Psyop and Massmarket

Earlier on this year we had the opportunity to visit New York. Although the city is amazing and i thoroughly enjoyed my time there, the main attraction for my return would definitely be the studio visit to Psyop.

Psyop are responsible for some iconic pieces, including the coke advert called 'Happiness Factory'

Although Psyop created this piece, it isnt my favourite as their is another piece which i found much more inspirational.

http://rorysnaddonmi.blogspot.com/2009/11/psyop-guinessdot.html

http://www.psyop.tv/

This studio visit is by far my favourite as the atmosphere and professionalism was matched by a laid back atmosphere which wasn't distracting but instead, necessary for the work flow. This laid back atmosphere wasn't with the work effort or even designers, it was shown by the fact that the studio had 4 or 5 dogs walking around it, almost like pets, helping create an atmosphere which wasn't overpowering.

We were shown the studio and the show reel by the PR side of the company, a woman called Kimmy who had been part of the company since its initial development. This was helpful in learning about how the company had developed, how it had branched off as well as the future of the company.

The main reason why i enjoyed this studio visit was because the atmosphere around the building was friendly, with people happy to talk to us as well answer any questions that we had about the work, the programs as well as any inspirations that have helped in the development of certain pieces.

To tie off a great studio visit, Kimmy also informed us that she would be happy with some us sending over some of our work in order for the company to review it/ see how we could progress within industry. This is an offer which i will be taking up in the near future.

Lauren Moriarty

One of the visiting lecturers this year was a design and textiles based designer called Lauren Moriarty.

Although her market and area of design are apart from my own, i found that some of the things she was talking about were informative and interesting. This was mainly when she was talking about the things that have inspired her work, and how the inspirations have enabled her work to develop and become accessible within industry.

The main inspiration which took form in a lot of her work is the idea of Illusion. Lauren liked the idea that something could be one thing, but look like something else. The main problem that she faced when using these ideas was, how could she communicate this within her products?

The reason why i liked the majority of this lecture was due to the fact that she, as a designer, had played around with a lot of ideas and materials, some of which were successful but she also wasn't afraid to talk about the less successful pieces. Lauren didn't stop there though, she also explained how, through development, she was able to take some of the less successful pieces and create something new and fresh.

Although i found a lot of good points in this lecture, i also found that for some of the the time, i was uninterested and bored. This was mainly due to the time in which she was talking about how she sells her items online through the use of PayPal. This area of her talk didn't interest me in the slightest and found her talk much more interesting when she was talking about her career as a designer.

All in all, i found this lecture informative when thinking about industry, especially the part on magazine editors, that they always want the work immediately and so, a series of high res photos of your work, can always come in handy.

Thoughtful Presentation

Most lectures that we have viewed involve the work of artists, their inspirations as well as how they've come about throughout the years.

Thoughtful changed my perceptions on these lectures as they spent the majority of their time talking about things, little and large, which have inspired their work, their style as well as their outlook on work.

This, in my eyes, was much more interesting as it meant that we, as the audience could see how they, as the company and individuals, have developed. An example of this is when Chris explained how he was inspired by Beckhams free kick goal that meant either victory or defeat for England. This event inspired him, not because its design but because its a tale of inspiration and necessity.

The lecture was broken down into bite size chunks through the use of videos in which designers were posed a question, and the answers linked into what Thoughtful were talking about next. This was a interesting change to the lecture as it meant that they had physically gone out of their way in order for us to gain insight into industry and industry leaders.

Another reason why i felt this lecture was more appealing to me was the fact that they didn't always talk about the positives, they talked about the challenges that they had to surpass in order to become the company that they are today.

All in all, i felt that this lecture was insightful and helpful to me as a designer

Portfolio Review- We are Seventeen

As part of the year, we had to visit a company for a Portfolio Review. For this i decided to visit a company which we had previously been to. We are Seventeen are a design company just off Chancery Lane in London.

http://rorysnaddonmi.blogspot.com/2010/03/we-are-seventeen.html

http://www.weareseventeen.com/

For more information on my first impressions as well as the company, click on the links above.

As part of my portfolio visit, i had a chat with two of their founders.

Whilst showing my work, we spent a good hour discussing what they liked as well as how they feel i could improve some of the video pieces. They also helped me bounce a couple of ideas around which i found a good help, specifically based around making my work more appealing to design agencies.

Whilst talking to them, the particularly enjoyed the drawing aspects of my work and feel that it would be a benefit if i combine my maya animation work along side hand drawn aspects. This would then be animated using the puppet effect tool in AE (after effects). This was touched upon after i had shown them the Cross Pathway project work that Team Aardvark had done. They liked my illustration style as well as what i can draw from my own imagination.

They enjoyed seeing my alley way title sequence, the original as well as the improvements that i am currently doing. They critiqued the style and the fact that i wanted to create it into a short film. They informed me that although this would make it better for me, adding titles would make it more appealing to agencies. From this, i will now be creating a few edits of this piece, both for myself, and for agencies.

