Private Island

Private Island is an independent mixed-media production studio based in London, founded in 2015 by director Chris Boyle and executive producer Helen Power. It creates commercial campaigns and original narrative work, combining live-action filmmaking, animation, visual effects and generative artificial intelligence. Its director-led approach centres on unconventional storytelling, surreal imagery, comedy and satire.

The studio handles writing, directing and producing alongside filming, cinematography and post-production. Its capabilities span 2D and 3D character animation, CGI motion design, compositing, editorial and colour grading. These disciplines can be combined within a single production, allowing conventional filmmaking and synthetic imagery to contribute to the same visual language. Its work serves advertising, entertainment, gaming, consumer goods and technology clients.

Commercial and original work

Private Island's commercial portfolio includes campaigns for Nike, McDonald's, IKEA, EA Sports, Alienware, Meta Quest and Original Source. Projects range from gaming and technology advertising to consumer-brand campaigns. Examples include Terry's Chocolate Orange's Deliciously Unsquare, Dell Alienware's Slayer and Original Source's Nature Hits Different, which combines live action, traditional visual effects and AI-generated imagery.

Alongside commissioned productions, the studio develops experimental films that explore synthetic media and contemporary digital culture. Its 2023 project Synthetic Summer presented an uncanny, AI-generated speculative beer commercial. The film circulated internationally and prompted discussion about machine-generated moving images in mainstream and creative-industry publications.

Other original projects include Meme, Myself and A.I., which explores human identity and synthetic media; Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, an experimental neural-network-generated short; and Bunker Boyz, a satire of Silicon Valley's technology billionaires. Across this work, the studio describes AI as a creative instrument used alongside human craft. Its commercial and experimental productions share an interest in testing unfamiliar image-making techniques through humour, character and deliberately unexpected combinations of media.