen Baxendale (Executive Producer) were very keen to make the website as interactive as possible and social media friendly, the most important aspect to them was that it was simple, clean and that we could implement as many ways as possible for the fans to get involved with the film!

Social media marketing was brand new to David, but he was ready, willing and eager to step aboard the social media marketing rollercoaster and they haven’t looked back. This is a true example of how powerful getting interactive with your customers can be. With Twitter, Facebook fan pages, social media book marking and You Tube marketing they have gained quite a following that is building daily.

The fans have been working hard to promote the film on their behalf, so much so that two television production companies have approached Shooting Pictures to do a documentary, not on the film, but on the fans themselves!!

By interacting and involving the fans from test screen, through premiere to now launch, the beyond the pole dynamic duo have created a bond that promotes loyalty and has ignited the passion of fans worldwide to ensure the success of this low budget, high quality, jewel of English production.

Forward thinking and open to the power of internet marketing they have achieved great heights with very little marketing budget. ‘Cinemas have seen the demand and booked us direct. And again and again our screenings have sold out. It works!’.

‘We have £0 marketing budget and we’re not sure, having seen what you can do, that we need any. It’s incredibly exciting to watch and to be a part of because this has NOT been done before! The internet may well have opened up a whole new distribution method for indie filmmakers and the press (and distributors) are watching us very closely now. ‘

As a result, it has become a mission of the fans to stand up and be an integral part of getting this fantastic film out to everybody and they are certainly a loyal, determined and heart warming force.

You can get involved in the success of beyond the Pole and make sure you don’t miss out on this fantastic Brit flick comedy that features a host of stars (including heart throb Alexander Skarsgard) by;

Joining their fan page and inviting your friends

Following them on twitter (remember to retweet and spread the word)

Bookmark the site

Rate the trailer

Confirmed for 2010

2010-02-04T07:58:00.000-08:00

WOW is proud to announce that we have had a verbal agreement that our recent work with a leading communications agency working for a major supermarket and a leading magazine publication for there interactive online magazine and this has gone so well this year that 2010 will now see us continue the relationship. We are pleased to announce that there is another year of VT's to be developed in 2010.

Web video is seeing a boom with major clients now buying into this option and WOW is very proud to work with some leading brands assisting them in there web video needs.

Darren Ali MD of WOW " 2009 saw a growth in the web delivery sector of WOW and we have successfully rolled out over 70 VT's in the last quater of 2009 for one client alone for there online needs. I am very proud of the work the team have put in over the last few months and the passion and vision of our team here once again see's WOW retain major clients thanks to there dedication to the WOW brand and our search for excellence."

New Business Development Director

2010-01-08T11:28:00.000-08:00

Professor Tony Mills has joined WOW as Business Development Director, Tony has combined three strands to a long-term career in business.

For thirty years he held increasingly senior positions within the Human Resource function of large international businesses. He combined this with a keen interest in the problems of small and medium-sized businesses, including chairing the Board of a very successful business support organisation in Warrington for the past twenty-one years. The Business Venture has worked with several thousand start-up and growth businesses in that time.

For the past thirteen years he has also served as a Visiting Professor at the two largest Universities in Manchester assisting with international development. During the same period he has worked closely with a small number of high growth businesses in focussing strategy and securing new business opportunities.

He is now part of the WOW team which is developing a strong growth strategy in the UK to complement the recent rapid developments in the Asian markets and working with Darren developing the future path for WOW.

New Technical Operations Manager

2010-01-08T11:12:00.000-08:00

WOW is proud to announce that after several months of negotiations we can now let you know that we have a new Technical Operations Director Chris Hyman who will be overseeing the development of our new studio which is in development in Hong Kong and also will oversee all our UK operations.

Chris has been in the computer industry for over 30 years working in rolls from Computer operator, to programmer in machine code as well as Fortran, Cobol and C++, performance analysis, to hardware engineer being a senior engineer at Autodesk.

These rolls have been with both small and large companies covering many different client types, and countries throughout the world and with the digital age where support remotely can be performed remotely and if required out of hours.

Using his great wealth of knowledge and experience for hardware, software and expansion for both contracts and one off requirement he has been offering this service for many years to both large and small companies both the in EU and America.

