Luke Buckley - Design Blog: 2010

http://www.studioliddell.com

Located in both Manchester and London Studio Liddell is an independent digital creative agency which specializes in four main aspects of media; illustration, animation, graphic design and interactive applications. They mainly work for business clients and television purposes, advertising is a big chunk of there creative outcome

Here are some images from the street scene I am modelling at the moment.

Here are a some images that I took last week and edited, similar to the Sandpit video I have previously posted. I have shifted the focus of the image thus changing the viewers perception to think that it is a small model they are seeing when in reality it is the cross roads of Greek Street/Wellington Road.

I have been testing and experimenting with different methods and outcomes in which I want my synthesized environments to look like, here are a some examples that I came up with.

http://samhilldesign.blogspot.com/2009/07/launch-arcology.html

Found this image on a blog, (linked above) I really like the look of it and how it ties in to the piece I am doing and its futuristic feel

http://frozenflower.net/?month=5&year=2008

http://www.roguerobot.co.uk/index.html

Rogue Robot is a small studio located in Cheshire, who supply a whole range of services from full video production to motion graphics, photography, live event filming and graphic design. I found them when i was looking for local businesses situated in or around manchester. unlike other well known studios they are small and versatile, linking with clients from their past like

- Peel Holdings, PlayStation, Key 103, Procter & Gamble, CPM Marketing, Braun, GSK, Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Manchester University, City Sightseeing Buses and Stockport Council.

you can see although they are tiny on the scale of things they are still producing good quality work which can get out there.

Here is there Introduction showreel presented on their home page. I liked this company not only because of their size, but also the way they work. There ethic and production is very client orientated and although they do work in a fairly close catchment they give these local companies chance to survive with appropriate advertisements.

This video below is an example of their work I preferred, and I think is a great piece they have created well.

http://www.yolo.info/

I got in contact with yolo last year trying to organize a portfolio visit, unfortunately they were very busy as most design companies are and I had to find a suitable alternative. Although I hadnt recieved any feedback off them them they did reply to my emails which gave me hope that I might be able to worm a visit in the future.

Based in Manchester and established in 2007 Yolo work with a varying range of clients across a wide range of sectors creating effective, bold, fun and professional creative work.

From what I have seen it is run by a man called Martin Fewel, or atleast hes who runs there PR department because he's the call guy for inquiries and who updates there twitter frequently.

Below is a showreel showing examples of there work.

I saw this on there site and was interested about there branding, they have worked with a massive range of companies to produce a very impressive catalog of logos, designs, flyers, advertisements etc.

Below is there 'Sankeys' examples.

Below here i came across there brand identity for 'The Hive' which is basically an office letting company on lever street in Manchester.

I really like the shape and texture used in this logo.

Below is a their for Ministry Of Sound Underground 2009 TV commercial, I really like the use of compositing adding vibrant coloured vectors and shapes to live action footage.

In this Wallace and Gromit short, the duo have started a new bread baking business. While business is booming, the film soon changes pace after a dozen local bakers mysteriously disappear. At 30 minutes, this short is the longest of the bunch, yet among the most entertaining.

If you've seen a Wallace and Gromit film before then you know how precise and detailed they are, with this distinct stop motion animation everything has to be perfect, but with Aardman it always is. From the creation of the wonderful cast to the dramatic storylines/plots.

http://lab.andre-michelle.com/tonematrix

On the site linked above I have found a cool synthesizer sequencer, similar to that of which the pop artist 'Little Boots' uses.

Its a great little thing to play with and is a very good example of user interface that actively gets you entertained as well as producing the intended outcome.

This unbelievable piece of technology is found at Esquire's Ultimate bachelor pad in New York, I stumbled across it whilst looking for projection animation. The table works by sensing where the balls are located and move and project the 'design' programmed around them.

All in all this technology is just amazing, I've seen this been used practically on channel FIVE's 'The Gadget Show', where using an Infa-Red powered snooker cue accompanied with programing some clever boffin created; the 'player' was able to precisely know where to hit the desired ball and which direction on the table it would travel.

