ANAMORPHICS STUDIO

ORPHEUS - demo trailer


Anamorphic Studio is Manchester based production house specializing in weddings, corporate and creative video.

I came across the name of the company whilst doing a random Google research for multimedia companies in the Northwest. The concept of their website home page immediately caught my eyes. The visual element used quickly reminded me of Tile's Creative a design company. They used a similar old TV box to hold their logo on their old website which has just recently been updated.

i like the use of the set of 3 TV box as a metaphor for an onward moving multimedia company . The three TV boxes starting with an old ancient box to a new modern box depicting progression, advancement and growth.

Though i did not like a bulk of their work, i found the Orpheus project interesting. The shots, visual effect and edit worked and looked good. Orpheus was a demo trailer to a feature film used as a pitching aid. 90% of the footage is original. Shot on location and green screen and then edited by the Anamorphic team.

I did send them a mail to see if i can have them look at my work but i did not get any replies even after following on with a call.

Below is a screen shot of the mail i sent.

DAYLIGHT MOVING IMAGE

While still doing my random research on google into multimedia comoanies in Manchester and the Northwest in general i came across Day light Moving Image.

daylight is a multimedia company based in Manchester and located in Manchester city center. creating work for motion graphics, animation, corporate identity and film.

They had an interesting range of work. their clients include oasis, Levis, Scottish Hydro, Somerfield, together trust , sound and Vision amongst other.

I contacted them about the possibility of a face to face visit and portfolio crit to their studio and didn't get a reply. Though i followed on with a phone call and was promised to be called back to see if they can arrange a visit. They didn't call back.

it was interesting though to make that direct contact with the company.

I also found that mails sent to companies through their Info @.com / contact@.com email add most times don't get read. The 95% of the time get sent to the trash of the email account.

ROGUE ROBOT

Rogue Robot is a creative media company based in Cheshire. They provide a wide range of media services. from video production to motion graphics, photography, live event, filming, graphic design and digital pesentaiton.

They collaborate with other companies to create their work as well as taking freelancers for a large bulk of their work. Their clients include Peel holdings, FIFA ? Play station, key 103, GSK amongst other.

I contacted them to see if i can have a portfolio crit seeing they are involved in multimedia / moving images.

I liked their logo animation. A 3D animation that was cleverly done and has a robotic feel to it. I am sure the robotic feel had a lot to do with the corporate name and image of the company.

Unfortunately, i did not receive any reply from the company.

THE BASEMENT

The Basement specializes in visual post production for broadcast and corporate clients and production of TV commercials, motion graphics and pop promos.

i came across the name of the company from a magazine i found in the library. i like the graphics of the website. how the red and blue used with the grudge text and background works together.

i contacted them because they where a multimedia company based in Manchester which will be easy and convenient for me to travel to in case i got a portfolio cir session arranged in their office.

CLEAR PRESENTATION

SPACE DIGITAL

CUBE CREATIVE

Cube creative is a design company based in Manchester. They do a lot of graphics work but sometimes are commissioned to work on motion graphics and interactive project where they bring other freelancers in to work or link up with their London office.

I contacted this company because I used to have a friend that worked their for a few years and who always talked about how they are very critical and how they really work hard at their idea.

I tried to contact my friend Craig foster at the time to see if i can get any designer there to do me a portfolio crit but only got a reply from him that he had left the company but said i should still go ahead and mail them that if they are not too busy he was sure i was going to get someone to look at my work. But unfortunately, they were busy and did not have any free time for me until after the dead line sometimes in June. i still plan on going in on my own even after this module because i believe it's not about the grades but about helping us find relevant industry feedback that will help us in the real world once we been search of a job.

CTRLMEDIA

SEASONED - DESIGN

Funkdaweb

SMOOTHE

Four23

Richard Malcolm - portfolio crit

Seeing I was running out of time and had not had any replies from companies I contacted for a portfolio crit, I decided to contact an ex- student / student support tutor from my former college to see if he can make out time for me to show him my work.

