Studio Giggle

31/10/2024

Happy Halloween! This year's animation has been created by Stephen, one of our Digital/Technical Artist. He took inspiration from Disney's 'The Skeleton Dance' (1929). The animation, created in Unreal Engine, features four spooky, scary skeletons dancing the night away until the danger of sunrise! Have a spooky day!

05/07/2024

Our client wanted to film the financial district in London. This is very expensive and complicated to do. We recreated a real location in a 3D unreal environment, allowing us to control the extras, weather and film at the golden hour for as long as we wanted. Another simple way of filming if you don't need camera movements film the location with a reduced crew and use the shot as a '2D plate' and bring it in the studio.

19/06/2024

When we opened Distortion Studios, we did a week of events to make sure as many people as possible could come and experience VP. This involved two full days of demos running through lots of different virtual production scenarios, then a drinks reception, exquisitely DJed by our friends at Holotronica

If you want to find out more about VP, email [email protected]

12/06/2024

We shared the news last week that we opened Distortion Studios last month, our new virtual production studio. Distortion Studio is set up and run by the same team as Giggle and calls upon all the experience that our team has gained in the creative industries! Before we officially opened our doors to the world we filmed two projects, a TV commercial for a University and a nature documentary! Both shoots involved creating numerous Unreal Engine environments. These were made by Giggle's in house team of creatives trained in Unreal. Here are a couple of scenes from the shoots!

In the photos below, you can see the creation of one of scenes, starting in Unreal, then the art department building props, through to filming on the day and lastly, the final output!

07/06/2024

You may have noticed that we have been a little bit quieter on socials recently, well that's because last month we launched Distortion Studios, our very own Virtual Production Studio! It's something that we have working on for a while in the background whilst we still deliver beautiful content for our clients. We first started working in VP and extended reality in 2020 when we used it to enhance virtual events and corporate communication films, we realised then that we wanted to be able to bring the technology to more of our clients, and to do this we needed a studio! 4 years later, we are finally there: space found, renovations complete, shoots done and officially opened! Distortion Studios is the only virtual production studio in Bristol and we want it to be a hub for the Southwest!

We'll be sharing some more information about Distortion Studios next week, but it's very much still business as usual for Giggle, so stay tuned to see what we've also been working on this week.

28/03/2024

Want to know more about Interrogation, our short film shot in virtual production? Check out this BTS making of video explaining the process!

https://vimeo.com/789043303?share=copy

This is "Interrogation - Behind the Scenes" by Studio Giggle on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

27/03/2024

We're very excited to share Interrogation, a short film we created in Virtual Production. Interrogation follows a young detective, struggling with the interrogation of a soulless murderer. The film, written and directed by Giggle's founder, Steve Garratt and produced by our talented team was the first thing to be filmed in our new virtual production studio, Distortion Studios (which is currently being renovated before an official launch in April- stay tuned!). It was our first foray into serious virtual production workflows and an incredible learning opportunity!
We haven't posted about it before now, because it was doing the award circuits, and we are thrilled to announce that it won Best Short Film at Cannes Short Film Festival, Best Short at Best Film Awards, Selected Short Movie at the Maverick Movie Awards and nominated for Best VFX &CGI and Best Sci-Fi at Film Haus! We are so proud of the film and the awards it won! Thanks to all the cast and crew involved!
https://vimeo.com/788584689?share=copy

Detective Kove: Sarah Bennington
Alix: Robin Hemmings
Written & Directed: Steve Garratt
Producer: David Humphreys
Executive Producer: Jonathan Brigden
DOP: Sarah Smithers
Post Production: Rodrigo Sanchez
Technical Director: Nick Diacre
VFX: Edward Vosper, Iina Kuula, Sophie Panteli
Assistant Director: Lee Rayner
Gaffer: Dave Anderson
Sound Recordist: Graeme Willets
Focus Puller: Raf Lisbon-Hochenberg
Make Up: Naomi Lake, Claudia Lucia
Set Designer: Zoe Squire
Set Builder: Jeff Cliff
Set Painter: Nina Raines
Prop Makers: James Ashwell, Charlotte Cooke
Sound Design: Andrew Doig
Special Thanks to West of England Combined Authority and the entire Studio Giggle, Distortion Studios, Distortion Productions team.

