Feb
14
Dec
15
Google Chrome Features
Posted in: GeneralBecause of these creative feature demos from Google Chrome, I am now in the process of downloading to try it out.
Dec
15
EP Banter: Talent, Trends Technique
Posted in: adina sales, blacklist, blink, blinkink, chris o'reilly, director, ep, executive producer, General, Industry, interview, james bretton, london, michael adamo, new york, Nexus, nick hussey, passion, production company, rokkit, trends
What is an Executive Producer? This role may go unnoticed by many of us, but the success of a company is often defined by this individual. They shape the culture of the production company they lead. In addition to their sales and strategic roles, they must define and reinforce the creative ethos of the company. This begins with bringing in the right talent and nurturing them to their full potential.
The ways in which this takes place varies from EP to EP. What follows is how some of the good ones do it, including:
- Michael Adamo (EP at Passion Pictures, London)
- Nick Hussey (EP at Rokkit, London)
- Chris O’Reilly (EP at Nexus, London),
- Adina Sales (EP at Blacklist, New York)
- James Bretton (EP at Blinkink, London).
Read the round table discussion and get a glimpse into 2010 and beyond.
Dec
15
1stAveMachine / Aaron Duffy: Google Chrome Features
Posted in: analogue, chrome, clever, General, google, Perspective, ViralUsing the same camera perspective trick employed by weareom for their “Chop Cup” viral (or sidewalk artist Julian Beever or Salvador Dalí or countless others, I’m sure), Google worked with 1stAveMachine’s Aaron Duffy to craft a series of elaborate analogue vignettes to tout the features of its Chrome browser.
Some of the ideas work better than others, with the obvious crowd-pleaser being the Speed demo. The subtext for all the vignettes is a celebration of DIY ingenuity, of making something seemingly simple through the complex combination of unlikely components. In many cases, the machines are human-powered, with hand-turned cranks and puppeted objects supplying the “animation.”
Mostly, though, the message is one we don’t often hear among the nerdified banter of browser battles: Surfing the net should be fun. It should be unexpected, but not because your browser crashes or because you contract a nasty virus.
Big ups to Fred Kim for the tip (via Gizmodo)
1stAveMachine – Production Company
Aaron Duffy – Director
Sam Penfield – EP
Jennifer Brogle Jones – Producer
Claire Mitchell – Head of Creative Development
Jennifer Stratton – Production Coordinator
Bob Partington – Art Director, Fabrication
Nathan Asquith – Fabrication
Peter Erickson – Fabrication
Carlos Ancalmo – Storyboards & Design
Mario Romeo – Assistant Director
Vi Nguyen – Technical Director
Daniel Roman – Compositor
George Vincent – Compositor
Jason Tsang – Compositor
John Laughlin – Compositor
Kathleen Tobin – Compositor
Lily Feng – Compositor
Ryan Hooks – Compositor
Sohee Sohn – Compositor
Ralph Scaglione – 3D Tracking
Val Gnaedig – Costume
Patrick Scola – Documentation
Emery Wells – Colorist
Agency: BBH New York
Calle Sjoenell, Pelle Sjonell – ECD
Aaron Royer – Agency Producer
Steve Peck – Art Director
Jared Elms – Copywriter
Dec
10
Lucky by EB Hu
Posted in: 2D animation, 3d animation, black and white, EB Hu, General, Lucky, monochromatic, twenty120Lucky is a film that was made for Twenty120 earlier in the year. Attentive readers may already have seen it, but it’s really too gorgeous and haunting to let it slip by and not give it its own full post. Its creator, EB Hu is a Director and Motion Designer based in London. We previously featured another non-commercial short of his in 2007: Josie’s Lalaland. High time then to catch up with EB and find out what he’s up to:
Q&A:
What was the inspiration behind Lucky? How did you come up with the concept for the film?
I wanted to create a short some time ago after I saw images of Japanese Whale hunting. There is a extremely haunting picture that features the corpses of a mother whale and her cub. Then comes the occasion that I was asked to think of something around the theme “Good Luck”. When I put the images of my cat against the whale hunting, I felt the irony behind. Our pets have luckily adapted to human world, while the wild animals are unluckily being hunted. On the other hand, our pets have unluckily lost their sense of freedom while begging us for food. The real lucky ones would be those wild animals that escaped our chase.
What was the process like in actually making this? The Twenty120 shorts aren’t funded, so you have to make the time to complete them on your own, right?
Before Twenty120 ’s calI, I already had the initial idea and had done a rough animatic. Once I was commissioned, I felt the topic would match my short very well.
