'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.