Richard Malcolm used to attend the same college as me at the Manchester College of Arts and Technology now known as the Manchester colleges. He came in on the course then with a lot of experience and skills of his own as he had been working as a freelancer for years before coming on the course to brush up his 3D skills and was also looking at the prospect of going into teaching someday. At the end of his year at MANCAT (Manchester College of Arts and technology, he was taken on by the college on a part time bases to be a support tutor for students working on mainly flash projects. He also had a day during the week where he thought us action scripting in flash.

Christmas E-card created using illustrator and flash


After sending him a mail followed up by a call, he was excited to meet up with me after 2 years of leaving MANCAT. Though I quickly mentioned to him that a bulk of my work is moving images and not interactive but that I had two interactive projects I was going to show him. He was happy to take a look at any of my work.

Book Design for stdent pack


We met up at the ConerHouse on Saturday at 1.30 pm where we both grabbed a cup of coffee and caught up on a few happenings since leaving college. It was a relaxing time for me as he was not a stranger.

I started off by showing him my Current TV promo which I did form the YCN competition brief from 2nd year. He liked the way the lines in the animation flowed with the music and how the camera moves from object to object. But he mentioned that it would have been a lot better if I made the lines thicker or shiner so it does not get lost in the animation as at some point where the camera is not as close as the others, the lines appear to have faded away. He also thought that the elements that link up with the lines need to be bolder so that they are easily recognisable as soon as they come into view. He mentioned that seeing the camera is moving fast from object to object it does not leave the viewers to too much time to contemplate what the object is. That I thought was a very good point and I hope to adjust for my portfolio in the future. Being form a design background, he mentioned that I should also pay attention to my fonts which was also a point raised during my crit with Michael Tabner on my first portfolio crit



He really like the way the animation finished off in the end with the mask covering to reopen to reveal Current TV logo. And that the choice of sound in the end worked really well.

I moved on to show him my Beck’s Fusion ad. He instantly mentioned that he noticed my interest in fusing sound and images particularly using lines. He thought the becks fusion piece worked really well and synced with the sound. But advised that I should look into more dynamic ways of using 3D stroke the plug-in I used to generate the lines for the animation. He gave me the red giant website address where I can find tutorials and samples of projects that have used 3D stroke. He thought a look at that will help improve my knowledge of the capabilities as well as limitations of the plug – in . He thought 3D stroke was a very powerful plug-in for after effect.

I went on to show him my portfolio website I designed from second year. He liked the style of the graphics as he works a lot with illustration. He also mentioned the technique of building in single frame a very professional way of working within flash. He said most students mostly like to build up in multiple frames which is not exactly bad but sometimes can become confusing as the layers build up and will be difficult to work with someone else when layers are all scattered around. I then asked him questions about putting the actual website online which id didn’t have a clue on how to go about it.

I showed him a personal project I was working on. A flash website for my friend who just got married. He liked the intro page. The way the sound works with the images and quote on the page. He commented again about the practise of building in single frame for the project as I did with my portfolio website.

I lastly gave him a rough idea of what I was working on for my final major project. He was quick to mention I was doing ‘the student’ thing again. Leaving stuff to the last minute as I didn’t have a lot of stuff to show him on the project besides my experiments. He expected that with a few weeks left to go for the deadline, I should be up and running with the actual final piece of work. He encouraged me to push my self and have it done and that he’s looking forward to seeing the final piece as soon as I am done.

The portfolio crit was two things to me, the fact that I can get professional and educational feedback on my work as well as meeting up and being able to talk about other stuff. We talked about the realities of the industry, the challenges and expectations that potential employers may want.

In all I think it was a successful crit and I hope to take on the advice and implement them in my future work.

LOYAL KASPER

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Seattle International Film Festival 2009

Spot for Seattle International Film Festival 2009 produced at digital kitches studio in Seattle.