We are proud to have on board an experienced soho engineer joining the team as we grow.

Highlights of the Year

2009-12-26T00:23:00.000-08:00

Here's just a few Highlights of 2009:

1.Setting up and developing the WOW team in Hong Kong for International CGI Client's

2.Pre Development of our US arm of WOW

3.Becoming a supplier to several major clients

4.Launching our Architectural Visualization sector in Asia and now Europe

5.Winning our first major award as a business and a BAFTA at that

6.Launching our own in-house music and sound design team

7.Developing and launching for 2010 our Glass Mastering DVD and duplication services

8.Working with a number of major international brands under white label in our 3D Studio in Hong Kong and to role out video in 2010 on a number of major projects

9.Being asked to be the creative representatives for North Staffordshire Build up Programme. Thanks to Jeff and the team.

10.Developing our own Internal Viral Games Department to go live in Jan 2010.

11.Gaining our new head of technology - Joining in the new year one of the top engineers in the UK for advanced systems joining us from a major company in soho.

13.Signing up the entire ex discreet talent pool from my days at Discreet and a team of individuals i am excited and honoured to have on-board at WOW from the high end advanced systems teams including smoke, fire, flame, inferno and lustre. 2010 will see a development of the new Post Production arms of the WOW business and we will tell more as it happens.

14.A big thanks to the clients and the supporters of WOW. And a thank you to the team at WOW who have stood by the many years of development and watched the steady growth of the business. 2009 was good but 2010 is a huge year for us all at WOW, so hang on and enjoy.

So all in all a good development year for the business and already we have talks ongoing with several major brands for several animated TV Commercials, interactive, e-learning, conference and events and many other exciting opportunities.

To all have a Happy New Year!

From the WOW Team

R&D

2009-12-25T22:22:00.000-08:00

We believe passionately in the importance of Research & Development at WOW, and it is this commitment to innovation within CGI that is giving the company the edge over our competition over recent months.

While many firms might have slashed their investment in technology during the current recession, for WOW, it's the main focus of our business to R&D and understand our clients requirements to the best and our clients recognise this as one of our key strengths.

We are offering new RD rates in 2010 and many clients take this as part of there retained package we have developed.

WOW E-learning Partership

2009-12-25T22:16:00.000-08:00

The team at WOW is proud to announce we are now teaming up with a e-learning development business and will be addign e-learning into the mix of services WOW offers to our clients.

With advancements in technology developing at such a fast pace, e-learning is now the fastest growing area of corporate training.

E-learning enables organisations to reach a global workforce with the highest levels of training at a cost far less than that associated with classroom based training. It allows the learners to take responsibility for their own development whilst accessing engaging, interactive training, ensuring that all results are easily traced. The learners have the freedom to learn at their own pace in their own time and from anywhere in the world.

Through the advancement of high quality video and the reduction of costs associated with this media, the use of video is increasing being used within e-learning to enhance the interactivity of the courses.

Uses of Video:

Scenario based videos

Videos of classroom courses

Product videos

Intro video by CEO or Senior manager

Company specific safety videos

We have all seen corporate safety videos in the past. Most of them bear no relevance to the company you work for or the industry you work in. Company specific videos can be effective tools to link the training courses to the organisation. If the learner sees company locations and actual colleagues within the videos there will be a higher levels of engagement and knowledge retention by the learner, as the courses are specific to them and their actual organisation.

Videos of training courses can be embedded within e-learning training courses followed by questions. This allows a standardized form of engaging interactive training which can be used over and over again as and when is required.

Chinese artefacts are given the WOW factor

2009-12-04T23:47:00.000-08:00

Recently we had another artical in the Sentinal. Thanks to to the business desk and David for the well written piece. Which can be read here.

CENTURIES-OLD Chinese artefacts too damaged to put on display can now be seen by the public thanks to the work of a North Staffordshire media firm.

Biddulph-based WOW Digital Media has been working with the Hong Kong government's museums department to produce 3D models of pieces that are either no longer in existence or are too damaged or precious to put on show.

Experts at the department approached WOW's Hong Kong office, which opened earlier this year, and staff handed the project on to the firm's creative team in Staffordshire.

