Netcomm The Best Solution

"The team at Jumbla are our go-to agency for animation and videos. Not only extremely easy to work with, highly skilled and professional, they seem to be able to draw what we need for a particular campaign out of our heads and deliver it in a uniquely creative fashion."

Frank Matus, Head of Marketing, Operations & Events

Designer channels David (Attenborough) for Netcomm promo

NetComm’s reputation as a global tech leader is fast evolving as it pushes its capabilities as a provider of solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT).

This push relies on the power of emerging 5G mobile networking technology - and the ability of NetComm’s market to understand its potential benefits (and pitfalls).

To help educate prospects and generate brand awareness, NetComm enlisted Jumbla to provide a high-level overview of its IoT capabilities, focusing on the importance of a well-considered IoT strategy. The end result - a 40-second web video - is Jumbla’s second project for NetComm, following this piece on the company’s 5G fixed wireless solutions.

“They were so happy with the process and the result that they were eager to work with us again,” producer Danielle Kilgour said. “This time, NetComm wanted to build hype and interest for their products without getting too technical or detail-oriented.  We proposed a few different concepts and the winning one was a metaphorical approach using bees and their hive to represent IoT and connectivity.

“We chose to make bees the heroes of the piece as they’re the perfect symbol of what implementing an IoT strategy can feel or look like – chaotic and disordered, even though there’s an underlying, inbuilt logic to it all. The electric grid lighting up in the final moments of the video really highlights that point  – even though a hive has many different parts, it’s all strategically linked and works seamlessly together.”

Folding fabric in the virtual world

Technically, the main challenge was building realistic 3D bees and their wings while in flight.

“I spent a week watching bees in super slow motion,” senior motion designer Richard Shilling said. “The wings are a beautiful, yet extraordinarily complex part of the bee. They’re equally complex to animate - very fluid and folding almost like fabric. Recreating that was certainly a challenge.”

Richard used Blender’s robust rigging toolset to streamline the animation process, exporting into Cinema 4D for final tweaks. He fell into the lead animator role thanks in part to his uniquely specific experience in animating … erm ... insects.

“Before starting with Jumbla I was working with the ABC on a children’s cartoon involving a lot of insects. The most challenging one I worked on was a dung beetle. They walk backwards,” he said. “I’ve done ants, dung beetles, bees, a lady bug … that was the most fun actually. I love it.”

All hail Richard Attenborough-Shilling.