SHOWCASE
SurĽoh
An influx of briefs that needed real-time cloud-based compositing – such as this project for Strava –
inspired Stink Studios to create its own cloud rendering platformexport project files for direct ingestion by
the tool. To date RITA has delivered more
than 10 million unique videos.What projects are you most proud of?
AEP: We recently launched a new brand
and website for PICTURESTART, a media
company founded in 2018 by Erik Feig, an
executive and producer behind The
Twilight Saga, The Hunger Games series, La
La Land, The Hurt Locker, stuff like that.
The site’s design and navigation takes
inspiration from film leaders, TV test
patterns and other visual ephemera from
the technology of filmmaking, along with
the iconic ‘Picture Start’ marker that
appears at the beginning of a film reel. It
was a relatively small site but they gave
us creative freedom and the project has
fast become one of our favourites.You’ve also been doing a lot of stuff with
AR. How’s that been going?
AEP: Yes, we recently launched an
exclusive augmented reality experience at
Selfridges, London in partnership with
high-end footwear brand Auxiliary to
celebrate its latest collection. This was a
particularly exciting opportunity for us as
we felt AR was being typecast as an outlet
for gimmicks and face filters and we
wanted to explore the platform’s fullWhat kind of tools and technologies do
you tend to work with?
MG: During UX development we use
InVision to produce interactive
prototypes and then use Maze to quickly
test and validate our design decisions
with real users. But we still use a range of
other tools, from specific open-source
software all the way to Google Docs.
Designers use a combination of Sketch,
Photoshop and Illustrator with our
Motion Design team typically working in
Cinema 4D. We use tools like Blender for
low-poly and real-time workflows,
supported by Substance Designer and
Painter for texturing.
Development environments vary, from
dedicated IDEs like Spark AR and Unity to
our fork of Create-React-App that’s used
for most web-based UI development
work. We’ll also work with React Native
and Cordova-based implementations for
app development. We generally try to be
tool agnostic though and bring the best
technology to bear to answer a particular
challenge. Versatility is the key.
Producers use a variety of tools
throughout the lifespan of a project and
will often use preferred tools from client
to client, like Airtable or Basecamp. Slack
is used company-wide for sharing and
project communication.Why did you create your real-time cloud
rendering platform (RITA), rather than
use an existing tool?
MG: We were seeing lots of briefs that
required real-time cloud-based
compositing, mostly for personalising
video with first-party data, such as end-
of-year projects for Spotify and Strava.
We started using a third-party solution,
but nothing on the market enabled us to
achieve the high standards of visual
output our clients expect, so we decided
to build our own.
The technology was a fairly natural
extension of our existing back-end and
motion graphics capabilities. We also
realised we could remove third-party
overheads and pass the savings on to
clients. Additionally we were able to
optimise RITA for performance and
provide an interface to After Effects
projects, so motion graphics artists couldpotential. We pushed the boundaries of
Spark AR, creating something pretty
unique that people hadn’t seen before.
We are super excited to expand further
into other retail experiences and live
events in particular.You’ve also been involved in the rollout
of AR filters on Instagram. What’s that
all about?
MG: We created our first Facebook filter
for a John Lewis Christmas campaign
back in 2017. After the success of that
project, Instagram approached us to be a
partner for brand and influencer
partnerships during the closed beta phase
of the Spark AR Instagram programme.
The work has been pretty broad – from
working with German influencer
sensations Lisa & Lena on a sparkly
personal filter they’re still using today, to
working with Disney to help celebrate
Mickey and Minnie Mouse’s 90th
anniversary. The projects have been great
fun to work on and we’ve learned a lot
about making successful filters in the
process. We find that the effects people
can integrate into their daily lives tend to
work best, as they can be reused and
shared again and again. You can check
out our first Stink Studios filter by
following us on Instagram.