Directors were able to stay in constant contact with both their colleagues in Hong Kong and the client via Skype, which allows people to make video calls over the internet.

WOW managing director Darren Ali, pictured, said: "All the design and interactive development was led in the UK in Staffordshire, while our Computer Generated Image Technical team based in Hong Kong developed the 3D elements of the project."

One item the team was asked to work on was a porcelain model of Buddhist deity Guanyin from the early Qing Dynasty, from about around 1650.

Mr Ali said: "This particular artefact has been reproduced many times as merchandising and is very popular with visitors, but unfortunately the original figure is severely damaged and not on permanent display.

"There is a great amount of detail in the clothing and we worked on the render technique to achieve an exact patina that would have been on the original figure."

As well as a 3D model of the porcelain figure, WOW produced two different versions after being advised by museum experts that a gold figure had existed in the past, while a jade version is still around but is too damaged to put on show.

The team also produced a 'fly-through' animation to show how the figures would look on display, which is currently being developed into a DVD.

The firm has invested in the latest glass-cutting DVD technology to complete the assignment, and as a result is already in talks with a number of Chinese companies about future projects.

Although WOW specialises in creating 3D pictures, computer-generated images and animations, it also produces films and corporate photography, and offers editing and post-production services to the film and television industry.

As well as the Hong Kong studio, it also has an office in Budapest. Mr Ali works alongside creative director Leona Jordin in North Staffordshire, and the firm uses a database of hundreds of self-employed producers, film-makers, photographers and other specialists in the UK.

Mr Ali said he hopes WOW's Hong Kong office can provide an effective platform for international expansion.

As well as the museums project, the firm has also worked with the Great Painters Gallery in Wan Chai, which features CGI exhibitions, to produce a 3D model of a Salvador Dali exhibition.

And WOW is currently in discussions with the Silk Museum in Macclesfield about potential future interactive and digital projects.

Mr Ali said: "The more traditional institutions such as arts and museums are now catching up quite fast with this technology. WOW is proud to be at the forefront and branching out internationally from here in North Staffordshire."

Allan Watson, lecturer in human geography at Staffordshire University, said: "The development of an innovative and thriving creative sector is crucial to future economic prosperity in North Staffordshire.

"Companies like WOW Digital Media represent an excellent model for developing capacity in the new media sector. Through their work in Hong Kong, they have demonstrated how a successful creative sector can act to link North Staffordshire's local economy into the wider global economy, promoting long-term economic

WOW complete Website

2009-12-04T23:08:00.000-08:00

WOW have recently completed the development of a website for a Film called Beyond the Pole by Shooting Pictures the makers of the film.

The turnaround time was tight to say the least, but our Creative Head of Interactive Leona Jordin turned the site around and delivered the clients site to there needs for the launch.

The film is the story of the first carbon neutral, vegetarian, organic expedition to the North Pole.

An extraordinarily dangerous expedition made extraordinarily more dangerous by the fact that the explorers attempting this feat have never done anything like this before.

And damn funny judging by what we have seen thus far.

The film stars:

Stephen Mangan (Green Wing)
Helen Baxendale (Cold Feet)
Rhys Thomas (Fast Show)
Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood)

The film premiere is being held on 5 December for the the British premiere of award winning arctic comedy about the frustrations and humiliations of two men trying to be Green .

And you're invited.

Join the cast on the red carpet in Leicester Square.

Shooting Pictures have invited Friends of the Earth supporters to attend the film premiere - 6.30pm, Prince Charles Cinema, Leicester Square, London.

Tickets are limited and are being made available to Friends of the Earth supporters.

Book online through the Prince Charles Cinema to get your tickets.

Good luck to david and the team......

Visit the site at www.beyondthepole.com

Architectural

2009-11-10T15:44:00.000-08:00

WOW is to launch a new sector over Christmas which will specialise in the development of high end visualisation for the architectural sector, this service will work closely with a number of businesses supporting them with our extensive CGI knowledge and more importantly our overflow capacity and high res imagery delivery to add into our client’s portfolio.

Watch this space over the next month for an announcement about this service and how it can enhance your offering for your clients.

