Eye Studio, is an innovative agency, based in the vibrant landscapes of KSA and UAE. They have been making waves with their remarkable CGI creations that seamlessly blend reality and imagination. With a recent viral sensation featuring a larger-than-life Barbie doll CGI standing toe-to-toe with Dubai’s iconic Burj Khalifa, Eye Studio has once again captured the collective imagination of audiences around the world.
In this interview with the British Herald, Juhi Rupani, creative director of Eye Studio, express their creative journey, inspirations, and the making of this spectacular CGI artwork.
What inspired you for the CGI creations of a giant Barbie doll and Oppenheimer in Dubai? As both movies are known for not using CGI much?
The movie’s marketing was so extensive, from collaborations to PR to awareness of everything and yet this brilliant tactic of CGI wasn’t used so we saw a gap and were happy to take the spot.
That one was for the fans; we received numerous requests to do something for Oppenheimer. Including him beside Barbie seemed like the perfect way to continue the now-global viral narrative.
A magician never reveals his secret now, does he? In terms of technical challenges. We had very few because we have been doing this for a while and know what needs to be done and when to avoid certain difficulties.
Dubai’s extravagant, almost superficial image to the rest of the world is exactly why these videos work so well. Here since it’s never “taken too far” in terms of believing if it was done or not when it comes to Dubai.
Eye Studio’s Neal Santos, a 3D generalist, and Taha Dungerwala, a junior art director, were tasked with the project.
Can you share some insights into Eye Studio’s previous CGI projects? Plans in terms of using CGI for marketing and advertising?
We’ve been in the market for a while and have done quite a few viral campaigns before for some of the global brands we work with. For plans, we prefer to do what we love. And have a lot of amazing work with some cool brands coming out soon. So keep an eye on our Instagram for some new stuff shortly.
How has the response been to the CGI creations from both the public and the media?
The public response has been amazing, barbie is a classic and the public love it and we have received so many questions as to whether is this real. Which by the way makes us super happy cause that means a job well done. The media response has topped all our expectations, it has been just insane. We were everywhere, and we even did a CNN international live interview, so you can figure it out.
Do you think that CGI marketing will become more prevalent in the industry in the future?
It’s a cool way to promote and as this video has proved it has a massive reach and potential. If the number of inquiries we’ve had is any indication, we believe this will be the next IT thing in the marketing sector.
Is there any collaboration process between Eye Studio with Dubai tourism authorities or the Barbie movie production team?
For this particular video, No.
This time British Herald Magazine inculcated a barbenheimer theme, As a creative team what is your impression?
It was a pretty smart strategy to use separate fandoms for each movie to practically promote each other. While also using the general public who is enthusiastic about both or on the fence for either to kind of find their niche. Except that it is not a niche and is a large group of millions of people. Overall to sum it up we think Barbenheimer was a moment that will go down in Pop Culture.