Tuesday 11 November 2008

Crime - One week brief



For this university project, we had to turn a negative into a positive. I took the fact that crime is positive if you are the criminal. This then led onto the the fact that crime is a main part of our economy and without crime, unemployment would rise even more thus creating more crime due to desperation.

Robocop Trailer - Uses Terminator Music



Because this trailer came out before Robocop's music was completed, so the Studio thought they could just use Music from the their other hit about a cyborg. The Terminator. Both were produced by Orion studios and both are winners

Wednesday 1 October 2008

Conrad Ostwald - Showreel 2008 Watch and be amazed



What an example of how a showreel should be done that promotes every skill you have to offer.

Monday 29 September 2008

2FRESH - Can Burak Bizar



"Snickers Cross Turkiye” was an event about three roller skaters skating throughout Türkiye within 2 months, with the slogan “Keep Moving". So, being consistent with the event, our solution reflected the street culture and the spirit of roller blade; while appealing to the core target group of Snickers, mainly the youth.

The art direction of the web site is based on street life, wall and asphalt textures and road signs. In the core of the design, they created an illustration combining the main sight-seeing elements on the route on a sliding strip, which moves along with the three skaters. They say they used crappy 2D character animations for skaters and combined them with 3D street sign navigation. They also employed a selective yellow-brown color palette and flat textured graphics to communicate the visual style of the event in a Snickers® branded way.

Skrilla



Walsall based Skrilla designs album covers. They look to be in a similar style to that of the photography of Dave Hill. "My life-long love of music crossed over into design when I began working as a full-time freelance designer in 2006. I always enjoyed actually buying music and owning the full product with the artwork and booklet, rather than just listening to the music, and that's how I really started to think about getting into the music industry and designing myself," he says. "I got my first real break in 2006 when I hooked up with Midlands-based record label Wolftown Recordings, and from there it was all go, using the internet as a networking tool to reach clients based anywhere from the UK to the United States, and as far as Japan."
Skrilla says the freelance life is the way for him: "I feel really optimistic about working freelance right now, as it allows me to be creative in the field of design I love."

KJA Artists - Matt



Over his 20-year freelance career, Matthew has worked on a variety of commissioned projects from art and illustration agents, as well as from his own clients of design agencies, publishers and manufacturers. He's experienced many changes in the design industry: "The biggest challenge was making the change from traditional airbrush to digital back in the late 90s."
The Batman project was a commission for the Dorling Kindersley Bat mobile Owner's Manual in December 2007, and one he thoroughly enjoyed. "It was important to make it look believable, but at the same time have a feel of 'Bat technology'," he says. Another of his commissioned projects was Muscle -part of a series of anatomical illustrations for Carlton books in April 2008."The most important part of this project was making the textures look organic, but keeping them relatively simple," he explains. "The challenge was getting the exaggerated perspective of the different layers to look okay, while keeping a sense of scale that allowed all the parts to be easily understood."

Jason Peacock



Mixing the 2d and 3d seemlesly.

Paul Novak



Born in Hong Kong, Novak moved to the UK at the age of 8 and has always been an artist. Working in areas including illustration, graphic design, typography and street art, he officially became a designer in 2006, and now works for Lomax Systems Ltd (LSL).
The first real design of his that LSL produced was a banner, created in December 2007. "I like the fact that this piece shows the variety of content available from the company as well as the style," says Novak. In June 2008, Novak produced a self-portrait by placing a hand-drawn sketch from his pad into Illustrator and vectorising it. He created his own style of character, taking inspiration from the Best of Blur album cover by Julian Opie. Feeling he needed an identity, Novak was inspired by the books Los Logos and Dos Logos to produce a business card that could be read both upside down and normally, in order to create "a little interaction, brain challenge and fun".

Anthony Furlong



http://www.anthonyfurlong.com/

Design director Anthony Furlong spends most of his time working on commercials and other broadcast projects. The images opposite are from a three-minute piece commissioned by Royale (www.wearerpyale.com) and sponsored by Diesel. "Royale asked me to use the Diesel imagery along with actual tears from the magazine," explains Furlong. He was also commissioned by Brand New School (www.brandnewschgpl.com) to create a pitch for Starbucks Chocolate. "The commercial used the chalkboards that their baristas use in their stores. I always jump at the chance to design things outside of the computer, to use real [and] digital elements."

David Troy



Flickrvision is the brainchild of American entrepreneur David Troy, who has been working in technology and graphic design for over 20 years. Curious about the flow of visual data around the world, and inspired by the success of his last project, www.Twjtteryjsipn.com, David Troy created the mashup site in May 2007.
"1 thought that visualising pictures from around the world in realtime would be compelling," he explains. "I really like the framing of the large-sized photos (seen when you mouseover the small photos). When I travel, I wilt often stop by an Apple store and put Flickrvision onto a current iMac - the ones with the nice black and silver screens. It really looks great."
Troy re-used a tot of the code and structure that he used to create Twittervision. "Getting the data streams to work was easy," says Troy. "But getting the picture data, geolocating it, saving that and spitting it back out was a challenge that took some time to master, though I had some experience with that general process in doing Twittervision."