Cannon 5D MKII mmmmmmmmmm

2009-10-12T15:29:00.000-07:00

I have officially been sold!!! and the new Canon 5D mark II is spot on. There's been a lot of talk about how cool this camera is to produce video with. And i thought yes right!!!.

Then Dom and Shannon two of our favourite crew showed us the future with some test projects they had done and we are so impressed we are now looking to get the guys to use on some projects. (so anyone up for it call us).

Dom shot a little test in London last month which you can see on the streaming site http://www.streaming-base.com/ Login and Password is CANNON TEST

Its such a great end product, we are putting it forward for music videos and corporate work.

So over to our clients anyone up for it.

DPI......

2009-10-11T13:21:00.000-07:00

We render to accommodate many DPI print resolutions plus also DPMM resolutions. We also render for non square pixel aspect that is sometimes required for certain lithographic printers.

If we talk of square aspect DPI we render to 36 DPI for linen flags, 72 DPI for event ticket branding, 150 DPI for sponsor posters, 300 DPI for close view posters, 600 DPI for lounge posters and brochure, and 1,200 DPI for gift branding.

So if we render an image 1200 x 1200 pixels it can be 1 inch square or up to 32 inches square. So that same image can be used as a flag of 32 inches square or a 1 inch square image embedded in a glass paperweight.

All of the work we do for our clients is rendered to accommodate print at 300 dpi for close viewing (like the banner). So we need to know the resolution and size or just the pixel size and the artist can then adopt the dpi they want.

So at 300 dpi for the 2120 x 800mm banner images we need to render at 25050 x 9450 pixels. This is a total of 236,722,500 pixels. On a single processor machine It takes about 8 hours to process 2.5 million pixels at photo-realistic quality as this has to include computation of primary and secondary lighting plus maybe 10 levels of reflection or refraction. Put that on a dual core render unit and that will come down to about 3 hours. So a single dual core render unit will take about 267 hours to render the banner for print at 300 dpi. This can then be reduced to about 18 hours if I put it on our 16 blade render farm.

High end artwork and post production

2009-10-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

We are currently adding further parts to our offerings and developing a high end artwork and post production studio for print, web and commercial work for agencies working on marketing and print campaigns and have generated 3D images for a variety of architectural projects and international furniture, food and beverage clients.

We are currently developing links in the automotive sector, and as the new kids on the block we are seeking cool opportunities, but already we have substantial interest and a number of long term live projects with major brands, though unlike other businesses we do all our work under a white label so if you want to see the portfolio call us and we will be happy to take a peak.

With account managers in the UK handling our client’s needs and with our high end CGI team in Hong Kong we are looking to continue our success to date in the automotive sector and build further links into new sectors.

Other companies throw around the word “Specialist” too easily but at WOW the team have 20 years expertise in various sectors and actually headed up the training at support department on Discreet software for a number of years on the editing and vfx front.

Also our head of CGI was a senior training and tech support specialist and has worked and trained on 3D studio Max since the DOS days and has for over 20 years delivering leading support, training and work to the UK market and has completed work for a wide range of sectors,

WOW pride’s itself on being a 3D visualization company not just a 3ds max or Maya operator and our clients choose our services for a variety of reasons, but mostly it is the combination of our large scale production cost savings as well as our ability to compliment their work consistently to a very high standard.

Our philosophy is to understand and through guidance and advice realise the client’s ideas and expectations. We do not sell “off the shelf solutions”

Also we have teamed up with a new team of high end photographers who will develop our HDRI photography to support our creative teams.

And to top this off we can offer a highly competitive pricing for international clients.

Educational Workshops

2009-10-11T06:07:00.000-07:00

WOW is now launching an education and outreach program through our filmmaking workshops across the United Kingdom, run and developed by Dawn, our education workshop specialist.

Our workshops can be developed for charitable trusts, schools and educational establishments in fact we strive to work with a wide range of sectors within our organisation. We have now teamed up with a core team of experienced trainers who have all had numerous CRB checks and come with full public liability insurance for all the courses we run.

We have found that film making is a great way to express ourselves our imagination and creativity and we pride ourselves on actually teaching, not just letting the users play with the cameras. If we deliver a workshop where the user make’s an advert about something, we’ll make sure they know all about ‘unique selling points’ and ‘target audiences’ before they even pick up a camera.

