From creation myths to flashing neon tubes, the role of light can be conceived as a symbol of progress or an ancient way of communicating with the spirit world. After Light explores how light continues to inspire and influence people in our modern world.

Made up of fourteen video screens installed across twenty seven shipping containers After Light was commissioned for the Marina Bay iLight festival 2012 in Singapore and features material shot in Singapore and New Zealand. The work has three chapters and is 12mins long with a mesmerizing soundtrack created by Hummel constructed from field recordings in each location.

CHAPTER 1: DIVINE LIGHT – watch

Incorporating Hindu, Muslim and Taoist prayer ceremonies, this chapter looks at the way in which light is used as a connection to the spiritual plane. We journey from the candles and feverish chanting of the famous Kali Temple in Singapore’s Little India to the more subdued muslim prayer of 3000 men in the Sultan Mosque.  The final scene takes the viewer inside a private Taoist good luck ceremony incorporating the burning of chinese money. The accompanying soundtrack is made up of over three hundred people chanting inside the small temple around the time of Chinese New Year.

Watch final edit version of Divine Light.

CHAPTER 2: INDUSTRIAL LIGHT – watch

A look at the way in which the man made light of the city pervades the night time air. This section opens with rapid time-lapse of Singapore city at night and bounces light all around the many different screens to great effect. Skyscrapers, LED mall signage and  other light textures of the city form a textural palette.  Set to a fast paced glitchy soundtrack, the work is a universal look at how the neon lights of the city infiltrate us all.

Watch final edit version of Industrial Light.

CHAPTER 3: HUMAN LIGHT – watch

Based on the universal idea that light as spirit is common to all humanity,  this chapter uses black and white shots of multi-cultural faces coming in and out of darkness. A powerfully simple but visually striking concept, set to a contemplative soundtrack, Human Light celebrates the spark in us all.

Watch final edit version.

For more information about booking this work please contact us.

An interactive exhibition showcasing the best of Kiwi film, TV and music video.

A collaborative project between Storybox, Chrometoaster and NZ On Screen, ‘New Zealand On Screen’ was an anchor project of the REAL New Zealand Festival during the Rugby World Cup 2011 and hosted more than 85,000 visitors.

The exhibition was presented in re-configured shipping containers in Auckland and Wellington as well as a retro caravan converted into a mobile cinema touring 16 centres in the South Island.

Visitors encountered screen treasures via a spirit-stirring identity gateway; got touchy-feely with a state-of-the-art interactive video wall; and watched a choice selection of classic Kiwi shorts in the retro lounge and on the large outdoor screens.

There’s was also the ‘Scene Stealer’, an iPad app where visitors could take a photo of themselves, be inserted in a classic NZ film or TV scene, and then share the image via email, facebook and twitter.

At night award-winning short films and magic screen moments could be seen on a video tower atop the containers.

Storybox was responsible for the project management, creative direction, production, logistics, event and volunteer management of the exhibition spaces.

Reshaping Wellington’s future.

WGTN 2040 is an interactive exhibition exploring what Wellington might look like in just under three decades. Designed to create a public engagement platform for sections of the WGTN 2040 plan, we took the themes of dynamic central city, connected city, people city and eco city and divided them across two different container installation zones.

At each site, visitors were invited to engage with these concepts and discover what others are thinking through audiovisual material, touchscreen maps and video posts from people on the street. There’s even an interactive bicycle so you can see if you’ve got what it takes to boil the kettle and charge your laptop using nothing but pedal power.

The installation at Te Aro Park also doubled as a stage with free lunchtime and evening gigs featuring local musicians. At the waterfront site, giant screens light up every night with animations and RSS feeds.

Storybox was responsible for all design, interactive, video, spatial and production, logistics and event management elements.

The inspiration for this project was a desire to bring to life quotes from great New Zealand authors.

Created by Storybox and National Park the project was commissioned by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage for New Zealand ‘ s involvement as Guest of Honour at the 2012 Frankfurt Book F air. The quotes were chosen by Witi Ihimaera and structured to emulate the welcome onto a Marae.

“We wanted to take the essence of each quote and give it a simple yet elegant visual metaphor”, says director Robert Appierdo from Storybox.

The final result is a combination of illustration, stop motion and motion graphics animating the words of, Katherine Mansfield, Patricia Grace, Michael King, Selina Tusitala, Witi Ihimaera, Magret Mahy, Hone Tuwhare, Hirini Melbourne, Bill Manhire and traditional Maori whakatautki.