Justin Lerner



http://www.jlern.com/

Justin Lerner is a 27-year-old freelance interactive designer who specialises in innovative flash websites. His personal site, which was created as a tool to promote his abilities and freelance projects, took a total of a month to complete. "I enjoy its simplicity and the use of typography to push the design," says Lerner.
The project took a lot of planning before he started work on it in March 2007. "It was hard to decide on a system of navigation that I knew would be innovative, but would also not be difficult to use or annoying to users," he explains. "A lot of thought went into how it would fill the screen on different size monitors and still look good. And it was difficult getting the artwork for my projects to look acceptable, after being zoomed and rotated."

Clusta Ltd



Clusta specialises in intelligent design and digital innovation. The company has been working on digital design, web design, branding, print, 3D and video for over 10years.
This innovative site for American agency Hal Riney can be navigated either by mouse or by webcam. "We didn't want the webcam option to be a gimmick," says creative director Matthew Chugston, "and we felt it was important for this element of the site to function as well as the mouse. So we researched computer games that have utilised similar technology."
The site's aesthetic uses red ink in water to symbolise new blood in the company, so Clusta filmed ink in a fish tank and then comped it all together in After Effects. "Separate ink flows were rendered out of AFX with alpha channels and the coding was then done in Flash," he explains.

group94



Fully booked for months in advance, Flemish web design agency group94 decided it was time to refresh its company website. The result, which took two months to build, is no ordinary site. While the content itself is relatively straightforward - a news section to explain the agency's approach and showcase some of its work - it's the functionality of the site where things start to get interesting.
"We wanted to showcase our CMS too and decided to include it on the site as well," explains founder and creator Pascal Leroy. "Hence each page has two sides; the actual webpage can be flipped over to reveal the back-end CMS functionality. Visitors are invited to alter the content - they can even upload images and experience its ease-of-use."
Inventing the concept of a double site and CMS was the easy part. The difficult bit was building it, and allowing people to change content. "Integrating typical HTMLfunctionality - use of browser buttons, deep linking, page history and search engine optimisation - to the project was quite a challenge," Leroy says. "More than one would imagine during a simple visit." But it was worth it. "We're happy with the whole project. It generates a lot of very positive feedback."

Firstborn & T.A.G



Firstborn, a multiplatform design and technology studio, creates everything from websites and viral campaigns to 3D models and digital applications. For the new Microsoft Zune player, it was approached by T.A.G to be its interactive partner on the promotional site. The brief was to develop an experience that acted as a journey for the user - an experience that would allow the user to spend some time with the Zune. "We came up with the idea of having six unique worlds - one for each core feature of the Zune," explains Firstborn's executive director Dan LaCivita.
Launched in mid-November, work on the site began in September. "We're pretty proud of all the animation," LaCivita continues. "Our team of Flash animators worked countless hours on animating every single element for every world. While our lead Flash engineer created this amazing 3D world with pretty sophisticated ActionScript, our animators used cell animation and timeline animation to really bring the Zune worlds to life.
"One thing that was difficult was how our designers and animators had to use the 3D engine created by our programmers to help inform the way they worked. Since there are many elements and a lot of animation, we had to do a lot of testing throughout the process to make sure the loading and performance of the site was optimal."

JUXT Interactive - cherry coke myspace design contest



Todd Purgason, Co-Founder & Creative Director, JUXT Interactive Well beyond color and motion, Todd focuses on distilling business objectives into actionable creative solutions for JUXT's roster of international brands. Over ten years of international acclaim are a testament to his deep understanding of how to integrate technology and design in order to create a more engaging user interaction that meets business objectives, while delivering uniquely branded experiences. Todd's work has been lauded by nearly every design and advertising authority, including the Clios, Communication Arts, HOW, the New York Art Director's Club, and the Cannes Lions. He is a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, an author of a best-selling book on Flash design, and an avid XBOX'er.

Darkroom To Digital - Book



This book describes the author's `journey' in traveling from the use of analogue techniques to digital techniques of image creation. The journey was fascinating all the more because it was not trouble free. As problems emerged and options presented themselves, decisions were made and lessons were learned. And the author is still on that journey, because, in exploring the new possibilities that digital techniques bring, discoveries are still being made

