Boris FX filters for After Effects touch just about every project the digital agency creates

We’ve been following the work of Digital Kitchen for several years now. The motion graphic design and production company, with studios in Seattle, LA, Chicago and New York, has been serving clients like HBO, Levi’s, Nike, AT&T, Microsoft and Target with eyeball-grabbing (and award-winning) results. Best known for its signature show opens and preview campaigns for many notable HBO and Showtime series, Digital Kitchen has earned ten Outstanding Main Title Emmy nominations alone, winning twice for Six Feet Under and Dexter.
A long-time After Effects shop, Digital Kitchen began fourteen years ago in Seattle by offering, fittingly, a “soup-to-nuts” production model to its clients. Today, whether creating a mock-ad print campaign and show opener for HBO’s upcoming True Blood, a show about vampires living among us, or a broadcast spot for Y&R and Miller Genuine Draft (watch the video here), Digital Kitchen creatives direct, shoot, edit, design, animate and finish everything in house.
So how many Ginsu knifes-aka plug-ins-do they need to do that? Digital Kitchen recently standardized on Boris Continuum Complete AE for Adobe After Effects, investing in 65 licenses and 20 render-only licenses. Anthony Vitagliano, Lead Creative in the facility’s Chicago office, says BCC AE’s nearly 200 filters get plenty of play during a typical day in the Kitchen. “I don’t think there is a single project that does not see a Boris Continuum Complete filter,” he says. “We went through a phase where BCC Bulge was used on every camera transition through a glassy surface or window. We use BCC Z-Blur in all of our 3D composting in AE. And BCC Corner Pin is great for screen replacements.”