Glug Event

As an additional form of development, I attended the Glug event where there was a mix of designers that all allowed some insight into their industries and their approach to work.

BBC- Children's Game Design- Callum Peters

This talk was done by Callum Peters who explained the importance of his relationship with the client and the necessary research it takes to be with a particular client, he spoke about his specific research such as building relations with the children he builds games for in order to find out what they actually want.
I was really inspired by the approach he had to research as I feel like this is an approach I'd like to make too.

Jane Bowyer
Jane Bowyer is an illustrator/graphic designer who was really inspirational, speaking about how nothing is perfect, and everyone's idea of perfection is different, I felt that this was a really true fact and linked well with my Body Image piece too.

Feedback from Fuzzy Duck

I've received some feedback from Fuzzy Duck regarding my first attempt of the brief, previously I'd spoken to Matt about my idea of the descriptive writing and film combination and he liked the idea, below is his recent feedback from the piece.

Lyme Park - Research

As an element of research I decided to go to Lyme Park to develop a feeling of a stately home and the grounds I knew would be perfect to film. I filmed a few pieces around the grounds, and got the overall effect of a stately home and what it's like to be in that position and environment. From the research around the environment I was able to be inspired into the passion of the land that the Last Squire of Erddig must have had and the sacrifice it was to give up his legacy.
I'm really liking the textures within the environment and I feel that this is well reflected in the descriptive writing, so I should ensure that I have an appropriate aesthetic for the animation.

Abstract: The Art of Design - Documentaries Netflix

Christoph Nieman- from his site.

Over Easter I have ensured I have looked into some research regarding the industry and professional practice. A really good tool I've found is to watch some documentaries on various areas of the industry to see how they work, and what they developed into as professionals. Netflix has made a series of episodes following alternate designers which I have found particularly inspiring in terms of Personal Development.








Christoph Niemann- Illustration
Christoph Niemann is a German illustrator best known for his work on the covers of the New Yorker. Taught by Heinz Edelman in his youth, Niemann spoke of how Edelman would never be encouraging, that's not how he taught, he spoke of how proportions, and more structured work was discouraged, and he loved that.
Niemann discusses how his creativity isn't thought up as a formula, it is a moment of craziness for him, however he does say each idea requires information, and that is what his values are as an artist.

Personally, I found that his creative process was quite similar to my own development, in that he researches and sketches up ideas really roughly before pursuing them with further research, further knowledge and information. I like this way of working and it's nice to see that it is also applied by a successful professional, there's just the adaption to Motion Design.

Es Devlin- Stage Design
Physical creation of projects has always been important to me, so I decided to watch the episode that featured on Stage Designer Es Devlin, who spoke of how she always constructed things from an early age, and for her, it is about immersing the audience in a new reality, and a creative environment that she has made.
In particular, I found her 'Scent Infused Mirror Maze' installation really inspiring, as it was about guiding the viewer through the maze and to a familiar place, mimicking the feeling you get when you smell a certain scent which is connected to a memory.

Alumnight Event

Through Stockport College hosting an alumni event in the Mint Lounge in the Northern Quarter, it presented a great platform for building more contacts in the industry. There were various talks that I found very interesting, and ensured that there were some questions pitched to the designers. A particular question that fascinates me is:

 "When you first graduated, what did you call yourself? (A motion designer? Animator? Moving Image?" 

It was very interesting to hear some responses and developed that most designers alter what they call themselves dependent on what job they are applying for with what skills they would require. 

Personal Development Aesthetic

Tant de Forêts - trailer from Burcu & Geoffrey on Vimeo.
Undersong from Matt Smithson on Vimeo.
Far The Days Come from Pencillati Studios on Vimeo.
Forget Me Not from Mew Lab on Vimeo.

Aesthetic Influences - Live Brief

In order to get an idea of aesthetic I've been looking at some interesting videos in order to develop a style.


Alice In Wonderland from byeot on Vimeo.
Title Sequence / Reis-i Cumhur - 2014 from Rashad Mammadov on Vimeo.

Memories of Paintings from Thomas Blanchard on Vimeo.
Female Portraits from Alicia7777777 on Vimeo.

