Fluid Creative CONTACT REPORTS

During the visit we talked mainly to Scott Green who was definetly the right person due to him being the only real motion graphics designer at the studio. The rest where mixtures of graphic designers and coders. The visit was really good and benefited from him showing us the development in his work from college to university to his place of work. He was confident in his ability and I liked how he really enjoyed doing his work in motion graphics not so much the
Fluid Creative work but more his freelance work. It was good to see his enthusiasm and how he had built up good connections in the industry through working. He mentioned about while in college you can let your creative mind rome but never lose what makes your work special. He also mentioned about sending him other work for feedback.

After we had talked to Scott Green we had a quick chat with the Wayne Silcock who told us about the clients he deals with and how it is very important to get enough information on how much they are willing to spend.

We only had time to show him 1 piece of our own work so i decided just to show him my final piece and he gave me some good feedback about the pace and that it should be slower so we can take in more and make the editing slower with less cuts. style wise he liked it but said about how it is to colorfull at the end and thought maybe breaking up the colors or saturation.

design by day CONTACTS REPORTS

From: angela@designbyday.co.uk
Subject: Re: Hi
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 12:34:08 +0100
To: sophie_h01@msn.com

Hi Sophie,

How are you?

Was nice having you over and seeing you're work!

I've popped the 4th of June in the diary, we'd love to come.

See you there!

Angela (and Lou!)


On 12 Apr 2010, at 15:06, sophie harrison wrote:

Hi
Just a quick email to say thanks for taking the time to see us the other week, it was really nice to see where you worked and get feedback on our own work.
Just to let you know our degree show is going to be on June 4th in Stockport college. There will be moving image and graphics students exhibiting on the night so if your available it would be great to see you.

Thanks again

Sophie and Simon

fluid creativity RESEARCH

Slime from Fluid Creativity on Vimeo.

a piece of design work I found that related to my tomorrows world title sequence. I really like the digital and green stylised look. It looks like this was done using after effects as I cant see much 3-D. The nice movement of the figure kind of twitch from position to position also give it a computer or digital look.

fluid creativity CONTACT REPORTS

Hello
We are two students currently studying on a Moving Image course at Stockport College. As part of the course we look into creating idents, adverts, 3d design etc. Your moving image showreel looks really impressive and we were wondering if it would be possible to visit you sometime. We're graduating soon and are trying to get an idea what sort of company's are out there, recently we've been to visits in London and Manchester but it'd be really good to see whats around locally also. It would be nice to find out a bit more about you and maybe show you our portfolios to perhaps get some feedback from you?
Many thanks for your time.

Sophie Harrison & Simon Dye

3rd Year Students
Stockport College
United Kingdom

reply;

Hi Sophie

Thanks for the email - I am sure we can arrange something for next week or the week after if that is convenient. Let me have a look at our studio schedule, and I will see if we can fit you in.

Cheers

Big or Small Jobs for all? ISSUES AND PRACTICES

Animation, interactive media, special effects, title design, moving image and motion graphics all fall under the title multimedia. In companies such as The Mill they have a large number of staff that are set to very specific areas and are employed for a specific use which for some would be a dream job but for not I suppose for designers, for example they will be split into Tv programmes and advertisments and then they will be split off again into modelers and editors even as specific as rigging a character so for keen designers who want there input. On the other hand smaller companies such as We Are Seventeen have a small amount of staff three in all. In comparison to The Mill which have enough staff to have the ability to complete a larger amount of output and work on multiple jobs but the employees will be restricted to only a small part of the process. We Are Seventeen on the other hand are restricted to taking less jobs but by having a small team the advantage there own input is required and I think having more involvement in most aspects of the work, this in turn I would think create better job satisfaction. In comapring the two there would be advantages and disadvantages on both sides for example a smaller company requires a person to have a broader set of skills and have the ability to multi task almost how you are during your studys. This is where i would like to find myself, having multiple skills and not being pinned down to a specific area. I think there would be alot more pressure to deliver in a small company. They also may have to work on there own pitches for jobs. I think the major advantage in my opinion in working in a small company is that your work would feel more your own whereas in a large company having being placed in a very specific area say rigging, you would have little to no input in the final piece although some people would find this appealing as there would be less pressure on the person and there would be the oppotunity to really whone in on certain skills.

