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Becky Rose

Catching up with Creative, Media and Arch Viz

They’ve been providing branding to blue-chips, product visuals to household names, and even showcasing our animation talent across countries and on national TV. The establishment of our Creative, Media and Arch Viz teams – recently transformed into specialist studios – in late 2019 saw a new and exciting step in the continual evolution of Bloc Digital.

With their wealth of experience in design and marketing, broadcast and visual effects, and the built environment, the vision was to deliver that Bloc edge to new sectors and introduce new skills to complement our ‘create once, use many’ ethos. This expertise is now an integral part of our end-to-end offering... and that vision is continually being realised for our customers.

So what have the studios been getting up to? And how have they evolved at Bloc? With a combination of new capabilities, clients, tech and talent – here's a summary. 

CREATIVE: FROM PRINT TO PIXEL

Essential to the 'campaign lifecycle' for our clients – supporting from ideation to launch and beyond – our Creative studio draws on graphic and communication skills to position and present brands for maximum engagement. They’re establishing design as the bedrock of everything we do, and combining their creative eye with Bloc’s technology and digital visualisation know-how to capture attention, drive brand interactions, and disrupt the marketing landscape. Let’s take a look. 

CONCEPT TO COMPLETION


As a vital part of our end-to-end support, our Creative studio is kickstarting and concluding many campaigns and projects. For Rolls-Royce it meant a Net Zero brand identity that would strengthen the campaign’s visual direction prior to animation production. For General Dynamics UK at DSEI, a social and PR strategy would raise awareness, encourage visitors, and complement Bloc-delivered on-stand media.

CONCEPT TO COMPLETION

COLLABORATIVE IMPACT


Whether incorporating UX & UI principles into web design, animations into social content or product CGIs into marketing materials – our Creative team are bringing together specialist studio knowledge to maximise our clients’ reach and engagement. They’re transforming assets across traditional and digital mediums to support and enhance omnichannel marketing with our ‘create once, use many’ approach.

COLLABORATIVE IMPACT

PRINT GETS IMMERSIVE


Imagine if your audiences could access interactive AR content from any product label, business card or printed ad. WebAR is providing that opportunity – and with our studios’ print and pixel expertise, we’ve been harnessing this emerging tech to captivate prospective students for the University of Derby’s open day campaign.

PRINT GETS IMMERSIVE

BLENDING DESIGN AND TECH


Bloc’s specialist capabilities mean digital interaction and marketing are set to become even more intertwined. Think commercial websites with 3D interactive models, virtURL -supported product launches, AR-enabled property hoardings, immersive brand experiences... And that’s just the start.

MEDIA: NEW CAPABILITIES BRING NEW HORIZONS

Our animation and 3D modelling teams have been the backbone of our visualisation activities since Bloc’s beginnings. Always looking forward, we’ve brought new techniques, new sectors and new services – underpinned by industry expertise – into our Media studio.

We’ve been creating cinema-style animations, implementing the latest rendering processes, and further developing our national and international broadcast TV portfolio – continually advancing the core capabilities of our team. Here’s a quick snapshot.

RENDERING GOES REAL-TIME


To increase realism while speeding up turnaround, our modelling team are transforming our pipeline with the latest toolsets. Using photogrammetry, they’re converting objects into highly accurate 3D meshes with incredible textures. Using Unreal Engine 5, a new level of speed and detail can be achieved. They can dynamically edit those dense meshes, adapt lighting on the fly, and render in real-time all without a noticeable loss in visual fidelity.

RENDERING GOES REAL-TIME

AV & CREATIVE PRODUCTION


Podcasts, voice-over, video production and live action filming have entered the Media mix – all drawing on the national and international film and broadcast experiences of our growing team. From concepting, scripting and storyboarding to creating a rich and cohesive multi-media presence across platforms, we help clients transform the smallest idea into attention-grabbing audio and visual content.

AV & CREATIVE PRODUCTION

HOLLYWOOD WHO?


Utilising strong narratives and powerful photorealistic visuals, we’ve been revolutionising how the world sees our clients and their products: more vividly and real than ever before. These high-production ‘cinematics’ – 3D CG animations inspired by the look and feel of the big screen – are more emotive, entertaining and memorable, and elevate messages above the competitors.

TAKING ON NEW SECTORS


Our broadcast, high-production and VFX skills have seen our animations hit new heights. From China to Germany, the BBC to Smithsonian Channel, and science to history – we're working in partnership with producers, directors and commissioners on documentaries and are helping to inform, engage and entertain global audiences. We’ve also been helping public and heritage sectors to bring their stories to life.

ARCH VIZ: CG ENVIRONMENTS AND BEYOND

Our Arch Viz team are our built environment and property marketing experts – combining photorealistic architectural visuals and advanced technologies, they help clients to inform, showcase and sell. And in the last few years, they’ve been taking traditional sector needs to the next level...

Going beyond property and beyond CGIs – they’re enhancing commercial environments, furthering interactivity, and harnessing the benefits of data visualisation. Let’s take a look at how they’re elevating spaces and places. 

‘PICTURE’-PERFECT PRODUCTS


Working with Quantum for big names including Peroni and Somersby, our Arch Viz team have been creating idyllic environments and desirable atmospheres to entice purchases at point of sale. They’ve been bringing their CGI storytelling abilities into play for marketing toolkits and merchandise placement – using the power of texture, lighting and depth to boost appeal in competitive markets.

‘PICTURE’-PERFECT PRODUCTS

EXPLORE PLACES, VIRTUALLY


Our Arch Viz team have been creating CG virtual tours with clickable hotspots to show scale and enhance interaction for almost a decade. Enabling buyers to explore off-plan and 'visit’ properties at their convenience, these immersive 3D walkthroughs only proved more popular during Covid – and accessibility and engagement mean their need continues to grow. But tours aren’t just for property... factories, heritage, and exhibitions benefit too.

DIGITAL MARKETING BLUEPRINT


With over 15 years of specialised industry knowledge and expertise from across our Creative, Media and Technology studios, our Arch Viz team developed this blueprint to help the sector adapt to the rapidly shifting property marketing landscape. They explore and explain how to best utilise digital tools to showcase and sell property – from social media campaigns to AR hoardings and print material.

DIGITAL MARKETING BLUEPRINT

SPACES MADE SMART


Bringing Bloc’s data and IoT knowledge into property, commercial and public settings, we’re supporting the spaces of the future. Scalable digital dashboards combining connected home technologies and real-time data collection, visualisation, and monitoring will help developers, councils, and industry make analytics-driven decisions, save money and improve sustainability.

SPACES MADE SMART
We’re engaging new audiences, in new ways, with new capabilities built on years of expertise, to show the world just what our diverse and talented team can do. It all comes back to helping our clients work smarter and deliver impact... and we’re realising this vision more than ever before. I’m looking forward to what's next."
Chris Hotham
Co-Founder and Director