Fuzzy Duck Live Brief- Erddig Hall

After having had a portfolio criteria with Motion Designer of Fuzzy Duck Matt Geeling, we asked whether he could set a live brief via email to pursue and show at a later date, he and a fellow animator Natalie Wood gave us the following brief:

"Create a 30 to 60 second motion-graphic based on the following theme:
“Visualise the state of mind of a man. A man who will do anything to keep his families legacy together, but by keeping it will destroy it. Or should he give it away, to no longer own it but to allow it to be preserved for others to enjoy”.

This was the fate of the Last Squire of Erddig Hall in Wrexham, Wales. I have attached a few photos that may be of use, which show the building and the man himself. Also, here are a few links that may be helpful:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erddig
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/erddig
Feel free to take this in any direction you like, and most importantly, have fun with it! We look forward to seeing what you come up with."

I feel like this could be a really interesting brief, and I have undertaken some research of the house itself: Erddig Hall in Wrexham.

Fuzzy Duck- Portfolio Crit

I met with the head of Motion Design at Fuzzy Duck, Matt Geeling, who gave me a range of tips and advice that were really helpful.
As well as showing him some of the older projects, I showed him the Self Initiated Project to get some feedback on the overall aesthetic and the scenes so far.

Body Image Project 
He really liked the overall look and the movement of the lines, but he was worried that I could be too vague with the storyline if I made the project too long and time consuming. His advice was too ensure that I was quite harsh with myself and cutting down the scenes in order for it to work better and to be more effective within the time that I had.

Memory Book 
He enjoyed how personal this project was, and was pleased with the college look to it and especially with the depth of field he found it very effective. He did say that I needed to add more depth to the audio, and perhaps to remove the current track as it's very dramatic and distracts the audience away from the sound effects a little too much.

Showreel
I felt it was really important to first and foremost show my showreel as this is something that I need the most feedback on. He liked the overall feel to it and likes the work I showed, however parts like the live footage he didn't feel were necessary to include, unless I wanted to pursue more of a career with film. It's interesting how he suggested adapting your showreel to who you were applying for.

I found Matt's advice really helpful, and it allowed further development into my understanding of what studios look for in the industry.

Flow- Portfolio Crit

Flow is a studio that had really interested me after being recommended by Emma Reynolds (who supports illustration) to look at their Showreel. They produce a diverse range of work but very lively and fun.
Karl who is one of the Motion Designers in the team spoke about how fun and passion are the main qualities they look for in work. The projects that they enjoy are ones that they are most likely to initiate more interest in.
Karl was very helpful and I found that it was a good opportunity to ask him to look at my first attempt at a showreel in order to see how a professional would view it.

Showreel feedback
I explained how the pacing of my showreel had to reflect the gradual pacing of my work and how I was struggling with such a thing, however he was really helpful and said that it's not so much about being a snappy and quick showreel but very much about the edit and the overall effect that the animations have in co-operation with the soundtrack used.
He suggested maybe taking out the filmed parts unless I wanted to pursue filming he didn't find them relevant, however liked the general edit and found the depth of field of my collage animations along with the song effective, but said I could maybe lengthen some of the collage sections.

He also explained how with their own showreel that they only put 2 clips from each animation in the showreel so they're not showing too much and there's a more diverse range of work. He recommended that 5 seconds should be the maximum amount of time a clip is shown for as people do get impatient and bored.
There are a few parts that he recommends clipping and making shorter and says that generally they don't like showreels that are more than 1 minute, so mine needs cutting down slightly from 1.30.

Memory Book Animation
I managed to slow down and improve the sound effects of this animation which I believed makes it more effective. Karl asked two of the other designers (both called Jordan) to help to view the pieces.

Design Bridge- Portfolio Crit

As an extra for the London trip I contacted a Graphic Designer John Sherwood from Design Bridge who gave me a tour of the studio as well as a crit for my work.

The actual tour of the studio was really helpful and interesting as I find the aspect of motion in advertising has always fascinated me. Although John is a Graphic Designer, he does work alongside Motion Designers within the agency who I also was able to speak to. I found it interesting that such designers work together within the agency as that's something I find appealing with working as part of a team. There were alternate aspects to the agency, the idea generation department, visualisers, production and post production and editing processors. 