Sunday 28 September 2008

Julian Knight



http://www.slingshotphotostudios.com/

very david la chapelle

Bob Cheshire



http://bobcheshire.co.uk/

Bob Cheshire is a 35-year-old senior concept artist, currently working at Volatile Games, a division of Blitz Games Studios (www.blitzgamesstudios.com) on a top-secret title for a well-known producer: "It is incredibly frustrating that I'm not able to discuss the game or the concept work I've produced for it, as it's still in full development." While he can't give anything away about his most recent project, he is enthusiastic when singing the praises of his employer: "Blitz Games Studios is an awesome company to work for. I get to work with the best artists and animators, and the company feels like it's growing by the day with the ever-increasing amount of fresh directions and games it is taking on."
The British artist has always been interested in design, but finds it difficult to pinpoint the exact moment when he knew that it would become his future career: "We're visually orientated, so we are always assessing design in some form, whether it's graphics, architecture, a texture or simply appreciating a shape or colour. I think I've always enjoyed and been interested in colour and shape, and it's simply been through education and experience that my appreciation has developed into a kind of formal understanding. I guess there was no singular moment I signed on to that."
He uses both Painter and Photoshop in his work, often switching between the two: "Things like custom brushes, while possible in Painter, are so much more workable in Photoshop. Selection tools and the versatility of editing your images are just so much more subtle in Photoshop. The concept artist has an art director to please, so the ability to edit and modify your artwork is simply part of the job. Certainly in that way, I can't imagine being without Photoshop."
Cheshire studied Fine Art at the Falmouth School of Art (as it was known then), before doing a PGCE. He taught art for ten years in secondary schools, but began freelancing while he was still teaching. Nowadays, he works on both his day job and as a freelancer: "I'm extremely lucky that I'm in a position where I'm taking work on in the evenings too, as I continue to do some freelance work for old and new clients." He also occasionally teaches at the Compton Verney gallery: "Compton Verney is far more fine-art based. But it serves as a good reminder that working as a concept artist relies on strong, traditional drawing skills." This is something that Cheshire thinks is extremely important: "Art education is important, but it is usually one of the first things that is squeezed out at schools. I'm a big believer in creating students who are visually literate and who are able to have a dialogue with all this visual information that we're surrounded by. Traditional drawing skills are becoming less and less valued unfortunately, especially at degree level, which professionally I find appalling."

Bor Ja Fresco Costal



http://www.nekro.es/

Tuan Nguyen & The Kaboom Collaboration



http://bytuan.com/

Darek Kocurek



http://www.darekkocurek.com/en

Darek Kocurek is a zealous editorial artist with a passion for the mystic and macabre. With a self-confessed style that oscillates between fantasy and horror, he explains: "Partly it results from my interests, from my cooperation with Polish and Dutch Stephen King fan clubs and working with similar publishing houses."
Having produced numerous examples of book cover art and currently working with three European publishing houses, Kocurek immerses himself heavily in his favourite industry area: "Currently I am making several illustrations for book covers," he reveals. It was in the same industry area that he obtained his first commission. "My first order was connected with my involvement with a Polish Stephen King portal, for which 1 made calendar graphics. A publishing house that was searching for illustrations for several reissues of Stephen King's titles noticed my works."
Being in the right place at the right time, and consistent in the delivery of his art to appreciative online viewers, can account for Kocurek's commercial success. But he also expresses his determination to succeed through personal creative development: "In the field of computer graphics lama self-taught person, for many years 1 Nave been using numerous 2D and 3D programs, trying different techniques. My adventure with computer graphics started in the Nineties, when I bought an Amiga computer. During the following years I changed my job several times, and even though I have been working as graphic designer, I am able to identify many forms of computer graphics such as animation, 3D graphics, visualisation, printing and typical commercial art."
After such deliberation and exploration of mediums, Kocurek's conclusion was testament to our favourite software: "Nowadays I work mostly in Photoshop. It's a perfect tool for photomanipulation and it allows typical painting operations at the same time. After collecting materials, I start dressing in Photoshop. Usually I try to connect photomontages with 3D graphics and/or matte painting - often in a way that makes it clear to the onlooker which is the picture and what is added."

Jordy Roelofs - Photoshop artist



http://www.sysmatic.net/

Saturday 27 September 2008

Stefan Morrell



http://stefan-morrell.com/

Stefan Morrell is "for the most part self-taught" gleaning valuable information on digital techniques from books and the internet. However, looking at his images you wouldn't think that this pro fell into producing art 'accidentally'.
"I've always been interested in the arts in one form or another, but moving to the digital medium was perhaps more accidental than anything else - the culmination of trawling the internet for art sites when first getting a computer several years ago," Morrell explains, "It was seeing websites like CGTalk.com [CG Society's forum] or Renderosity that really got me interested. My ideas of digital art were of it being very sterile and lacking in any 'life'."
Those websites also helped to launch Worrell's digital career: "Most of my first jobs have come through having a portfolio online; consequently, the majority of the enquiries I get start off, 'We saw your work on CGTalk.com'." As such, Morrell is happy to extol the virtues of the internet portfolio: "Having an online exposure is a great way for various clients to get a good look at the style of my images. It also helps to work with overseas clients, being based in New Zealand."
Morrell's work obviously uses a lot of 3D techniques, but Photoshop certainly has its part to play too. "There is a large amount of 3D in my images, which is created using 3ds Max and rendered in multiple passes for postworking in Photoshop," he explains. "The 3D models need to be textured before rendering, so I also make use of Photoshop for textures, most of which are photo sourced and colour corrected, layered up and given some life with custom brushwork. The texturing process is probably where I do most of my Photoshop work."
So what's next for the talented "environment artist"? "I'm currently doing some illustrations for an upcoming Honda ad campaign, creating vast sci-fi cityscapes for high-quality magazine prints. For the kind of images I like to do, it's the dream job!"

