I think these two pieces show an interesting style that is in the same kind of area as my personal style with silhouettes shapes and simplistic colour schemes however potent content of subject matter and underlying meanings and metaphors, and both of these pieces are inspiring to me and will be referred back to for my own personal projects.
Promotional video for alexander mcqueen and pumas raw power clothing By Filmaker and photography Drew Cox:
Alexander Mcqueen/Puma - Raw Power from DREW COX on Vimeo.
I want to take my work towards a more 3D style of work and start using cinema 4d more as i think it offers more than after effects with regards to creating things that don't exist and new worlds etc which is what i enjoy creating. I think this piece shows aspects of my works style and kind of shows where i could take and adapt my style to with regards to getting better at using the 3d programmes as this piece is made in 3d and works well.
Breakfast Of Champions Promotional video for Alexander McQueens Fashion Night Out Show:
Drew Cox
2010 Showreel Drew Cox from DREW COX on Vimeo.
This is the showreel promotional video for Drew Cox who is an award winning video director and photographer with a creative eye for unique and engaging visual storytelling.
I discovered this artists when looking at the alexander Mcqueen fashion videos after discovering these through the breakfast of champions work i looked at (who are a studio based in london). And i think his style is unique and interesting and leaves the viewer wanting more. His style is also somthing that i would like to take my work towards.
This is the showreel promotional video for Drew Cox who is an award winning video director and photographer with a creative eye for unique and engaging visual storytelling.
I discovered this artists when looking at the alexander Mcqueen fashion videos after discovering these through the breakfast of champions work i looked at (who are a studio based in london). And i think his style is unique and interesting and leaves the viewer wanting more. His style is also somthing that i would like to take my work towards.
Show reels
A lot of the visual fx show reels i have looked at tend to show elements of the making of the work behind the actual footage. They show pre texturised render versions of the animations and show the before and after effects of this. This shows the process they have taken to get to the finished result and makes the finished display look more impressive. My work probably isn't advanced enough to use this in my show reel nor would it probably be needed for advertising my self to potential studio employers. However it is interesting and somthing to potentially think about and could also be helpful if i made these for personal use to see in the future or re cap on how i made my work.
FX Show Reel 2015 from Steven Dupuy on Vimeo.
Richard Lico Show Reel 2014 from Richard Lico on Vimeo.
FX Show Reel 2014 from Steven Dupuy on Vimeo.
FX Show Reel 2015 from Steven Dupuy on Vimeo.
Richard Lico Show Reel 2014 from Richard Lico on Vimeo.
FX Show Reel 2014 from Steven Dupuy on Vimeo.
CCTV Advert
CCTV "INK" (Directors Cut) from weareflink on Vimeo.
Client: CCTV - Central China Television
Agency: MMIA
Creative Director: Zhou Jiahong
Client: CCTV - Central China Television
Agency: MMIA
Creative Director: Zhou Jiahong
This is a piece i found that i think reflects my personal style with regards to the ink markings i often incorporate in my personal style and i think how it has been created in a more 3d style and making realistic smokey characters and shapes. This has a painting coming to life feel and effect about it and it flows well as the ink can morph and distribute in many different ways.
Andreas Lie
Andreas Lie is an engineering student from Haugesund, now living in Bergen, Norway. He's 25 and has found an international audience with his work, most notably with the series "Norwegian Wood" that merges portraits of Norwegian animals with the landscapes in which they live. The use of digital double exposure – a process which involves merging two unique photographs to create one piece of art - provides a unique and wonderful expression, and by using a simple idea in a new way he's quickly become a recognizable artist.
Lie’s images reflect a deep appreciation for nature and the wildlife that inhabits the wilderness near his home. He is fortunate to live in a place surrounded by majestic mountains and wild spaces, which are undoubtedly an inexhaustible source of inspiration for him in his work. His unique images typically feature a single animal, set in sharp contrast to the negative space that surrounds it, and filled with images of their natural habitats. Contained within the stark shape of the animal you’ll find forest scenes, mountains, water, and other scenic vistas that are then blended seamlessly with the texture of the animal’s fur or feathers, as the case may be.
