FAKE I.D

The lecture was conducted by Yvan martinez and Joshua Tree of FAKE ID. the lecture was like the strangest thing ever. it reminds me of how we do our critical studies presentation where every one seem to read from a piece of paper.

as the lecture went on, i was thinking the mood was going to change or the line of conversation but it was really shorking to see that the lecture ended the way it started.

I tried my best to grasp what they were saying. An interesting thing about the concept of narration and limiting visuals.

I was really looking forward to having them talk about their work which they didn't but rather was talking about their influences and how it impact on their work and talked more about the self initiated and educational project.

the only thing i got out of the lecture was the fact that narration is a very powerful tool. even in the absence of images. a narrative should be strong enough to sand and capture attention on it own.

TAL ROSNOR and TRACY KANDLE

The beautiful and powerful thing about design is the space / freedom it gives individual for expression. Expression in style, methods and processes. It’s not like maths that has a rule to it. It is the expression of one's self and the creation of something that represents idea and creates meaning.

As different as designers are in the medium they use they all are aiming for the one big thing and that is either telling a story with a sill image, a piece of moving image, sculpture, or literature.

For my comparison, I am going to be looking at Tal Rosner a motion graphic designer and Tracy Kandle a still graphic designer working with the medium of wall paper. As distinct as their medium is they share a common processes.


Tal Rosner from talking about his work, have been inspired by the space around him. he tends to record random found images which he uses for his self initiated or commissioned work. Tracy in the other hand who work with wall paper also record random found materials that are processed to create something new.

Tracy work that i found really representing this commonality between her and Tal as working with found object is her feather series. This particular work of her is very dear to me as she explained how that she finds this piece of feather on the floor picks it up, photocopies it, and enlarges it to a very huge size. This found feather has becoming a new special work of art. Her idea of fining a simple idea and pushing it to its auto most limits. That which was found has become something new and different which is the goal of every designer.

For Tal, he collects these found footage's which he takes into an editing programme, retouching, rescaling, applying techniques such as repetition (kaleidoscope ), on this found object pushing it's boundaries to make it become something new and use able.

I have always liked working with found objects. Finding that object and pushing it to become something new.

Though at Tracy’s presentation I found that i drifted away a bit because the lecture was a bit boring compared to Tal's lecture which though not in his most eloquent self , his work spoke more volume. Same with Tracy. There work spoke for them selves. Clean and original.

Another comparison is what this two different designers have to face in their day to day running of their business is the issue of clients. Clients as typical as they are will only give you so much freedom that they can give. All designers weather in still or moving images most times put this restriction on designers. Both Tracy and Tal noted that they work better when they are given the creative freedom to create a piece of work.

This is another rare gifting of being in college. Where you have the creative freedom to generate, explore and reproduce an idea that I like. I wonder how that will go in real time when we have to deal with real clients and all their restrictions.

TRACY KENDALL

Tracy kendall work is inspired by a variety of sources. From found objects to being inspired by the interiors of houses in films. Tracy began her lecture by taking us through a background on how her career has followed on from specializing in screen printing to designing contemporary and experimental wall papers today.

She officially trained in Manchester where she specialised in screen printing before going to work as a technical support person at the Royal College for the textile department for 18 years which am sure did have a lot of influence on her experimental 3d wall paper she designed years later.

She is interested in experimenting with reflect as well as split screen. A lot of her inspiration comes from variety of sources. She gets inspiration from looking at pages in a magazine, photographs and looking at nature. Besides designing wall paper, she designs covers for lamp shades.

CUTLERY PRINT

One of the first piece of her work she showed us was her cutlery print wallpaper from the eat series. She also showed us her feather print wall paper both inspired and created from found objects around her. The feather wall paper was made from a piece of feather she found on the streets which she took and blew up to a large size with a photocopier in plain black and white. This process was also used for the idea of her floral series where a stem of a plant is taken and photocopied into plain black and white.