Designed specifically for a German audience it has subtitles and was screened to an audience of worldwide press in Frankfurt earlier this month.

“The German response was incredible, we’ve had requests from widespread German media to screen the animation – people love it. It says a lot about our creativity and the success of our literature internationally” , says Guest of Honour Project Director Tanea Heke.

Waking

Sleep science and performing arts in dialogue.

Waking is a project set up by the talented director/designer Sam Trubridge and Playground NZ to develop an artistic dialogue with the world of sleep analysis. Through performance design, installation and dance the world of our sleeping thoughts are brought to life.

Storybox designed and built a website that enables the Waking project to promote their work and develop a platform to hold future work by the group.

Capturing the changes in a local community.

This was a site specific work that wove a story based on two periods of the local area of Petone’s history – European settlement in the 1840s and the industrialisation of the 1940s. Our aim was to reflect on some of the changes this area had undergone in terms of its population, culture and industry. Storybox worked closely with the local museum, library and art gallery.

The final work was projected in the containers by the beach as a live documentary for the opening of the Petone Winter Carnival in 2007. The footage and the original soundtrack created by Rhian Shehan and Hummel was recorded and became the content that played in the container installation for ten days.

To arrive, you first have to leave.

Storybox was invited to be part of the 2008 Auckland City Council’s outdoor installation festival Living Room. For this we collaborated with the National Maritime Museum and developed an outdoor video performance installation in modified shipping containers.

Using the same process as our 2007 work in Petone we undertook an initial research period at the museum. As a result of our research we chose to focus on four periods of New Zealand migration to weave our installation around – Maori arrival, 1870s, early 1900s and post WW2. We then created all the elements for the final video performance work from content found in the archives of the museum.

Boy

“Your an egg!”

Working closely with the creators of the film we developed the online presence for the feature film Boy. Starting early on in the process before the film was launched we created two distinct sites and a viral campaign for the rollout campaign pre-launch.

The first site was to hold all the core information and express the character and charm of the film. To do this we took inspiration from the way the world was viewed by the main character and 8 year old boy called Rocky.  The site was built in Flash and gave us the room to
A website by Rocky the 8 year old in the film was the answer. We drew it in the way we thought he would if he was drawing a map of where he lived.

Working closely with visual leads from Taika Waititi (Director) sketches and print work by Nic Marshall the site offers visitors a functional but engaging experience.

LYNX Labs

For a new LYNX Dry product range Storybox was asked to extend the campaign and create something special for the Big Day Out and Summer Series music festivals in Auckland.

The concept was a ‘Dry Research Lab’ – investigating what made guys sweat! To fit the brief we created an interactive walk through experience that had three zones based on the hi-tech science lab theme.

The experience began with a hand scanner admitting entry then an RFID-driven digital mirror scanned partipants and administered sweat and thermal imaging tests.

Finally, a photobooth delivered participants a mug shot with their test results. The installation proved popular with more than 1,000 visits at the Big Day Out alone.

Storybox was responsible for design, project management, creative direction, production, logistics and event management.

“Nothing short of astonishing” Lynn Freeman, Capital Times

Gold Pin – 2011 Best Design Awards (Spatial, Exhibition Installations and Temporary Structures)

‘EOK – Everything is OK’ was a performance project conceived, directed and produced by Storybox featuring 5 performers.

Staged in a large warehouse in Wellington, the set filled the space with a tower of shipping containers. With the containers as a backdrop, rusting car hulks and scrap metal created an apocalyptic world the audience could explore during the performance.  At the rear, the containers became a cross section of a modern block of flats. A third transitional space led the audience between these contrasting realities.The world was occupied by five actors and the audience that explored the three separately-defined stages dealing with themes of excess and isolation in consumer culture.

EOK was part of the 2010 Bats STAB season supported by Creative New Zealand. Thanks to Tiger Translate for their support.

“Impressively staged in a large warehouse with room enough to house four containers Everything is OK begins in the future, a world of urban desolation where a huckster pedals with religious fervour the snake-oil of self-improvement, television ads extol the virtues of sun cream, and young men dream of escape in fast cars but the only cars are wrecks and oil has presumably long ceased to exist.

In the middle of this stark arena is a dining table at which a ritualistic family meal is created with cartoonish exaggeration by a mother who serves up fine sand and what looked like from where I was squatting bits of old computers. An old ritual is carried out but without meaning.” – Laurie Atkinson, Dominon Post