For the New York launch of Jaguar's new electric vehicle, we collaborated with Imagination to create a series of large-scale projection mapping sequences, forming part of a cinematic film introducing the car to the world.
The film followed the vehicle on a dramatic journey through New York, with the city gradually transformed by Jaguar's new visual identity. Graphic lines appeared across streets, architectural surfaces became canvases for the brand, and fleeting glimpses of the vehicle built anticipation ahead of its arrival.
Our contribution centred on two landmark locations: DUMBO in Brooklyn and the New Museum in Manhattan. As the film progressed, these buildings became the setting for dramatic, large-scale projections, revealing tantalising details of the vehicle as it moved through the city.
Revealing the Unseen
The central creative challenge was one of restraint.
With the car yet to be fully unveiled, every image needed to preserve a sense of mystery. Lighting was carefully controlled to reveal only fragments of its form: a sculpted surface, a distinctive detail, or a fleeting silhouette.
This presented a particular challenge for projection mapping. Large-scale outdoor projections rely on light and contrast to remain visible against the ambient illumination and textures of the city. Yet the creative direction demanded an almost entirely dark vehicle.
Our solution was to work with the film's rich, warm lighting palette, using atmospheric environments, volumetric light and deep orange tones to create contrast around the car rather than directly illuminating it. The vehicle could remain largely concealed, its silhouette emerging from the surrounding light before carefully choreographed highlights swept across its surfaces.
The result was a series of cinematic moments that balanced spectacle with secrecy, bringing Jaguar's new design language to an architectural scale without compromising the anticipation of the reveal.
Designed for the Real World
Alongside developing and animating the sequences, we helped establish the projection workflow for both locations, translating the creative vision into content designed specifically for the buildings.
With a limited window for on-site testing and filming, we developed a flexible set of deliverables that allowed lighting, colour and contrast to be adjusted quickly in response to real-world projection conditions.
Working within a much larger production, our sequences provided brief but impactful moments of escalation in the film's narrative, transforming the architecture of New York into another
expression of Jaguar's bold new identity.