On-Set Effects for Telstra’s “The Clever Australian”

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Client:  Telstra
Agency:  Louis&Co.
Brief:  On-set effects for “The Clever Australian” print and TVC campaign

Big Kahuna Imagineering was proud to be working with photographic and production company Louis&Co. on the behind-the-scenes effects for Telstra’s “The Clever Australian” print & TVC campaign.  Working closely with the Art Director, Jamie Morris, our job was to help achieve the final look of the composite image of Dr. Sam Prince — a 28-year-old Sydney doctor who established a charitable foundation that has built 15 schools around the world.

photo-Clever AustralianThe Big Kahuna crew had to tap into our chemistry kits to concoct a palette of colours that had just the right level of transparency to produce the perfect glow when illuminated.  Once the palette was finalised, we custom pigmented gallons and gallons of each colour to be accurately diluted by the on-set team then funneled into huge drums for the crew to then carefully filled thousands of containers of various shapes and sizes and strategically placed them to serve as individual pixels that would produce the final image.

Big Kahuna also produced a hundred switched, LED lit, custom light harnesses to nicely support each colour fluid filled test tube in the foreground of the shot.

The success of such a shoot obviously relies on the vision to create it, but we’d like to think that facilitating Jamie Morris with some tech support helped make it possible!

Julian Wolkenstein was recognised for his photographic work on the campaign in The 2012 Annual Issue of Australian CREATIVE featuring 12 months of the best design, advertising, post production, production, illustration, animation, photography, sound and music plus digital and interactive work in Australia and New Zealand.  Well done, Julian!

Here’s the official “The Clever Australian” launch film with glimpses of the final result and how it was achieved…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nZmxB6xIcsA]

Exercising Our Green Thumb On Set

Client:  Scotts Australia
Agency:  Heckler
Brief:  Comparison props for TVC and print campaign

Working with Scotts Australia, Heckler brought Big Kahuna in to help create the on-set effects for a TVC and print campaign for the lawn and garden company’s range of controlled-release plant foods — Osmocote Professional Potting Mix.

The client wanted to create a comparison ad showing not only the dramatic differences between a plant potted with Osmocote and one without; but, also the differences in the root systems of the two plants and the various uses.

Using a week five result photo as a guide for the creative, Big Kahuna used real potting mix and plants to re-create the comparison on a small scale with Marigolds and a larger scale with Bay Leaf trees.

The trick in this project was to expose the living root system and not letting all of the soil fall out.  We had to research a solution that would achieve the result we wanted but not kill the living plants.  In the end, we mixed some of the potting mix with an organic, binding agent that served as a barrier, allowing us to cut a quarter section of the terracotta pot out while keeping everything else intact.

Big Kahuna delivered two large plant comparisons and two small for the final pot selection on the day of the shoot.  We also designed the props in a way that the elements could be easily slotted into backup pots in the event of an unexpected break rather than having to build multiples as replacements.

We’re still waiting for the campaign to be released but we’ll update the blog with imagery as soon as it’s available.

Honoured at the 2012 APDG Awards!

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Last night, The Australian Production Design Guild heralded the design talents of the stage and screen industries at the annual APDG Awards event and we’re thrilled to announce Will Colhoun, Big Kahuna Imagineering’s Founder and Managing Director, won the 2012 APDG Award for Stage and Screen Craft for his work on The Voice Australia!

The APDG Awards is an annual event gathering together a myriad of talents and associated professionals from the Australian film, television, stage and interactive multimedia industries to celebrate the art of visually captivating audiences around the world.

The Award for Stage and Screen Craft is designed to honour a non-head of department craftsperson who made a significant contribution to the design in a feature film, short film, television drama, event or theatrical production, screened or staged last financial year.  The category defines craftspersons as props makers, costume makers/ finishers/ hatters/ milliners, graphic designers, greenspersons, scenic artists/matte painters, model makers, set decorators, puppet makers and special effects artists.

Big Kahuna builds The Voice ChairsWill was nominated for his work on The Voice Chairs by Production Designer Christopher Batson who was also a winner last night picking up the gong for Design on a Television Production alongside Art Director Paul Faure-Brac for their own work on The Voice. And a personal ‘thank you’ from Will to to Chris for accepting the award on his behalf as Will was gutted he couldn’t be there on the night because he was busily working on another tender.

Of course, Will credits the entire Big Kahuna team for this win. As Chris said when accepting the award on Will’s behalf, it’s a credit to the Big Kahuna craftsmanship that our design for the world-famous Voice Chairs is now to be replicated by versions of the highly-popular reality show around the world.

It’s an honour to be recognised for our work and wish our fellow 2012 APDG winners a hearty ‘Congratulations!’

Click here to read more about our work on The Voice here…

For the full list of winners for The 2012 APDG Awards for Excellence in Stage and Screen Design below or watch the winners clips at Showreel Finder.

Drums Fitting a Big, Burly Wasabi Warrior

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Client: Pacific Retail Management/ Wasabi Warriors

Brief: Create Functioning Imitation Taiko Drums for Store Openings

Big Kahuna was called in to custom fabricate imitation Taiko drums to be played and displayed at the opening ceremonies of Pacific Retail Management’s newest brands — the growing franchise that is… Wasabi Warriors!

With authentic Japanese Taiko drums going for $5,000-20,000 a pop, Pacific Retail came to Big Kahuna for a more affordable option without compromising on the aesthetic prowess and majesty of the Taiko, nor too seriously foregoing the Taiko’s customary, hearty, mellow sound quality.

Swapping the wood and leather used in traditional versions, BKI opted for polyester/nylon skins (a common synthetic animal skin substitute) stretched over fibre-glass drum bodies – tightly secured with ‘truckloads’ of broad upholstery pins. We gave the polyester a warm, leather-like look by treating the “skin” with a stable purpose-blended, organic glaze tint. Big Kahuna achieved high fidelity using some of the most basic fabrication techniques but applied with suitably high structural intent.

Deeming that structure of the drum would have to be ‘bulletproof’, so it would hold fast while a big and burly Wasabi Warrior kept the beat, one technique we used was to structurally discipline the drum bodies with 62mm thick marine-epoxied ply rings as armatures. These could apply to a maxi yacht’s construction for their strength, but provided the high compression modulus required for stretching our drum skins, in this application.

Another innovation, serving to simplify the activation of the Taikos in service, was to incorporate rare earth magnets and ferrous plates so as to align the drum at a prone, graphically strong brand angle upon the chunky stands. So, without need for screws or pegs, franchisees can click-lock the Taikos onto the sturdy bases – and then belt the living shit out of them – tunefully, of course!

Via traditional drum making techniques, it requires the application of thousands of kilos of pressure over some weeks, to stretch the drum skin tightly enough to eventually beat sweetly. Our solution was simple but effective… using an individual screw’s pulling force between two timber formers, and multiplying this 40 times at the perimeter, “drum-tight” was achieved. Perhaps they’d have done this traditionally, as well – if they’d only have invented the humble ‘grabber’ and ratchet drill, then!

The Wasabi Warrior’s logo is a gem! It is emblazoned on the skins via controlled wick-in vinyl dyes.

The deduced approach was successful. Pacific Retail is rolling out the drums for Wasabi Warriors, nationwide. Some are customized as pancake versions to fit the retail space. Go on!… Eat wasabi with passion – to the authentic beat of a Taiko. Boom!