
"KINEMACOLOUR" | IMAGINATION PROJECT
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CREATIVE DIRECTION & SET DESIGN
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Client: UK Foreign Office | Great for Imagination Campaign
Photography: Ted Humble Smith
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We were commissioned by the UK Foreign Office’s Great for Imagination campaign to artistically interpret key British patents throughout history, celebrating the UK’s legacy of innovation through striking visual storytelling. This project spanned 2017, involving a close collaboration with photographer Ted Humble Smith to research and reimagine each patent as meticulously crafted imagery.
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Remember those intense red roses in American Beauty? Or the dashing yellow of Belle’s ball gown? Colour has power in film, and it all began with a Londoner named George Albert Smith.
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For this piece, we celebrated Smith's pioneering work in the early 1900s, when he developed Kinemacolour—the first successful colour film process. Supported by financier Charles Urban, Smith's technique exposed black-and-white film through red and green filters, bringing vibrant colour to early cinema. This breakthrough laid the foundation for the power of colour in film.
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Our artistic interpretation translated this innovative process into a physical installation. We deconstructed the movement of a dancer into stages, printing them onto panels in red, green, and black-and-white hues to echo Smith’s original technique.
The sculptural piece was exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art, featured on the BBC One Show, and became part of a global touring exhibition celebrating the UK’s impact on cinematic and artistic advancements.
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