I showed them my Sky 1 Channel Ident as well. They felt that it was a strong piece of design, which showed my ideas and influences clearly. I was pleased with their verdict of this as i spent a long time developing this piece so that it ran how i wanted it to.

All in all, i felt that the Portfolio visit was successful as it was insightful and helpful when knowing what i should do to make my work more appealing. At the end of the visit, they wanted to keep my video pieces in order to show them to the rest of the group that were working in the studio that day. They also informed me to get back to them, after i had developed some more of my work. This, i feel, is a step in the right direction which helps me put my foot in the door of industry.

water project

http://dic-water.blogspot.com/

cross pathway blog

http://cppaardvark.blogspot.com/

The Mill

Another Studio which some of us were able to visit on London was massive Post Production Agency, The Mill.

The Mill is a large organisation with studio's in London, New York and Los Angeles. This enables a 24 hour process where the work can pass through 3 time zones and have someone working on a project 24/7.

The Mill was a complete contrast to 'We are Seventeen' as the company is of a much larger standard with constant projects and little rest period. It was good to see such a difference in companies as it showed both ends of the business whilst both being successful in what they do.

The Mill is spread across 4 floors and every possible bit of space is being used. The amount of business they had at the time meant every possible bit of space was being used up. Corridors and offices has designers working away whilst runners attended any needs they had. This, however, wasn't the same for the Flame suites.

'Autodesk® Flame® software is the ultimate visual effects system for high-speed compositing, advanced graphics, and interactive client-driven design. Autodesk Flame offers outstanding performance and Academy Award®-winning tools. From national television commercials and music videos to blockbuster films, Flame gives visual effects artists the interactivity and flexibility to tackle projects successfully.'

These areas of the building felt like a high-end hotel. Each Flame suite has its own set of desks which include 1 to 3 people. The Flame operator, and 1 or 2 flame assistants. The room also comes with a comfortable sofa, big screen TV and a high grade surround sound system. The reason this part of the building is so different is because the client usually comes in to these suites to look at the work that is being done on the video. As the clientèle is important and expects high end productivity, this area needs to be of a high standard.

The rest of the tour was also good, including insight into the the jobs in which the Runners have to do, as well as the jobs of the designers. The main thing that impressed me about this visit was that the entire creative team on each floor seemed to work like a well oiled machine. Each person has their own job to do, and once that is complete it is passed on to the next in the line. This reminded me of a construction line where everyone had his or her own specialist area.

The main thing which impressed me about the visit was one of the original conversations we had. Within this, the head of PR explained that The Mill isnt just a company which caters for big time directors and designers, but instead, they also take on jobs from smaller clients and put as much time in as needed to allow that product to come out of a decent standard. This frame of mind wasn't what i expected when i first learnt about The Mill and was something which i feel will allow them to continue to bring in a large amount of custom.

http://www.the-mill.com/

We are Seventeen

During our recent visit to London, we were given the opportunity to visit this design company.
Before the visit, i hadn't heard that much about them however, i had looked at their website and found that they had a lot of work relating to Idents, something that would be useful to look at and talk about considering we are in the middle of an Ident based project.

We are Seventeen was unlike the other studio's that we have visited such as Psyop and Double Negative last year. Their premises wasn't massive however, this meant the atmosphere was much more personal and allowed for us to relax and have a chat about the work to the designers instead of being escorted around studio's in which the designers didn't say anything.

As we were able to talk to the creative genius' behind the work, i was able to gain a lot of insight into their work, as well as where the inspiration for their work came from. These came in the form of visual breakdowns and idea generation such as storyboards, mood boards, colour charts and past video's that had subsequently lead to the final ideas.

From looking at their work after a 7 1/2 month project, i managed to pick up a lot of ideas and tips which will help me in the future and will hopefully help me be able to develop my ideas to a much higher level, one which i feel my projects lack at the moment.

http://www.weareseventeen.com/

Flight 404 no.2

Magnetosphere/Nebula from flight404 on Vimeo.

This is a second test, trying to create a feeling of flying through a nebula.

This shows that even a finished piece can be tweaked and revisited to make it better

Flight 404

Older Magnetosphere/Turbulence/Nebula render from flight404 on Vimeo.

This is a piece by flight 404, one of the artists exhibiting as part of the ONEDOTZERO exhibition.

As the piece in the V & A really caught my attention, I thought a small bit of research into other pieces he has done would allow me to see if this was the usual style or not. This piece particularly caught my attention as it reminded me of a simpler version we did with Flash in the 1st year.

Music and Video, actions and reactions.

DECODE- ONEDOTZERO exhibition

During a recent visit to London, i was able to visit the V&A gallery and the ONEDOTZERO exhibition called DECODE.

I was lucky in the timing of the project linking in with the dates in which the exhibition is in London before it heads of to other ends of the world.

The meaning behind the exhibition, the style of the work and the name of the company is based on code. ONEDOTZERO (1.0) is all about the fundamentals of digital work, the binary code that is at the base of everything. This is clear when looking at the exhibition, that all the pieces, interactive or not, are based around the world. This includes a map of flight paths in north america, a digital clock which displays the time through a series of pictures which are uploaded to the sight, allowing audience participation, even a tree which interacts with the audience by detecting foot placement so that the leaves on the floor move when you stand near them.

