- TOM ROOPE
- PARTNER
- THE RUMPUS ROOM
After studying a degree in film video and photography in 1991, Tom
began working in the multimedia industry. After several freelance roles
including technical and creative director, he started working at tomato,
heading up their first interactive project. At the same time he
co-founded the arts collective Antirom, which developed into a
commercial venture and continued till spring 1999 when Tomas and two of
his Antirom colleagues began Tomato Interactive. In his eight years
heading up tomato interactive, he worked on projects with Ron Arad,
Sony, TV Ashai, Underworld, V&A, Massive Attack, Levi's, Guinness and
MTV, to name a few.
He has won several awards including Three D&AD silvers and Two BIMAs, ID
magazine silver award and has been nominated for Tokyo Type directors.
Tomas has presented a large number of International conferences and has
had work exhibited in several countries, and has sat as a judge on most
of the Top Interactive Design awards. As well as his commercial
undertakings, he is has constantly lectured at various educational
institutions , including the Royal College of Art. Exhibitions.
How and when was the Rumpus Room started?
Though the Rumpus Room has existed as an idea for a while and the Oxfam project was under the banner of The Rumpus Room, it wasnât officially set up until February 2007.
What are its links with the Sweet Shop exactly?
Three of the founding partners of The Rumpus Room are the founding partners of The Sweet Shop. The Rumpus Room was the brainchild of Paul Prince, who is a partner in both companies.
How would you describe yourselves?
We work in the intersection of story ( film ) and play ( interaction ,
community ).
What sort of work do you specialise in?
User centred emotional entertainment / campaigning. The future is not
so much about the convergence of forms, but a convergence in platform.
Understanding what this platform will be is the key to developing new and
engaging forms of communication.
How many people are involved, and who are they?
At the moment there are three of us full time, but we pull on international
specialist resources as well as having production people out of The
Sweet Shop Auckland based HQ.
What are their backgrounds?
Tom Roope
After studying film in the late 80's he has been working as an Interaction
designer. He started Antirom in 94 and then started the interactive
department at Tomato in 98. Has won 3 D&AD silver awards.
Jacqui Kenny
Jacqui comes from a background of online marketing, producing
Interactive projects, managing online communities a well as spending six
years at The Sweet Shop running the companyâs creative department.
Jeff Wood
Jeff produced audio visual based electronic arts whilst studying Graphic Design. For the past ten years he has worked commercially creating brands and Art Directing in advertising. More recently he has been focusing on animation and direction moving image.
Can you tell me a little more about the Pet Shop Boys Integral project?
The Rumpus Room created two interactive videos for The Pet Shop Boys song
"Integral", campaigning for civil liberties using embedded QR Codes. The project combined The Sweet Shop's production values, with The Rumpus Room's
focus on campaigning, participation, design and community. We wanted to explore our ability to consume linear content in non linear ways, as technology has given us the time control over what and how we watch video, allowing for the inclusion of subliminal content. This blip content was in the form of QR codes that are readable by phone cameras, allowing users to link to information and campaigns online.
The use of QR-codes informed both the aesthetic and structure of the
film. A narrative path was plotted in the same way as one would develop a
documentary, identifying online content to communicate the issues. As well
as existing online content, The Rumpus Room collaborated with campaigners
such as NO2ID and Mark Thomas to create specific destinations to get involved in real world campaigns. Once we had completed the low-res barcode video, it was printed out and then shot stop frame around the UK in relevant locations, to create the hi-res version of the video. We also collaborated with Mark Farrow to create a poster to promote the album.
Is this wonderful digital stuff typical of the sort of work you do?
I think it is typical in the sense that it is experimenting with the power and the emotiveness of traditional film, with the fluidity and responsiveness of newer technologies and networks. We also hope it is typical of our wish to start from the ground up on projects and really take on issues, rather than just producing external decoration / gimmicks.
What about the Oxfam job? Could you tell me more about this?
Oxfam International, The Rumpus Room and Young Guns ran a global competition
for young creatives. The creatives were asked to come up with a non-traditional idea for a Make Trade Fair campaign. The competition was extremely successful, with hundreds of entries from over 18 countries and a global judging jury of leaders in advertising, communications and design Industry.
We have chosen a winner and are currently working on getting the idea over the line. We canât say much more because we donât want to spoil the surprise!
And Lyndy, the editor of shots, tells me you are doing something
filmic in Yuatcha restaurant on Greek Street where the aquarium is?
Alan Yau has been a client of Tom Roope's for about 10 years and he is a fantastic client to work with. We are working on a few projects that are very in line with our interest of fusing film, information and play and how these are combined to resonate with specific architecture and environments.
The project for Yuatcha is an exploration of how to communicate the magic of the internal experience to the outside facade, with a twist of fun and sprinkling of functionality.
Any other plans?
Weâre at the initial phase of several new projects, both commercial and experimental. One thing we have been working on is an experiment in fusing a linear real world animation and an interactive scene www.therumpusroom.tv We have set out to blur the line between the filmic structure and the participatory experience.
What are your ambitions for The Rumpus Room?
We hope to be part of the next phase of the media evolution, as entertainment joins information in the ever expanding interactive networks. There is also the challenge of how we approach the creation of cinematic / live action content for these non-linear environments. Just looking at the income generated from movies, live action films
make up more than 70% of turnover. Currently online interactive content is predominantly animation / illustration, something that is certainly going to change.
Do you always plan to do work with some kind of political/social/with-a-conscience angle (obviously the Integral video has an important point to make, as does your upcoming work for Oxfam International)?
I think we are going to be working in different ways. We are setting out to try and explore new ways of communicating and we expect to be doing this with both clients and with campaigners. We set out from the start to use our resources to try and make a positive difference to the world.
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