Lie’s images reflect a deep appreciation for nature and the wildlife that inhabits the wilderness near his home. He is fortunate to live in a place surrounded by majestic mountains and wild spaces, which are undoubtedly an inexhaustible source of inspiration for him in his work. His unique images typically feature a single animal, set in sharp contrast to the negative space that surrounds it, and filled with images of their natural habitats. Contained within the stark shape of the animal you’ll find forest scenes, mountains, water, and other scenic vistas that are then blended seamlessly with the texture of the animal’s fur or feathers, as the case may be.
Andreas Lies work shows mostly photographic manipulation and paint markings with regards to the materials he uses he often uses collage techniques where he will combine or overlay different materials and subject matter to create one universal new meaning for his work (for example his woodland creatures project in which he showed the environment the animals have come from inside their shape of their body in order to symbolise the naturalistic roots).
Examples of his work:
Collage and overlay:
Paint markings and ink used to create the shape of to amplify the shape of the subject (or to frame it):
Examples of these qualities in my recent work:
Overlay and collage effect of various elements i use in my work as well as the incorporation of of paint and ink marking to blend and frame the subject matter of my work into the frame.
The unfinished swan (reflects my style)
the Unfinished Swan is an adventure video game developed by Giant Sparrow for the PlayStation 3, released in October 2012 through the PlayStation Network. The game starts with a completely white space in which the player, a boy named Monroe, is chasing after a swan that has escaped a painting. The game was released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in October 2014
I liked the style of this game and how the trailer for it has been made, as i think the simplicity in subject matter and colour is effective with only sections of staircases being revealed etc and the only colour being shown only in small quantities.
I also like the paint / ink splat markings and think the visuals for this relate to my style slightly also this piece reminds me of a similar visual effect of my audio narrative project piece in which i created the visuals to display the a subject explaining her dream in which she was a bird.
Slow reveal of the environment is very effective and creates mystery and intrigue for the audience watching it the sound track used for this also amplify this effect.
I liked the style of this game and how the trailer for it has been made, as i think the simplicity in subject matter and colour is effective with only sections of staircases being revealed etc and the only colour being shown only in small quantities.
I also like the paint / ink splat markings and think the visuals for this relate to my style slightly also this piece reminds me of a similar visual effect of my audio narrative project piece in which i created the visuals to display the a subject explaining her dream in which she was a bird.
Slow reveal of the environment is very effective and creates mystery and intrigue for the audience watching it the sound track used for this also amplify this effect.
Breakfast Of Champions
http://bofc.com/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwiKS3BRCU-7XQ75Te3NoBEiQAA2t_xBJjg9c4E_0rBSuRq794VkmL3qKpPl1OVrqW4v1jUfUaAlyc8P8HAQ
Breakfast of Champions is an animation, motion design and video production studio in London. They make personality driven films with impact for clients all around the world.
Their work ranges from online films, TV commercials, explainer videos and broadcast. From concept and development to production and promotion.
The company worked with global ad agency Geometry on 8 in bar films for Bacardi’s up and coming Summer campaign. They shot eight cocktails and their ingredients on a hi-speed Photron camera, at an impressive 2000 fps and captured over 50 slow motion shots in one day:
This piece show a sophisticated and fun vibe with fast paced shots to create energy and excitement.
I thought i would be a good idea to look at this studios show reel to get some inspiration from it and to gain more knowledge of what i should be aiming to towards creating and to learn more about the company itself
show reel:
The reel shows a range of work techniques and displays a range of subject content and potentially client list that they have made work for previously. This gives off a diverse feeling towards the company making them seem able to adapt to whatever it is the client is after and would make a potential client more interested in choosing them to create the work they need. Also the music and pace of the shots and edits between shots is upbeat and fast creating a friendly fun feeling towards the show reel making it seem as though the creators have fun doing what they are doing which would be more appealing to a client also (as people are good at what the enjoy doing). I could use some of these tips and techniques when coming to create my own show reel also.