The most important skills that can be developed from our workshops are teamwork and responsibility. Being able to work in a team is a really important life skill, especially if you work in film and Television.

And collaboration is one of Wow’s favourite words and we have found that these workshops help to strengthen local communities and are a huge benefit to the users both young and old that complete the courses.

Our team have got top spec equipment that we want the users of workshops to utilise. We want them to play around with the buttons to see how things work and we want them to be responsible for using it. Allowing them this freedom often gets fantastic results as the users are really proud of what they’ve created and all of the work is theirs and can be used to benefit the users in many ways.

From a self promotional video to a unique tool that a charity can use as a fundraising tool. WOW offers a low cost effective solution and does this by working with commercial companies which allows us to regularly set aside time to provide our low cost services to the education and charitable sectors.

Our workshops use top of the range of filmmaking equipment including up to 10 Apple Mac Books, 5 Cannon XM2 cameras and
Sony tripods. And a host of other equipment can be made available for courses.

They type of project which can be developed include:

• Make an Advert
The aim of the workshop is to produce at least one advert which promotes the school made by teachers and pupils. The project touches on advertising and film making techniques. Once the advert(s) are produced the school can showcase them using the school website. The students will also have a DVD copy of their advert(s) to take home.

• Make a Music Video
Using music provided by our in house team, students will produce a narrative driven music video. This workshop allows students to experience the pressure of producing a music promo within a tight schedule. The activities will be split into pre-production, production and post production. The students will produce a DVD to take home.

• Make a Documentary
The users will produce a 3-5 minute documentary that addresses an issue which relates to the user. The subject matter could touch on childhood obesity or the connection of mobile phones with bullying. Whatever the subject, the users will learn about the techniques of documentary filmmaking and by the end of course have a DVD of the finished product or can upload the project to you tube as a way of promoting there service and draw attention to the organisation.

• Animation
Using similar techniques to those used to make ‘Wallace and Gromit’, the students will design and build their own sets and characters. Using stop frame animation the users will animate their characters to make a short film.

• Bespoke Workshops
At WOW we pride ourselves in helping users develop your own idea for a specific workshop that is not on this list, please contact us and we can create a project for you. We have delivered workshops in photo story, digital comic book design, music with garageband, pop art, photography - shooting and editing and many other bespoke projects designed around the schools subjects or themes.

High Resolution Images

2009-10-11T04:28:00.000-07:00

As you will all now rendering high resolution images is very processor intensive and to render an A0 size image for print at 300 DPI (28,086 x 19866 pixels) can take literally months on a single computer and will be about 1.6 gig as an uncompressed image.

So Geoff and the team here at WOW have been developing new techniques for large renders, and at WOW we have rendered at 56,000 pixels wide and the resulting image has been 6.4 gig which we produced and delivered to our client who then had the design developed and distributed to there event and placed on the side of a hotel.

At WOW Geoff uses a 32 node HP blade system and Geoff is constantly working with Mental Images (the manufacturers of Mental Ray) to fine tune this method of rendering. One of the super things at WOW is Geoff is forever researching new develpments and techniques and has a dedicated render farm for this type of rendering but also has al the 32 nodes on the Blade system licensed with mental ray.

We will also accept requests to render single frames at very high resolution for posters, signage and presentations and work cosely with a number of leading advertising agencies and clients directly.

The equipment currently in place within the studios is comprised of principally Autodesk and Adobe software and hardware with good support thanks to the relationship’s we have forged over many years.

Our 3D artists are specialists on 3d Studio max and Maya of which we currently have many licenses of each, using Alien Brain as a 3D file management system and also utilise Adobe Master Suite for much of our post 3D modelling composition which include Première, After Effects, Photoshop Etc with 6 full licenses of the CS3 suite as well as 3 licenses of Autodesk Combustion3.

Ancillary software that we use includes: Renderers including V-Ray, Mental ray, Render man, Turtle, and Maxwell and to a much lesser extent final render. Also a number of our clients send 3D data to us in various formats for which we have licenses of AutoCAD and Inventor as well as Poly Trans and Deep Exploration for file conversion on a lot of 3D data sent to us.