Miriam Castillo - Artist




http://www.miriamcastillo.com/

Alex Jansson - Illustrator



http://www.alexanderjansson.com/

At the beginning of Alex Jansson's career there was a program called Picture Publisher. It was free, easy, but very limited. "Photoshop scared me," admits Jansson, a freelance illustrator working in Gothenburg, Sweden.
"For five years I went to art school and then tried my luck as a traditional oil painting artist. Meanwhile, I got more and more interested in experimenting with the computer and I slowly started to develop my style."
Jansson's success is an inspiration for all. After starting to show his digital work at art communities online, he received an overwhelming response. Soon he had his own website up and running, and around that time the commissions started to trickle in. He's now a lot less daunted by the ins and outs of Photoshop. "In my opinion you don't need to know a lot of technical stuff to master Photoshop," says Jansson. "The most importantthing is that you have a clear vision of what you want. I use Photoshop the way I paint, with intuition and a loose', straightforward kind of attitude."
Jansson is currently working on a film called TheCuriousKind, exam project for his Bachelor's degree, which takes up most of his precious time. "I'm also putting the final touches to my children's book called Boats/nan And The Stranger. Then there is this ever-ongoing process of creating the world that most of my illustrations are part of," says Jansson. "It's been a part of my life for the last 15 years and a book is slowly taking shape."

Chris Dickason - Illustrator/Animator



http://www.chrisdickason.co.uk/

Friday 26 September 2008

Pontefract Museum


Walking round Pontefract with my uncle the other day was the most intense history lesson about one location I've ever had to endure. His local knowledge is immense. You can imagine what it was like walking around the museum. The Museum itself is in a flamboyant Art Nouveau building with a tiled entrance hall with many original 1904 furnishings.

The collections themselves include finds from Pontefract Castle and St. John's Priory, siege coins from the English Civil War, packaging from the Pontefract liquorice factories, Bagley's glass and a major archive of locally printed material. Most of the collection has strong associations with Pontefract, including the town's mining history.

Pets with Tourettes



Whilst perusing through Borders the other day I noticed this book in the recommended section. First of all i though how does this stuff get published, but i found myself flicking through the book anyway. Before I knew it I was at the last page laughing my head off.

The work combines comical and cute animal photos with inappropriate captions to tickle the belly of animal lovers everywhere. Tourette's isn't funny but you can't help smiling at theses furry friends. Has an appeal to the wicked in all of us! Bad language, bad taste, great photos.

Wednesday 24 September 2008

Granary Wharf - What a film/photo location!



I had been looking for a closed off area for somewhere to shoot a music video. I needed a grungy area that had a well lit overhead light so that i only had to use a few halogen lamps for the band themselves. Will probably apply the vignettes and stylize it with MagicBullet in after effects. Just need to make sure its well lit.

The car park areas down in granary wharf are ideal. They are like closed of compartments under the arches that have worn brick and overhead lighting on 24/7. If you need to fill up on your stock photography or grunge textures, get yourself down there with a camera and start snapping. I just need to find out the legal implications of filming down there now and all should be good.

Tuesday 23 September 2008

Death Race - Floating heads ... Again!



I feel like maybe they got this one backwards. When looking at the bottom of the poster you see some explosive cars bursting off the page. I like the bottom 40% of the poster and think if that was blown up to take over the whole thing, we’d have a nice little image on our hands. Sadly, they went with the straight-to-DVD style poster of floating heads.

Trouble with the floating heads is that it has been done to death and we now associate it with titles that have gone to DVD. It's like using Trajan Pro for your premier image and the DVD cover.

Above i have included a cut down version of the actual poster, removing the floating heads. Let me know what you think about floating heads on film posters? Do they always work?

Shop Graffiti/art



After a trip to Newcastle i found this image in a shop window down by the Quayside. Using the typical "closing down" snow spray paint to create this bit of crazy artwork seems to be the idea of David Hoe. You could read deeper into this by saying that the idea of the guy blowing his brains out, thus ending him, could symbolize the closing of the store. To be honest though, i think he just wanted to paint a guy shooting himself through his mouth. Amazing what you see around.

I've tried to find more of his work elsewhere online, but he seems to be a mystery man. If anyone finds anything, throw it my way please.

Edinburgh

Demonic Toilets



Whilst in Sandbar in Horsforth the floodgates inevitably opened and i had to pay a visit to the little boys room. On entry I saw these dudes hanging on the wall so i had to get the camera out. Thank god no one else was in there, could have been arrested. They are the work of Andy Thornton, an experienced interior fit-out contractors with an international reputation for creating some of the best bar designs and interiors around the world.

They either work with clients' own designers, manufacturing to their brief, or they offer a full design, build and installation service. They specialise in the full joinery package, including bar counters and backfittings and fixed seating etc as well as providing decorative glass and architectural metalwork where required.

The Baltic

The Art House


Wakefield’s Art House was designed by architect firm ‘Allen Tod’ to provide space for artists to produce and present their work. The building has a very functional feel to it though, rather than the typically imagined “inspiration den” that most artists surround themselves with. When I was walking around the corridors, it reminded me very much of a modern school building. Clinical white walls and rubber moulded handrails seemed to overpower the actual gallery of artwork that was on offer. Saying that though, all the artists who were renting the space seemed really happy with the building as it let in a lot of light and gave them plenty of room to work. They are happy for anyone to bob in and chat to them throughout the day so if you are in “Shakey Wakey” have a bob in.

Bradford photography museum



While some studio photographers concentrated on creating the star image, others worked on set, alongside the director and crew, to produce publicity photographs for each film. Such unit stills photographers have to capture the essence of a film without disrupting its production.