Obscura CueLight from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

Things like this just amaze me, the technological advancements that are being created are ridiculous; i never thought that something like this would be around today especially to buy! Stuff like this just makes you think if consumers can purchase things like this then what kind of technology can military etc develop??

These below are called tilt shift videos. Although they may look completely artificial, as if the camera man was recording a miniature model of a town/landscape/construction site; in actual fact they are real environments. When I came across this I was stunned as to how this was done but with a special limited depth of field lens and a bit of time lapse manipulation this impressive outcome is created.

The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.

I really enjoyed these and similar others I've seen on the web, they really communicate a cute and wonderful method of video publication. I really wish I could have the means to have a go at one of these, to try and find a picturesque viewpoint and transform it.

Small Worlds - Preview. from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

I saw this also amongst the others on the 3Dexportblog, its basically a killer toaster designed and created by Daniel 'Mirach' Zak. I like 3D renders like this because of the manufactured man made robot look it has, I've been looking at similiar stuff to this for a while as I'm thinking to perhaps have a go and try to model something myself.

man made industrial things quite interest me, I enjoy looking at things like this and feel there is some kind of beauty to metals, glosses, mattes and other man made materials/finishes. Don't get me wrong I do like natural, organic materials also perhaps it would be cool if I could combine the two somehow.

http://www.3dexport.com/blog/2010/04/100-impressive-artworks-of-robots/

I found this image on a web page listing lots of digitally designed robots and instantly remembered it from one of the post student animations we all saw at the Cornerhouse last year. I remember this so well because we had to vote for our favourite film from all of the entries and I voted for this one as it in my opinion stood out as the best there.

http://www.vimeo.com/1040894?pg=embed&sec=1040894

http://www.vincentch20.co.uk/index.html

It is entitled World War and features a Spitfighter plane attempting to drop a bomb but unable due to a malfunction, the plane get shot at and has to go down. On its way down it transforms into a robot then has to fight another on the ground.

I liked how well made this animation was as it had a lot of attention to detail in the likes of the background with cars, cones, roadsigns. The camera placement was very good also as a lot of contrasting viewpoints and angles were used. Along with this it had some humour to it to, playing off the character as a cheeky hero against a powerful sluggish brute.

This animation is all about waking up with the annoyance of the dreaded alarm, repeatedly attacking ones attempts at catching that all important extra few minutes of sleep but in a playful cartoon-like manor. I liked the way this creation was both realistic and cartoony/playful at the same time, creating that bridge in this film was an important key to its success as well as the beauty of this piece.

I watched this with utter astonishment as the attention to detail and the lighting are ridiculous, its a shame that there are no more videos on this vimeo page because whoever made this is clearly a very talented animator and i would liked to have seen more of his/her works.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/laserbread/4550929865/

I came across this very interesting animation video online a few days ago, it really impressed me and reminded me of when I was projecting my vine animation onto our door in the Door Brief.

I have seen a few projections in my time but this one really caught my eye with its fun and playful environment. I would very much like to try something this scale and hopefully in the future i might.

These are my finished pieces for the D&AD competition brief I did at the start of the year. I have recently gone back to them and made significant changes of which I am very happy with.

I think that they convey the message/metaphor I was trying to portray well, although I didn't get to send these to the D&AD competition I am still proud of them as a produced medium and will be keeping them in my portfolio.

Below is an image of my work a lot earlier on, when I was developing and experimenting with colours, sizes and positioning.

Ok so here's the completed thing. I am very happy with the outcome, but if I could change anything it would be the shadow on the back wall. I feel that it is too bold and really diverts your attention away from the main visual element.

All I would do is reduce the intensity of the shadow casting and I think it would be a really successful piece.

I attended a viewing of this film last week in the lecture theatre.
This feature film is all about poster culture, mostly underground production it depicts the effort and time going into a single piece. Interviewing numerous 'characters' and getting them to discuss and portray there views to certain milestones and people in poster history, it is very unorthodox/different which i think gives it success. There are some on this film who are quite opinionated about certain aspects and also some crazy as well but this just adds to the comedy to the overall picture.

I thought this was a good film and it did entertain me, it really showed the underdogs of the poster world and that they were still fighting to stay alive.