FEATHER PRINT

She believes design is using what you have to create what you need and making it work for you. This I really agree with. For most of my work, I like to find a piece of image and see how I can turn it around to create something new and alive. She also talked about the necessity of taking risk in design and not always playing safe. Though while taking risk, it is important as a designer to understand the target market.

STEM

For kendall, she puts up shows every now and then to help her understand her audience for a particular piece of work.

SEQUINS

The sequence was another set of wall paper she showed us which I thought was a very fresh idea. The sequence was a piece she did while studying on her M.A. this piece of work puts wall paper for me in a different zone. She treats wall paper more like a piece of textile material, cutting and weaving into them. The final piece results into a completely new work of art which leaves the user with not just a 2D surface but an interactive 3D surface.

Her strongest point for me in the lecture was when she talked about ideas. “Finding a simple idea and pushing it to its limit.”

SEQUINS

The lecture in whole was a bit boring and dragging for me but I was able to connect with the very important points and lessons to be learnt.

Damian Gascoigne

Damian’s visit is the most interesting and enjoyable visit for me of all the entire guest lecturers this year. His presentation was packed with ideas from his self directed projects as he didn’t want to take us through his commercial work but that through sharing his self initiated projects he will be able to expound on the processes used in creating them.

It was great to see him talk about his students with so much passion and understanding of their influences and working methods.

The highlight of his visit for me was when he was showing us the random images he collects with his camera. Especially the posture series. Where he took pictures of people and objects in awkward and unusual position. Another one I found interesting and engaging was the image he took of the roof top of a taxi that appeared to be a face as well as with the image of a light switch that had the characteristics of a face. (eyes and nose). The random objects that he had taken also had a thing to them. Some of which where accidentally put together to reveal a new structure.

Damian’s teaches at the University of Kingston on a fine art degree. During his lecture, he talked us through the frustration he was faced with as a freelancer. The physiological damage the loss of a pitch does to him. This constant failure of it almost made him quit until he had a break though. As a designer it is important for me to continually push my work that I believe in.

I like the style of his work which really projects a fine art touch to it. A very sketchy look but what even more interesting about it is the fact that the sketches were looking more like they were drawn with a pen as against a pencil. Am not sure what he used in sketching them but they appear to me as a pen.

His lecture in a whole was filled with inspirational themes. He draws his inspiration from everywhere and every thing.

CAREFUL Film





These images are from his Careful project (FILM). A project made from a combination of hand drawn animation combined with computer generated animation matched up to live action. The projects cleverly executed aims to create a sense of three dimensional space using mainly lines drawn by hand and to develop a look for film that pushes the limits of computer generated animation to a whole new level.

The tools used to achieve this project is mainly Photoshop and after effect. I hope that with paid attention to details I will be able to create such stunning piece of work in the future. The work visually stunning yet deep and rich in its concept.

GRANT GILBERT

SHOWREEL

Grant Gilbert, many years ago studied here in Stockport College. Today he has become the renowned name behind the recent rebrand of BBC One, responsible for the contemporary visual style of channel 4, and the ‘eye flash’ break bumper of Big Brother. His clients list I find is the most impressive of all the other guest lecturers working in motion graphics. I believe to have worked on a high level of rebrand for a client like BBC was a very big job for a motion graphic/ graphic designer.

Though very successful, in the rebrand for BBC, he went through a lot of frustrating times with the creative’s involved with the project as he did not have a lot of creative freedom which puts a lot of restrictions on his ideas and execution. This he mentioned is very typical of some clients and that our time in uni is an opportunity for us to explore our ideas and have the freedom we need to create what we want.

The most appealing of his work for me his 4Music Advert. I absolutely like the piece of work and the processes he used in creating it. The fact that it was not entirely computer generated. I really like the bit where he described how the neon light movements where created. He had dancers all dressed up in black with the neon lights wrapped around them in a dark environment which made everything else invisible except the neon lights. This allows for a real time movement of the light and this really works well. I believe that such a high level of fluidity in the movements of the lights / lines may not have been achieved to such a high level if it was computer generated.