This is "Interrogation" by Studio Giggle on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

17/03/2024

Happy St Paddy's Day!

This year's animation was created by Giggle's very talented Ed Vosper, Digital and Technical Artist extraordinaire! Ed knew he wanted to make something in the style of a kaleidoscope and took inspiration from the opening sequence of Casino Royale. The animation was made in Illustrator, Cinema 4D and After Effects.

20/02/2024

Come join our team! We're looking for a mid-weight motion graphics designer and animator to join our team of talented creatives in Bristol! We are looking for someone creatively curious, who reads between the lines, someone who asks questions and isn't afraid to learn. In exchange, you will get to work for Bristol's best Creative Agency (2 years in a row at the Bristol Life Awards), 24 days of holiday + bank holiday and a birthday day off, a monthly well-being allowance, and many more benefits!

Apply here https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3835161294

13/02/2024

Happy Pancake Day! This beautiful animation was created by Lily, who came in to do work experience with us last week. We gave Lily a mock client brief and set her the task of creating a little animation to celebrate Pancake Day. Lily curated style frames, story boards, and then began to animate her creations. She made the animation in Animate, but after a tutorial from our team, she finished the animation and added sound effects using Premiere, a completely new software to her. Whilst Lily was with us, she got the opportunity to work closely with each department in our team and learn all about the production, marketing and operations side of a creative studio, as well as working closely with our digital artists to hone her skills and learn new software.

We're incredibly impressed by Lily's style, creativity and animation skills!

11/02/2024

Tonight is a big night for many American sports fans (and Taylor Swift Fans!), but it also happens to be one of the best nights of the year for advertising campaigns: The Super Bowl! We wanted to get involved and challenged Stephen, one of our Digital Artists to create something worthy of a multi-million dollar ad campaign! His idea was a cinematic, dramatic, moody reveal inspired by the likes of Game of Thrones and The Crown. The animation was created in Blender, Unreal Engine and After Effects.
What do you think? and who do you think will win?

31/12/2023

Happy New Year's eve! Hope you all have a wondful 2024!

22/12/2023

We all need a little bit of Christmas magic sometimes! This year, the Giggle team needed a little bit of extra help to get into the festive spirit!
Merry Christmas to all of our wonderful friends, family and followers; we always appreciate your support, trust and encouragement! We're closed in between Christmas and New Year, but we're excited to hit the ground running on January 2nd, and make 2024 one of our best years yet!

22/12/2023

It's been a week of celebrating as we head into the last couple of days of 2023. This year's Christmas party extravaganza involved some fiercely competitive Go Karting, resulting in many a giggle and a couple of bruised backs! Jacob, Giggle's newest Digital Artist, took home the metaphorical trophy by channelling his inner Verstappen and sailing around the course in a whopping 53 seconds! A couple of days later, we got together again to celebrate the birthday of the one and only Steve Garratt, who we would all be lost without! It's been a great way to draw the year to a close and celebrate all our victories, both little and large, throughout the year!

11/12/2023

How do you convey a complex message in a fun, engaging way? By creating an interactive game! OVO recently hired us to build a ‘Grid of the Future’ game for the WIRED Impact expo. The aim of the game was to educate people on OVO’s ‘Path to Zero’ initiative by showing them that each decision they make impacts the grid and highlighting that greener choices can benefit everyone. Lots of people engaged with the game throughout the day!

08/12/2023

Last month, we got to work with our lovely friends at Brandfuel to help launch Google’s brand-new premises, Flour Mill, in Dublin. Brandfuel contacted us to create a colourful, sensory experience to welcome people into the building. The aim was to create an experience that would guide guests through the past, present and into the future of the iconic Dublin building. Originally a flour mill, Bolands Flour Mill, still contains a number of its original features, including the old mill control panels. We decided this would be the perfect backdrop to bring the narrative to life. We created an incredibly intricate projection onto the control panel that came to life and showed moments in the building’s history as well as exploring Google’s 20-year timeline of operation in Dublin.

