Nice Spots Collabs With UK-Artist For Underground Installation

Nice Spots - the Internet-hosted collaboration, archival, approval, distribution, asset-management and presentation tool that offers a secure online environment to work with any type of media from any platform - just completed an exciting collaborative project with renowned artist Dryden Goodwin. Art on the Underground, done on commission from the London Underground, centers around 60 portraits that Goodwin sketched of workers on the subway system's Jubilee line and includes print, video and online components. The video portion features Goodwin sketching each portrait in time-lapsed super-speed beneath voiceover excerpts of the artist conversing with his subjects as he drew them. Nice Spots played an integral role in the project, supporting Goodwin's use of video by building a website to showcase the expansive collection of 60 videos (one for each portrait).

Linear, as the series of portraits is called, captures a head shot of each subject at work or at a moment of pause in their day. Goodwin drew the series in natural working environments - in train operator's cabs, signaling towers, management offices, station control rooms, ticket offices, at gates, and in other locations. The 60 accompanying films are poignant portraits capturing both the making of the sketches and the thoughts and dreams and wishes of London's blue-collar underground work force. A woman talks with conviction about the good salary and the generations of family members who preceded her in the system. A man talks about discovering his latent artistic abilities. A veteran of the system talks excitedly about the physical evolution of the Underground's many train styles. The narrative aspect of each film creates an intimacy and lends the sketches a new dimension, breathing extra life into the diverse group of workers as the viewer aligns them with the colorful personal worlds they describe.

The project reinforces Nice Spots' ability to bring any creative project to life in a customizable and stable way. The London Underground recorded Goodwin interviewing the workers as he sketched them, then edited the HD tape down to two to three minutes. The famous transit system then worked with Nice Spots to host the video portion. Nice Spots worked extensively with Goodwin to maximize the video display/playback. For maximum resolution, the artwork was shot with an HD camera turned on its side. Then the image was flipped 90 degrees, from a typical horizontal (16x9) to a vertical (9x16) canvas. Nice Spots Managing Director, John DiMaggio, then redesigned their web reel to work with the new aspect ratio. Nice Spots collaborated closely with Goodwin to make sure his work was presented in the best way, including custom encoding all 60 videos according to his wishes. When Goodwin asked to redesign the web reel page with a clean main page featuring all 60 thumbnails (as opposed to Nice Spots' customary setup of a video player above and thumbs below), Nice Spots rapidly adapted the site to his request.

"We were working with a really unique artist on a really unique project, so the last thing we wanted to do was say that we were stuck with one technological paradigm," stated DiMaggio. "So we tore up what we had and reinvented it on the spot, and the result is something really unique, memorable and interesting."

The company took their standard web reel application and customized it to fit this type of work. The videos live on the Nice Spots server, which can be accessed from the Underground's website. This project allowed Nice Spots to venture into new territory with the use of the application for public consumption, as the company has traditionally focused on B to B efforts.

In adapting to Goodwin's specific vision, Nice Spots displayed its flexibility and reinforced the competitive advantage it holds over Wiredrive, Adbeast and Beam. "Nice Spots is infinitely adaptable to meet the specific vision of an artist," noted Nice Spots head of business development in Europe Chris McKeeman. "Dryden knows exactly what he is looking for aesthetically and he really challenged us to change our normal business model to come up with something that fit the spirit of his project. The result is something cost-effective, reliable, and easy to use, which is exactly what Nice Spots strives for in all its projects."

The films for the yearlong exhibit went live online on Feb. 5. The drawings themselves are displayed on poster sites (which contain the Nice Spots logo as part of a semi-sponsorship) across the London Underground.

About Nice Spots

Nice Spots enables seamless collaboration, distribution, archiving and asset management on a global scale through its proprietary technology and intuitive user interface. Launched in 2005, the application offers the most comprehensive collection of utilities and features on the market and has amassed a significant following. Boasting a user base in more than 80 countries, satisfied clients include major brands, agencies, studios, filmmakers and creatives.