Project
N°010
Name
Modern Office — A Threads Short Film
Company
Threads
Date
2023
Role
Direction, Titles, Mobile Prototypes, Video Editing & Production
Availability
Live
URL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gKXA4kMLJY
About
"Modern Office" was the first fully scripted, narrative video production at Threads. With the story written and produced by Rosalee Moschioni, the audience can understand how it looks and feels to use threads.com as the place where all work communications happen, despite the challenges of remote work (and in this case, the closing of a physical office location).
Originally, we were going to illustrate a fictional scenario where a company uses Threads at the height of the pandemic lockdown of 2020, but felt that the tone and imagery required to convey this would take the video into darker territory than it needed to be in.
Instead, we modeled the story after the real "HQ closing" announcement sent internally within Threads.com in 2022. Not only would it be the most believable approach, but it also helped me flesh out details that would have otherwise been difficult to fake.
Modern Office — A Threads Short Film
I created an Origami prototype of the Threads iOS app, with automatic switches and delays that allow interactions to fire at the same time as the actor's movements in the video. The recording of the prototype was then tracked onto the video, keying out the green screen that was originally there.
To create this closeup camera, I used a 3D layer in After Effects along with life-like movement of a camera wiggle, the pixel grid of a digital screen, and chromatic aberration.
I designed the examples, named the characters, created the story, mission, and culture of this fictional company called "Starling" which is a reference to the early days of Threads.com
We intentionally keep the real-world environment to a minimum, but show just enough to convey a sense of realism.
