Revenant
Nomination
Images
Videos
Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZtzzPUSLdg
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Category
Design Agency of the Year
Company
Revenant
Summary
Throughout 2024, Revenant created high fidelity, innovative design work with a diverse range of clients and for a plethora of creative industry sectors, all whilst growing our team with exciting new expansions and constantly striving to better the studio for the talented creatives behind it.
Overall, the studio shared projects across everything from game cinematics, to immersive experiences, documentary features, and much more. We won over 20 awards, gaining the most awards on any singular project to date with our viral campaign for Oakley, Future Genesis.
This project was a winner of a Scottish Design Award for Animation/Moving Imagery Design, a Collision Award for Craft- Best 3D/CG Animation, and a Platinum winner in the Vega Awards- Video/Online Video (Single): Animation, to name but a few.
In amongst creating award-winning projects, we made a concerted effort to innovate and push our technology forward, ensuring our work was always of the highest possible quality. Whether it was moving to the new Path Tracer render solution in Unreal to increase final image quality, or creating fully customisable and stylised Metahumans through Zbrush, Maya and Marvelous Designer, the team were constantly improving our creative processes and pipeline to ensure our projects were at the cutting edge of animation and VFX.
In an age of many difficulties for the visual arts, Revenant showed the tenacity, dedication, and innovation of Scottish creatives, all whilst staying true to our ethos. We created animation with edge and creative vision with the unmistakable fingerprint of the studio’s talented artists. Not only this, we cherished the artists at the studio, offering opportunities for them to grow, take on new challenges, and celebrate their personal achievements at the same time.
What sets your practice/agency apart from others?
First and foremost, throughout 2024, we consistently showcased the extent of our abilities across a broad range of creative practices. Revenant's ability to offer such bespoke creative visions to projects across so many different vectors in the industry is unique to them. To name just a few…We forged ever forward with technical advancements on projects created using Unreal Engine and Meta Humans with their cinematic for Qiddiya’s groundbreaking gaming city.
We exemplified their understanding of AR craft with our immersive experience for Cheddar Gorge and Cave’s with Yeo’s Journey, where we conceptualised, scripted and animated an elegant and abstract natural history story of the geographical location, for which we had to 3D scan the entire cave system.
We took things back to our motion design roots, only elevated, with our horror title sequence Midas, a delightfully grotesque testament to our storytelling abilities in a short time span.
We flexed their VFX muscles with our visuals package created for Netflix and Insight Film’s gripping documentary Apollo 13: Survival, where we enriched the film’s archival atmosphere and aided the message in a historically accurate way with a blend of era-specific visuals.
And we unveiled the magic of our team’s ability to create stylised animation with our cinematics created for Phoenix Labs’ sandbox action-adventure game, Everhaven.
Not only was our work diverse, all of it created a hugely positive impact for its clients and collaborators.
All this to say, whilst the scope of what Revenant can offer is broad, able to meet the varied needs of clients from different sectors, the detail, craft, and creative vision behind every single project from 2024 was razor sharp; defined by care and precision.
To create projects with such precision, there needs to be real care for the team we have grown- a team which saw positive further growth throughout 2024, too. Revenant’s crew has seen many new development opportunities, such as Ross Sneddon becoming Head of Motion Design and Luke Angus becoming Head of Animation, roles which will allow them to use their expertise with newfound leadership. Moreover, the team’s need for support in new areas has been met through painstakingly selected additions to the family, with Mike Howie joining the Motion Design team as a Senior MGFX Artist, Naomi Smith becoming the studio’s first ever Marketing Manager, and Sean Kelly becoming a Producer at the studio, helping to deliver key projects.
In tune with this, the we also unveiled our first ever Directors Roster, chock a block full of explosive talent from across the globe. From Sydney-based Director Simon Robson, who has directed spots for Nike, Adidas, The Guardian and Save the Children, to Canada-based Olaf Blomerus, who has collaborated both boutique agencies and global giants such as Netflix, ESA, Marvel, and Apple, the roster is as diverse in visual identity as it is in location. With six new directing partnerships announced, this is a testament to the growth and innovation intersecting between staff and business at Revenant.