As well as this we have Pro – Engineer and Solid works (For large format poster design development).

We strive to develop long lasting working relationships with businesses in need of our services without the massive outlay a client would expect to have to pay for such a set up and talent.

Sshhhhhhhhhhhh!

2009-10-11T03:56:00.000-07:00

Ok on the hush now, the team have been busy and recent events have meant even more hush hush projects.

As we specialise in delivering projects for a host of clients in a multitude of sectors a lot of work is what we call white label, where we develop or research for the client workflows, looks, render techniques and even finished projects.

Our team have recently completed the Research and Development for a CGI model development for a leading children's TV series on the BBC.

Down side is we cannot say or show but hey, if you want to chat with us re R&D work please contact darren and he will be happy to arrange a conversation with our Head of 3D Geoff.

We undertake work direct from clients as well as developing teams for clients to fullfill there R&D or project needs in a white label solution.

Contact us at: darren@wowdigitalmedia.tv

Great Painters exhibition and 3D

2009-10-11T03:41:00.000-07:00

The team are working with an Art Gallery where they are developing a Great Painters exhibition.

Essentially all the artwork is not the original but more the creation of the painters understanding of expression.

WOW's 3d team are certainly not art experts by any means but working closley with art experts we are developing the use of 3D visuals and visual and sound enhancement.

We are looking at interesting ways to make the experience a great deal more exciting and informative particularly to the young, our clients developing projects through strong research and development and we are working with hard to engage there audiences both internally and externally.

History with touch of modern technology in Museums

2009-10-11T03:23:00.000-07:00

Geoff and the team are currently developing new and interesting techniques within CGI and new media technology so that the viewer or museum visitor is effectively an integral part of the exhibition.

In the past 20 years the team at WOW have been working in the broadcast, training and commercial sectors of 3D as well as digital media production and one of the areas that is not just interesting to us but also a very fast growing sector of 3D visualization is the museums and arts world.

The museums and arts sector has been looking to use 3D technologies for many years but until recently have not really embraced the technology as photo realism is becoming more feasible with modern renderers the museum and arts world is starting to utilize the potential of these renderers.

The images here are not photographs but are in fact 3D renders for a museum in China which we are developing at this moment in time. Our Head of 3D Geoff is currently working very closely with this museum to develop imagery and animations for there visitor attractions for interactive developments.

The example is an indication that the figure of the Buddha was made originally in gold on a granite base and in later dynasties was made in Jade. We have made 3D models for the museum and they are working closely with us on to assist in portraying many historical artefacts that are now no longer in existence. We have also rendered the Buddha as a porcelain figure in preparation for merchandising and signage.

The influx of visitors to China in 2008 has greatly enhanced the idea that history is still a very interesting and profitable concept and something we are developing to bring to the sector here in our own local region. And now visitor’s of all ages are much more savvy to technical innovation than in previous years to the extent that even the elderly are seeking education plus entertainment in their visits to museums and art galleries and we are working hard to develop similar projects in the Staffordshire area and are always happy to discuss what we do with local artists and commissioners.

We are gathering pace with modern commercial and industrial developments and using 3D in conceptual design and post manufacturing branding and marketing. The more traditional institutions such as arts and museums are now catching up quite fast with this technology and as China continues to open its doors to the most modern technical innovations to present the heritage of the country, we are proud to be at the forefront of this technology with Geoff and our team.

We are currently working on a program of modelling and animated fly around for very fragile and delicate artefacts that cannot be safely displayed or transported to other museums. Photos and visuals (large renders) are in the museum but we are also making technically accurate models and animations to show the visitors via interactive developments both onsite and offsite.

We mention the inclusion of 3D into the museum however a huge amount of compositing and post production video is alsobeing included to enhance the learning experience of the visitor as well as audio sound design all catered for in-house by our Award winning team’s both in Kowloon in Hong Kong and the UK.

Offer to PR, Marketing and Clients

2009-10-11T02:34:00.000-07:00

WOW is offering a 1 month special introduction offer to showcase our video services

This month we are offering a discount to new clients using our creative video services for our specialist case study production which we are offering to PR and Marketing clients as well as clients direct who are looking to use video in there marketing materials.