Motion Designers were also used for Cinema 4D models of certain products that they could use in packaging as well as gifs and online moving image adverts. Feedback As I have received feedback from John earlier last year, I showed him more current projects as well as the project I am currently still working on. Memory Book Project They really liked the thought processes behind it and the meaning it produced but said it could have more of an opening sequence and also allow more time for the audience to take in the imagery. The original music interestingly they preferred to the possible idea of changes of music throughout the video, as they said this would be too distracting but the current nostalgia track has a good tone to it and is subtle enough to be effective. Some of the images could also be edited and smoothed out for crisper results. Body Image They really liked my animatic for this project as they said themselves as an agency rely alot on animatics and storyboard development. They wished I could've brought my sketchbooks and suggested to show these off as the development of ideas and evidence of these progressions is favoured in their agency and they believe in the industry too. They suggested subtle sounds for the piece and perhaps even using Illustrator rather than Photoshop on the images for more of a rustic and analogue looking piece. They thought
the colours worked well but could have experiments with different textures to overlay on the images.

London Studio Visits

The studios in London that we visited were all very different which I found really interesting as it helped me develop a further idea about what the industry is like and the many different formats and ways of working. 

Momoco 

Momoco was the smallest studio we visited but yet had so many successful pieces. Mostly title sequences, the company worked alongside agencies but were mostly independent in terms of clients. The company were very humble about their pieces and yet worked well as a team, Nic Benns who was one of the motion Designers explained how dependant on projects they keep a small team but can bring in freelancers. I found it really interesting in such a sense that it was a nice home grown studio and there was a small team who helped each other out, however I think I'd personally prefer to be in a larger team and making a broader range of work. 

BDLG 

This studio was my favourite of all the Motion Design agencies/studios that we visited. We were spoken to by Grant Gilbert and Jason who were clearly very excited and enthusiastic about their projects and agency. I really liked the work ethic and environment of that studio and how they process ideas with meetings with the clients as well as involving the whole team with the idea generation and allowing the person with the chosen idea to lead that project. I also loved that they weren't afraid to go back to analogue pieces with showing us 3D printed stop motion animations etc. It was a really nice thing to see not all digital animations as I love the analogue side of making such projects. Grant gave us alot of advice as well as a book of different projects and clients they've worked for. He gave us some tips for our showreel which was to include some personal projects in there to prove we have passion as he believes passion is one of the main traits he searches for in terms of designs and interns.

Nexus 

Nexus was a huge studio with hundreds of people working there, it was nice to contrast this to Momoco, but it was overwhelming the amount of different projects and the scale of how many people there were. Luke Youngman was the production assistant with Aardman originally and spoke of his development in becoming a designer and production manager of Nexus. He explained that the process of working is very much on a grand scale and they have certain teams of people that work with the different clients.

Design Bridge

Although this is a branding design agency consisting of mostly Graphic Designers, I independently organised a visit as it was something that I have particular interest in. I found it a nice collaborative way of working as there were some Motion Designers there that worked with the Graphic Designers to produce gifs and adverts for the branding of the products.

'Glug'

Glug is an event held for creative talks which I visited last night. I found the experience really fascinating and valuable as it contained a variety of creatives in the room who were freely speaking about their practice and offering advice on various issues you may face within the industry.

Matt Geeling - Head of Motion at Fuzzy Duck

I found Matt's talk was very analytical of his work and his developments of projects he had produced,  and I like the aesthetic and overall values his studio has. It was nice to see the live brief interactions he has with students, as well as a mixture of projects that the studio creates themselves.

Aymi Duignan - Artist/Entrepreneur | Talk: 'Believing anything can be done, if you just do it and do it well' 

Sneaky Raccoon - Art Director & Graphic Designer | Talk: 'Love Yourself' 

I found that Sneaky Raccoon (Anna Mullin) gave one of the most inspiring talks, she developed that it's okay to be selfish with your work in some ways, to have confidence in your work in order for it to succeed. She also developed that it's okay to 

James O'Connell - Deputy Creative Director at Creative Spark | Talk: 'Work In Progress'

Jack Woodcock- Porfolio Crit

Through the Glug event I gained contacted Jack Woodcock, a freelance Motion Graphic Designer who specialises in 2D animation, which is particularly helpful for my personal progression as I tend to lean towards the 2D format.