HTC advert:
In this piece they have reflected the 'alien' style technology visual effects and made references to aliens and out of space with regards to glitches in the footage as though the footage is being beamed from out of space and signal keeps getting lost and how the phone chisels itself out of metal and then the shards of metal floats in the air as though it is a 0 gravity environment. This makes the audience think of this technology as advanced as that is what we relate alien technology with (being more advanced) and so makes the audience think that HTC is ahead of its time and other brands with regards to how advanced it is.
VIDEO PLATFORM STANDARDS
It can be very confusing navigating around all the different formats and playback standards on video platforms the website provides the viewers with the various platform standard for videos used by different social medias which i thought could be useful to refer back to:
They also provide various news feeds and updates on their website. This is a video they added to display how online advertising can help people get their product recognised more and therefore sold more. This is a clever tactic to convince the viewers of their website that they are defiantly making the right decision in contacting breakfast of champions as they would be purchasing most likely some kind of online advertisement themselves etc.
King Film School's video on how to get started in visual effects
When thinking about my career path one end goal i am interested in is being a part of special effects in the film industry as this is something that looks very interesting and that i think i would enjoy doing. My skill levels would need to improve before this point however in this video Aaron Benitez who is a visual effects artists gives some advice on getting your foot in the door into the industry and shares experiences he has had within the industry with viewers.
He gives the audience some interesting insight such as how the task of one designer might simply be to animate eyebrows in a film etc or to just remove text etc from clothing. and also discusses what skills and programs would be a good i deal to use and practise for the industry (especially the cgi industry and film side).
Its also an interesting video that shows good examples of the possibilities of cgi and video manipulation are able to achieve.
professional review of my work
I decided to look into getting some professional insight about my work from somebody within the creative industry to try and help me move forward with my work and see how i could imporve it.
Top stuff!
From what I remember, your photographic work and retouching, whilst you were here with us, seemed to lean towards this style - and you have it fairly nailed. Seems this is your “thing”.
I was very excited to see that he had mentioned this as this is something i have started to notice about my style of work and i myself did think that this project (as i have had the most personally influenced freedom in this project, my style did show through) this is why i think it was a good idea to contact stefan as he was able to notice this also.
Overall the feedback i received was very helpful Stefan mention what had worked well in my work and what in his professional opinion could be improved and highlighted things in my work that i had not even been aware of that i am going to work on. And i was please to hear that i think he generally quite liked what i had produced. I think that gathering a professional opinion on my work like this could be very beneficial to my future work as well.
I contacted the owner of The Layout Pad, a design studio based in manchester which works largely with graphic design and print advertising for a variety of clients but also works within moving image and web design. I chose this contact as i have previously had work experience in this studio and with Stefan (who i contacted) and he has seen some of my previous work from college before. And so thought this would also be a good opportunity to show and hear from him how my work has changed etc.
I sent of two pieces of work that i was most happy with from this year so far which was my SYFY ident project final piece and my Audio project piece.
His comments were as follows:
SYFY:
I really like the way you have “eased” and controlled the splits of the “cells” - colour of cells works well too (sort of a mutating artificial sci-fi hue).
Sound works also - reminds me of blood pumping around a body or the sort of sound one hears when under water - perfect for “cells”.
Sound works also - reminds me of blood pumping around a body or the sort of sound one hears when under water - perfect for “cells”.
I was very pleased with this comment on the sound as this is the effect i was trying to portray from the cell (suspended in a liquid environment) and he described the sound as blood pumping which would suggest reference to this as blood is liquid.
I do wonder if a slightly different background may have worked even better (and whether you explored those options). It might be that a more “complicated “ background may have made the animation a nightmare to render?
