
Workingstiff Films Director Matt Pittroff Makes 360 Comedic Storytelling a (Virtual) Reality
data-src=https://creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/avatars/263018/5fa08c562aaf4-bpthumb.jpg data-srcset=https://creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/avatars/263018/5fa08c561c0e7-bpfull.jpg 2x class=lazyload avatar avatar-80 photo height=80 width=80 />
Brie Clayton April 15, 2021
0 Comments
A year without trade shows has been a challenging world for B2B companies to navigate, forcing them to continue to pivot in an attempt to be able to host presentations, roll out new products and directly engage with their audience. Royal Building Products , a Westlake company and leading manufacturer of exterior building products and its long standing AOR, Planit, partnered with the detail-oriented comedy director Matt Pittroff to construct an alternate world: a secret and state-of-the-art underground laboratory beneath Royal's headquarters, a place where the comedy is real and the experience is virtual. In the Lab, a series of 360 videos, provides an immersive and entertaining VR experience.
The lab's a place where viewers are in on the experiment and primed to be just as entertained as they are educated on a breadth of products. This new world did not come without its own unique set of challenges for Workingstiff and partners to navigate with the Covid-era production. Questions like, How do you captivate an audience with character-and-product-driven stories from a locked-off camera? as well as, How do you expound from a distance on a product family's many features and benefits? demanded creative solutions.
data-src=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/15173939/workingstiff1200-1024x550.png alt= class=lazyload wp-image-2408138 data-srcset=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/15173939/workingstiff1200-1024x550.png 1024w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/15173939/workingstiff1200-300x161.png 300w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/15173939/workingstiff1200-768x412.png 768w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/15173939/workingstiff1200-624x335.png 624w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/15173939/workingstiff1200-50x27.png 50w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/15173939/workingstiff1200-100x54.png 100w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/15173939/workingstiff1200.png 1200w data-sizes=(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px /> Most of us have been forced to look at our jobs through a different lens over the past year. Not only are the practices different, but so is the messaging. An ever evolving, moving target centered around safety and the prospect of returning to normal? And beyond that, how do you engage people-persons people that are accustomed to eye contact, shaking hands, being on a first name basis and holding a piece of product in their hands? It's a tall order but we love a good challenge, be it narrative or technical or budgetary, or timeline and this project offered it all: Let's make good old-fashioned character driven comedy films, with charming visual effects, in a 360-world without having viewers wander off from the message. Oh, and let's do 20 of them. In three days! Pittroff details.
data-src=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/15171338/RoyalBuilding.png alt= class=lazyload wp-image-2408123/>The result: a new interface developed to arm sales personnel whose day-to-day work is not traditionally conducted virtually, with an immersive playlist of 20 interactive and impactful edutainment online videos.
Pittroff's team and Planit planned for three months and produced the campaign over the course of a three-day shoot. Constructing a 180-degree set, designed to allow for seamless stitching into a 360 world, a place that has been traditionally leveraged for virtual tours and roller coaster riding captured by flat' sensors and back-to-back fisheye
lenses.
I have told quite a few funny short form stories but never quite this way. The agency wanted to immerse the viewer by way of 360 video, and I wanted to make sure that the viewer kept their eyes on the prize and that the quality of the film supported the brand's innovation. So we imagined our own iteration of 360, using one cine camera, one spherical lens and a ton of fuzzy math. We tested and tweaked, and tested and tweaked until it worked, Pittroff relayed.
Matt and everyone at Working Stiff felt like an extension of our team from the beginning. We had a totally fun yet odd challenge and they made it even smarter and they made it really fun and, better yet, really funny. It was one of the coolest, most innovative things I have ever been a part of and they totally killed it. My creative team was stoked and our clients are super happy and it was just a great experience all around, relayed Liz Norton, Planit Producer.
North America Stories
22/04/2026
Solid State Logic is advancing its System T platform with a stronger focus on IP...
22/04/2026
From immersive audio to live streaming, Dolby Laboratories is focused on the fut...
22/04/2026
Shallow depth-of-field cameras have taken the industry by storm. Its debut a han...