07/12/2023

This time last week, we were just about to kick off a very exciting night, the reopening of the incredible Bristol Beacon after five years closure due to renovations! Bristol Beacon hired us to project onto the outside of the building and to create a sense of excitement from the very second the audience saw the Beacon! We projected a number of different scenes, slogans and videos onto the golden facade showing the Beacon's connection to the city! It was such an honour to be part of the opening night of the legendary Bristol Beacon and to do it with our friends at Holotronica

Credit: Chris Cooper / ShotAway and Studio Giggle's Jacob Nash

06/12/2023

It was great to work with OVO again on the launch of their new Data Report at WIRED Impact. We worked closely with the team at OVO to create assets for CEO, Raman Bhatia’s, keynote speech. Based on OVO’s ‘Path to Zero’ initiative, we used Illustrator and After Effects to create a ‘Grid of the Future’, which formed the backbone of the keynote. Raman’s speech was a big success.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe1yn2Moa_U

04/12/2023

A couple of weeks ago, we had an exciting discovery when we heard tiny meows from underneath Studio Manager Pete's, car and after an extensive rescue mission, we discovered the world's cutest kitten. After a trip to the vet, it was decided that she was likely a stray and was very much in need of love, care and a bit of attention! The kitten lived at our studio for a couple of days, much to the delight of our whole team, who took it in turns to cuddle, play and feed her. Then Pete decided it was fate that she nestled herself under his car and officially adopted her. Here she is a couple of weeks later, well and truly loved and cared for!

04/12/2023

Absolutely loved being part of Bristol Beacon's opening night, what an honour! We'll be posting more about it soon!

29/11/2023

We're going to need a bigger award shelf! Recently, we were thrilled to add 3 new trophies to our extensive collection after the EVCOM Live and Film Awards. We took home an award in every category we entered and won a trophy of every colour: a bronze, a silver and a GOLD! The Gold award for Best Script was for our work with UNESCO and their Internet for Trust Conference. The Silver (Animation) and Bronze (Best use of Small Budget) were in recognition of our Dear Employer animation made for Account 3. We're thrilled to have our work recognised by EVCOM! You can watch the award winning films here:
UNESCO: https://youtu.be/XIm5NGnDRQY?si=MbGWVdXwSvZ2gcJv
Dear Employer: https://youtu.be/NtzC8rHsEg4?si=tw5qT5R0ubKJhJMs

31/10/2023

Wishing you a very spooky Halloween from Studio Giggle!

13/10/2023

Ending the week on a high! We're thrilled to announce that our UNESCO Internet for Trust film was a Finalist at this year's Cannes Corporate Media and TV Awards! In addition, it's also been shortlisted at the EVCOM Film Awards. We're all incredibly proud of the project and loved how it turned out.
https://youtu.be/XIm5NGnDRQY?si=i45UsgaJD443tjRK
https://www.cannescorporate.com/en/winners2023.php?view=A13

11/10/2023

What a fun event! A couple of weeks ago, we were part of the creation of the HOTTEST thing to hit the E-Sports world, Sky Broadband's Sweatroom! We were tasked with creating on-screen graphics to match the heat of the game and social media assets to fire the public up! Contestants played Street Fighter 6 in a knockout tournament inside a 150-degree Fahrenheit sauna! The event was live streamed on Youtube, Twitter and Sky User Interface Platform, reaching over 250k live viewers!
https://www.lbbonline.com/news/sky-broadbands-epic-gaming-tournament-determines-final-spot-in-guild-esports-street-fighter-6-team

15/09/2023

After a very successful week delivering a big project for one of our clients, we're faced with another sad day as Sophie Panteli, our incredible Digital Artist, leaves us to travel the world.
Sophie joined Giggle in 2021, fresh out of University and ready to get stuck in. Initially hailed as the Queen of Lower Thirds, Sophie began her time at Giggle working in 2d, but has grown so much in the last three years, progressing and developing into the world of 3D having just completed an intensive Unreal Engine course. This year, Sophie took the helm on the UNESCO Internet for Trust film that we created. Sophie's creativity and direction on set led to the film being shortlisted in the Cannes Corporate Media and TV Awards- a huge achievement! Sophie's passion for animation always resulted in stunning work that never failed to delight. Sophie leaves Giggle to go and explore the world, starting off with a 5-week walk along the Camino de Santiago in Spain. We're incredibly sad to see her go, but we're excited to see where Sophie ends up next and all the adventures she will have along the way! Thank you for your years of hard work! This isn't a goodbye, just a 'see you later'.