Taylor James gives private consultation for MTV’s ‘Digital Surgery’

Taylor James, the London-based creative production studio, has teamed up with MTV Networks UK & Ireland (MTVN UK) on a brand new online initiative, launching through both broadcast and online platforms this Sunday, entitled ‘Digital Surgery’.

Exploring the powerful use of digital enhancement in today’s media, Taylor James helped to transform MTV news presenter, Rickie Haywood-Williams, into a woman in a bid to shine a spotlight on the influential techniques used.

The social initiative is running this month in conjunction with the ‘MTV’s Got Issues’ theme (the network’s social programming series). At Taylor James’ in-house studio, the team filmed and photographed Rickie along with two female models before working their retouching magic in order to bring the concept to life. The production studio has been at the forefront of creative visual content for over ten years and has worked with leading brands worldwide creating powerful advertising campaigns for print, interactive and broadcast media.

MTV commissioned the creative stunt to demonstrate to its 16-34 audience what digital enhancements are performed in everyday media and advise them not to take everything they see at face value. Lisa Stokoe, executive producer, production at MTV Networks UK & Ireland said:
“We wanted to create something visual, immediate and impactful that would highlight how unattainable the ideals created by the media are and reveal the techniques used by professional retouch artists. That’s where Taylor James came into its own! With the team’s extensive experience and excellent reputation within the industry, we knew the studio could bring our concept to life. In a matter of clicks, Taylor James made the impossible possible. The results surprised us all!”

The Taylor James team welcomed the unusual challenge to work on this creative concept with MTV. Josh Rogers, head of retouch at Taylor James, explained the process:
“Having captured Rickie, we photographed our female models in exactly the same pose, position and lighting. We then began the transformation, to manipulate Rickie’s photo using the female elements for the body, hair and eyelashes. We then applied some make-up: blusher, eye shadow, lipstick, etc. At this stage, Rickie still had very short hair and muscular physique, so we went about swapping Rickie’s torso and hair for that of our females. Extensive colour work was required to carefully match up the skin tones – this was vital in achieving the seamless join between Rickie’s face and our female hair and body elements. As we work primarily on advertising campaigns, this was a rare and fun chance for us to retouch people to the extreme.”

The final part of the segment is the big unveil which was made to Rickie, and an unsuspecting audience on the streets of London, who were asked to mark the new Rickie out of ten. “Seeing and hearing people’s final reactions to the final image was great! No one suspected a thing,” concluded Josh.

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