As well as giving me advice on particular projects, he gave me some tips on how to progress as a designer and agreed to meet up after my current projects are complete to see my progress. As well as giving feedback for the work, he also gave us lots of tips and advice for getting yourself known in the industry. He advised to always keep your contacts and go to events like Glug to build up those contacts and familiarise yourself with the different roles within the industry. He explained how it is a tight knit community and how people do remember certain styles and projects and he is always open to collaborations.

Easy Ease

Jack explained how easy ease graph editor was a tool on After Effects that he believes is extremely important for the animations to flow effectively.

Show Reel Advice

• He spoke of how generally the showreel should be about 1 minute long and how important sound is to emphasise your show reel. 
• Royalty free music is key to supplying an ambience without breaking any rules and that the music is better without lyrical content. 
• Ending the showreel on your name is a good way of making your work memorable, also putting some of your best work at the end of the showreel.

Feedback on Projects

Memory Book Project

• Would be nice for a pace change, making it slower but perhaps also changing the pace throughout in different moments.
• He mentioned how maybe it starts too quickly, an idea he suggested was to start as the blank texture that was in the background and then move through to the baby's head, fading through the page, as a more of a blank start for a more dramatic reveal at the end as well. 
• He also suggested a parallax photo effect, perhaps editing the photos so they move a bit, give them more of a depth of memories. An example of this within the work was the seagull photograph, which he said I could move slightly and match up with the sound, I like the idea and would like to put some time aside to do it.
• There were some images that needed to be neatened off a bit and given a softer, more blurred edge. 

Feel Good Drinks

• Jack noticed a few missing frames that needed to be drawn in or altered, but was impressed by the analogue attempt at producing my own illustrations for the piece. He explained how he pays an illustrator to do his illustrations for him but it's a good skill to be able to draw yourself.
• Again with him mentioning the aspect of Easy Ease previously, he mentioned how I needed to easy ease a few parts of this piece in order for it to flow easier.
• He liked the 'hero shot' where the piece finishes on the illustration of the product, but suggested that maybe there could be a shot of the logo as the final end shot to emphasise the identity. 

Body Image- Current project

As I'd only produced a small amount of actual work so far with this, I showed him my animatic and a few of my compositions and ideas for character design, here was his feedback.

• He mentioned the technique of drop framing and how this adds a more jerky appearance to the animation.
• He liked the aesthetic of the piece and how the lines flickered but also emphasised how important it is to make the animation flow more.
• The feedback on the animatic was good and spoke of how important the sound effects would also be for this piece, I will meet up further on in the year to have some feedback on the work I have produced.

No Strings Attached

When looking on vimeo for inspirational animations, I came across this beautiful combination of hand drawn and 3D elements and was able to look more into the making of.

The Super Rope Solution - Animated Short from Auke de Vries on Vimeo.

The making of - The Super Rope Solution from Auke de Vries on Vimeo.

Puppet String Development

As part of my production process, it has come to my attention that I need to do a few tests for the string coming down part of the animation. I'd like the string to be like an individual creature, snaking down towards my character but her not really noticing it despite it viciously grabbing her. I'd like the cat however to react towards the string in a negative way, showing he sees the effect the media has on her without her even realising it herself.
I've found a few movie clips I feel link to the behaviour I'd like the strings to possess before taking the girls as puppets.

Character Development

As my story I'd like to develop the aspect of a rough looking, sketchy aesthetic. I have produced a few short testers and sample characters as an exploration of what could work out best, as well as an animatic to explore what's best for the story and get a better idea of timings for the sound effects overall.
Within my sketchbook I have sketches which develop in me trying to find an overall character outcome.

Rachel Goodyear

An artist came for a talk in which she highlighted the aspect of mystery in her work. I found it fascinating as she spoke about how she produces her pieces to contain their own story lines and a story can be made up by the audience when they are watching it.