Matt went for a portfolio visit a few days ago and below is what was said about the collaborative piece Me, Matt and Steve did together.

Portfolio visit with Malc Shannon:

Water Project:
Although there are things that we as a group have already decided that were going to change with the piece I decided to show this piece anyway. I felt that as we took this project on as a group project and it was different to the other briefs we have set, that this would be interesting to have a talk about. He loved the work and asked me to pass the feedback onto Steve and Luke. He said that the piece works really well in terms of narrative and telling the journey of the process. Interestingly, he thought that the length of the piece wasn't too long and if we chopped it up too much that it might loose something. He liked the music that me had used, but suggested that we consider the use f font and the way that the type is brought onto the screen. Maybe that it animates on either letter by letter or word by word, to fit with the flow of the piece. We were considering editing the length of the piece , however maybe its more important that we asses the way that the type is used.

This is the feedback we got from John Watkins when sending a contact report.

Contact Report with John Watkins:

Water Project:
I like the water movie, it keeps you watching until the end. I would like to see the pipe moving all the time and maybe be followed. The house looks good. also maybe cut the length about about 2min. Very very good.

This video is from a couple of years ago when i was on the foundation course, the brief was based around hobbies.
I presented this video accompanied with stills taken of me from beside the trampoline.

I like this video and felt I should post it on here not just because of its relevance to my ident brief but because I take creative muse directly from my hobbies, interests and surroundings.

Stop motion has always been a bit of a guilty plesure of mine, I love to watch it and love to do it, although it take absolutely forever to get even the smallest of shots
the outcome can be truly fantastic as shown in this video below.

Broken Fingaz -Graffiti Stop Motion from Broken Fingaz on Vimeo.

I love how the characters are interacting with the piece as well instead of it just being flat they push its depth and make it more interesting. This interaction of characters and 3D objects appearing to morph out of the piece really gives it charm and it stands out a lot. Most stop motion pieces similar to this only have the visual of the piece itself but with this one they have real objects, people, fire, the cameras especially using flash cuts and jump ins to exaggerate the feel and vibe of the music.

http://www.shellsuitzombie.co.uk/

Whilst in London we attended a special night organized by a group named 'Shellsuit Zombie', comprised of three young men and a single young woman they may be small in size but make up for in liveliness and creativity. This evening was designed to give us a mass of information and piece of mind that inventiveness and vision doesn't get left behind at university.

Although this was aimed directly at the third years as they are leaving quite soon we were encouraged to come and get involved and further prepared for leaving ourselves. After talking to us individually, both introducing themselves personally and getting a feel for how we function they devised a small task for us to do. In this we got together into groups of no more than five and were presented with two pieces of paper; one being the name of a celebrity and the the other being a product/item. With this we had to create a campaign/advertisement to try and successfully sell the said item using the celebrity as endorsement. I enjoyed this and so did everyone else, we all worked as groups to quickly come up with a range of ideas in both a humorous and professional fashion.

The overall meeting was a good piece of mind, The hosts were brutally honest about the industry and serious about partial difficulties but assuring at the same time that with effort and drive most people can find there way.

http://www.laurenmoriarty.co.uk/profile.html

Today we had a practitioner/visiting lecturer and her name was Lauren Moriarty, her initial background is textiles/surface design orientated, although she has both worked herself and collaborated with foreign mediums. This includes digital production in a 3D sense of products designed by her and working in connection with the London Council installing energy efficient street lighting, again designed herself.

Her speciality is these intricate overlapping weaves of lazer cut rubber, plastic and other man made materials. She forms them into a lace which develops into a structure creating cushions, lamps and other wonderful manipulated concept furniture.

Her lace cushion has featured in the advertising for Renault, paris. In this she has had her unique design presented inside the car as apart of its international concept advertisement.

Although these batch productions are very impressive they are very time consuming to make, which is why they are limited to not being further developed into mass production.

She has created a number of wonderful items that she has got into production and stocks them in interior boutiques and retail outlets throughout the UK and internationally. She also told us about PULSE which is a London product festival where she, amongst other designers showcases her work, products and designs to industry figures.