22/04/2026
Riedel Communications (Booth C4908) announced that Eastern Kentucky University (...
22/04/2026
The NAB Show is in full swing, and the SVG and SVG Europe editorial teams are chasing down the hottest stories from all over the Las Vegas Convention Center. He...
22/04/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the URSA Cine 12K LF 100G, a new model in the URSA Cine family adding 100G Ethernet for SMPTE 2110 live production output up to ...
22/04/2026
Celebrating its 40th anniversary, NEP is leaning into hybrid production with the...
22/04/2026
NEP VP, Platform Dan Murphy sits down at the 2026 NAB Show to unpack what NEP P...
22/04/2026
Why Low Band Electronic Warfare Matters...
22/04/2026
The nation unites around football team's World Cup dream
Warsaw, Poland, 20.04.26: Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data, and media intell...
22/04/2026
Warsaw, Poland, 22.04.26: Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data...
22/04/2026
New market intelligence offering gives businesses a clearer view of local consum...
22/04/2026
Glookast Unveils New UX, YouTube and Social Media Connectors, Premiere Panel, Ci...
22/04/2026
Lightcraft Technology to Preview Spark Story at NAB 2026 with Interactive Previs...
22/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/04/2026
Back to All News
This Earth Day, Discover the Sustainable Productions Behind Our Films and Series
Emma Stewart, Ph.D.
Netflix Sustainability Officer
Enterta...
22/04/2026
NVIDIA and Google Cloud have collaborated for more than a decade, co engineering a full stack AI platform that spans every technology layer - from performance o...
21/04/2026
Cloud-based production isnt going anywhere, and BitFire is doubling down by prov...
21/04/2026
The topic of artificial intelligence has a stranglehold on the sports-video-prod...
21/04/2026
5G is still a hot topic in live event production, and this workflow continues to...
21/04/2026
At the 2026 NAB Show, Ed McGivern, GM and President of Appear US, discusses the ...
21/04/2026
Studio Network Solutions (SNS) has announced an on-premise AI suite designed for...
21/04/2026
Suite Studios has integrated its file-streaming technology into the newly announced Frame.io Drive, a desktop application from Adobe company Frame.io. The colla...
21/04/2026
Net Insight has integrated InSync Technology's FrameFormer into the Nimbra E...
21/04/2026
Fox Sports has selected Appear as a technology partner to support the next phase...
21/04/2026
Diversified has appointed Tyler Affolter as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) to lead the company's commercial organisation. The appointment follows the firm'...
21/04/2026
Layercake has formalised the integration of Bitmovin's video streaming infra...
21/04/2026
The International Judo Federation (IJF) has extended its distribution partnershi...
21/04/2026
Glookast has launched the Cinnafilm Tachyon plugin for its Media Producer and Me...
21/04/2026
Eutelsat has entered into an agreement with Cadena Tres, a division of Grupo Ima...
21/04/2026
Dolby Laboratories and TV Azteca have partnered to introduce Dolby Atmos immersive audio to free-to-air television broadcasts. The implementation utilises the A...
21/04/2026
FOX Entertainment partnered with Verizon to overcome significant production hurd...
21/04/2026
Osprey Video has announced its technology showcase for the NAB Show 2026, highli...
21/04/2026
Riedel Communications (Booth C4908) introduced a range of new solutions at NAB S...
21/04/2026
The NAB Show is in full swing, and the SVG and SVG Europe editorial teams are chasing down the hottest stories from all over the Las Vegas Convention Center. He...
21/04/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the URSA Cine Immersive 100G, an immersive cinem...
21/04/2026
Clark Wire & Cable is continuing its evolution from cable supplier to full-scale solutions partner for broadcast and live production. At the 2026 NAB Show, we s...
21/04/2026
Rashad Frett attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Ricky at Eccles Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by George Pimentel/Shut...
21/04/2026
MAS and Lockheed Martin partner to establish an F-35 depot in Canada, enabling in-country sustainment and creating high-skilled aerospace jobs....
21/04/2026
Advertising strategies shift as competition grows for a large, active and qualit...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...