The mesmerizing titles for OFFSET Dublin 2016 that were created by the ultra talented multidisciplinary creative content studio and Dublin’s own, Piranha Bar have just been awarded an ICAD Bronze Award. It was a double whammy on the night as Mutiny won for Sound Design for the titles too.

Check out the making of video below and find out what went on behind-the-scenes to produce these bizarre talking abstract sculptures as we catch up with Creative Director, Richard Chaney.

What was your source of inspiration for the OFFSET Dublin 2016 titles?
The OFFSET conference itself was our inspiration. Having enjoyed being in the audience ourselves over the last few years, we wanted the opening titles to capture the cumulative effect of watching one inspirational speaker after another, for three days running.

What pulled you towards motion capture?
Motion capture, or specifically performance capture in this case, is a tool we’ve used in a variety of projects. Usually there’s a direct correlation between the human performing and an animated character that’s somewhat recognizable. We were intrigued to experiment with how to inject human qualities into relatively abstract forms.

What was your daily process during the making of the titles?
Having a passion project like this running in parallel to the normal day to day production company business, the biggest challenge was trying to get the 3D animation team to work on the scheduled projects, as they were having so much fun with the challenges this project threw up.

How did the titles differ from other projects you’ve worked on, specifically other motion capture work?
Creative freedom is a rare commodity but also a dangerous stick to beat one’s self with. The OFFSET team gave us enough so that could bludgeon ourselves daily. When opportunities come along to look at techniques like motion capture and motion design from a non-commercial perspective, they open up a wealth of different challenges.

How does working in this medium differ to others (live action, 2D etc.)? Does your process differ at all?
We mostly work on projects that combine multiple techniques and mediums; 2D animation, live action, 3D animation etc. But by containing the project to a motion capture shoot and full 3D imagery, it meant we could execute everything in-house without incurring ‘real’ costs.

You worked closely with Mutiny Recording Studios on the sound, how did this collaboration work?
Yes, Mutiny were the other 50% of the team. They worked closely with us from the start. As the project revolves around a bold and intense piece of sound design, we work shopped various ways to build a sound bed that would give us the ammunition we needed when it came to performance and animation. There was almost a daily swapping of audio and visuals, which constantly fed into the development of our respective halves of the project.
Apart from the opening titles themselves, there were the 21 Speaker Titles to create, each of which used a bed of sound effects to drive the animation of the abstract forms. So yes Mutiny’s involvement and passion for the project was critical.

What was it like seeing the titles up on the big screen in The Bord Gáis Energy Theatre?
The venue is simply epic! They’re pretty intense opening titles. Even watching them on a normal monitor. But in that context, with the scale of that screen, those acoustics and that hyped audience, it definitely had the impact we hoped for.

What’s next on the cards for Piranha Bar?
More motion capture I’m sure!
We live for new scary challenges and we seem to attract creative projects that tap into our hybrid nature, where multiple techniques and mediums are blended to create fresh combinations. But as we look to work on creative projects around the globe we know our biggest, scariest and most exciting challenges are around the corner.