This symbiosis of diverse project paired with precise creative vision and led by a team of exceptional artists is what sets Revenant apart. We are driven by a desire to tell stories with edge, committed to storytelling as an art form, and work hard to make this concept a reality.
How do you go 'the extra mile' for clients and employees?
With so much positive growth and dozens of projects being delivered in 2024, one thing was paramount to Revenant: supporting our team. Extensive efforts were made to curate the best possible atmosphere to work in throughout 2024. From rolling out increased holiday allowances, to new pension schemes, and offering completely flexible and remote working and private healthcare options, there was a dedicated push within Revenant’s studio and senior team to put the people behind the projects first.These kinds of practices are what allow creativity to thrive, and thrive it did, with many artists pursuing greatness in their personal work, too, something that Revenant champions and celebrates. For example, a company-wide event was curated to showcase the animated short films created by their team members Ross Sneddon, Luke Angus, and Craig Simmers. Through privately hiring a local cinema and inviting everyone from the studio along, the artist's work was showcased for all of the team to recognise. Ultimately, Revenant understands the importance of creating a genuinely vibrant and nurturing culture at their studio, and strives to continue to build on this.
For our clients, the 'extra mile' is in our precise attention to detail. It is in the elevation of quality and experience that we provide, taking concepts and producing work that goes above and beyond expectations. In the process, we always ensure that transparency and collaboration are paramount, whilst also understanding the client and what is important to a project. We consistently make sure we are inspiring and supporting our clients from start to finish.
For example, when creating our Future Genesis project for Oakley, we undertook extensive research of their audience and brand, taking us to a place where we knew we could execute the brief in a way that would exceed expectations and land solid results. This paid off- 4 out of the top 20 highest engaged posts of the year for Oakley’s Instagram in 2024 were from Revenant’s Future Genesis campaign. The Future Genesis campaign also featured in more of Oakley's top 20 engaged posts of the year than any other campaign- 7 times. The announcement post sharing Revenant’s cinematic got an engagement 423.83% higher than Oakley’s average engagement. This was not a fluke, either- rather, the way above average engagement occurred on every post from Revenant's campaign. For example, even a simple still of one of the campaign’s characters that Revenant created got an engagement 383.742% higher than Oakley’s average engagement. Why? The project resonated with the client’s audience, and this was due to the extensive brand research our team carried out to ensure the campaign hit the mark. Revenant’s projects, just as this one did, have real, tangible impact for our clients to reap the rewards of.
What innovations have you introduced in the past year?
Staying focused on the future and what's coming next is integral to Revenant's workflow. In the past year, the studio has seen extensive work take place on its pipeline offerings, which included working with the latest version of Unreal Engine and Metahuman, with facial capture.Specifically throughout 2024, Revenant delved into full body data processing, clean up and retargeting on Metahumans and bespoke rigs. The studio undertook projects which required processing full facial capture data from multiple sources including Iphone capture and more advanced stereo capture systems like Technoprops. All of this was used on Metahumans inside Unreal.
Revenant also advanced our use of Unreal Engine. The team created fully bespoke clothing and cloth simulations through Marvelous Designer, alongside fully customisable and stylised Metahumans through Zbrush, Maya and Marvelous Designer.
Creating the highest fidelity work possible is paramount to us at Revenant. For this reason, the team moved to the new Path Tracer render solution in Unreal to increase final image quality. Key members of our team also worked to create a pipeline that allows for much higher fidelity FX simulations from Houdini to Unreal.
It was also integral to us that our innovations helped our team globally, so we used a Perforce Pipeline, allowing us to sync with remote artists around the world, from all over Europe and as far away as New Zealand.
Alongside this, the studio has also started developing our own IP to take to market, an entirely new venture for us. Already announced is The Pony Express, an innovative animated feature. Highly stylised and in the genre of science fiction, the IP has dark and gritty themes that will satiate the adult animation audience hungry for tenacious storytelling in CG. Behind the scenes, there are more studio originated IPs being developed in a hive of creativity.
When combined, it is clear to see that Revenant is forging ahead as a studio, combining technical advancements in our pipeline with the creation of IP that can be created using the studio's own cutting edge technology.