She had a lot of information to give about how she started her production and business, including: setting up her website, payment modes etc.

I think it was good for a change to see someone from a completely different medium to show us no matter how different it is there was still a great deal of relevant information and similarity in the industry.

http://thoughtful.squarespace.com/

We were visited by Stu and Chris from a design group called Thoughtful. Telling us about there pasts in the industry they were very honest about there experiences, discussing this they didn't neglect their problems, they shared with us both the constraints and advantages with working for such big clients, for a huge design firm.

They started off by each introducing there inspirations and things that interested them, although most of this was design related they did both show personal things that gave them muse like Stu's 'David Beckham infamous world cup free-kick moment' and chris's 'attitude of the band Oasis (knowing they were going to be the best band in the world)'.

To accompany there presentation they had several practitioners/designers answering important questions that the thoughtful guys felt were key to expressing how there company worked, these also acted like foot notes so that Stu n Chris could discuss important parts to us more easily, like worlds of wisdom.

at the end of the lecture they had lots of people asking questions, I'm guessing this was because it was a more open and different lecture to some one just boringly going through slide after slide of work, they also asked us for our feedback and how they could impress there next viewers as they were preparing for another massively bigger showing.

Not much could be changed in all honesty the level of detail and genuine thought into this was shown, I was thoroughly impressed throughout the lecture and find it definitely to be one of if not the best so far..

This animated clip is one of many humorous shorts from a game called 'Dino Island'. I found this clip inspiring as i wanted to achieve a similar cartoony outcome to my ident.

This Viral advertising is linked to http://www.happiness-brussels.com Uniquely challenging potential customers to compete for a sales folder for the Toyota RAV4 by posting them around 10 ft above the trampoline, cleverly already there is the strap line 'serious fun'.

Cheeky popular adverts like this grabs everybody's attention and further develop their target audience potential. I like things like this as it shows such quirky ingenuity and creative thought.

I found this animator whilst looking through some advertising videos on youtube, his attention to detail is astonishing and truly genius paired with his animation capabilities. Something about this animation looked familiar and as I researched into him (http://www.cube-creative.fr/index.php?t=s&sv=Nicolas+Deveaux) I found that he specialises in these high detail 3D Animations.

Another of his pieces I had seen before was the 'Bounty Elephants' Advertisement on national television not so long ago - (http://www.cube-creative.fr/index.php?t=m&fid=54&l=fr&lf=22,41,47,49,54,60,27,94,146,219,220,225,240,241,243,)

Something like this video would definitely be a next step if i was to further develop my trampoline animation.

Whilst watching television yesterday I saw this NHS quit smoking advertisement, Directed by David Hartley.

It features a gymnast athlete struggling to wash windows with his ineffective method of jumping up using a trampoline and 'not having the right tools for the job'.

The angles used in this ad are marvelous and just what inspiration I need for my TV Ident piece, I wanted a similar below shot with a good composition I envisaged whilst storyboarding my idea.

http://www.thetvroom.com/bbcuk/bbc-2-14-05.html

I have been looking at an abstract artist named Liu Bolin. I came across him whilst researching into a camouflage aspect to my D&AD LIDA Live brief. With his work he literally puts himself into the background, he does this using 'C-Printing' a method in which

I absolutely love his work and the way he can turn something such as a pile of bricks or collapsed building (see Pic 9) into a visual masterpiece.

the way that in some of his pieces he can be almost invisible to the naked eye excites me, visually tricking his audience his location is masked with an amazing mystery.

Not only are his pieces wonderful to the eye but extremely clever and unbelievably intricate. When i first saw this i was truly astounded, everyone I show has the same reaction. His art is both Enjoyable and exquisite.

I like the way in which the producers of these campaign posters have used the animals in these pieces, not because there showing the animals being mistreated but the way they use them as more than that metaphorically labeling them.

The way they've almost camouflaged them into the backgrounds intrigues me also placing them in the piece as a very important part and yet hiding our immediate view from them.

the elements used like the belt in which the campaign details are displayed on, instead of a big bold bulky banner they've gone for the more subtle yet effective leather collar 'strap line' look.