Harry Potter Audible Experience at Outernet London

To celebrate the immersive power of the Harry Potter audiobooks on Audible, Framestore was tasked with creating a large-scale immersive experience for London’s Outernet. 

The objective for Framestore’s Immersive team was to craft a continuous loop of storytelling that blended key extracts from the audiobooks with ambient magical interludes. By anchoring the visuals in pivotal moments from the audio books, the campaign sought to evoke the sensation of a story building around you, mimicking the way listeners' imaginations formulate worlds while hearing a narrator’s voice. This ambitious project aimed to turn a high-traffic urban space into a sanctuary of enchantment and enticing brand-led experience.

To ensure the overall campaign felt like a cohesive global activation, our team extended & enhanced existing motion graphics files from the Audible campaign. These were adapted to work at the massive scale required for Outernet through bespoke FX and comp treatments. 

By harmonizing these visuals in Nuke, we ensured that the Outernet display felt seamlessly integrated with other Out of Home (OOH) activations, maintaining a unified visual language across the entire Harry Potter and Audible ecosystem.

The project demanded a robust R&D phase to handle Outernet’s staggering resolution, including an 8K main south wall. To ensure the visuals felt interconnected across five massive screens, our artists used VR to review content, allowing them to experience the immersive wrap-around effect before the work ever reached the site. This innovative use of VR previews enabled the team to bridge the gap between the studio monitor and the physical reality of the Now Building’s vast digital canvas.

The production was a landmark first for Framestore, representing our debut collaboration with Outernet. Navigating the unique technical requirements including extended frame ranges and extreme resolutions required a specialised team of creative and technical leads.

Reflecting on the synergy between audio and visual elements, VFX Supervisor Alan Woods noted:

"Working within The Outernet building presented a fascinating challenge for us as a team. The sheer scale of the screens creates a very distinct environment to create for. It presented challenges for every department, from initial layout and animation through to final compositing. We always enjoy having the opportunity to visually interpret elements of the Harry Potter universe, but doing it from an audio focussed perspective was a new experience for us! Crucially, the end product needed to be visually stunning while effectively supporting and championing the audio elements of the story."