Of the thousands of stills taken, only a few are chosen for press publicity. Until the 1960s, photographs were also reproduced as lobby cards, publicising films at cinemas. Today, the photographer’s work is used more widely – for posters, DVDs, books and other film-related products.

The Invisible Art - book



Since the birth of cinema, movie-makers have created stunning special effects by combining still "matte" paintings with live-action film. Matte painting techniques were closely guarded secrets that never left the studio lot.

When I read this book I was amazed by the standards that some artist set with their almost life like flat images. Pure talent.

This book covers the history of the visual effect with shots from Gone with the Wind and Citizen Kane to Star Wars and Titanic.As an extra bonus there is a foreword by George Lucas and a CD-ROM that shows the paintings in action with footage.

Sam Balcomb - writer, director, producer



Sam Balcomb writes, directs, and produces feature films, shorts, music videos and commercials. Growing up in Los Angeles, and spending much of his time on studio backlots, he became enamored early on with the magic of filmmaking.

He graduated from Art Center College of Design's prestigious film program in 2002, and immediately began working on production and graphic design for commercials and music videos. Realizing he could never afford the kind of visual effects he desired for his projects, he took to learning industry-standard software for modeling, animation and compositing. These tools became handy when, in 2004, he became the lead Visual Effects Producer for Burbank-based L2 Digital. At this company, he worked on jobs for Nelly, Switchfoot, Amerie, Stevie Wonder, Disney, Joe Satriani, and Celine Dion. He also created original shots for The Chronicles of Narnia, and helped produce Shakira's award-winning concert Blu-Ray.

In 2003, Sam was flown to Toronto for a presentation on his fantasy feature Ancanar, with co-director Raiya Corsiglia and star Gregory Lee Kenyon. In addition to the presentation, Sam sat on a J.R.R. Tolkien panel alongside artist Ted Nasmith and author Michael Drout.

In 2005, he wrote and directed the short film Texas Fortune with Rainfall co-founder Jesse Soff. The film won first place at that year's DVXfest, and is currently being developed into a feature film. Sam and Jesse also produced The Ore, a science fiction short, which won a Telly Award in 2007 and was featured by the Sci-Fi Channel.

Sam has participated in three Elevate Film Festivals, winning an Outstanding Achievement Award, and a Best Music Video award for Missy Higgins' Steer.

Most recently, Sam shot The Legend of Zelda april fool's trailer for IGN Entertainment, which has become their most-watched video of all time.

Castleford Project



The Castleford Project is an initiative committed to revitalising the town. The progress of the project is being filmed by production company Talkback UK and will be screened by Channel 4 in a major new series. The projects are about improving the quality of life, supporting neglected neighbourhoods, improving the safety and well being of the community and providing opportunities for young people.

Monday 22 September 2008

Paula Tod - Artist

www.videomaker.com - film tips


The people at videomaker.com say that a large part of their mission is to provide all the information needed to improve your skills in video production. And after 20 years of publishing, they have a lot to offer. This is the place to start for videography training. Here you will find hundreds of articles about audio/video software, video editing hardware, and help with video lighting techniques. It’s been an immense help for some of my projects that I have been undertaking this summer. Helped me sort out my rack focusing in about 5 minutes with it’s camera specific training. Great website for any media jockey.

Ed Franc Loverock Babb - artist




Semi-professional photographer specializing in a wide variety of genres, from portraiture to landscape to abstract work. He has a huge affinity for collage and oil painting. He also illustrates frequently and has published a few of his own comics under the Semiotic Cohesion publishing line.

Definitely an experienced and talented mattepainter working in post-production and also motion graphics based projects for TV and commercials. He has also done some animation direction and work well with people. Babb says 'I have an intimate knowledge of 3d and the animation process though I specialise more in 2d animation and design.'

Milktwosugars - illustration/design



http://www.myspace.com/milktwosugars

http://www.milktwosugars.org/

www.mattepainting.org - Amazing Backdrops

Tuesday 16 September 2008

Book - Bogart. Movie Icons


Here's lookin' at you kid!

Humphrey Bogart is a legend and an icon whose magic has not dissipated with time. The wounded tough guy image Bogart molded over the decades of his career still resonates. There is a truth to this image; audiences sense that the world-weariness, the angst, and the vulnerability, which made him an icon of noir as well, were rooted somehow in reality.

Worth 1000 + 1 if you ask me


After looking at This is how we roll's blog i came across his bit of photoshop of some hair. In his post he put a link to Worth1000.com where they have a copious amount of tutorials and showcase images all produced on Photoshop.

The picture above is of myself after being treated with the alien nation tutorial from the site. I learned so much about adjustment layers from this tutorial alone and how to produce non destructive Photoshop imagery. Now ill just have to have a bash at lighting that bloody elephant.

Saturday 6 September 2008

Royal Armouries - Film Armour







At the moment the armouries have an exhibition on the top floor dedicated to the weapons and armour from the films, Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Hellboy, etc from the WETA Workshop.

To be fair the exhibition didn’t really have all that much from any of the films other than LOTR, and all that was offered from the Hellboy movie was 1 gun (Hellboy’s Samaritan). Still the craftsmanship of the weapons was undeniably incredible.
A funny fact that I learned was that they made 2 sets of weapons for Frodo. One smaller than the other so that it looked in proportion when they had shots of Wood’s midget double for the distance shots.

