Summer Project Brief

Over the Summer I have been looking at general things that inspire me in order to have a further idea on what could be developed in 3rd year as a project. I have on my travels in France, captured some photographs that I have explored and drawn from, such as small things like cloud formations, movements of water, elements etc. These things have inspired me and made me look into the possibilities of using photography and film in pieces such as rotascoping. However, I have explored these ideas in my sketchbook to see what really inspires me.

As well as this, I have been inspired by the aspect of a modern art that has reached popularity in the category of Spoken Word Films, something I'd like to further explore with my own love of writing. My original fascination with such a thing is a video I ironically saw on social media site Facebook, by Gary Turk, a writer of spoken word and film maker. The video is an almost modern form of poetry illustrated by the film aspect, I'd love to have a go at such a technique, but perhaps including my more illustrative style of animation to display what is being said.

(Gary Turk- 'Look Up' Youtube)

I've noticed that there is a delicate art in making the spoken word flow as well as carrying a message, and ensuring that the visuals also contribute to this flow. I really like the concept and would love to look into it further for my own work.

(Prince Ea - 'Dear Future Generations: Sorry' Youtube)

The Neighbourhood Portfolio Crit

In an attempt to gather further advice and further insight into the industry, I decided to arrange a visit of my own to The Neighbourhood in Manchester. This allowed me to have a look at what environment they worked in further, and for them to have a look at my work and give feedback.
I arranged to meet with the Senior Designer & Animator Chris, who was able to give valuable feedback on my work as well as explaining briefly his own processes.
I showed him a few pieces I hadn't shown in my previous portfolio crits, such as my Film4 Channel Ident, to show a range of different techniques that I have approached. Here are some general comments he made on my pieces:

Film4 
Shot well, but could have a better reveal, maybe build up further details and camera angles until the final reveal is shown, and perhaps have a more focused lense for more depth on the different pieces of strings. A good concept, but could be improved with further suspense with more shots leading to the reveal.

RAF Story
Again, nice concept but could do with further refining. The teardrop going into the ocean was sometimes missed, so could have further details that develop the fact that it is the ocean, such as maybe waves or seagulls, clouds etc. Really nice sketchbooks, works well with alternate projects.

Feel Good Drinks
Really liked the colours and style, but fruit flowers in the bottle should be improved, maybe add more of them or different ones on top of the one fruit flower that was already there. The reveal of the flowers being inside the bottle could also be slower.

Although this was a valuable experience, Chris was very busy around the time I visited, so the showing of the work had to be quick, therefore this has further proven that I should produce a show reel in my next visits to ensure that the work shown is the best I can display, and is also a quicker way of showing studios the variety of work I produce without it being too long.