IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM
Exterion Media/IWM
CREDITS
DIRECTOR
Darian Weir
PRODUCERS
Darian Weir
Keith Robinson
AGENCY
Fin London
NETWORK
Exterion Media
BRIEFING
Fin's debut project for the Imperial War Museum was to promote a 'digital first' for the 97 year old institution.
To mark the centenary of World War I's outbreak, the IWM created a digital gallery: "Lives of the First World War." Featuring 8 million profiles of people who made a contribution to the War, the aim of the project was to engage the public and encourage them to upload their own material related to these stories. It ran parallel to the refurbished museum's ground-breaking new galleries, exhibits and reconfigured atrium.
The creative was to run on Exterion Media's Underground XTP screens (Cross Projection Screens), with the aim of driving Londoners to the IWM's website. We were tasked with combining provided stories and imagery into 12 x 25 mute XTP deliveries. Normally, these only have a 20s duration but the poignancy of the subject matter required extra time to aid impact.
The IWM's branding utilises lines and panels; these were incorporated to periodically animate-on throughout the creative, to bring on text and images and, furthermore, contrast between the present and older images. The images themselves would gently zoom and move relative to the subject matter; this gentler pace and approach reflecting the tone of the material. We decided to draw the audience in by introducing each piece with a question relating to the modern audience consuming the media - 'tough day at work?' - before contrasting today's peacetime travails with the harsh reality of War 100 years ago.
One particular idea to increase audience engagement for the end montage, which brings on the brand logo, was to have as many faces as possible looking out of the screen at commuters on the other side of the platform. This template was approved by IWM and subsequently used across all 12 versions, rolling out across the network.