We are starting with a very reasonable £1200 discount of our standard rate card for new case study video business, assisting your business to gain great marketing and word of mouth from your clients - on your website, or on the web via you tube.

Video Case Studies are a great way of showcasing to world who you’re working with and also getting your clients selling you or your products.

We film all our projects on the highest broadcast equipment such as digi beta or XD Cam. Giving our clients the best value for money. Also we are experienced case study experts having worked produced hundreds of case studies over the last few years for some of the biggest brands globally working alongside PR and Marketing companies as well as clients directly.

WOW specialise in producing stunning video content for your marketing needs and our team can cater for all your video needs, from concept design to delivery we are specialists in filming and interviewing consumers, experts and business personnel for market research videos, marketing, broadcast and communications purposes anywhere in the world.

Our producers are experts in there field and we cater for many sectors.

What is a case study?
A video case study showcases your work or product with a particular client or customer. The content in the production includes your best clients explaining:

· the challenge, the need, the benefits and the solutions involved
· why your services where called upon within the project
· what you completed and how you delivered
· making it tangible and interesting for the viewer away from traditional written case studies
· the results - what was the outcome and what impact did you make to the final outcome?

We often create a series of video case studies for our clients, giving them a bank of third-party companies showing your future clients. How can you utilise video case studies?

· as a series of video case studies on your website
· shown at pitches or presentations as a single clip
· part of an interactive DVD what’s the impact
· A case study puts your product or service in context within the work completed for your client
· third-party endorsement of your product or service giving confidence of you and your product
· evidence that you are as good as you say you are
· a very powerful addition to your current marketing materials

If your interested in developing a long term development then please email us: darren@wowdigitalmedia.tv

Eco Destinations

2009-10-10T11:49:00.000-07:00

“Green” is the most fashionable colour in the world right now and as the world becomes increasingly concerned with global climate change, individuals are looking for greener ways of living and in particular travelling.

Here at WOW we recently worked closely with Alex Conti and co-produced the Eco Designations Pilot which is filmed in the south of france and post produced in North Staffordshire utilising our online media management tool www.streaming-base.com which allowed an international crew to pass comments on the production throughout it development and we assisted with scripting and all developed to a very high quality on a small budget with a team which boasts years of production experience with several mainstream TV channels.

To back up the ethos of the project the Eco Destinations would work with a wide range of top professionals across the globe available for filming and editing - maintaining our eco credentials and reducing costs.

A mainstream program that looks at the most unique eco-friendly destinations and trends.

This series is a natural extension of a very successful website and book on eco travel. Editorial content is provided by Alex Conti who has written for a number of publications on green travel and rates travel destinations for ‘Eco Hotels of the World’.

The project is supported by a number of alternative holiday companies and large eco-aware businesses.
http://www.ecohotelsoftheworld.com

World leading image library choose WOW

2009-10-10T11:26:00.000-07:00

We have recently completed a set of HD animations for a world leading image library which provides creative professionals with striking specialist imagery, unrivalled in quality, accuracy and depth of information.

We worked closely with the client over an agreed period of time to also help them develop the work-flows and assist in there knowledge of 3D throughout the process as this is a new source for the library to develop.

They host over more than 300,000 images and 10,000 clips to choose from and is a main source for the best specialist imagery available.

We delivered a number of full HD Resolution and are currently developing the relationship further with the client.

WOW Wins local web business with leading ductwork manufacturer

2009-10-10T10:29:00.000-07:00

WOW is proud to announce that we have won the contract to develop the new website for congleton company Cranworth Engineering ltd. a leading manufacturing business in cheshire.

Kevin Talbot the Managing Director of the ductwork manufacturer and Chairman of the Heating and Ventilation Contractors Association is close to signing off on the site and will be launching in October 2009.

More information to follow upon the launch of the site.

Mystery viral man joins WOW

2009-10-10T09:06:00.000-07:00

WOW is pleased to announce that we have now agreed a deal with a super talented viral expert who is joining us as our new Head of Viral development. "Viral Man S" is our new head of viral working with our Creative Director of Interactive Developments Leona Jordin who will oversee the interactive sector of Wow’s business.

