Established in 2003, Surround is an award winning, fully integrated creative content and digital strategy agency. We collaborate with a wide range of clients across digital platforms to challenge the unknown and break through the ordinary. We leverage our multidisciplinary backgrounds to deliver complete creative initiatives that resonate with audiences in meaningful ways and create change.
We create spectacles, build realities we only wish existed and use emotion to tell stories.
What We Do
We leverage our multidisciplinary backgrounds in live-action and animation to deliver complete creative initiatives that are conceived and executed entirely under one roof.
We conceive, produce, direct, design, animate and edit our projects from start to finish. We create this way for a reason—to have a more intimate relationship with our clients and the work we create.
Surround is built on a strong multi-disciplinary foundation. We began as a motion design studio and over time started to incorporate live-action. Today, we share the ethos of a creative think tank—a live-action production company and a motion design studio all wrapped up in one. Born from a forward thinking diverse skill set, Surround pulls from its various disciplines and continues to evolve a broad spectrum of work to serve their clients.
A unique process for each project is ingrained in how we create—it has been the difference between making good work vs. exceptional work. When we put creative ideas through the right process, the work takes on its own life. At Surround, we specifically tailor the process to the project and it translates to creating work that has a unique identity.
Our structure is built on maximizing the creative of every project. From production to post, our studio is a swiss army knife of sorts---built to custom tailor teams that are best suited for the needs of each project. We’ve structured our studio this way because every creative opportunity presents a different challenge so no two teams should be the same. This allows the ideas to be creatively agile and the execution to be efficient.
Our resources are designed to propel the creative process and having the right tool for the job is crucial. We’re constantly evolving along with technology to allow our teams to move quickly and efficiently. These days, it's not uncommon to have computers that are powerful enough to build a spaceship—and the Surround studio houses several of these—but our resources go far beyond computing. Our studio is like an eight-armed monster with the resources of a creative think tank, a live-action production company, and a motion design studio all under one roof.
Surround is overseen by the creative minds of Directors and Executive Producers Brian and Brad Palmer. As co-founders of the studio, they take a very hands on approach to directing. Drawing from their foundation as animators and designers, they are directors who are involved in every aspect of a project from pre-production, through production, design, and post. For over 10 years, Surround has produced animated and live-action works that range from commercials and integrated campaigns, to documentaries and hit music videos; all of which are created through Brian and Brad’s leadership and direction.
Neon Trees “Sleeping with a Friend” peak position #2
Directed by Surround, The Drums “Me and the Moon” reminds of idiosyncratic New Wave clips from folks such as Fine Young Cannibals. For the most part, the video stays out of the way of the song, with a few atmospheric settings and some nice camera work.
An interview with AFI singer Davey Havok:
“we really wanted the video for “ I Hope you Suffer” to have continuity with those vignettes … while having it being a performance video, which is kind of difficult task to achieve but I think they achieved it i’m really happy with that video. We shot it in a day at Highland Park. I’m really happy with the way it turned out.”
The black and white video for The Drums' "Down By The Water" reflects the simplicity of the song, which is a tribute to the torch songs of the fifties and sixties girls groups.
Finally, a video that blends Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” with the Mad Men opening credits and the Warhol Dali screentest hanging above entrance at MoMA. We can literally stop doing anything on weekends but watch TV on the Radio‘s generous use of green screen and absurd graphics in their new video for “Dancing Choose.”
The new video for They Might Be Giants' "Can't Keep Johnny Down" feels like an homage to Michael Jackson's "Beat It" video, except instead of two rival gang leaders knife-dancing, it features an 80-year-old tank-topped Rip Torn bare-knuckle-boxing with a shirtless whippersnapper.
Usher “Climax”, Nominated for “Best Male Video”
The songs we’ve heard off Eels’ upcoming album, The Cautionary Tales Of Mark Oliver Everett, have been gently steeped in nostalgia, especially “Mistakes Of My Youth.” The video for that song, directed by Brian and Brad Palmer, captures the same feelings with a subdued softness…