Art is Everywhere
CREATIVE EXECUTION
Augmented Reality Portraits Exhibition
On-Ground Activation
1. Augmented Reality
Kuala Lumpur’s first ever augmented reality photo exhibition, Sini Sana Seni was a crowd hit amongst the sea of visitors at Taylor’s SOC Awards 2018. A creative campaign that left the audience in awe of the endless possibilities demonstrated with augmented reality (AR). Simply by hovering a Galaxy tablet over the pictures displayed, users are able to interact with buttons and videos that coexists between the digital world and the real world. Blurring the lines between fantasy and reality right at your fingertips.
First of all, we ask ourselves, what is AR? Most people would answer, “Pokemon Go”, which is quite accurate. Augmented Reality represents a perfect blend of virtual reality and real life. By using a medium (phone, tablet, etc.), AR allows us to alter reality and revolutionise the way we look at our surroundings. The real world environment is now capable of being augmented with additional computer-generated content such as video, graphics and sound.
Next, let’s dive into AR to understand more about how it works. In layman terms, AR allows additional elements to be built on a real-world landscape. Providing extra interactivity and a more rounded experience for the audience when experiencing the technology of tomorrow, today.
As part of Sini Sana Seni’s exhibition, Happy Five has chosen four artists from four distinct backgrounds -- photography, music, fashion and writing -- to prove that art is everywhere.
List of artists:
Midnight Fusic, Malaysia’s up-and-coming local indie alternative band
Nadine Jasmine, Founder, designer and photographer of Oh Sebenar
Rubin Khoo, Editor of AUGUSTMAN and Prestige Malaysia
Paulius Staniunas, Founder of All Is Amazing and the ‘Same same : A Dan Lain-lain’ project
The artist's stories were crafted through an interview session with each of them. Then, it is transformed into two mediums. The first is a still portrait that reflects their unique personality, whereas the second is a video that depicts their struggles and success as a creative in Malaysia.
By utilising AR, we’ve combined these two mediums to become an engaging and memorable on-ground activation. Sini Sana Seni visitors were able to scan the portraits with a tablet and bring them to life with AR. Once scanned, the portraits transition into a video, offering a glimpse into the artist’s life. The visitors hopped from one portrait to another, curious to find out what the next AR portrait will do. Studies may show that a human’s attention span lasts for a mere 3 seconds but with AR, it grasped their attention for up to 1 minute.
Artist 1: Midnight Fusic
Midnight Fusic's Portrait
Midnight Fusic's AR Video
Artist 2: Nadine Jasmine
Nadine Jasmine's Portrait
Nadine Jasmine's AR Video
Artist 3: Rubin Khoo
Rubin Khoo's Portrait
Rubin Khoo's AR Video
Artist 4: Paulius Staniunas
Paulius Staniunas’ Portrait
Paulius Staniunas’ AR Video
The AR portraits are definitely not a one trick pony. Aside from transforming portraits into videos, AR allows users to further interact with the portrait through its user interface. Using an AR app developed for Sini Sana Seni, users were able to switch between the AR video and other contents such as the artist write-up and a gallery that showcases their latest work. Even the call-to-action buttons are fully functional, linking users to the artist’s website, Spotify page, Instagram, Facebook and more. The additional elements -- All Is Amazing logo, Sini Sana Seni logo, Seni button and About Artist button -- can not be seen without the AR app which makes the experience even more enthralling, especially for first time users.
The AR portraits are definitely not a one trick pony. Aside from transforming portraits into videos, AR allows users to further interact with the portrait through its user interface. Using an AR app developed for Sini Sana Seni, users were able to switch between the AR video and other contents such as the artist write-up and a gallery that showcases their latest work. Even the call-to-action buttons are fully functional, linking users to the artist’s website, Spotify page, Instagram, Facebook and more.
The additional elements:
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All Is Amazing logo
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“Sini Sana Seni” logo button - viewer can see the input from the camera being modified on the screen
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“Seni “button - a gallery to showcase the artists’ artworks
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“About Artist” button - descriptions and details about the artists with their social media platforms links
The buttons can not be seen without the AR app which makes the experience even more enthralling, especially for first time users.
AR App User Interface
"About Artist"
"Seni" (Galery)
All this is made possible, thanks to The Ministry Experience, Malaysia’s finest experts on Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and digital brand experience.
2. Live Portrait Session by All Is Amazing
The entire campaign builds up to this specific day, the exhibition. This is where the entirety of the execution comes into play. We decided to post the exhibition portraits on easels, giving it a bit of bauhaus feel to it (functional and brought final product and it’s placement together). Upon entering the exhibition, audiences will first see the campaign merchandises and media vehicles (videos and other deliverables) first.
They then were brought to the row where the easels were placed, and were given a tablet to see the Augmented Reality content. After passing through the easels, they will be able to see brand elements (pictures and write up) of our client, All is Amazing. At the end of the day, the main focus is our client and the services they provide. We wanted visitors of our exhibition to not only experience our exhibition but also to have something to takeaway.
This is where the photo booth came in. We placed a photo booth at the very end of our exhibition and allowed visitors to pose for photos. And we got one of the photographers from AIA to take the shots. This on the ground activation was effective as many people came through to get their shots. Even those who did not visit our exhibition still did go to the photo booth. This ended up being beneficial for the clients as those who posed for pictures had to giving their email address, which can be seen as potential user data for our client. They are able to send out information and newsletters to those who gave their email address, thus increasing brand awareness.
Some portraits that were taken by All is Amazing during the showcase:
3. Visitor reactions
More importantly were the reactions of visitors who saw the exhibition. On the ground, the concept and content of our exhibition spread via word of mouth. Everyone were eager to see how we have used Augmented Reality. And those who did not know what our exhibition was all about, were highly amazed and surprised when they saw we integrated AR into the campaign. Some thought we were an actual agency working in the real world, and not students which is a good indication of what our project turned out to be. People were impressed and also saw how AR can be implemented in dispersing content.
Pictures are below:
Post exhibition, we compiled all the pictures and feedback received from the exhibition and made a case study video for people to see and also as reference.
