Development

The project was developed with Flash Builder using the Parsley MVC framework. I joined the development team to take over the Actionscript development and take the project to completion. It was one of the more complex projects that I have worked on and featured a high level of user interaction. The main challenge was to capture users faces via webcam or by uploading a photograph and mapping them onto several video based animations. The technical issues included making sure this difficult effect was as realistic as possible.

Other challenges included the storage and loading of user submitted data which was achieved by flash remoting with the AMFPHP library. This was a viral campaign and so each and every use of the application was recorded and possibly distributed to other users via Facebook, Email or Twitter.

Press release

This is taken from the Sapient Nitro press release

“Set in a fictional village ‘Soggy Bottom’, three characters – a butcher, farmer and elderly lady (Bob Trickle, Tim Sprinkle & Gladys Drizzle) – appear to innocently man their stalls at the local fete but surprisingly start a water fight aiming directly at consumers’ computer screens. In creating the Great British Water Fight campaign, SapientNitro is helping Energy Saving Trust raise awareness about the importance of saving water and energy in the real world.

What makes the campaign both unique and engaging, is that the consumer is able to map their face onto one of the characters in the video, creating a personalised soaking they can share with their friends via Facebook and Twitter. The goal is to make saving water fun while getting people thinking about their personal water and energy consumption.”