At the time I was still assigned to my full time job, so I had to work my own stuff after work, but who doesn’t? I teamed up with my workmate Simon Graham. We usually spent few hours after work on building senses. Though we were using our own time, I still managed to set a deadline on the project which we had to stick to. The process spread into a 2-and-a-half week period, which went down pretty well according to my original art works and animatic.
We posted your short Josie’s Lalaland a few years back, and Philip Sheppard worked on the score for that as well. Each of them are so evocative and melancholy, how did you collaborate with him? Did you have the track first or did he score it to your picture?
I was lucky at the end of the project that my producer Joe Marshall found our mutual friend- musician Philip Sheppard – was willing to lend his instrumental talent on my piece, once more. Based on my rough animatic cut, Phil captured the atmosphere and recorded his piano playing, and I finalised the edit based on his music.
Can you give us a little background into your work history? How did you get involved in Motion Design and what have you been working on recently?
I started my career in Shanghai as a 2D & 3D animator. In 2004, I decided I need to find time to do more of my own concepts, so I left for UK, to study my MA degree. Upon graduation, I first briefly joined BskyB’s sport team and then BBC broadcast, lately Redbee Media. From 2008, I was represented by Redbee as a director until I left earlier this year. Now I have set up my own studio called MIE with my partners. We started up with a series of viral ads for Spinvox and some pop promos for Zero7. We recently finished George Michael’s new Christmas single promo called December Song, which is due to be released on 13th Dec. The final piece can be seen here.
Here is some additional art from December Song:
Lucky Credits:
Production Company: MIE
Direction and Design: EB Hu
Music: Phillip Sheppard
3D modelling: Simon Graham
Animation: EB Hu and Simon Graham
Producer: Joe Marshall
Dec
07
Meindbender Duplicates for Cartoon Network
Posted in: 3d, Cartoon Network, clay, General, Meindbender, Stop-motion, Sweden
Meindbender Animation Studio in Sweden has really done a nice job for Cartoon Network. They’ve reproduced stop motion-like animation with a real clay feeling—but with all the advantages of CG.
The Duplicator Series was animated in Maya and rendered with Maxwell Renderer using HDR’s Rendernet. Check out the series on Meindbender’s site or individually here:
The Duplicators
Evolution
Audition
It´s Magic
Push The Button
Some background information from Meindbender’s Olov Burman:
In 2007 we released an animation test called Rabbit vs Football. This film got quite a lot of attention on the internet, and one the companies that contacted us was Cartoon Network. We were at that point looking for buyers for a film called Gifts for Greta.
Cartoon Network bought this as a Christmas ID short film, and it ended up winning awards in Promax/DBA Europe and world awards. Cartoon Network then ordered 5 more ID shorties, and we started working on the “Duplicator Series.”
We put together a small but dedicated crew of world class CGI artists and got to work. After several months of hard work we completed the production. We hope you enjoy the films.
Title: The Duplicator Series
Director: Olov Burman
CLIENT:
Client: Cartoon Network
ANIMATION:
Animation Studio: Meindbender Animation Studio
Lighting, Shading, Rendering: Michael Bengtsson
Animation, Rigging: Calle Halldin
Music and Sound Design: Robert Lundgren
Animation, Modeling: Marcus Ottosson
Rigging: Tony Österlund
Props: Ola Larsson
Intern: Rickard Germundsson
MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGN:
Music and Sound Design: AD Union
Dec
05
Elastic/a52: Honda “Boxes”
Posted in: A52, andy hall, Colorful, elastic, General, honda crosstour, rpaElastic/a52 releases another colorful component of the Honda Accord Crosstour campaign for agency RPA.
Directed by Andy Hall, “Boxes” builds on the lively minimalism of “Instruments,” with transitional moments powered by the expansion and contraction of nested squares that look like Albers paintings on acid—neon-lit and full of kinetic possibility.
The rendering in this series reminds me a little of Smith & Foulkes’ work for HP. Both worlds are full of chunky, stylized forms and almost tangible streams of color—worlds I’d like to spend some time in, if I only knew how to find them.
Project Name: Honda Accord Crosstour “Boxes”
Running Time: :30
Release Date: 11.29.09
Client: Honda
Advertising Agency: RPA
Chief Creative Officer: David Smith
Creative Director: Pat Mendelson
Writer: Seth Prandini
Art Director: Chuck Blackwell
Executive Producer: Gary Paticoff
Production/Design Company: Elastic
Director: Andy Hall
DP: Toby Irwin
Live Action Producer: David Wolfson
Executive Producer: Jennifer Sofio Hall
Designers: An Nguyen, Henry de Leon, Eunice Kim, Max Ulichney
VFX/Finishing Company: a52
CG Lead: Max Ulichney
3D Artists: Paulo de Almada, Ian Ruhfass, Christina Lee, Rick Glenn, Kevin Culhane, Joe Chiechi
Lead Compositor: Shahana Khan
Rotoscoping: David Hochstadter
Colorist: Angus Wall
Assistant Producer: Heather Johann
Producer: Sarah Haynes
Executive Producer: Jennifer Sofio Hall
“Boxes” Music: “Pata Pata” by Miriam Makeba and Jerry Ragovoy
Performed by: Miriam Makeba
Dec
04
Old No. 7
Posted in: 3d animation, black and white, Brand New School, General, Jack Daniel's, Jonathan Notaro, monochromaticBrand New School shows once again that they’re the masters of seamless transitions in this moody monochromatic piece for Jack Daniel’s. It’s the first spot of a three-spot campaign, so we’ll be looking out for the next installments. Full credits on the Vimeo page and BNS’s site.
