Academy Special Project: Hams Hall 2030 Future Vision
Last year we were approached by Christian Poss, the Digitization and Innovation Manager at Hams Hall. BMW Plant Hams Hall is an engine manufacturing and assembly plant in Birmingham, United Kingdom which supplies drive units for BMW, MINI and Rolls Royce vehicles. Christian told us about a 2030 future vision project that Hams Hall management had developed, which needed to be visualised and available in a digital format for internal use and external promotion. After a series of discussions and planning meetings we officially kicked off a new Special Project at the Academy: the 2030 Hams Hall Future Vision. The deliverable that we have been tasked with is a 3 minute animation which illustrates the future vision for the Hams Hall factory. As we write this blog in February 2023, we have just submitted Part 1 of this project – a medium resolution animation. Part 2, which we are aiming to deliver in early August, is a higher resolution video (further detail in the models and more visual realism).
As we are currently gathering our thoughts and feedback on the Part 1 submission, we wanted to take some time to note down each of our thoughts and experiences when completing the first part of this project. While we can’t show or say a whole lot about Part 1 just yet, we can speak about the project in a general sense. We have already started working on part 2, and we are incredibly excited to see the video come to life and share it with you and the wider public in due time.
Epi – Crafting the Vision
Animation is a fascinating medium that can bring characters and stories to life in ways that are impossible with live-action films. Ever since my first year at Uni, I’ve longed for the chance to work on future vision film for a company pursuing excellence in their craft. This year, for the first time, I find myself on a team visualising BMW’s vision for a lean, green and digital future. My role involved planning, research and development, scene building, and animation. However, the aspect that I found most fulfilling was the chance to work on producing style frames and establishing a storyboard with a cohesive visual design language.
Style frames are essentially a blueprint for an animation sequence, providing a detailed visual representation of the look and feel of each scene. They play a crucial role in the development of any animation project, as they serve as the foundation for the final product. The process of producing style frames required a combination of technical and creative skills. First, I needed to develop an understanding of the brand, its values, and its target audience. Then, I had to bring this understanding to life through the creation of detailed sketches, mood boards, colour palettes, and composition studies. These visual references helped to communicate the intended aesthetic and the overall mood of the animation. We work flexibly at the Academy, as our perspicacious design approach broke down complex requirements into simple visual cues – which provided a stable foundation for mood boarding and eventual style framing.
After communicating our initial direction, we began iterating and producing different style frames. Once signed off, we proceeded to composition, then models, materials, lights and finally motion. One of the most exciting aspects of producing style frames was the chance to experiment with different visual styles and techniques. This allowed me to explore various options and find the perfect style for each scene, as well as each of BMW’s three vision pillars. It was an incredibly rewarding experience to see the project come to life through the style frames and to know that even simple material experiments can play a key role in shaping the final product. The process of producing style frames was also an opportunity to collaborate with other members of the team, including the 3D modellers, texture artists, and animators. The clear visual references provided by the style frames helped to ensure that everyone was working towards the same vision, leading to a more cohesive and polished final product.
In conclusion, my experience working on the animation project for BMW was a fulfilling and exciting opportunity. It allowed me to utilize my creative and technical skills to bring the vision to life and collaborate with other members of the team. I am grateful for the opportunity to have contributed to such a unique and innovative project and have had the chance to practice a new set of skills.
Tim – My Experience
In late 2022 we were tasked with producing a futuristic factory animation for the BMW Plant Hams Hall, situated in Birmingham, UK. To begin we conducted research to understand the significance of the plant for BMW and its goals for the future, particularly by 2030 and beyond. Our investigation covered the plant's inception and noteworthy achievements since its establishment, and we held regular meetings with personnel from Hams Hall to shape the vision of the facility in 2030. Developing a script was a crucial aspect of the project, as it served as the foundation for all visual elements in the initial draft. While it was essential to provide detailed descriptions in the script, we relied on the visuals to convey most of the intended message. Our team brainstormed and examined different possibilities for what a BMW factory of the future could look like, guided by three primary criteria: being lean, green, and digital. Using reference images and videos we created preliminary storyboards that were timed to the script and formed the first version of the animated video. We combined 2D and 3D techniques to create a draft video, allowing us to evaluate the timing and visuals of the project. Designing and creating the assets was the most enjoyable aspect of the project for me, personally. Using basic primitive shapes, I began by blocking out some scenes and establishing the composition with camera angles and basic lighting. I remained as faithful as possible to the reference materials and storyboards. To keep within project constraints, we divided the frame length of each scene, enabling us to time the script and camera movements as accurately as possible.
Jordan – My First Animation Project
This Hams Hall project is something I was really excited about when we started the discussions last year. This is the first large animation project I have been involved in – so I knew there was going to be a lot of learning, but also a lot of designing, creating and fun to look forward to. So far it has been a positive experience, and working alongside some talented people (Epi, Tim and now Dan in the office, plus Jacob doing casual work at home) has made it even better.
Having not done an animation project like this before, and not being seasoned professionals by any means, we just followed a design process that was logical to us, and I guess familiar or natural to us after our Industrial Design degrees. Our process involved a lot of exploring and synthesising ideas, constant iteration and refinement, regular feedback and communications with all parts of the team (Academy and Hams Hall), and plenty of mini checkpoints and stages that served as minor deliverables. Doing all of these things seemed like the right way to achieve the result that BMW was after, and the result that we were pushing ourselves to reach. I know we are only half way through, but I’m already so proud of the team and what we have created in such a short time.
My input to Part 1 was a lot of the planning and organisation, the design and discussions around how to show different elements of the video, plus a good amount of the graphical elements and 3D modelling for different assets within the video. For Part 2 I am really looking forward to refining some of the 3D models, spending more time on designing and creating the large number of 3D assets in the videos (particularly the models that will get a lot of screen time), plus being more hands on with some of the animation output. Working through the different stages, scenes and smaller elements as a team has been really enjoyable, and to me reinforces that design really benefits from teamwork and a variety of skills and passions. I also feel as though the learning outcomes (even just from this short Part 1 project over a few months) has been quite valuable. Specifically things like communication, documentation and general time and project organisation has been crucial to this project being delivered and at a high standard. I certainly feel like I’ve taken a few steps forward as a team leader and project manager and I’m welcoming the opportunity to solidify these skills during Part 2.
Thanks for reading,
Jordan Domjahn, Epi Pereira + Tim Lim
Academy Design Associates
