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Creative in association withGear Seven
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See Our Solutions' John Deere Showcase

20/09/2013
Production Company
Chicago, USA
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Custom content & projection mapping contribution from Leviathan

The principals of creative studio Leviathan are very proud to detail their collaborations with the St. Louis-based business-to-business event agency See Our Solutions, Inc. (SOS), on behalf of John Deere North America.


Last month, over 4,500 John Deere dealers and sales professionals convened in Columbus, Ohio, for an Ag and Turf New Product Launch.  Themed "Delivering Distinctive Value," this event is of pivotal importance to each and every attendee, as well as the legendary John Deere brand itself.

 


Well-known for its success in moving audiences spectacularly for a who's who of prominent brands from all around the world – including helping to earn the 2012 Corporate Events "Judge's Choice" Award for an earlier John Deere collaboration – SOS once again embraced the challenge of showcasing John Deere's most important value propositions, its newest machinery and its latest innovations, at the next level.  To achieve this, SOS co-owner and executive producer Curt Reed and his colleagues partnered with Leviathan. 


"I've had the privilege to produce John Deere events for over 26 years and one of the biggest ongoing challenges is to come up with fresh and exciting ways to launch new products," Reed began.  "Many of the attendees have been to these events year after year and they truly look forward to the reveal program.  Projection mapping technology provided us with a much-needed breakthrough in live event projection capability.  At SOS, we cast a wide net to find the best production partner to help us create the media elements for this event and Leviathan quickly rose to the top of our list."


"We were invited to create the visuals for this show using a custom, 200-foot-wide stage and projection-mapping techniques which have never been used for a John Deere intro," said Leviathan's executive creative director Jason White.  "Using the full span of the massive stage and the unique set pieces, we were essentially charged with communicating the most innovative facets of John Deere through design and animation.  To set each section of the show apart, we used the brand's signature colors within a unique visual choreography, leveraging the entire stage and underscoring all the key ways John Deere goes above-and-beyond for its customers."


By all accounts, the SOS and Leviathan partnership was extremely efficient.  Soon after receiving the script, branding guidelines and a design briefing from SOS, Leviathan was able to begin directing the presentation visuals and guiding the set design.  "The multi-dimensional sculpture built for the staging area acted as the projection surface for the entire presentation, displaying content ranging from customer imagery, to videos showing products in use, to sweeping landscape footage... all accented by on-brand motion graphics," explained Chad Hutson, Leviathan's executive producer.  "With the added element of projection-mapped motion, we brought this large set to life with transitions that folded walls and virtual columns that revealed new content."


"This is our largest, most ambitious video mapping project to date," White confirmed.  "To put things into perspective, the Deere set was twice as long as Amon Tobin's ISAM tour set, and it also incorporated flanks that ‘moved' toward the audience.  When moving vehicles were added into the mix, the results were awesome."


Incorporating all studio disciplines from concept design, drawing, design, 2d and 3d modeling, animation, shooting, editing, compositing and mapping, Leviathan's workflow involved a robust 3D and compositing system.  The show's 3D elements were primarily modeled and animated in Autodesk Maya and Maxon Cinema 4D.  Since the stage was built in 3D, custom mapping effects that traced the edges of the stage to form and transform the entire stage structure were all handled with 3D animation, then composited back together using Adobe After Effects.


"Producing a show of this physical size was another first for us," Hutson said.  "The content was a combination of 2D and 3D animation we created, clips of existing footage we curated from approximately 10,000 clips provided, and some new footage we shot on location.  Spread out over the entire set, the projected video was an 8K image.  With that sort of resolution, the image clarity made for a very powerful viewing experience."


The project's overall craftsmanship is documented in its new case study video from Leviathan, featuring an original score from Waveplant and its principal Joel Corelitz:  http://vimeo.com/74422475.


For SOS, key credits also include creative director/writer John Styron, scenic designer Jerrod Smith (Design Smith Collaborative), video technical director Cameron Yeary (Unlimited Visibility) and media producer Jamie Henley... and for Leviathan, creative director Bradon Webb, chief scientist Matt Daly and producer Ellen Schopler.  Voice casting, music supervision and editing, sound design and final mix were all courtesy of Waveplant.

Credits