Dell recently announced that Europe-based visual effects studios Important Looking Pirates and FIDO, and digital signage agency, VISUAL ART, are using Dell Precision workstations to deliver cutting-edge graphics and award-winning, creative content for international clients and audiences.
BAFTA award winning studio, FIDO, has an advertising and feature film portfolio spanning 15 years – including the modern day cult classic, Kung Fury, the most recent David Attenborough TV series, and blockbuster movie, Kick Ass.
Well-established as fur, feather and creature animation specialists, the team strives to exceed the limits of possibility for visual effects. The studio use Dell Precision tower workstations, in addition to Dell displays, network, storage and server solutions to effectively tackle the increasing challenges posed by live action special effects and digital animation projects.
The powerful capabilities of the Dell Precision workstations have proved invaluable on projects such as David Sandberg’s crowd-funded, 80s inspired hit, Kung Fury which has attracted over 18-million views since its launch in late May. For this project, the team were given hours of green screen footage and then tasked with developing around 400 shots, accounting for 90 per cent of all digital shots in the short film.
Headquartered in Stockholm, the Important Looking Pirates (ILP) team relies on Dell solutions to produce the stunning visual effects that saw them nominated for the prestigious Visual Effects Society (VES) awards, the highest accolade within the industry.
Providing assistance across all digital production platforms, the studio boasts an impressive portfolio including the TV action dramas Crossbones and Constantine, with global network clients including NBC, Fox Sports, BBC, and the Discovery Channel.
As the team evolved quickly into a busy, internationally-renowned studio of 48 full-time VFX artists, the existing infrastructure began to struggle and downtime became a significant risk factor. The team approached Dell seeking a scalable solution offering high performance with low maintenance requirements.
Deploying more than 40 Dell Precision tower workstations enabled the production team to consolidate the workstation environment, which led to easier maintenance and reliable support. With a combination of the latest Dell monitors, workstations, storage and server solutions plus the exploration of Dell’s workstation virtualisation offering, Important Looking Pirates are set to continue to push the boundaries of visual effects, providing high quality visuals for some our favourite TV series and games.
Stockholm-based agency, VISUAL ART, uses Dell Precision workstations, Dell UltraSharp displays and Dell networking, server and storage solutions to help them deliver strategy driven, high impact location-based digital communication.
Formerly specializing in visual effects for commercials and feature films, the agency now create moving visuals and digital advertising solutions, offering strategic consultation services and full technical support, to a host of international brands. As a digital signage agency VISUAL ART is a one stop shop for anything regarding screen based media. Customers include IKEA, 7Eleven, McDonalds, and leading Swedish supermarket chain, ICA.
The team is passionate about using technology to drive the advertising, retail and experience industry forward, and is constantly exploring new ways consumers could interact with digital signage. Innovations within the team include a dedicated software platform, the VAplayer, with an intuitive interface to help clients in retail branches to customize their digital signage content in real time.