I’d recommend a trip down as it’s free and some days they offered talks from the people at WETA about how the incorporated elements into the films.

Wednesday 3 September 2008

LEGEND OF ZELDA FILM! HOAX!!!



The most watched trailer on the Internet in April won't be coming to a theater near you. Videogame site IGN has a history of fooling fans with stories that are too good to be true on April 1, but it went to a whole new level this year by "debuting" the trailer for a non-existent movie based on Nintendo's beloved franchise "The Legend of Zelda."

The trailer boasted production values so high-quality that many fans, while probably not fooled, drooled and then emailed it to friends. In just two days, it racked up 2 million views on IGN and its News Corp. sibling MySpace, with countless more coming on other video sites.

IGN's senior veep of content Peer Schneider says the trailer was commissioned last year as the site was starting to gear up its video efforts and wanted to produce some original content. But when helmer Sam Balcomb showed what he had, Schneider and his editors decided to make it the centerpiece of this year's April Fool's efforts.
"If you told somebody in Hollywood what we spent on this, they would probably scratch their heads," brags Schneider, who said IGN already has something similar in the works for another fan-favorite game.

IGN is clearly hoping the trailer is a harbinger of success to come. But Schneider says his site, whose editors are all fans, have another goal in mind: "We're hoping somebody looks at this trailer and says 'Zelda' really would be a good movie if it's done right," he admits.

It sure wouldn't be hard to promote.

Tuesday 2 September 2008

ESPNews



Hold on a second, light streaks, music, titles, NO I-POD??

Sunday 10 August 2008

Spike TV - Mother



Spike wanted to announce their exclusive six-year contract to show all star wars films, so the question is - how do you get a universe of people who have already seen the movies to watch them again, only on TV?

Show men that Star Wars isn’t just the ultimate sci-fi saga featuring some of the most memorable characters of all time, but it’s also an invaluable resource for man knowledge. With every viewing, a guy can learn something new he can apply to his own life.

Rhapsody MP3 Store - Ad



Online music service Rhapsody has drafted Death Cab For Cutie for this ad featuring an instrumental snippet from the song "I Will Possess Your Heart," from the group's new Atlantic album, "Narrow Stairs."

"We're figuring out how to leverage the right music and the right single for the audience," says Neil Smith, VP of marketing for the Seattle-based Rhapsody. "It ties into our existing campaign but it also gives us the ability to leverage the star quality of the artists we work with."

Rhapsody has used a wide range of artists in its previous advertising, including 50 Cent, Sarah Bareilles, Jennifer Lopez and the Cool Kids.

VCCP - Binge Drinking Viral



VCCP have come up with a series of print, radio, TV, and a viral advert targeted at 18-24s with the strapline ‘you wouldn’t start a night like this so why end it this way.’

VCCP have created two different ads for both male and female drinkers as male and female behavior under the influence of alcohol is very different. The concept of showing people what they look like when they are drunk works as a reminder of how they might have behaved/what they would have looked like after a heavy night out.

Crest Toothpaste - Saatchi & Saatchi



Saatchi & Saatchi made this commercial for Crest toothpaste with the selling line: You can say anything with a smile.

From beginning to end, the spot is inventive and funny, and packed with subtle, hilarious touches. I like the use of odd-looking actors with real, uncosmetically enhanced teeth, for a start. In this ad the ending would be funny enough, but we get an additional detail: As she signs, the lawyer points below the line and says very gently, "and there." It's a powerhouse of economical comic dialogue and timing.

Even on the old paste-promoting medium of TV this is indeed a great example of "advanced creativity and innovation." It's enough to bring a smile to your face.

Christian Bale Is John Conner? Why?



When I first saw this trailer I thought 2 things. Why make a new terminator film when the Sarah Connor chronicles series failed in ratings, and with this franchise pretty much dead (terminated), why does Christian bale take on the risky role as John Connor when his career has skyrocketed after the Dark Knight. Only thoughts for this is a big pay out, injecting some stardom back into the story, or cashing up for good with one final film.

This trailer uses a lot of after effects tools such as Video Co-pilot’s Twitch for the flashing transitions where the sunburn oranges and red switch between each other.

Watchmen - Graphic Novel To Film



Warner Bros. confirmed in June 2006 that Zack Snyder would direct a film adaptation of Watchmen, which is set for release on March 6, 2009. The cast includes Patrick Wilson, Malin Akerman, Jackie Earle Haley, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Previously, directors including Paul Greengrass, Terry Gilliam, Darren Aronofsky,and screenwriter David Hayter have been attached to the project over the years.

While Moore believes that David Hayter's screenplay was "as close as I could imagine anyone getting to Watchmen," he asserted he did not intend to see the film if it were made. Due to his disapproval of the film version of V for Vendetta, Moore "refuses to have his name attached to any of the films... based on his books" However, Gibbons has stated he feels Snyder can make a good film and is supporting him.

MAX PAYNE - Game To Film



The 2001 video game Max Payne was optioned by the production company Collision Entertainment to produce a live-action film adaptation. By April 2002, distributors Dimension Films and Abandon Entertainment were attached to the project. Shawn Ryan, the creator of the television series The Shield, was hired to write a script for the planned film. By June 2005, without production starting, Collision Entertainment had taken the project to 20th Century Fox. In November 2007, with a script written by Beau Thorne, Fox announced John Moore as the director and Mark Wahlberg as the star in the titular role.

