Sony Music – Snapchat AR Lens (2018)

CASE STUDY

CLIENT:
Sony Music

AGENCY:
Poplar Studio

DELIVERABLES:
• Snapchat AR Concepts
• Snapchat Lens Studio Project
• Stylized Snapcode

TECHNOLOGY:
• Snapchat Lens Studio
• Snapchat for iOS & Android
• Blender
• Adobe Creative Cloud

OBJECTIVE:
As one of the first immersive media agencies to work with London-based AR Lens startup Poplar Studio, ShowMeVirtual was tasked with creating a Snapchat Face Lens for up-and-coming Sony Music artist Amelia Monét. Her 2018 hit single “Baddest,” featuring vocalist EO, landed on UK’s Top 100 chart in the months following the track’s release, with the official YouTube video also having amassed over 15 million views to date. Sony Music wanted to create a fun and engaging Lens experience for Amelia’s fans, particularly a younger female demographic, that followed her on Snapchat, in order to encourage more views and listens of her new track.

SOLUTION:
ShowMeVirtual initially submitted a few face-Lens design concepts around good and evil, emoji messaging, and other playful themes, but eventually landed on a glamorized angel vs. devil concept with the client, letting the user decide what version of themselves is the “Baddest.” Using Snapchat’s Lens Studio software, we created a heavily layered composition that would allow for a single tracked face on the front or back camera to have both the angel and the devil effects applied simultaneously, with an animated mask (controlled by the user) to hide one effect or the other at will. Additionally, this Lens was made before body segmentation was available on Snapchat, but the client had requested a devil tail that would show behind the shoulders, so we created our own homebrew body masking solution to help give the appearance of the tail being behind the user. Besides creating the angel’s halo, devil’s horns, and devil’s tail as 3D models, we also implemented procedurally generated clouds for the angel effect, burning ash particles for the devil effect, and shimmering face makeup + a smokey eye look for both personas.

While the Lens was not showcased outside of the Snapchat platform, it amassed over 500,000 views, 15,000 scans, and 6,000 shares organically within several days of it’s release through the artist’s own use and promotion. The Sony Music team expressed to our agency partner how happy their were with the Lens, also informing us that it was their most popular social AR filter to date.

Amelia Monét – Baddest
AR Lens Snapcode