Meet the creative studio working remotely with the world’s biggest brands

We spoke to Adam Doherty, owner and Creative Director of Fitzroy Hawk, a studio crafting immersive content through animation, film, interactive and live experiences.

Fitzroy Hawk is an experience design studio that delivers immersive experiences and content for some of the world’s leading brands and start-ups. Their work concentrates on crafting extraordinary moments in time by joining the dots with a variety of technologies. Whether it’s screen-based, XR, lighting, sound, kinetics, environmental or online, these elements are combined to create new, innovative experiences for their clients.

“Having previously worked within and with big agencies and studios, I recognised there was a shift in media creation and consumption and how it could impact ways of working,” says Doherty. “So, ten years ago I set up a small offering with other similarly minded individuals, designing, managing, and delivering projects remotely. Over the years this has evolved, as the technology and requirements have, into offering a full-service of creative skillsets to make unique, immersive experiences.”

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Remote collaboration

Doherty has long been interested in remote working as a concept for creating agility in the creative process, and collaboration that is uniquely pliable. “Evidently in the last twelve months the whole planet has now flipped into a way of remote working that was inconceivable to many companies before," he observes.

‘’Thankfully, we are extremely comfortable working like this, so when lockdown happened – although we did have to close down one small remote studio – we were lucky that we could carry on working in a way that is familiar to us.”

“One of the key benefits of working in this way is we aren’t bound by the limits of our location. Being able to pay people anywhere in the world means we can use the best brains wherever they are, and using CurrencyFair has helped us to do this. If they’re in Europe, Asia or South America, we can pay them, and pay them within the first few days of receiving their invoice, which is a really important way to build trust.”

 

Thriving in lockdown

Doherty acknowledges that running a small business has its challenges but having access to people who are experts in their field, and business tools that do some of the heavy lifting, is a distinct advantage. “Running a small business remotely, you need everyone at the top of their game, but you also need the tools you use to function seamlessly and frictionlessly,” he adds.
“Our model has always been simple - that it’s possible for clients to get a premium product and service at a fraction of the cost they might pay for a bigger, more established agency or studio.’

“CurrencyFair is one part of the puzzle, when you run a business, whether it’s small, medium or large, everything has to work seamlessly, and be the best solution to that particular business problem. It has the best user interface I could find, it’s easy to use, the transactions always run smoothly, and the low cost is another big advantage.”

Looking to the future

Doherty believes people will be yearning for real-world experiences as we come out of the pandemic. "The world right now is falling over itself to create more digital experiences, but for us it’s all about finding the sweet spot between what we are doing now both virtually and in the real-world and augmenting those with the appropriate technology that is as invisible as possible,” he continues.

“There are a great number of people who will have spent the last twelve months or so living their lives through the lens of on-demand media and video calls. As we tentatively ease out of the current situation, I think people will be looking forward to more time together in person and less time spent on devices. We have to try and find the balance with leading edge tech and how best to use it in the current environment. We need to continually ask ourselves how to make an experience valid.”

“When I set up remotely ten years ago, we were at the cusp of the democratisation of the creative industries through the hardware, software and use of data. Today, one thing we are continuing to explore and invest in is the use of real-time software. It’s no secret that Hollywood is now borrowing massively from the gaming world, not just in terms of characters and storylines, but in the application of the technology, the creation of virtual sets and so on.”

“Equally we have been using the same gaming engines to create compelling, interactive experiences that we just wouldn’t have been able to ten years ago in such an agile manner. If there’s one trend worth watching at the moment it is undoubtedly the shift to real-time.”

With its unique blend of cutting-edge tech and immersive storytelling, Fitzroy Hawk is a company that’s creating its own exciting new chapter, and that’s worth keeping an eye on too.

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Fitzroy Hawk had not received any gratuity in respect of this article.