Cuatrobots Euro 2008 - Motion Tracking



Maybe this is a super-Quickie. Maybe not. All I know is that these four promos for Cuatro’s coverage of the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament from Barcelona-based KOTOC are loads of fun.

Yes, they’re riding the coattails of Iron Man and Transformers, but they successfully capture the energy of those feature films and condense it into power-packed 15-second blasts. And for broadcast promos, these go way above and beyond the call of duty. It’s obvious the KOTOC crew made a personal investment in this project, and I find that level of commitment inspiring.

Saturday 9 August 2008

300 - End Credits Animation



I love end credits of films that tell the story with 5 minutes of animation because its shows how much films are padded out. This After effects animation makes use of its 3d space with animated blood splatters much like that of the Riot Gear collection. Tiered images stacked behind each other allow the virtual camera to roll around them to create interesting transitions between the scenes.

Drive - Fluid Camera/Greenscreen



Movie and television fans are used to seeing scenes shot inside a car. From journeys that wind through the Italian hills in “Roman Holiday” to trips down the streets of Manhattan inside Jerry’s car on “Seinfeld,” most of those scenes have been filmed in one of two ways.

In one, a car is placed on a trailer and pulled along the road, as cameras mounted outside the car film the action. In another, a stationary car is placed inside a studio, and the actors are filmed as various backgrounds are placed outside the car or, more recently, street scenes are digitally placed in the car’s windows.

The inspiration for the race sequences in “Drive” was a scene from Steven Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds” in which Tom Cruise is driving his family on a jammed highway in a minivan. In the scene, the camera darts around and through the car as if it is mounted on the back of a humming bird.

“This could not have been done last year,” said Loni Peristere, a founder of Zoic Studios and a special-effects guru for “Drive.” “We’re able to do this because of advances in hardware, advances in software, advances in technique.”


Lakai - Skate Triggered Explosions



Fully Flared is a skateboarding video by Lakai, directed by Ty Evans, Spike Jonze and Cory Weincheque. The video's release was postponed for about two years, mainly due to important team additions. Overall it took about four years to make.

Some team members had a lot of left over footage and are now planning to use it for other videos. Most of the video was filmed with Sony DCR-VX1000 cameras and Panasonic HVX200 (which Ty Evans gained access to towards the end of filming) high-definition footage is used for second angles.

Designer Slash Model



Made for the promotional disc in Stash, this piece features all the great employees at DK.

"Sometimes I wonder...is my work beautiful because I'm beautiful?" "Perfect people create perfect design." "You have to be beautfiul to create something beautiful." Har dee har. Kick ass creative agency Digital Kitchen recently whipped up Designer Slash Model, a sort of mockumentary site that pokes fun at the nauseating glam-o-rama image fest otherwise known as the design scene. This project focuses more on the 2D visual side of things, but there's no doubt us 3D folks can relate.

The Bourne Ultimatum Credits - Mark Coleran




Mark Coleran's previous background as a Graphic Designer for print is apparent in the quality of his motion graphic work. His strong visuals, and screen graphics draw the viewer into a world of interface technology that does not exist.

Although the aesthetic generally associated with the Bourne franchise is down-and-dirty camera techniques and claustrophobic action sequences, the film is also a celebration of technologically mediated voyeurism. It is simply not enough to watch films about films anymore, nor are action movies about action acceptable fare for a discriminating audience.

Eden


GigaOM Show Open from Eden Soto on Vimeo.

Wednesday 6 August 2008

Speed Painting - Nico Di Mattia



On the Internet, Speed Paintings are known as a time-lapse video featuring the construction of an image. It is primarily a digital art form whereby the image is hand-drawn and rendered using a tablet and graphics editor such as Photoshop or Painter. The artist may use his imagination or take direct inspiration from a live scene, but will typically choose to recreate an image depicted in a photograph. Whilst the image is in production, every single action on the computer screen is automatically captured and compiled into a real-time video. That recording, which begins with a blank background and ends with the completed piece, then undergoes an editing process. The video is accelerated by a factor of between forty and sixty, components are added or removed and it is also given an appropriate soundtrack. The finished SpeedPainting, which may have taken the artist more than five hours altogether, will usually last little more than three and a half minutes – the average length of a song.
In few words: is the “Behind the Scenes” of an illustration.

M2 Redrock Adapter



This is a piece of test footage shot with Panasonic's DVX200 camcorder with the M2 Redrock adapter equipped to the front. I love the quality that the adapter creates by allowing the user to connect a SLR lens to the front of the camcorder allowing a narrow depth of field to be achieved. This video shows how the rack focus effect can draw the attention of the viewer to each subject. Not too sure about the colour tinting but for a test the results look promising.

Tuesday 5 August 2008

Design & Architechture in Cinema




E-On After Effects



The 40- and 30-second TV ads along with 10-second tails are based on a creative idea of making energy visible, using the thought of illumination to bring energy to light.

Head of Advertising and Marketing Communications at E.ON, Catherine Woolfe, said, “We want to be known as the supplier that helps make energy more tangible for people.