'Alike'

When looking on Vimeo, I found this short film that explores the aspect of Creativity within a child and a father. I love the contrast of the characters in that one represents the childhood liveliness of creativity and the father represents the reality of the creativity being stripped away through being an adult. I thought it not only links to the aspect of creativity in my Dissertation, but also the stylised features I'm exploring in my current project, and how the characters change colour in accordance to their mood, to show their love. Alike short film from psl on Vimeo.

Steven Swanborough

Steve came to visit us as a stepping stone to see what work he produces, as well as where we're up to with our projects and some feedback he could give to us. I found that this talk was one of the most rewarding as he seemed most down to earth and willing to help us, as well as understanding to the fact that it is hard as a student to begin in the industry, and he gave us advice on how to approach work after graduation which was helpful. 

He also spoke about having to make your showreel and portfolio stand out, and how he used to go the extra mile to make sure that studios would actually see him, delivering his portfolios etc.

It was interesting how his production process is quite similar to the way we approach a project in the way that he had to pitch some general ideas to the client to begin with etc.

Olympics Project 

Although he discussed a few projects he had undertaken, I found his work with the BBC Sports branding for the Olympics 2016 most inspiring. I liked how he discussed his thought processes with this project, and discussed the restrictions that the BBC had on certain design approaches in terms of their logos. 

He said how although there were restrictions on where he put the design etc. he knew that he had to have the freedom of doing what he wanted first to get it out of the way. I found that this was an interesting way of approaching things, and it overall helped him to undergo the projects.

Project Feedback

As an exploration of my own work, Steve gave some feedback that I found to be really helpful overall. 

Current project feedback - He loved the way in which I had displayed my initial ideas, and how I'd collected some research with the survey etc. he also liked the aesthetic and the strong theme behind it, however he mentioned I needed to develop more into the colour theory side of things which I knew I should delve into. Making sure my characters having been stylised, will still reflect the mood that I want. (Blue skin and hair looked a bit too sad and depressing- perhaps warmer colours rather than having the cooler ones) 

Memory Book Project Feedback- He loved the depth of field and the overall idea behind it and theme, but said that perhaps the soundscape could be developed further to show more emotion as it is an emotional piece, and to maybe add some movement into the images.

Nowness Define Beauty Series

After having discovered the Am I Ugly? Video on Facebook, it lead me to the other series of videos that Nowness have produced in the theme of defining beauty and I've found each one is cleverly disturbing as it shows how strange it is that we have normalised such things in our society such as tanning and disturbing body proportions.


Nowness: Define Beauty 'Degrees of Doneness' from James Lees on Vimeo.

Aesthetic Research

I've been looking on Vimeo over the festive period, about some aesthetics that I particularly like that I feel influenced by, and  I love the graphic and illustrative style animations, 2D and 3D drawings etc. Here's a few I found particularly inspiring.


The 12 Days of Christmas - A Tale of Avian Misery from Blink on Vimeo.
Berry Sakharof - Yareach (Moon) // ברי סחרוף - ירח from Berry Sakharof on Vimeo.


Dontshare from gianluca maruotti on Vimeo.
Blue - CNN from Moth on Vimeo.

Social Media Impacts

When looking on social media itself, ironically there's a lot of posts about the powerful effects it has on society. Here's a few pieces I've found on social media that successfully link back to the underlying problems my animation will explore.

Am I Ugly? - by Nowness
A video that is going viral on Facebook is this video posted by social group Nowness. It shows the distortion and brainwashing of young girls due to media elements. It's shocking how young these girls are and the impact that media has had on them, how they speak of how fake beauty is more important than natural beauty. Although these are acted out clips, they are real life opinions of young girls who have been impacted by the beauty industry. It makes the audience feel uneasy and disturbed which I think is a successful outcome with the editing of distorted clips and sound effects together.


The Video below is a video I found on Facebook declaring how zombified the human race have become through the aspect of social media and technology. I found this linked successfully back to how I've made the characters in my animation be lead by another force and be almost zombified themselves.