AdSide Media

👟Case. A video for E-commerce. E-commerce is a huge market and we really enjoy working in this niche. Most of our projects involve advertising for games — but not all. Sometimes, it can be even more interesting to work in another area where we can implement those ideas that are not suitable for games. We can't show all our work in a portfolio, but we have prepared an interesting concept for advertising footwear.

👟For this video, we purchased a sneaker asset and we took the iMac model from stock resources. All other details and environments were built from the ground up in Cinema 4D. The Octane rendering engine greatly simplified the work. It calculates the lighting and makes it as realistic as possible. So, the result was a video with smooth movements and beautiful lighting — this is exactly what you need to beautifully present a product.

We did the project in several iterations, each of which required approval. This is necessary in order to ensure the work goes smoothly and not to redo an already-finished video. For example, in the first iteration, we coordinated the locations in which the video takes place. There was a lot of work on the sound — everything is like in a real movie.

Everything must obey logic — if there is sound from gunshots, there must be sound from the footsteps of robots. One of the most difficult elements is thinking over the flight path of the camera and transitions from one location to another.

A lot of time had to be devoted to the special effects — explosions, glare, dust, etc. I used several tools to create these. For spectacular flying particles, I used Trapcode Particular — a plugin for After Effects.

This is one of my favorite works of late. The result is cool and the creation process was very interesting.

🚿GOAL

"Merge Defense 3D" is an easy-to-learn, hard-to-master Tower Defense game. Usually, motion design that imitates gameplay is used for such projects, but we decided to use a different approach — splicing footage. This approach was not chosen at random — we used it in a previous, similar project and it produced good results.

🛁SOLUTION

Motion design is a technical process that includes working with assets, building a scene, establishing lighting, and more. The difficulties are clear here. When you look at a creative consisting of actual footage, it seems very straightforward, but there are actually a lot of difficulties behind the scenes. According to the script, we needed scenes in different locations, and we have three main possibilities for how to get the required footage:

1. Buy ready-made video from stock websites.

2. Commission a video through a freelance service (Fiverr and the like).

3. Shoot the video yourself.

Of course, there is still the option to get the necessary footage from a client, but statistics show that the probability of such an event is not high. 😀 A combination of these approaches was used for this work — we bought several videos, while others were shot by our team. Shooting even two seconds of video often requires preparation — buying specific equipment, searching for a location, and renting a car or premises. In this work, we did all of the above. In the first seconds of the video, the girl is in the bathroom. Undoubtedly, the emphasis on sexuality adds engagement.

In the middle of the video, we returned to this theme again so as to enhance the effect. This work is an example of how, with the help of a large design team, we were able to shoot several diverse videos. In the end, we got an original creative and with excellent performance. Application: Merge Defense 3D Publisher: EvoBucks Production: AdSide Media Technology: Teamwork and After effects

🚘 GOAL We've done a lot of work for Nitro Nation over the years. Videos with references to popular stories were among the best in terms of performance. These videos are great because they allow you to quickly immerse the viewer in the story, thanks to a familiar setting or image. The main task here is to select the plot so that it is as relevant to the product as possible, without causing rejection from the user upon downloading the game.

🚘 SOLUTION The video features a typical GTA-style plot — running away from the police. The drifting scene took the most time, although in the final version it only takes about 4 seconds. Initially, the scene lasted longer, but in such videos it's important to keep the momentum — you can't make the creative take too long. In racing, there is such a thing as a check point. In the same way, as we build our work — we go through check points. In this case, our designer first made a rough draft, we showed it to the client, and after that we made the necessary improvements, improving the dynamics of the video due to the speed of the car, and balancing the UI elements. Application: Nitro Nation Publisher: Creative Mobile Production: AdSide Media Technology: Unreal Engine, After Effects

GOAL

One of the main tasks for a game is to immerse the player in a truly captivating fictional world, that way they can relax and unwind. In this creative, we decided to exaggerate this idea, and we wanted to show that time really flies when you’re playing this app.

SOLUTION

For technical implementation, we used several programs. Most of the client's source code was in 3ds Max, and the main character was in Maya. Most of the time was spent on the implementation of the plot, but the character animation was also a difficult and long stage. We mostly used ready-made animation from Mixamo, but even so, the movement of the character and the performance of any actions is quite painstaking work. The final touches were minor changes in the composition, color correction, and the search for the perfect texture for the helicopter in the last scene.