The advantages for the clients employing a small design firm is they seem very ambitious and want the work also want to do the best job they can in order to promote themselves. Also for the client themselves the small company or freelances they would be expected to be more accessible and I suppose they tend to be more innovative when it comes to new ideas or major changes in the work.

"Freelance designers and small design firms tend to deliver the project earlier than larger design companies."

Here is an interesting quote by James Paden on the advantages of a large company

"large design companys have individual experts on staff most freelancers and small companies will probably know a lot about website design, but they won’t have a full time graphic designer, web programmer, interface designer, copywriter, SEO expert and social marketer on the payroll. Not only that, but all these people have friends and their own personal support network. More experts will have eyes on your project at a larger company."

One major factor I think is that the big companies are big for the simple reason they have made it that far using there abilities skills and talents. Although saying this they must have started of as small company to begin with so everyone needs to start somewhere. So when it comes down to it most probably all design companys freelances will try there best to promote there own work as it is a very competitive industry.

comparing practitioners PRACTITIONERS

ContainerPLUS






























Lauren Moriarty/ContainerPlus

In this essay I will be looking at two very different practitioners Lauren Moriarty a textile and product designer and Louise from her company ContainerPlus a multidisciplinary art and design collective specialising in creating fantasy worlds across a range of 2D and 3D platforms. I will be comparing and contrasting not just there work but there working methods there presentation and how they get there work. They also have there simalaritys as they both work for themselves so both have the oppotunity to decide what jobs to take on although they differ considerabley on there decisions on taking the job

On the 5th of March Lauren Moriarty came for a visiting lecturer. She works as a textile and product designer with a focus on materials experimentation and combining craft and industrial making processes to create textile concepts for products and interiors. Her work has featured in national and international design and lifestyle magazines. Her work seems to be more experimental than design although early on she did want to be a product designer. ContainerPLUS is a multidisciplinary art and design collective specialising in creating fantasy worlds across a range of 2D and 3D platforms. The designs are mainly illustration based.

Both the talks where really good and similar in the fact they went through there work progressivly showing early work to more present work while explaining in detail the hows and whys of the piece. I found that Lauren Moriarty seemed a lot more confident in her work and during the presentation and seemed happy with all her work. Her work lent more to the experimental art, kind of museum style where as the container plus where quite consumer based. One thing that I did find interesting was the way they had been kind of pushed or influenced to use other medias such as motion graphics and lighting. While both gave us good advice about and both really pushed the idea of collabarating with other designers in different areas and medias and how this creates more contacts in the industry giving you stepping stones or even just contacts in helping out in the shows. Lauren stressed how, in her field, how important it is to work well with magazines. She explained that they will often contact you for an article and expect images to be sent straight away. If you communicate well with them and be prepared with images etc there is far more chance that they will contact you again for further articles. Both designers have made good use of these contacts in various projects and show that, despite the pathway, good people skills are required. They where also very welcome to do any design job they where offered even if they have no idea how to create them web design for example. Where Lauren Moriarty is a solo artist and doesn't take on the work as much if she isnt comfortable.

ContainerPlus are made up of three designers two are illustrators the third a photographer and they discussed about creating a good working relationship. They discussed how although the three are friends they keep there life and there work relationship separate and this they said was the key to getting work done. As they had previously had three other employees but it just hadnt worked out. In comparison Lauren Moriarty was discussing about working alone but still mentioned about getting good relationships with clients and other designers. She discussed how while working for a client you have to make compromises, as there is always more than likely a problem with the design and always be aware of how much the clients are willing to spend as this will impact on how your design will finish.

A nice piece of advice she gave us was to make sure you keep the element that makes your piece of design work special as there will be more than likely there will be issues. There was also there working methods that differed while ContainerPlus where given a brief to work to an create from. They also stressed that you should take good or bad work when it is offered to a certain extent and how they would take on jobs even if they didnt have the appropriate skills. Lauren Moriarty would do quite the opposite and create the design before she thinks about what it would be used for or how it would be sold. She would also turn down jobs as she saw fit.

This can be seen when comparing the diversity in there work. Where lauren seems to stay quite narrow with her work compared with ContainerPlus who have a wide range from shop windows to photgraphy to website design taking these jobs on even if they didnt ave the required skills.

I enjoyed both lectures I found it both very useful and interesting to compare and look deeper into there work and methods and how they differ. I have found some interesting differences between the pathways that cannot only be applied to the two practitioners but the design world in general. I found Laurens and Louises talk about te industry and how they go about getting jobs very interesting.

