Timber Sound is the new consumer branch of Navy Island's acoustic panels. Navy Island's beautiful panel installations are featured in locations such as Apple Park, The Museum of Modern Art, and Harvard University, among many others.
Our team had the opportunity to work on a brand anthem video for Timber Sound. The planks are unique among noise absorption products because they are made from real wood. We saw that the beauty of the planks, the ease of installation, and the many applications within the home would be best demonstrated in a 3D space with representations of both the wanted and unwanted sounds within the space. See our process below:
Creative direction: Ian Pitkanen
Produced by: Lucas Langworthy
Animation, modelling, and simulations: Ian Pitkanen & Paige Burgett
Storyboards: Page Burgett & Ian Pitkanen
Materials, lighting, & concepts: Ian Pitkanen
Animation, modelling, and simulations: Ian Pitkanen & Paige Burgett
Storyboards: Page Burgett & Ian Pitkanen
Materials, lighting, & concepts: Ian Pitkanen
Sound design: Ryan Pribyl
Look Exploration
Our earliest explorations focused more heavily on the planks and the technology behind them rather than focusing on the problem the planks solve.
Storyboards
The anthem changed from these storyboards but the creative process still began with this story. An idea of an apartment saturated with unwanted noise became a constant in the conversation. The final noises are more ambient and distracting than more common sounds like clocks and coffee makers. Some remained in the project like the desktop audio. An element that drove the entire video that started with these boards was the sound particles and going from chaos to order when the sound planks were introduced.
Style Frames
As the storyline developed we created a space for the particles and the planks to live in. We used our favorite 3D tool, Blender, and the Cycles engine to render these frames and explore the look and materials of the apartment and the sources of the sounds.
Sound Visualization
The interaction between the planks and the sounds was a critical piece of the product presentation. We didn't want to delve too deep into the technical side of the product while still showing what the planks were doing when when sound hits them. The micro perforations do not simply cancel sound, they augment it. Ultimately, we landed on the idea of organizing and accentuating good sounds that are desirable in your home instead of simply changing or eliminating unwanted sounds.
Video Excerpts