All the pieces in the exhibition were fascinating and visually exiting however, there is a vast amount i could say about each one so on this basis, i have chosen a few pieces which i felt stood out from the crowd, pieces which were both visually and technically amazing.


Solar by Flight 404. The creator, Robert Hodgin had already created a piece called Solar, much like the one in the exhibition however, ONEDOTZERO approached him and asked if eh could rework the piece so that it was audio responsive.
According to his blog (http://www.flight404.com/blog/) he felt that his usual creative path wouldnt help in this situation, so the music was turned off. He began by making simple noises into a microphone. This soon became tedious and unenjoyable so subsequently scrapped. The answer came about through a call for help on twitter in which many people suggested a podcast called WYNC's Radiolab.

'I took a snippet from the episode entitled “Musical Language” which features a beautiful soundscape created by Jonah Lehrer. In the episode, Jonah and Robert Krulwich are analyzing the notion that sound is “touch, at a distance” '

At the exhibition, i found this piece very personal in an interactive sense as the digital object reacts differently dependent on the volume, tone and pitch. This meant that it was constantly changing between each person interacting with it.

The gentleman infront of me found that Charlie Uniform November Tango was particularly enjoyable to say into the microphone.

Another piece at the exhibition, one which fascinated the masses was a piece called 'Weave Mirror' by Daniel Rozin. i found that this piece was unique as it was the one thing that was visually amazing from the front as well as the back. The participant stands infront of the piece in which a camera is focused on, this image is then relayed through a program which causes hundreds of semi-circles (each shaded dark to light) to react and transpose the image of the person. As the person is being filmed, the image changes if they move.




The reason i loved this piece so much was because you are able to watch the program at work. The back of this piece reveals all the mechanisms working to transpose the image. Each of the semi-circles is controlled separately and this is fascinating to watch.

The exhibition is full of amazing things and i highly suggest that anyone interested in this style or even the company should take some time to have a look.

lilium urbanus

One of the first things that came to mind when reading this brief was this video which i found last year.

Lilium Urbanus portrays the design view on the building of a city. The city came about from nature and the environment, built upwards and subsequently designed to represent the natural environment which it came from.

The design of the animation is visually exciting and easily enjoyable.

The only problem with identifying this early on in the competition process is that my design could quite easily trail off into something similar. This is something which i will have to deal with during the idea and design process.

decode: digital design sensations

ONEDOTZERO currently have an exhibition touring the world. Its current location happens to be in London at the V&A gallery.

As its only there till April, here is a quick snippet of the style of work that is produced by ONEDOTZERO.

Decode: Digital Design Sensations from onedotzero on Vimeo.

audi ad

Its been a while since my last blog entry. There weren't many things that turned my attention until the latest Audi advert graced our boxes.

Great visuals and an amazing sound track.

Enjoy!

psyop- guinessdot

I bloody love this video. Amazing concept, beautiful visuals and the turn out...look for yourself

Shilo- City of God

I added this piece to my blog as i feel that it has a great blend of humour alongside amazing visuals.
The use of Monotone shades and spot colouring reminds me of Sin City however, this animated style allows for the playfulness of the environment and characters humour to be brought out.

Shilo is a company which i am really interested in and wish to explore further

http://guymckinley.blogspot.com/

www.studioaka.squarespace.com

Serj Tankian- Lie Lie Lie

I have decided to put this video in my blog, not because its the best one out there, not because its my favourite, but instead because its completely different to anything which i have liked before.

The use of 2D puppets and Stop Motion in this video allows for a sinister story but with a child-like fairy tale theme. The reason i love this music video is down to this. The animation and song are rather sinister however, this isn't fully realised due to the childish style of animation.

The animation reminds me of Russian puppet theatre as well as the work of Teesha Moore.
If you haven't heard of Teesha Moore then dont be alarmed, I hadn't until Matt kept on mentioning her like a broken record repeating itself, over and over.

In this piece, i feel the simplicity of the animation mixed with the complexity of the process and the lyrics are really complimentary to each other.

Philadelphia- La Mamma Morta

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b0p9mTJOJI

I have seen this film many times, and each time that i watch it, a single scene always stands out for me. It originally stood out because of the use of music and passion within the scene however, after starting this course, i have began to notice more within everything.

Now, this scene stands out because of the use of music entwined with the intensity and emotion of the lighting. By using a red gel over the light as the music becomes more and more passionate, the audience can see how much passion and love the character has for the piece. It also shows the emotion of the lyrics within the music.

This is then enhanced as the lawyer character (Denzel Washington) starts to feel a connection to the character. For those who haven't seen this film, a connection between the 2 characters is a major turn around because, although Denzel Washington's character is helping Tom Hanks'
character in the lawsuit, he is actually homophobic and doesn't openly show a liking for them.

I also love this scene as the majority of it is shot from above the character, implying that with this piece, he loses himself within the music and no longer feels the need to be a part of this earth, but can transcend to a new life and forget his problem with AIDS.