“This campaign gives us a great opportunity to have a conversation with consumers in a way that helps them to see what they pay for, so they can have more control over it and so save money and energy. When you can see and experience energy, you can save it.”

The campaign encourages customers to visit E.ON’s website eonenergy.com/see and manage their account online to see how much energy they use with an Energy Tracker.

Japanese Petrol Advert



It's a giant leap from the UK culture to our Asian friends on the other side of the globe . Take the tackiness of this advert for instance, and the fact that it plays to the godzilla stereotype, the propaganda is also blatantly obvious with the flag rising. Everyone respects the country, even godzilla. All a bit in your face.

Japanese McDonalds Advert



If it wasn't for the typical end shot and the oh so familiar clothing, you would not believe this was a McDonalds advert. This must be their new marketing direction to go hand in hand with the refurbishing of their stores. Trouble with this is that even though that they may now have stylish new furniture and signage, they are still selling cheap, processed, fast food.

Monday 4 August 2008

Completely Unreadable Band Logo of the Week - www.metalsucks.net



In the murky world of black metal, the band logo is still running strong. Trouble is they are so unreadable that you don't even know the name of the band it represents. www.metalsucks.net offers this competition every week where you can win all sorts of metal goodies. All you have to do to win is identify the name of the band whose logo appears and email them your answer.

I Noticed this whilst preparing for my dissertation looking into the death of the band logo within metal. Shame really as such Iconic images have been created through the genre.

Thursday 31 July 2008

book - digital character painting

book - motion by design

Motion By design

This book comes with a DVD mounted to the cover

harry potter



Since the trailer presented that concept with Riddle's words as a boy over images of actions committed by him or in his name later in life — "I can make bad things happen to people who are mean to me" — the effect made it seem more like a horror film, fans said.

Not all fans appreciated that. "Ooh, exciting!" said Sandra Pieloch, a senior designer for Nickelodeon Creative Resources. "Only I didn't know the newest 'Harry Potter' was being directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It feels like some Brit remake of 'The Sixth Sense.' "

"The cinematography is on a much grander scale," Bensoussan said. "From the graphic effects surrounding Dumbledore to the chilling scene of Bonnie in the woods, or of Ron lying death-like on the floor, 'Half-Blood Prince' looks to be bolder, darker and more intense."

"The movies pale in comparison to the actual books," said Raina Tinker, a designer at HarperCollins, "but this one looks dark and creepy, which is how the book was."

trailer - DV footage "illegal"



This film was shot using a 35mm lens adapter for digital camcorders called the M2 redrock. This was attached to a Panasonic AG-HVX200 which in itself is an amazing bit of kit. the Panasonic allows for the user to shoot at 24 frames a second, rather than the usual 25 or 30 frames, which gives it a film like motion

book - logo lounge



In preparation for my dissertation, i bought volumes 1 & 2 of this series. It's basically a book full of commercial logos.

Monday 14 July 2008

The Movie Font

The tried and tested formula of using Trajan for a whole host of movies is finally brought to light. The thing is that it does work well for most movies. You could say the same thing about Helvetica for its global domination of everything unoticable. It all depends on the perspective. One could say "how unoriginal and boring" whereas it could be put "If it isn't broke, dont fix it". Comic sans though... hahahaha.

Sunday 13 July 2008

Sundowning - DV looks like 35mm

Sundowning Trailer


Jim Cole shot all this film using only a Canon GL2 MiniDV Digital Camcorder with the in-camera 16:9 ratio. A lot of Red Giants Magic Bullet software went into this but as you can see it has that Depth Of Field required to give it that "movie look".

Big Buck Bunny - Blender Animation





Big Buck Bunny is an animation project by the Blender Foundation, created by the Blender Institute. Impressively, it was created using the free software 'Blender', an open source software, and is also distributed under an open license that gives artists free access to the entire studio database of assets and files used to make the movie.

This could finally provide some competition for pixar wich in turn would spur them on to the next level.

Thursday 10 July 2008

Atishu - Apprentice Advert Task


Thought I would start off with this shocker from this years season of the apprentice. It's so bad I don't know where to begin.

Firstly the acting:
Corny acting aside, The Dad Is obsessed with the fact that the tissues are anti-bacterial. This should make him come across as some weirdo with a germ free OCD but then he fools us all by grabbing the kids snotty nose without even holding a flipping tissue.
Adding even more insult to injury is the fact that his statement is actually creating false advertising. Colds are viral infections and are not bacterial. Saying the girl will be fine by using anti-bacterial tissues is definitely false, as anti-bacterial products would have no effect on a virus.

Packaging:
The box looks like some knock off Wheatabix packaging that you would find next to the 'smart price' 'bettabuy' 'supasava' brands. Would you trust it as a product? not at all. Maybe a strapline of 'The tissue made with real anti-bacterial wheat' should be added to the box. Awful Photoshop work, some images in colour, some colourised, a lovely image of a girl expelling mucus from her nostrils. I can think of somewhere more appropriate than my nose to wipe with it.

Music:
"You are the sunshine of my life". If a tissue was the sunshine of my life, would that make 'Andrex' the eclipse? Poor choice, poor fade in, poor in general.


Barry Scott would be proud.