WANT SOME PURE BLACK SUNSHINE?

Digital production studio Lollipop invites coffee lovers to face their fears with a new pulse pounding first-person interactive web experience for Black Sunshine Coffee.

At pureblacksunshine.com visitors are invited to step into shadows of the underworld, chartering a flight to a mysterious island to undertake a business deal with a difference. Players who keep their cool and make it past the imposing steel door guarding the entrance to a seemingly abandoned warehouse are tested to the limits as they come face to face with the dealer, his pure organic stash, and a gun-toting gang of hired thugs.

In the hunt for an innovative storyline to launch an exciting new coffee brand to the market, Toronto-based agency Extreme Group approached Lollipop. The idea was deceptively simple - to create an innovative interactive environment where visitors could take part in a subversive online shopping experience styled after a drug deal. The challenge for Lollipop was to create that buzz through a combination of atmospheric video content and a slick online space that married film with fun and fear.

"The story unfolds through a series of video clips with the user making choices at certain points to move through the experience," explains Michael Gramlow, Creative Director at Lollipop. "We wanted to create a really immersive atmosphere for visitors to submerge themselves in so we shot the whole film in a first-person POV using a Steadicam and streamlined the navigation around intuitive point and click decision making."

Movement through the site takes users from a first-hand look at the various roasts and beans on offer right through to the deal, where they're connected to an online shop to peruse the goods are available for purchase.

"There's about ten minutes of content waiting to be unlocked at pureblacksunshine.com," reveals Gramlow. "Not to spoil the surprise, but there are a few things hidden on the site that aren't immediately obvious. Try seeing what happens when you take too long to make a decision or try to look at the same product multiple times..."

To create the contraband warehouse look and feel, Lollipop brought veteran photographer Frank Hoedl on board. Styling the lighting and shooting the video content, Hoedl's emphasis was on capturing an authentic environment in camera to keep post to a minimum and draw out the raw, naturalistic tones and shades of the building.

"Prior to the shoot, we mapped out in detail all of the shots required to make the whole experience work and determined what the cut points would be to get from video to video," say Gramlow. "Talking to Frank we determined that using blinking overhead lights would help us achieve natural cuts in the video and allow us to smooth out the transitions between different sections of the site. We really wanted to avoid jump cuts when users were clicking to make choices as it was vital to create seamless transitions to sustain the tension."

Integrating film, site design and an innovative approach to online storytelling, Lollipop's latest project showcases the studio's full range of creative abilities with the aim of providing visitors to pureblacksunshine.com with an engaging and memorable brand experience.



Credits

url: pureblacksunshine.com
Agency: Extreme Group, Toronto
Client: Caribbean Farms
Chief Creative Officer: Shawn King
Creative Director: Matt Syberg-Olsen
Art Director: Mike Schonberger
Copywriter: Matt Hubbard

Digital Production: Lollipop, Toronto
Lollipop Creative Director: Michael Gramlow
Executive Producer: Amanda Loughran
Project Manager: Laura Richardson
Flash Developer: Dan Purdy
Live Action Director: Frank Hoedl
Editorial: Mark Paiva, Poster Boy Edit, Toronto
Post Production: Crush, Toronto
Music/Sound Design: Keen, Toronto


Video Files
View a video describing pureblacksunshine.com here: http://vimeo.com/9792901
Download here: http://pbs.wearelollipop.com/pbs_glossy_848x480.mov.zip


Extreme Group
For more than 12 years, Extreme Group has been using creativity to solve problems, start conversations and keep them going. From our offices in Halifax and Toronto we create relationships instead of transactions and get remarkable results through interaction.  As experts in Brand and Consumer interaction, our insight-based approach has resulted in record setting and award winning campaigns for clients like Sony Style, RIM, P&G, Quiznos, Bell Aliant, Workers' Compensation Board of Nova Scotia, Moosehead Breweries, BDO Dunwoody, Cadillac Fairview Properties, Marriott Hotels and Grand & Toy.

Lollipop
Toronto-based Lollipop is a digital creative production boutique founded in the summer of 2009 by Amanda Loughran and Michael Gramlow. Lollipop collaborates with leading agencies to turn ideas into great digital experiences.
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