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.

Andrew Brooks

Last year for my professional practice, i got in touch with Andrew Brooks as one of the contacts for this module where i asked him about his work specifically the processes he goes through for producing is live mix and music videos. I have recently contacted him again to take a look at some of my work and give me some feedback to help improve my future work.

HIDDEN MANCHESTER

I recently went to see his exhibition titled REALITY HACKED: Hidden Manchester at the urbis where a series of photographs from his documented journeys with Manchester’s official and unofficial custodians. The photographs reveal the concealed, restricted and sometimes forgotten places in Manchester.

Andrew Brooks is a photographer, a conceptual digital artist and film maker living and working in Manchester

DOUBLE NEGATIVE VISIT - 05/03/09

Double negative is a visual effect studio located in Soho in London. The studio has worked on some of the most outstanding films in recent times. Films like Fast and Furious, Quantum of Solace, Ink Heart, Iron Man 2 , Harry Potter amongst others.

We visited the studio on the 5^th of March though I missed part of the session as I came in late. The part of the showreel that I saw was absolutely mind blowing. It contained scenes from the green screen shot used in the final post production. It also contained the developmental stages from the raw shoots to the final output. She talked us through how they set up the set for the green screen shot and how that the importance of shooting the objects from the right camera angle is important as nothing can be done about the perspective in post production. Though a lot of corrections can still be done at post production. Corrections such as lighting and the adding of special effects to enhance the experience of the viewers combined with careful sound edit.

After viewing the showreel, she talked about their recruiting process. Where all DVD’s received from prospective students are looked at and separated into two bunch. One for further viewing and the other going straight out back the doors. She also emphasised the importance of keeping showreels short and having the best work at the very start as most directors are most times to busy to go through the whole showreel.

She also talked about the runner system which they adopt at double negative. Where a designer comes in as a runner for about 4months. During this time they have the opportunity of having first hand practical experience with others who have been on the job of a while. More like training on the job. It requires a lot of determination and hard work as long hours is required to be put in even after the end of the official day work as runners most times stay behind to try out stuff that they’ve learnt and most times during the official hours, runner do a lot of menial jobs which is not directly related to their job description.

After the discussion in the cinema hall, we had a tour of the building which is divided into different mini sections where different groups of people are working on different task.

We met up with Paul Greenwood just when we were about to leave and he shared with us his experience from coming in as a runner in double negative. He said it was a very precious experience as he had the opportunity to learn on the job before moving into his specialty in match moving.

Though a somewhat intimidating environment, the people working in it appeared friendly, focused and hardworking. It was a good visit and one to be remembered for a long time.

MAINFRAME VISIT - 04/03/09

Mainframe is a production studio specializing in motion graphics and animation for ads, promos and creating contents for brands. A bulk of their work is designed for broadcast but they also create work that is used in cinema, online content and mobile media.

Our first visit for the day was the trip to mainframe studio located on Farringdon Road in London. The studio space was a very welcoming one and had a very creative look to it. The tour of the studio was done by Adam who is the creative director of mainframe. He took us through the different sections of the office before showing us their recent show reel which contained one of their most recent work been aired on TV which I had looked at whilst researching for my final major project.

The piece of work is the 30sec promo for virgin media rehab programme on living TV. A programme which deals with the uncompromising look at addiction, following the lives of seven people in the public eye as they look to rebuild their lives.


Mainframe answered the brief by using shattering 3D porcelain. Their goal was to visually represent the concept of lives of people being rebuilt. The shattering pieces of the porcelain dolls slowly reforms back to their original state symbolizing the rebuilding process. The work is such a creative and clean piece of work.



Adam talked to us about the importance of an online portfolio with a simple link that leads to our work. And that our show reels should be kept as short as possible showing our strongest pieces first as sometimes directors don’t have all the time to go through the whole of the show reel. He also recommended the sending out CD’s containing our work to studios which should be clearly labelled with our contact details as they have had cases where a person they were interested in had forgotten to include their contact details.

He also showed and talked us their most recent rebrand project. The Nickelodeon rebrand which they have been working on for a long time now.



He also responded to the questions about mainframes attitude towards new graduate. He said they at mainframe are always sympathetic to new starters but they are expected to quickly get their acts together to prove themselves capable of doing the job they have been hired to do.



The visit in was a very inspiring and refreshing on.