Wednesday 12 May 2010

John Lewis Vs Orange



Wallace and Gromit - Aardman Productions

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.

aM Laboratory - ToneMatrix

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.

Obscura Cuelight

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??

Tilt Shift Videos

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.

Thursday 6 May 2010

Daniel 'Mirach' Zak


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/

World War - Vincent Chai

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.

Alarm

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.

Water tower projection animation - Laser Bread

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.

Competition Brief - MINI / LIDA Live Brief

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.

Wednesday 5 May 2010

Finished Ident - BBC TWO


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.

Died Young Stayed Pretty


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.

Feedback for Water project

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.

Tuesday 4 May 2010

Previous Work



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.