Nice motion typography integrated with live action. Directed by Mikon Van Gastel of A Very Small Office and now teamed up with Saffron Case to found Offspring. Observe the continuity between scenes and the integration of the car’s movement with typography. Sweet.
Microsoft’s Office Labs team conceived this vision of the future – filled with smart objects and seamless UI’s that transfer across their surfaces creating an augmented reality of daily life.
The video for Microsoft was directed by Mason Nicoll (former creative director at Digital Kitchen and Prologue) and the animation and effects were completed by Seattle-based studio Oh, Hello. It was a truly collaborative production. The MS Office Labs team completed the UI designs in Illustrator and also provided sample comp animations in After Effects for Oh Hello. Nicoll directed the live action shoot and produced a final cut before OH did their work.
The outcome is incredibly convincing and slick. The sophisticated roto work coupled with lots of tracking and the ultra smooth animations fit seamlessly with the beautifully crafted (slightly sterile) live action to present a believable image of the future. This little film makes Minority Report’s UI look tame, and yet at the same time it follows the general futuristic picture that is emerging in different quarters. Remember Jeff Han’s talk at TED 2006 and look at recent interfaces like FluidTunes. Even the interactions with the Microsoft’s futuristic news paper mirror those of the iPhone.
It is interesting to imagine a future where touch based and gestural interfaces become commonplace. Imagine seeing your neighbour through the window waving their arms madly as they check what’s on tv or in their fridge or on their music player! From the perspective of screen-based design, UI design and typography – this video presents a glimpse of how the future will fuse motion and interactivity intelligently. If the iPhone is a current example of this trend, these objects will be desirable and irresistible. Its exciting and dreadful at the same time to think of gardening being mediated with a digital overlay.
