Duo of NFTS Graduates Take China By Storm With Groundbreaking 3D Technology!
The work of two recent NFTS graduates Cheng Zeng and Ruheng Wang is propelling advertising in China to the next level with the use of ground-breaking 3D Anamorphic Illusion Technology - creating eye-catching three-dimensional style images and videos broadcast via giant 3D LED screens.
Having graduated from the NFTS Visual Effects MA in 2019, Cheng Zeng founded FlintWalk, an integrated film and television production company based in China. Shortly after graduating from the Directing and Producing Television Entertainment MA in 2020, Ruheng joined the company as Creative Director.
Working with leading brands including Mercedes, Jack Daniels and bestselling Chinese band Vogue 5, the duo have mastered the art of 3D Anamorphic Illusion Technology, which uses cutting-edge 3D LED displays to project images that appear to flow outside of the confines of the screen, without the need for glasses or extra equipment to view.
The tech used by FlintWalk has seen everything from China’s favourite music icons to giant pandas hanging out above the busy streets of cities including Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai and Hangzhou and is spreading fast from Asia across Europe, with brands wishing to innovate queuing up to elevate their marketing campaigns.
A prime spot for advertising, London’s landmark Piccadilly Circus site was taken over in 2021 with brands including Amazon, Vodafone and IWC running eye-catching 3D campaigns that captured the public’s attention and garnered huge social media coverage, paving the way for an influx of new career opportunities for future VFX graduates across the world.
Cheng Zeng, Visual Effects MA graduate, founder and DFX supervisor reflects on the success of FlintWalk to date: “After finishing my MA and returning to China, I put what I had learned at the NFTS into practice. Producing films and commercials further improved my skills. It led me to help my team to design and innovate. Along with some ideas I had for ad creation, we started to focus on outdoor billboards. A few years ago, outdoor advertisements were basically print advertisements or in 2D form.
With abundant research and innovation, we wanted to design distinctive visual effects. The very first video we created was a spacecraft creative – it had an enormous impact all over the world with more than 500 million views! We then began to design different and more interesting visual effects that were welcomed by numerous brands. We never stop trying to create and innovate. In the near future, we hope to co-operate with more artists around the world to present completely different visual effects to the public.”
The NFTS runs two Visual Effects MAs, CG and Compositing, alongside a Colour Grading and Finishing MA. Students are taught essential 2D and 3D VFX and Colour/Finishing techniques and then go on to specialise in one area. Students collaborate with others across the School to work on live briefs, on real working sets to put into practice what they learn.
Other graduates from these courses have gone on to work on a huge number of large-scale film and TV productions including Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Matrix Resurrections and the highly anticipated Game of Thrones prequel, House of The Dragon.
The NFTS Directing & Producing Television Entertainment MA which Ruheng graduated from runs like a production company – students are either in pre-production, shooting or in post-production, pitching, producing and directing their own TV shows. Students are taught by top industry professionals on location and in our state-of-the-art studio.
In recent years, our students have sold entertainment formats to Warner Bros and ITV and graduation projects have won prestigious awards from the New York Television Festival and the Royal Television Society.
As well as being instrumental to the success of FlintWalk, Ruheng is also a development producer at leading production house ZigZag Productions in the UK. Ruheng commented: “Anamorphic Ilusion Technology has changed the advertising industry. As Creative Director of FlintWalk, I helped the team develop successful campaigns for international advertisers. I was honoured to have the opportunity to study the MA in Directing and Producing TV Entertainment MA at NFTS. The School offered me a great chance to connect with industry and through two years of study, I was given the time to mature and reflect on my specialism.”
All courses at the National Film and Television School aim to give students a comprehensive understanding of their speciality, enabling them to graduate and explore a multitude of career possibilities.
Visit nfts.co.uk/places-available to find out more.