Emmerdale’s on-screen graphics team has used Drytac materials to decorate a double-decker bus so it could take part in The Leeds Pride parade.
The Yorkshire-based soap’s Scenic Design Department installed a Roland TrueVIS VG2 printer/cutter in the summer of 2019. The device was bought from Sabur Inks, who also supplied a quantity of Drytac SpotOn media for use with the new system.
The 4 micron printable vinyl is well suited to the work done by the Emmerdale in-house graphics team, which works with both the art director and production director to design and produce all printed work that is seen on-screen – including sets, retail signage, advertising posters, vehicle graphics, menus and paperwork handled by the actors, and beer pumps in The Woolpack pub. This work has to be of high quality – it will be seen by millions of viewers – but completed quickly, and is typically very short term.
‘Our graphics may only be in place for a day – a week at most – and are often applied over existing signage or vehicle graphics that must remain intact after ours are removed,’ ITV Studios graphic artist Ian Sykes explained. ‘We went to Sign UK in search of a low-tac and removable product, and several people recommended Drytac SpotOn. When we bought the new Roland printer it was an opportunity to try it out.’
The team’s first project using SpotOn was not an on-screen display but the Emmerdale-sponsored Pride bus, which took to the streets of Leeds in August 2019. As this was a sightseeing bus hired for the event, its existing graphics had to remain undamaged after the temporary graphics – the LGBT+ rainbow flag with the Emmerdale and ITV logos – were removed afterwards.
‘We used 3 x 1.3m sheets of Drytac SpotOn to cover virtually the entire bus with graphics,’ Mr Sykes said. ‘The best thing was the SpotOn product left the existing graphics underneath intact.’