Lexus pursuit of perfection - Lexus Pursuit of Perfection - We’ve Never Been Closer

A television commercial by Saatchi $ Saatchi Sydney as one of the pursuit of perfection ad series. The stunning night time cinematography worked pretty well for the object and the over all concept. The night time look allowed for clear display of some particular feature of the car. The fast edit is true to the theme of a pursuit. I absolutely love the feel when the car gradually slows down. It had this fluidic movement to it.

The whole ad really capture the essence of it.

Google Maps Typography

A very interesting image i found by accident. Its the work of Rhette Dashwood. a creative director based in Melbourne who took some time flicking through tones of google map hoping to find land formation of buildings resembling letter forms.

Letter 'C'


Seeing this reminds me of some of the things that we discovered / found while doing an elective in experiemental typography from 2nd year. We had to go around the college to collect and capture objects that may have accidentally have been placed together in such a way that they may represent an abstract or obvious letter form.

Letter 'K'

DAMIAN GASCOIGNE

STUDIO DIALOG

Studio Dialogue is Canada based motion graphics and design studio founded by Steve and Robb Thompson in 2005. Their work is true to their goal: producing and creating compelling and exciting design regardless of the medium. A bulk of their work is designed for broadcast but they also create work for output in print and interactive media.

TV LAND

Series of promos designed by Studio dialogue for Canada network TV channel TV Land for CHUM TV.

The idea was to give a contemporary twist on a retro theme to their identity keeping it clean with a fresh look that will appeal to new and old audience.

Brand/NU

www.brandnu.co.uk

NOT TO SCALE

Not for scale is London based design studio specialising in all types of animated, illustrated and design contents for use across all platforms and media.

work//
Curry


I won’t think that an entire city made of cardboard will look so artistic and pretty. The recent curry as did catch my attention. Love the whole idea to bits. I find the use of the cardboards in the ad as very significant as card boards are a big part of the day to day business life of the various curry stores. The realistic card texture and lighting from the sun and moon works well in the scenes.


Honda ad - still



i personally found this piece of work very charming and a clever way to tell a lot of information about a company at a single view.

HONDA - ad

While looking at a variety of stuff and deciding on the visual style for my final major project I came across the various encore network promos designed by PMcD design. A design company based in New York, part of the transmedia branding and design group Lori Pate+, specializing in all aspects of broadcast and print design as well as production for the entertainment industry. Her clients includes: ABC, NBC, ESPN, NGC, Starz, Encore, PBC etc

ENCORE NETWORK - TV Promos

The encore promos they designed had many of the styles I was looking at the time.For the Encore network promo, PMcD design was meant to create a master look and feel that was strong enough to unify the flagship service of the station as well as the six genre showed on the channel. In creating the final piece, they incorporated iconic elements that are part of the cinematic experience for each genre while keeping them in sync with the overall style of the channel. PMcD used bold poster type, rich cinematography and vignette, were used to highlight the personality of each genre. The over all out look works really well as the consistency of the text and color palette created the right mood.

Another fascinating work I found was a piece they created for US TV network Starz. The piece created for starz was starz first original TV series called Crash. A series based on the Oscar Winning film crash. The title sequence was to convey the essence of the show. Characters from different backgrounds on separate journeys until fate collides and lives are changed forever. To capture this, McDonough the creative director at PMcD collaborated with Brian Kintz and the Starz network team using shots of a glass shattering and metal twisting as well as time- lapse footage of the Los Angelis skyline shot with the super high speed Phantom digital camera at a thousand frames per second. The slow logo is seen projected over myriad surface and layered throughout the footage and graphic elements.

STARZ CRASH - Title Design

The whole idea of the sequence is to graphically illustrate the uneasy and volatile quality of the relationships seen in the show. According to McDonough, the high speed photography of breaking glass and crushing metal visually suggest the random destruction of lives while the time-lapse photography was used to capture the character of Los Angeles while creating a feeling of chaos and randomness of life in general.