Meet Meline

MEET MELINE (2009) - TRAILER from Sebastien LABAN on Vimeo.

Really gorgeous piece of work it has a really appealing look and very nice style. I like its natural look but also the way its cartoon style with its very bright maybe even unnatural colors. what i found worked really well was the use of depth of field its really brings something to the piece. I think its because it gives the illusion we are behind the camera and its imperfect but less to take in and a good way to take your focus on and of certain parts.

MEET MELINE : THE MAKING OF (Sebastien Laban and Virginie Goyons) from Sebastien LABAN on Vimeo.

Design by Day

For one of my portfolio visits I went to a place named Design by Day after I seen one of there pieces moving visuals for the property delevoper's 25th birthday celebrations. The brief was to create exciting, dynamic visuals that show an alternate slant on some of their most outstanding developments and I think the actual piece is very dynamic and really suits the rhythm of the music. The company works in print, Web an Moving Image. They are a Manchester based design studio but only just recently got into moving image. There are two in all Angela and louise who is the one more graphics and print orientated while the other Angela is more moving image based using after effects mainly. Both were really nice and confident and both were able to spend there time with us which was really nice to have too seperate inputs.

During the visit I was able to show them most of my work and there feed back was positive and they also had some advice on how it could be improved. They liked my experimental rythm piece and liked the idea of using it in maybe an installation. They also enjoyed the experience of seeing moving image as they said most visits are graphics based

They went on to discuss and show us there own work and some very early university work which was really nice too see how they had developed from a lower standard like us to a profesional level they are at. It was interesting to hear they did a job for an music artist who needed some visuals, the piece itself was very quirky and fun that had a very 2 and a half D look. It was the way that instead of being paid from the client they where offered an opptunity to ask him for a piece of music made for there work. I think this shows a good community between designers and the ability to use your skills for more than just the payment.

Dinnertime from Design By Day on Vimeo.

In all the visit was very interesting and great of them to take time out to see us. Although there wasnt as much input on my work as I would have wanted but I think this was down to me having to many to show, I really liked the way they talked about there own work and working with other people. They talked about how they began there careers working for companys which they said was important for creating contacts and developing there skills.

decode RESEARCH

Decode: Digital Design Sensations

If I was Comparing the digital exhibition "Decode" to other more traditional art exhibitions I would have to say the digital was a lot better. It was completely immersive and interactive it was more exciting and informal. The atmosphere is better with people talking and playing, interacting but all the time taking in the work and questioning how and why the piece was created. visually as well it was very impressive it was more or less interactive art pieces while I suppose, showing of some tech skills.

My favorite ones included the dandelion in which you can interact with by blowing away the seeds using the hair dryer. The movement was very realistic and suited the angles you blew it.

doodle do motion contact

From: james@doodledomotion.co.uk
To: simon1924@live.com
Subject: Re:
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:30:07 +0100

Hi Simon,

Thanks for sending the work over.

In general it's an excellent start to experimenting with animation, film making and sound. Here's some more specific comments:

1. Rhythm

Love it as an experimental video. Your sound track is spot on and the edit works perfectly. My preference is the first section, I think you could cut some of the tree section and not really lose out. Maybe it needs a third section to maintain the length of the piece but add intrigue and pace? Good job though. I'd put this as an installation piece - less commercial than the stuff we do but I think it's very worthwhile to have these pieces and it opens up your options in the future.

2. Tomorrow's World

I think I need to know a bit more of a synopsis of this. Are we talking about the TV show or a film? If it's the tv show then I don't think it works as a title sequence but for a film it sits better. For me, as you've said, it lacks some pace. I think what I've seen is perhaps best limited to a 5 second section of the sequence. The credits hold your attention ok, but I think you need more going on with the gfx - although some things are moving the overall feel is too static.

Again, a lot of this depends on what you're trying to achieve and therefore what kind of film/show this is. (e.g. the music is ok for a film that would lead into the opening scene, but it wouldn't work as a tv show.

3. Science Museum

I think this has so much potential and the graphic style is really nice - you need to push it a little further. It's very Saul Bass (a good thing!) but study his stuff more deeply and I think you could turn this into a final year exhibition piece - it's that good. Take a look at the "Catch me if you can" titles and see how you could be much more clever about your transitions.

Watch your grammar though - it's a big turn off when the English isn't correct (this email may be an exception!!!)

Cheers,

James.

