PDR is a world-leading design consultancy and applied research facility based in Cardiff.

They make really cool stuff, so we have that in common. *wink*

Sleek, beautiful and a marvel of modern design. No, not Lewis’ new hair-do, it’s CoolScultpting’s new muscle toning wizard machine, CoolTone. You’ve heard of Slendertone, right? Strap on a belt and let it electrocute you until you’ve got a six pack? Essentially, it’s the badass version of that. With one zap from this baby, you’ll be looking like Brad Pitt in Fight Club, but hopefully with less blood or the multiple personality issues. (We don’t know what you get up to on the weekends, but that’s not our business.)

Tasked with making a huge convention of cosmetic specialists in Nashville go ”YEEE-HAAAWW!”, we had to think big and bold. Nothing says “non-invasive cosmetic product launch” like a whomping great trap tune, right? Twin that with some cinematic, documentary-style team shots and some high-end CGI, and you’ve got yourself a product reveal video that’ll blow anyone’s wig off.

“Nothing says “non-invasive cosmetic product launch” like a whomping great trap tune, right?

The tone we went for was that of pride, excitement and anticipation. We wanted to create a fine balance between these emotions, reflecting the hard work that’s gone into this device from a talented team, but at the same time, showing off the fruits of their labour.

Our in-house dream weaver, Josh, teamed up with independent CGI specialists, Bomper Studio, and cinematographer extraordinaire, Dom John, to pull off this beast. Shot over two days across two cities, our small-but-nimble crew absolutely smashed the production, working closely with the wonderful folk at PDR to nail those authentic moments across their design workshops.

Working with a product that doesn’t physically exist yet is undoubtedly a challenge. For many a month, CoolTone lived among us merely as a CAD Design, being thrown between studios and offices like a very expensive, top-secret tennis ball. Storyboards and shots were constructed by exploring the product within CAD software—a process peppered with swearing and shouting at a screen.

Once Josh’s crude storyboards had been conceived, we lobbed them over to the talented team at Bomper who had no problem sinking their teeth into this juicy peach of a task. Being one of the first projects where we’ve utilised full CGI scenes, we learned some pretty cool things: how expensive CGI is, how light reflects off certain materials and how expensive CGI is. The shots that came back are absolutely stunning and we couldn’t be happier!

So…did we manage to get our “yee-haw” moment from the convention crowd? You bet we did! It wasn’t caught on camera, but we’ve been assured it definitely happened. Suffice to say, this was a dream project for us—full of new, exciting challenges, but ultimately a joy to work on.

Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re off to get ripped like Ronaldo. *zap*