Application: DomiNations Publisher: Big Huge Games Production: AdSide Media Technology: Unreal Engine, 3ds max, Maya

This isn't the first time we've made a pack for "Merge Master". That means we've already got a lot of information and ideas to implement. We didn't want to simply implement the terms of reference - we already know how to embellish the gameplay and what will work best. In some places we added more emotions to the characters to make them more impactful.

In some places, on the contrary, we muted the emotions. For example, in the video, the Mentor's emotions are made minimalistic in order to show the personalities of both characters in contrast with the quick-tempered and subversive Ungrim. In other places we tweaked the plot and the dynamics. It's also easier for designers to solve such problems. There are many options and opportunities for the implementation of these technical specifications. This is how our designer Margo described the work - "It's always interesting to combine the artistic part of the video with a direct demonstration of the possibilities of the game. It's important to make sure that the connection doesn't look artificial and forced, but rather logical and complementary. I'm glad it worked out for this video. A logical chain was built: Ungrim is too short, so he makes a potion, then uses it.

For a bigger connection, a pair of ears was added to show that the merge is in so-called real time. So, the characters don't freeze during the merge, but continue to live in this world and feel angry (in the case of the gnome). The most difficult thing for me personally was to try to make it looks as good as possible in the allotted time, because when cool sources meet a cool idea, it's very difficult to stop and not go into endless perfectionism."

GOAL

In this work for “Nitro Nation,” we made a reference to the popular Grand Theft Auto games. According to our statistics, this approach significantly improves video performance. This is due to the fact that the viewer sees familiar images right from the get-go. We chose to focus on the customization mechanic for this creative, as it’s typically very effective for racing-style games. Including the references to such a classic game also evokes feelings of nostalgia, which is always a plus.

SOLUTION

To implement the idea, we used the Unreal Engine environment. Most of our time was spent on building the scene and adding small objects that helped create the mood of the city.

Here are some of the main details that the designer focused on: 1. Fog was added for the background. 2. A building was added to balance the composition. 3. At the time of the upgrade, the headlights were turned off (we tried to make it look realistic). 4. In the process of creating the video, we decided to add “wanted stars,” like in GTA. 5. The scene was sped up by 10%. Dynamics are absolutely vital in racing games! 6. We added volumetric buttons. 7. The color of the spoiler was changed. 8. We worked out the shadows with the help of the Long Shadow plugin.

In the end, we got a creative that catches your attention from the first few seconds due to a recognizable plot, and entices you thanks to the customization mechanics.

🔫IDEA Our idea was to grab the viewer’s attention with a reference to the “Noisy Cricket,” a small, inconspicuous weapon. There are scenes with such weapons in Men in Black, Pirates of the Caribbean, and many other films. Images that are simple and quick to read are an excellent basis for a creative. Further, the idea had to be framed in a high-quality cinematic. The rules here are the same as when shooting a real movie.

💥IMPLEMENTATION The creative starts abruptly with a fight scene. This is a hook that allows you to attract the attention of the target audience. Next comes the customization scene, and finally defeating the enemy with the help of the “Noisy Cricket.” Here's what we worked on the most during the production process: — Camera angle — this is always important in a 3D video. In a video of such quality as this, choosing angles can take a significant amount of time.

The camera movement had to be spectacular, but similar to real gameplay. — Adjustment of the motion blur effect — sometimes this is needed to show the atmosphere or dynamics, but here it was important to maintain a balance and show the objects in detail. — Elaboration of gunshots — we showed the recoil of the gunshots and added sound effects. — Creation of a shock wave from the gunshots. — Animation of the destruction of enemies.

One of our senior designers, Alex, prepared the detailed instructions that we used for this project. They cover the basic cinematic techniques and how to create and apply them in our videos. A team consisting of a designer, a senior designer, and a creative producer worked on the production of the video. This made it possible to fulfil the technical requirements of the client, make a catchy video, and reliably convey the special effects. Great job, team! Application: War Robots Publisher: Pixonic Production: AdSide Media Technology: Unreal Engine, After Effects, Cinema 4D

