How Halifax’s Current Studios is Bringing VR and AR to You
Halifax-based Current Studios is not your typical creative agency. The last thing you’ll see them do is a print ad.
The company is getting international recognition for its work in mobile applications, augmented reality, virtual reality and more.
“We’re a technology experience design studio, which is an unconventional way of saying we produce physical and digital experiences for companies that are very technically involved,” says Steve Martell, vice-president of creative technology with Current Studios. “That stems from mobile applications to physical products and everything in between.”
Current Studios portfolio includes an augmented reality Game of Thrones app for HBO Canada; The Super Heroes Assemble app/virtual reality platform with Marvel and Walmart; The Iron Man Stark Armory app and animatronic furnishings in a home for Nationwide Insurance. That’s just naming a few.
They even provide local production support when huge publications like Vogue want to shoot in the region.
Though they’ve done lots of cool projects, one in particular has gotten Current Studio noticed.
Current Studios worked with J. Walter Thompson NY to develop the Tribeca ReActor, the world’s first computerized acting judge. Travelling across the New York City to promote the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, the ReActor got New Yorkers to show off their acting skills in iconic movie scenes for a chance to win tickets to the festival. The ReActor combines vocal and facial recognition as well as real time background segmentation using the Intel RealSense 3D depth-sensing camera to analyze user performance and seamlessly immerse the user into the movie scene.
Essentially, it was like acting karaoke. If you got the scene over 96 per cent correct, you won free tickets and a copy of the video to share on YouTube.
“It was a combination of all our expertise into this steady growth from a mobile company into an integrated digital company,” says Martell.
The project won three Cannes Lions awards, often called the Oscars of advertising. Current Studios took home two bronze and one silver award.
“It was a really proud moment, because we’ve been trying to grow the business progressively in a space of four to five years and a big part of coming from Nova Scotia is to be recognized as not just another company, but a leading company and this was validation for that,” Martell says. “We weren’t just working and doing stuff we like, but other people were liking it too, and the market has accepted us. It was like we’re legitimate and successful in a sense that could be measured with the awards.”
It’s clear from their portfolio that a good chunk of Current Studio’s business is outside the region and the country. That’s why they opened an office in Brooklyn, New York in January.
“It took just under three years to get to the point where people knew us. We had people asking us for work, not just us always reaching out to people, and where we had a network of clients we could always go to. I think it was over 300 flights in that period of time and a lot of hard work.”
Yet, their NYC office is purposefully small. Martell says by having the New York team focused on sales and producing, they are able to grow the business at home and hire more people in Atlantic Canada to do the developing work.
“We’ve been able to grow in Atlantic Canada and keep true to what we want to be, which is an awesome place to work in Nova Scotia,” he says. “Our core development team resides and will never be anywhere but there.”
One thing they’ve learned from expanding their business into the United States is that there is no need to worry about whether you will be “good enough” because of your geography.
“I think a lot of companies in Atlantic Canada will feel that way when they try to expand into markets like Toronto or larger Canadian markets, because there is regional discrepancy of opinion of different regions in Canada,” Mallet says. “But it doesn’t exist south of the border . . . Canada is just one big place.”
“At the end of the day there is no preconceived notion of what the Maritimes or what Atlantic Canada is. We’re just a beautiful place and no one seems to care.”
Martell says Current Studios has some pretty cool things in the works. Though the details are still under wraps, they’re working on a virtual reality film and a mobile app for cats.
You read that right.
Current Studio is ahead of the curve when it comes to bringing things like augmented and virtual reality into the hands of average folks. And with almost everyone walking around with Pokemon Go open on their phone, there’s clearly an appetite for that kind of technology.
“It’s now officially mainstream,” Martell says.“It’s just what companies will do with that knowledge that will determine the next step.”