Th1ng's new department was founded by three directors: Russell Appleford, part of the team behind Channel 4's current and recent idents; Richard Morrison, th1ng's director behind TV idents and film titles sequences; and Alon Ziv, UK commercial and animation director.
Ziv has directed the team's first major commission, a 30-second ad for Escape Partners and its client NBC Universal, to launch the broadcaster's new subscription film service .
The ad features filmstrips taken from some of the movies launching on PictureBox, such as 'King Kong', 'Gladiator' and 'Stardust'.
Each filmstrip is made up of pieces of moving film that feature a close-up of the star of each movie. The strips have been composited together to form a rollercoaster snaking and twisting across the screen.
At key moments, King Kong roars out of the screen and Russell Crowe, in his gladiatorial character of Maximus, screams out loud.
The sequence ends as the rollercoaster completes its run and the PictureBox logo fades-in with the strapline: "Movies full of emotion. Enjoy the ride."
NBC Universal is initially launching PictureBox on BT Vision, Tiscali and in the UK. It will also air on other TV platforms across Singapore and Poland.
Dominic Buttimore, executive producer of th1ng, said: "Th1ng and Escape are two groups of people sharing the same passion and dedication to producing great ideas.
"It was a pleasure to work with Mike and his team at Escape to bring their concept for PictureBox to life, and we look forward to many more collaborations in the future."