💥 GOAL: "Angry Birds 2" is a sequel to the original game. For this work, we decided to show the "Tower of Fortune" game mode through some popular elevator mechanics. 💥 SOLUTION: The game also has elevators, but in a simpler display. We decided to develop this topic in the video. In some tasks, the creative process is to design a character or environment from scratch. There was a slightly different problem here. The client provided a huge amount of source material, which always makes the work easier, on one hand. But on the other hand, you need to find the necessary materials in the source array. The elevator corridors were composited from third-party assets — Photoshop and Illustrator helped us collect the elements and give them a consistent style. Special attention was paid to stage setting, elevator movement, and display of UI elements. In the end, we got a bright creative, in which the possibilities of the game are shown through current elevator mechanics. Application: Angry Birds 2 Publisher: Rovio Production: AdSide Media Technology: Illustrator, After Effects

⚔ GOAL "Age Of Magic" is an RPG. In this video, our task was to combine several mechanics, which, according to our statistics, would attract a large number of users to the application. ⚔ SOLUTION In the first part of the creative, we demonstrate the choice of weapons - this is the first thing that catches the viewer. In the second part, we show a battle with this weapon — spectacular combat in and of itself is already a great way to attract an audience to an application. The third ingredient in the performance was the obvious emphasis on femininity and sexuality. In this video, the elaboration of the characters and details was important. An excellent choice for working with character modeling is Daz. We used it, but in order to reduce the rendering time, the models were imported into the Unreal Engine environment. There, the scene was finally assembled and animation was done. This work is an excellent example of how the possession of a wide arsenal of tools helps our designers to optimize the time for video ads production and create a quality product at the best price. Application: Age of Magic Publisher: Playkot Limited Production: AdSide Media Technology: DAZ Studio, Unreal Engine, AE

💥GOAL “Planet Rush” is an action game with an exciting plot that’s made for real shooter connoisseurs! In this work, we decided to use a well-proven approach — towers. However, we decided to do it in the setting of the game. This combination was meant to attract users and not cause rejection based on any perceived difference between the visuals of the game and advertising.

🔫SOLUTION Our designer Murat talks about working on the project: “I used a combination of Cinema 4D and Element 3D. The most difficult thing for me was achieving the material I needed in the tunnel models. By the way, the tunnels are custom-modelled specifically for this task. One interesting thing is the “Level-Up” effect, recorded with a screencast from the game, and used it as a reference in order to completely recreate such an effect from scratch (it was not possible to cut it out).

An important role, I believe, was played by the colours. There is no colourful background in this creation, only 3-4 clear colours appear, due to which it seems to me that the video attracted attention.”

Application: Planet Rush Publisher: UGO Games Production: AdSide Media Technology: Cinema 4D, Element 3D

GOAL
We came close to not implementing this idea because the client came to us with a production plan already in mind. Their ideas were good, but we still wondered - can we do better? Can we offer something else? So, we conducted a quick market analysis and found an approach that works in similar products.

We made a video in the fall of 2021 when the series “Squid Game” was popular. We saw that this series was being referenced a lot in the market and decided to make our own variation of this approach.

SOLUTION
To implement the idea, we made a creative that references one of the most iconic episodes of the series. With an umbrella icon in the middle of the screen, we added a token with an umbrella to the playing area. Naturally, we made the playing area from scratch, since there is no such feature in the original gameplay.

The top part of the creative also took a lot of time. Unfortunately, the client's source code didn’t allow for character animation, so we drew them from scratch - this part was handled by our illustrator. We created both the character and its animation and emotions.

It can also be noted that we performed several unique resizes. We didn't just expand/shrink the video to the necessary proportions, but also added the necessary environmental elements to make each size look like the screen of the real game.

In the end, we got a video based on a situational layout. We worked all the elements by hand to properly convey our idea and we are happy with the result!

Application: Match Masters
Publisher: Candivore
Production: AdSide Media
Technology: Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects

🔺In today’s video, we’ve collected our most interesting projects from the last 6 months. For video production, we use a whole arsenal of tools, including After Effects, Blender, Maya, Daz Studio, Unreal Engine, Cinema 4D, Element 3D, Photoshop, Illustrator, and others. In addition, we use hundreds of plug-ins and programs for rendering and creating sound effects. 🔺Video creation is preceded by analytics. When the work on a pack of creatives is over, we start buying traffic, then we analyze the results. Next, we make a new pack based on the new data. This is a production cycle that ensures the stable growth of a mobile application — step by step. 🔺We are grateful to the clients who have entrusted us with the promotion of their products. We are glad that our work bears fruit not only in the form of a beautiful picture, but that every creative is a tool that brings profit to our clients.