James Torry

james@doodledomotion.co.uk

+44(0)7967 362 879

Doodledo Motion Ltd,

Houldsworth Business & Arts Centre,

Houldsworth Mill, Houldsworth Street,

Stockport, SK5 6DA.

Company registered in England & Wales No. 6340867

Lauren Moriarty

On the 5th of March Lauren Moriarty came for a visiting lecturer. She works as a textile and product designer with a focus on materials experimentation and combining craft and industrial making processes to create textile concepts for products and interiors. Her work has featured in national and international design and lifestyle magazines. Her work seems to be more experimental than design as she mentioned really enjoying playing around and experimenting.

During the lecture she sat down and shown us stills of her work explaining in nice detail what she did, why she did it and how. She was also discussing how she has her own style and how it helped to brand your work when your work is unique.

Her work is more art based/museum style but she wanted to be a product designer but she mentioned she did not have the knowledge.

What I did enjoy was when she was discussing client work and how you have to make compromises, as there is always more than likely a problem with the design but she said make sure you keep what makes the piece special.

She discussed customer feedback on her work and how by listening to them she changes or adapts her work to suit them for example she created a black and white butterfly lamp but after feedback she decided to create a pink one.

weareseventeen

While in London I had the opportunity to visit “WEARESEVENTEEN” they are London based design and motion graphics studio. They produce moving image based work for broadcasters, creative agencies and corporate clients. They are a group of 3 initially but they do get in other freelances etc for large jobs. Their large studio and amount of Macs gives them the opportunity to work side by side with them. They discussed about how communication about the piece of work needed could be more time consuming if they weren’t working in direct contact with the freelances. What I found very interesting was when they explained how they have to sometimes compromise there ideas to work for the clients but how they like to keep the core idea in there. There clients include Audi, E4 and MTV.

They were very open about their work and told us about a channel ident for Universal which is a brand new channel. They explained in depth their process from initial ideas, pitches then working with the clients even the manual on using the channel ident in which I found very interesting.

The visit was so interesting and glad I went as it gave me more confidence as the way they talked about things. They were very positive towards us and talked with confidence. They also mentioned we could send them a portfolio and they would kindly give us any feedback.

house of cards

A television advert for uk housing and homeless charity Shelter. It was developed by an american advertisement company Leo Burnet. The adver tis quite long 60 seconds in all and looks like a mixture of 3-D compositingg onto live action. The advert features houses of cards collapsing in on themselves while you pass by on the train. I like the advert even tho you are sat on a fast moving train the pace is very slow and gives of a haunting and sinister style and the music goes very well setting the scene

Nuit Blanche

Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

a very stylistic piece looks like film noir. What I did like was the mixture of CGI and the film noir style which was unusual and worked really well it had a really big impact on me and am not completely sure why

The Third & The Seventh

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

The most amazing piece of work ave ever seen. The piece is about architecture as art and the piece is slow panning camera shots that create beautiful angles on the buildings and objects. What makes this piece particularly impressive is the fact it is all created using 3-D software.

Corgan Media Lab

AICP Southwest Sponsor Reel by Corgan Media Lab from Corgan Media Lab on Vimeo.

nice promotinal video using a mixture of 3-D and real footage and nice match moving work. Thought this was a nice piece of research with the 3-D ants as my work was going to contain bees

style

some designs that I liked due to them gunge look. What I do like is the high contrast of color and the saturation of them giving them a kind of lifeless look. was thinkin linking this with the bees dying out and how we will view the world

style

above;

like the style and textures and saturated colors. The imperfections give it a realistic look but also give it a stylistic grunge look

right;

like the way it looks like it is made of different segments I got this as it gave me ideas of different parts reacting to music

final piece idea

I want to do something with music for my final piece but didnt want to be restricted to one track. So I thought of ways music is heard and one way is sound systems. A thought I had was to create a music reacting soundsystem in 3-d. Usually they react to music just by vibrating speakers other movements like CD spinning or the draw opening. It would react differentlly to each different sound so it would never look the same for any 1 track

found this image and it gave me a few ideas about a look that could be possible. I like how abstract it is and just the hint of almost speakers at the bottom make me think of music. Also have to think of color reactions

messing

I just heard of this texture using mental ray in Maya and really liked its simple look and the subtle ambience it has

using ambient occlusion and some dynamics I made a little scene i thought of an idea synchin the balls impact to a piece of music wich was a slow piano piece.