This is something i am going to take on as my own personal project for improvement as a different background for this would be effective, i chose to do the white background to be in keeping with syfy's style however a different background especially for my show reel could be a more impressive visual effect as the white does seem a bit too synthetic and bland.
The only other comment I have about this animation is the type that appears at the end - think the entrance of the type needn’t be as complicated - the focus should be on the SyFy lettering (but I do like the sound when the type appears - that adds a lot of extra interest just when the viewer thinks it’s all over. Personally I would have preferred to see a simpler entrance and the type with no effetcs at all applied to it - but then I am fairly biased towards print and “still” images.
I thought this was a very helpful piece of feedback as the text "imagine greater" which i transitioned in at the end was the part of the animation i was most unsure about when i had finished it and i think looking back at my work now i perhaps did get carried away with making its transition a bit too flashy and a fade in transition could have probably worked better.
I do wonder if a slightly different background may have worked even better (and whether you explored those options). It might be that a more “complicated “ background may have made the animation a nightmare to render?
This is something i am going to take on as my own personal project for improvement as a different background for this would be effective, i chose to do the white background to be in keeping with syfy's style however a different background especially for my show reel could be a more impressive visual effect as the white does seem a bit too synthetic and bland.
The only other comment I have about this animation is the type that appears at the end - think the entrance of the type needn’t be as complicated - the focus should be on the SyFy lettering (but I do like the sound when the type appears - that adds a lot of extra interest just when the viewer thinks it’s all over. Personally I would have preferred to see a simpler entrance and the type with no effetcs at all applied to it - but then I am fairly biased towards print and “still” images.
I thought this was a very helpful piece of feedback as the text "imagine greater" which i transitioned in at the end was the part of the animation i was most unsure about when i had finished it and i think looking back at my work now i perhaps did get carried away with making its transition a bit too flashy and a fade in transition could have probably worked better.
None of the above is any serious ccriticism - I am very impressed with all the little nuances you have introduced.
Audio Project:
Audio Project:
Top stuff!
From what I remember, your photographic work and retouching, whilst you were here with us, seemed to lean towards this style - and you have it fairly nailed. Seems this is your “thing”.
I was very excited to see that he had mentioned this as this is something i have started to notice about my style of work and i myself did think that this project (as i have had the most personally influenced freedom in this project, my style did show through) this is why i think it was a good idea to contact stefan as he was able to notice this also.
Constructive criticisms? Nuffink really - there appears to be a minor hiccup in motion around 7 seconds and 44 seconds - but that could be my internet connection - or it could be that you meant it (after having watched the piece about thirty times I am beginning to think maybe it should be like that - it is a dream after all!)
This is something i had not noticed in this piece of work until sending it off to stefan and looking at my work now i can see this glitchy movements and i will defiantly go back and fix this
This is something i had not noticed in this piece of work until sending it off to stefan and looking at my work now i can see this glitchy movements and i will defiantly go back and fix this
I also like the lack of colour in most of the vid - works very well.
jobs
Where To Find Games and Animation Jobs:
- Concept-Art-Jobs.com
- The Creative Talent Network (CTN)
- The CreativeHeads.net Newsletter
Recognition: conventions, portfolios personal projects, gathering a fan base.
http://chrisoatley.com/animation-jobs-go-fast/
Chris ovately (a visual development artist for disney and owner of online art school) talks about responding to job openings within the gaming and animation industry:
Animation and gaming industry anounce job openings all the time.
he states "As soon as I started referring my friends for jobs in animation, I discovered an epidemic of artistic dilly-dallying that continues to drive me bonkers."
when referring to the time it takes for people to apply for jobs or to be prepared and motivated for a job, and states that because of this he does not know many people that have got the job that he has referred them too after applying for it (due to being to slow).
"We’re all aware of how insanely competitive this industry is If you’re applying for a job in animation or games and you want your portfolio to actually be considered YOU MUST GO FASTER!
…not two weeks.…not two days. 24 hours."