We are keeping our newest talent under wraps and will be slowly introducing him to the world in a fun and funky viral campaign during the launch of our interactive department. He has already caused a stir in the web world with a number of big hitting campaigns in Australia with a number of projects which have been produced on new technology such as Red, and will push the boundaries with Red and the New Cannon SLR technology giving a stunning edge to our clients campaigns. He will develop international campaigns and will be starting in the Asia and European market place over the next 12 months before launching into the US in 2010 when we launch the new WOW US office in Texas, which we will launchpn the blog.
Viral Man S commented

“Teaming up with WOW is a great opportunity to work with a top team of technically brilliant crew and I look forward to pushing the boundaries on projects with this team that I am now working with at WOW. Also I love the fact that I have at my disposal everything from filming, post, VFX, CGI and even my own music and sound design meaning I have full control of all the elements I will need"

Already we are pitching in the next 2 months here in the UK to a large telecoms company, and one of leading car manufacturers who have requested a number of pitches from us to look at what we can bring to the table.

Keep an eye on the site to slowly see the WOW viral sector grow.

Introduction to WOW Hong Kong 3D from Geoff our Technical Director

2009-10-10T08:08:00.000-07:00

Within the area of 3D sector we have seen a considerable change in the industry since the onset of the viable use of computer generated imagery in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s and having understood the development of 3D visual software and actively being part of the beta testing and the training of Autodesk 3D Studio Max since its conception I feel we have gained an invaluable understanding of the software’s capabilities and capacity for future development.

After twenty years training Autodesk AutoCAD and 3D Studio Max and recently in the last four years Autodesk Maya, I have gained a very diverse understanding of the various client’s requirements and expectations.

On many visits to animation studios, architectural practices, and television studios I have found that the “training” session has inevitably become a trouble shooting workshop where I have had to fix production issues. This in essence has given me a fast track understanding of production problem solving and the capacity to use the technological advancements in the software to overcome these problems.

I feel it is very important to bring this long acquired knowledge and experience in the 3D industry to our own clients. Here at WOW we have actively decided to develop fully comprehensive and capable production studios in Europe and Asia.

The technical knowledge coupled with the exceptional creative expertise of our 3D artists have given WOW a great opportunity to offer our clients a service of complete understanding and support in their quest for excellence.

The teams are specifically selected to support projects from Europe. Our ethos is simple, our focus is plain. We support and care that our clients are fully satisfied at every step and on every aspect of the production.

One very unique and vitally important aspect of our ethos is that we will develop through research any concept that the corporate client requires to achieve their unique and professional vision.

At present we work with a leading motor racing media agency and have developed render technique, style and feel of all of their CGI media from very high resolution still images to HD animation that blends seamlessly into live action footage. Another research and development aspect that we are continually working with is with leading UK and US Stop Motion Animation studios.

This work involves creating a seamless blend of CGI into traditional stop motion animation through specific research into render and animation technique.

We are very proud to work with and be associated with some high profile corporate clients and for that reason we have assured dedicated working teams to that clients work under strict NDA contracts as such a lot of our work is not shown here or on the web, and can only be shown to future clients under strict agreement from the clients.

Our artists are focused solely on their clients’ needs and are in communication with them on a daily basis. Each team has dedicated hardware, in particular render capacity ensuring continual scheduled work flow.

This ethos is proving a very successful and satisfying business model and of course we would be delighted to apply this to your organisation within your future and ongoing projects should the opportunity arise.

Also it is very important for the team at WOW to express that we thought long and hard with regards to setting our studios up and after a trip to Asia a few years ago when I supported and trained within Asia for a select client we where asked if we would consider setting up here and bring our wealth of experience and expertise to Hong Kong and our set up if in Asia is NOT set up because we can offer cheaper labour but because there is a wealth of fine art and creative thinking there and also being there gives us the breathing space to work and develop with our clients instead of being so financially driven like the majority of UK and European studio’s are and so we are allowed the time to research and develop techniques to give our clients the very best possible end product for there needs something which our clients respect and develop into there work patterns.

NEW BLOG

2009-10-10T06:21:00.000-07:00

So WOW has finally decided to join in this blog world!

We hope to share our insights and our services and hope that you will enjoy our work and put comments on our current projects, and we promise to try to update as much as possible