Dec
03
Challenge Your World : Video Challenge Winners
Posted in: A Better Tommorow, Aaron Becker, challenge your world, Digital Kitchen, General, Industry, Natural Re-sasters, Nicholas Bentley, Rendez-Vous 09, Video Challenge
The Challenge Your World 2009 “Video Challenge” winners were announced during the Challenge Your World live event, “Rendez-Vous 09″ in Montreal. “A Better Tomorrow” (directed by Nicholas Bentley) took the Jury’s Choice award, while Digital Kitchen Chicago’s Natural Re-sasters (helmed by Aaron Becker) won the People’s Choice vote.
In keeping with the overall goal of the Challenge Your World Video Challenge, both pieces tell an interesting tale about bettering our future though new and fun innovations.
Be on the look out for the next CWY contest, Idea Challenge.
UPDATE:
High Res. QT of Natural Re-sasters
Natural Re-sasters :
CREDITS
—————–
Creative Director:
Aaron Becker
Art Director:
Jason Esser
Writers:
Aaron Becker
Jason Esser
Producers:
Colin Davis & Kent Smith
Original Music:
Mark Walk
Narrator:
Jeff Christian
Editing & Sound Design:
Andrew Maggio
Design & Animation:
Aaron Becker
Jason Esser
Ryan Sneddon
Mike Cone
Chris Green
Dec
01
2009 Motion Graphic Census: Who, What, Why and How
Posted in: 2009 Motion Graphic Design Census, Best Practices, General, Industry, labor, Moiton Design, Rates, Salary Survey, work
Do you ever wonder how many people actually work in the Motion Graphic Design business? Do you ever think about where they might live and work? Do you ever wonder what kind of salaries they make? How they charge their clients? How many projects they do a year? If they do work in advertising, short films, visual effects, or music videos? And what kind of software they use?
We do.
That’s why we’ve created the 2009 Motion Graphic Design Census, the first-ever salary survey for professionals in Motion Graphic Design, Animation, Visual Effects and Film-making. This survey is designed to count everyone in the industry—from owners to interns, producers, designers and animators. The online survey will be hosted at Motionographer for the month of December. We’ll then publish the results in 2010.
We plan on continuing the survey as a yearly effort in order to track salary, rates, and other relevant issues. We’d love to get the entire Motion Design community to participate, to give us a full and realistic overview of the entire profession.
Please follow the link and fill out your information, which will remain completely anonymous. Then sign up for our mailing list to get the results of the survey in 2010.
If you’re wondering why you should spend 10 minutes or less filling this survey out, here are some reasons:
• The AIGA has never truly identified and defined our field of work in its annual salary surveys. It has always classified positions as entry level designer, designer, senior designer, art director, creative/design director, owner/partner/principal and solo designer – positions geared towards its base of print designers. This leaves out producers, animators, CG artists, storyboard artists, and quite a few other job types related to our industry. Other membership-based organizations like BDA/Promax or AICP also leave out whole segments of our colleagues and do not make their information accessible to the public.
• We should no longer be seen as a “young” industry. Some of the leading companies in our field have been in business for 10 years or more now. A salary survey is long overdue in our industry to gauge year-by-year the value companies place on full-time and freelance talent that they hire.
• By conducting this first-ever salary survey tailored to our industry, important data will be gathered that will give insight to individuals as to where they fit in this complex and always-changing industry and hopefully help them see more clearly the path they wish to take with their careers
• There are other relevant issues in our industry like unpaid pitches, spec work, work-for-hire agreements and other labor practices that we’d like to bring up as issues of concern to our community. Seeing who is affected by these issues is one of the first steps in addressing them.
• We’d simply like to quantify and count all the people who do what we do, and eventually help all of our colleagues explain to their parents what they actually do for a living.
The Motion Graphic Design Census was written and will be published by Bran Dougherty-Johnson and Jake Sargeant, two Motionographer authors who have worked several years in staff positions and now currently freelance within the industry.
Who's in charge here?
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A. during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.