Submit a relevant, competitive portfolio (and resume, etc.) within 24 hours of a job posting.
How to do this:
BEFORE Opportunity Knocks:
Ovately explains that a good thing to practise is to visit the links to the games & animation job resources in the next section and look through the PAST job postings as studios are structured. Those same jobs will become available again in the future.
Use the guidelines in those past job posts to create a relevant portfolio for specific jobs at studios whose creative sensibilities match your own. …and be specific. that way when a job opening does come up you are quickly prepared for it.
Motionographer
motionographer is a website that posts about upcoming events, news and new relevant works that could inspire my own work. It is a website i am currently checking up on every now and then and it also has a section that shows new relevant job openings in my area in the job search section of the website advertising what places are hiring.
This is a good way to keep up to date with what is currently available and could increase my chances of getting hired or receiving an internship.
example of motionographer current job openings advertisement:
CV http://bucksanimation.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/six-rules-for-good-cv.html :
its purpose is to summarise my education, life history and skills as clearly and concisely as possible, and to put the best possible gloss on your achievements. Employers will expect one. Edit it regularly and update it.
Rule 1: Find a good CV that you like.and use it as a template, and adapt it. Don't try to re-invent the wheel. Rule 2: Keep it short.
No-one wants to read anything longer than 2 pages. Employers will probably scan your CV rather than actually read it, so keep it short and punchy.
Rule 3: Edit your CV for each job you apply for.
Just like your animation and visual effects demo reel, your CV should be directly relevant to the job you are applying for. Edit out anything that doesn't support your job application. Scout merit badges are not relevantfor visual effects work.
Rule 4: Add a personal statement at the front
Add a brief statement at the front, saying what your goals are. Again, keep it short.
Rule 5: Add a referee
At the bottom of your CV, add two references available upon request. These can be course tutors, or former employers - anyone who can vouch for you personally.
Rule 6: Always send in a cover letter.
CVs seldom travel alone. They are usually accompanied by a cover letter, addressed to your (hopefully) future employer, saying what the job is you are applying for and why you think you are suitable for it. Cover letters should short and to the point. Don't gush, grovel, or go on too long.
Demo Reel:
according to http://www.animationapprentice.org/blog/how-find-your-first-job-animation-industry.html#sthash.BMEgUqmF.dpuf
it should be completely free of mistakes. Most studios get piles of unsolicited demo reels. The good news is - they will probably look at your reel. The bad news is - they will probably look at your reel for ten seconds or less. So you have, in effect, ten seconds to impress. If there are any errors in your work, they will notice, and they will assume one of two things: either you saw the mistake, but could not fix it, or, worse, you didn’t see the mistake. Either way, you’re in the bin. Remember - no mistakes.
demo reel examples:
Demo Reel 2010 from Jesper Lindborg on Vimeo.
one song to link all the pieces together and so it dons seem messy or disjointed, work flows one into the other shows clips of same piece of work in unsequenced order (to add suspense) e.g. the piece of work made showing the water bottle turning into a bunny, it show the bottle splashing into water, then showed other sections of work, then showed the water forming into the shape of the bunny.
Giant Ant's Summer 2012 Reel from Giant Ant on Vimeo.
Demo Reel 2012 from Brice Linane on Vimeo.
demo reel examples:
one song to link all the pieces together and so it dons seem messy or disjointed, work flows one into the other shows clips of same piece of work in unsequenced order (to add suspense) e.g. the piece of work made showing the water bottle turning into a bunny, it show the bottle splashing into water, then showed other sections of work, then showed the water forming into the shape of the bunny.
Giant Ant's Summer 2012 Reel from Giant Ant on Vimeo.
Demo Reel 2012 from Brice Linane on Vimeo.
Nowadays it will be online at a website or blog. A great demo reel brings in work
Make a Website:
Make a Website:
blogger and wix.com are free.
(good website examples to refer too):
http://www.3dfiggins.com/Resume/
http://jameswoodsportfolio.blogspot.co.uk
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