FOCUS: TV commercial production - New technology helps TVCs virtually stand out from the crowd

Three dimensional special effects have become the latest rage in TVCs as advertisers strive for yet more ways to stand out from the crowd. Centro Digital Pictures has already worked on two high-profile TVCs using the 3-D technology, for Hutchison's mobile phones in Hong Kong and K Force.com, the largest recruitment company in the US for the North American market. "The powerful, energetic effects jump out at the audience, resulting in a more vibrant and dynamic image, and that makes the client's ad stand out from the rest," Mr John Galvin, Centro's director of telecine, told MEDIA. "Because the technology being used is new and not seen before, it also means that the commercial is made all the more memorable." He said the need to use cutting-edge effects was mainly due to the fact that both consumers and advertisers were now more sophisticated than ever before. He said that people were well-educated about the use of technology in films through movies and TV documentaries. "If we use old techniques, consumers will see it straight away and that could make the overall look of the ad ordinary at best and inferior at worst," said Mr Galvin. "The movie Star Wars is an example. When it first hit cinema screens in the late 1970s, it was awesome. But if you watch it now, you would probably laugh because the effects used are so primitive." With Hutchison, Centro's special effects machines produced a dazzling bird transmogrifying from a phone and an electrified ball skimming the surface of an ocean at fantastic speed. For K Force.com, its 2-D logo was given an added dimension through "a sparkling, frying effect and through 'God' rays emanating from the letters," Mr Galvin said. Another new technological revolution for the television commercial production world is the breaking up of a scene into tiny particles as the commercial jumps to another scene. "In the past, we had to use a dissolve technology to accomplish the transition," he said. The new technology was employed in the K Force.com commercial. A man hits a button, and the scene breaks up into thousands of tiny particles as he is absorbed through a wall and into a recruiting agency. With technology advancing at a rapid rate, Mr Galvin said it was crucial more than ever before to be up to speed on the changes. "What's hip and trendy among advertisers today could be old hat just one year later. We're are not in an industry that is as good as it can be. We're all still learning."

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