Tuesday 11th July 2017
- UKTV Creative hires VFX, design and content creation studio The Mill, to create high-impact SFX ad for on demand TV service, UKTV Play
- Ad features flock of winged televisions, dubbed 'televi', created with all-new bespoke tool and designed to visualise the sense of freedom TV provides
Watch the new UKTV Play advert HERE.
UKTV has revealed the next advertising campaign for its free TV streaming service, UKTV Play. It aims to ignite feelings of joy and excitement at being able to watch great television wherever and whenever viewers choose.
The campaign includes a high-impact SFX advert, shot and produced by UKTV Creative, which stars a flock of intricately-designed flying televisions soaring over the South Coast of England to visualise the sense of freedom UKTV Play provides. UKTV partnered with industry-leading VFX, design and content creation studio The Mill for the first time to create the winged 'televi.' 2D and 3D special effects were developed and implemented by their specialist VFX team.
Sixty, 40 and 20 second versions of the ad will go out on air, amplified by targeted advertising on Facebook and Google, bespoke mobile ads generated via Loop Me, TVTY display advertising on desktop and additional social activation on Twitter.
The ads will air across the UKTV network of 10 channels, reaching 61% of all adults in the UK. The broadcaster has also bought spots on Channel 4's on demand service, All4.
Awareness of UKTV Play has risen by 64% since the last ad campaign in June last year, with views also up by 78%.
Paul Philpott, UKTV's creative manager explained,
There were a myriad of practical questions to answer such as: what kind of wings would a set-free television have? How do they behave? Do different models of TV have different wings? Solving these problems involved working closely with the team of 2D and 3D specialist VFX artists at The Mill who created 30 pairs of intricately different, photo-real wings.
Michael Chapman, Joint Head of 3D at The Mill said,
A 12-strong team of The Mill's finest VFX artists were tasked with the highly-unique challenge of creating a flock of flying televisions, each with their own set of unique wings, for UKTV Play's latest campaign.
The key task was to work out a realistic way to seamlessly fix wings to a TV and make it fly in a fun but believable way.
The Mill team worked tirelessly over an eight-week period to ensure every detail of the winged 'televi' were perfected, each feather crafted using The Mill's bespoke, in-house feather tool.
To ensure the best possible final look, The Mill's VFX team were present during the three day shoot to assist the director and director of photography, helping compose each shot. The team even took a stuffed barn owl on set for extra accuracy and lighting references!"
Scott Russell, creative director, UKTV added,
The ad marks another step forward in the evolution of UKTV Play. We know that viewers want to be entertained anywhere they like, so we decided to create a distinctive campaign that reminds them they can. We also wanted to powerfully bring to life the emotion of freedom that comes with TV on demand.
UKTV Creative officially launched in 2015 and has already won a haul of awards for its work. UKTV decided to bring all creative in-house in January, announcing a bespoke, integrated creative and media service for UKTV and its brands.
CREDITS:
Creative: UKTV Creative
Creative Director/Director: Scott Russell Creative Manager: Paul Philpott Editor: Ashleigh Wright, The Farm Producers: Nina Allsopp, Holly McIvor and Celia Bayne Marketing: Helen Sebzda and Emily Latham Director of Photography: Theo Garland On-Site Post Production: The Farm Group
VFX & Design: The Mill
Producer: Alexandra Paton Production Assistant: Imogen Pai Shoot Supervisor: Jon Wood & Jorg Schulz-Gerchow 2D Lead Artist: Jorg Schulz-Gerchow 3D Lead Artist: Jon Wood 2D Artists: Leandro Vazquez, Jose Caballero, Charles Dockerill 3D Artists: Alan Williamson, Mathew Kavanagh, Will Burdett, Finlay Crowther, Jacob Gonzales, Daniel Kmet, Jasmine Ghoreshi, Sergio Xisto, Aurelia Deleplanque, Matte Painting: Can Y Sanalan Colour: The Mill Colourist: Dave Ludlum Colour Assist: Brendan Buckingham, Dan Levy
END
For more information and interview requests, please contact:
Lara Feinstein, Network Communications Executive
Ali Laurie, Network Communications Executive
NOTES TO EDITORS
About UKTV Play
UKTV Play is the fast-growing on demand TV service where you can watch the TV shows you love from Dave, Yesterday, Really and Drama wherever you want, whenever you want. The good news? We love them too.
Love digging into history or laughing out loud to new, British comedy you can't see anywhere else? So do we. Enjoy an engrossing, nail-biting true crime story or powerful real life documentaries? No problem. In the mood to luxuriate in a decadent period drama or hang on the edge of your seat during a pulsating crime drama? We're with you. There's so much brilliant TV on UKTV Play - Taskmaster, Alan Davies As Yet Untitled, Dara O Briain's Go 8 Bit, Red Dwarf, Most Haunted, New Tricks, Pride and Prejudice, Call The Midwife, The Bill and Birds of a Feather - to name a few, so you'll never be stuck for something to watch.
With the UKTV Play app you can stream your favourite TV for free via your computer, tablet or smart phone. It has never been easier to watch the things you love most, so download the app and delve in.
You can also put your feet up and watch on the telly, thanks to Sky, Virgin TV, YouView, Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick. If you're an M+ subscriber on Virgin Media or BT TV customer, shows from other great UKTV channels - Gold, W, Alibi, Good Food, Home and Eden - are on the menu as well.
About UKTV
UKTV is a commercial broadcaster reaching over 41m viewers every month. The award-winning independent has eleven imaginative brands - UKTV Play, Dave, W, Gold, Alibi, Yesterday, Drama, Really, Home, Eden and Good Food. These include the two most popular non-PSB channels in the UK and account for nearly 10% of the British commercial TV market. The company's most recent financial results showed record-breaking year-end revenue of £344.8m and EBITDA of £91.3m. It invested £151.2m in programming and related launches last year, and is a significant investor in British creativity.
The network embraces technology to deliver inspired channels to audiences through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT, TalkTalk, YouView, Freesat, Amazon Fire and UKTV Play, and distributes its highly valued original programmes to 200 territories.
Now celebrating over 20 years at the forefront of digital television, UKTV - an independent commercial joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (SNI) - is proud to be the first British television broadcaster in The Sunday Times top 100 companies list.