PICTUREWORKS and FOTOMAX Join Hands to Create Moments When "one Plus One Equals Greater Than Two"
Most people may find PICTUREWORKS unfamiliar, but if you have been to a theme park in Hong Kong, when you are at the highest point of the roller coaster or under the spectacular starry sky before starting the space adventure, there is always "someone" taking photos of you to capture the moments of surprises and laughter. This is the PICTUREWROKS technology. After finishing the game, you will see your photos with your scary and funny faces on them waiting for you at the exit. From capturing that moment to producing the image, it only takes a few minutes. This marks the beginning of the most sincere cooperation between PICTUREWORKS and FOTOMAX.
PICTUREWORKS from Singapore has been specializing on artificial intelligence imaging technology, providing real-time imaging and printing technology to theme parks and attractions in different countries and regions. After its first cooperation with a Shanghai theme park, when it expanded its business to Hong Kong, Tony, responsible for business development, believed that FOTOMAX was their best choice. "With our Shanghai experience, when selecting a partner in Hong Kong, we looked for hardware feasibility. We take photos for visitors from the best shooting points, while FOTOMAX focuses on instant printing, product design and in-house production with ensured quality, each of us giving full play to our strengths." In the past, most theme park products involved printed photos placed in paper frames. This project allowed FOTOMAX to open up another imaging product market.
Owning the largest number of theme parks across the world, the company has very strict requirements for each IP character, with specifications from the design of the characters themselves to the colours and the designs of the products to match the characters’ personality. Tony and Horace said bluntly that PICTUREWORKS and FOTOMAX had spent a lot of time on finding ways to let the park’s management understand how their presence could truly allow visitors to take home their experiences in the park." The latest attraction of the park, officially launched around the end of 2023, is on the theme of ice and snow. But as early as in 2018, we had started discussing camera placement and machine maintenance with the park based on the drawings. The cameras’ locations, to a certain extent, determine the moments to be captured and remembered, so the current decisions were made after many rounds of discussions. "After dealing with technology, the next step was product design. Under the premise of ‘attracting customers to collect’, Horace and the team thought the images should also be used to make Life Style products. This was the first opportunity offered by the park for FOTOMAX to develop its products.
Several years have passed. Horace, who was in charge of the project, admitted that the cooperation between the two had shifted from "capturing the best moments from the best angles and producing outputs within a short time" at the beginning to technical solutions. "Whenever we discover new demand and trends in the market, we will hand it over to PICTUREWORKS for research and development. Upon the success of initial research and development, FOTOMAX will provide support for the products. There are actually three cooperation modes at present. For different attractions, for example, PICTUREWORKS provides system support, while FOTOMAX executes with its own operations teams and product designers. This is how the theme park is handled. The other mode is that PICTUREWORKS is responsible for the entire operation, with FOTOMAX providing printing equipment, printing materials as well as related products and services. The third cooperation mode is to use the systems developed by PICTUREWORKS to tailor-make the whole technical solution for the client. "Currently, PICTUREWORKS and FOTOMAX are providing famous Hong Kong attractions, such as Hong Kong Observation Wheel in Central and Ocean Park, with scenic spot imaging products and services under different operating modes. After absorbing the experience of cooperation with PICTUREWORKS , Horace and his team have also begun to cooperate with different small and medium-sized enterprises as well as large shopping malls, for projects such as photographers and customers matching, one-stop overseas photo shooting and printing services or cooperating with local schools to utilize and consolidate FOTOMAX 's resources and expand its business into different areas.
Horace believes that the cooperation between the two has not only expanded FOTOMAX's presence to outside its own stores, but also pushed forward FOTOMETA, the sub-brand of FOTOMAX, to a more advanced position. "Adding one more store will naturally involve more product directions." In the long run, FOTOMAX will focus on local image printing and related services, while FOTOMETA will focus on product development and continued cooperation with other brands, to show the public the different positioning of FOTOMAX and FOTOMETA.