Another bit I really like is the movement of the image in the tent. How it appears to be blurred off. Very brilliant piece of work that really captures music as an art.

He talked about the BBC One promo. The promo with the swimming hippos. He said they had a call from a person who pointed out to them that hippos do not swim. I found that shocking to know that they could have had that sort of lapse in their research. This stresses the point that I should always get my research and facts right as a simple mistake in research can brake a project apart.

The More4 idents with the simple shapes interacting in a clever way with each other really works well. The black and green color scheme works. I feel that the progression of the green color from a light green to a darker green ( Blend moods) made it more successful as you can visually follow the rhythm of the shapes. Grant went on to talk about the process of creating it.. That they had to come up with numerous ideas before they came up with the final one. I think it is better to have several rubbish ideas than to have 1 main idea. This point also ties up to the point he made when he talked about a promo idea he had for BBC at the pitch. The idea was having a lot of people with red boards coming together to form the BBC logo. This idea was rejected by the BBC. It suddenly reminds me o f the processes we go through in college when we discuss out project with the tutors. Sometimes they are pleased with an idea but sometimes, they are not. But instead of giving up, we should push out selves for other ideas and who knows, it could become that clever idea.

I really enjoyed the lecture as he had a very impressive portfolio of work which was very relevant to my pathway.

TAL ROSNER

I’ve only seen skins a couple of times but thought there was something unconventional about the title sequence. Very different in style from the ones I’ve seen in films or TV generally even though a lot of experimental work and ideas have been pushed into the art of title design in the past years. In comparing the sequence to E4 other sequence I still found that it stood out in its style and approach but never really further investigated it until Tal Rosner’s visit. The man who almost independently owns the credit for the title I’ve so admired.

DOPPELGANGER

Tal started off his lecture with his film titled Doppelganger. A film he did as part of his MA degree at Central Saint Martins in London. The film is a documented journey filmed with a camera from the front view of a moving train. He talked us through the editing process which involved a lot of mirroring effect done with After Effect once the film footage had been captured. The footage synced to a soundtrack with the mirror effect carefully added resulted in an abstract piece of work which totally grabbed my attention and reminded me of the rhythm of the city project form 2^nd year. The individual frames from the piece were so neatly done that if frozen, they could be used in print media.

Tal has always been inspired by the concept of rhythm and movement this made him progressed from graphic design where he focused on composition and magazine layout up until he did his MA to film.

Tal told us of the frustrations he was faced with when he got a job in London working in a design studio. He was frustrated about the restriction put on him by his creative director.

IN SEVEN DAYS

He’s always loved to work in a very small team and

where he had creative freedom over his work. Just then, he was approached by the South Bank London Orchestra to produce a multi – media piece commissioned by the South Bank Centre London and the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra. The piece a moving image piece to be similar to the style of his Doppelganger film.

He worked closely with the composers two French pianist which helped with the over all production. Tal thought of the work he was going to be creating for them as a mechanical piano. He saw it as an analysis of the track. He mentioned that the creating of visuals for music is a lot about negotiations.

The piece titled seven days tells of the tales of creatio

n. With a high level of abstract variation made of seven sections projected on seven different screens representing the seven days of creation. He approached this using a lot of kaleidoscopic technique applied to the images taken from the recent rebuilding of the Royal Festival Hall in London combined with footages and photographs from the Walt Disney Concert hall in La. I’ve always seen the kaleidoscopic technique been used and have used it in my rhythm of the city project but his work was creatively distinct which have shown me new, clever and highly creative ways to apply the technique in my future works.

SKINS - Tile Sequence

It was after E4 saw this piece of work that he was commissioned to create the title sequence for the series Skins. The idea was to create a title sequence that is not like a title sequence as the programme skins is based on a rebellious idea. Each sequence is different from each other as it focuses on the actors. A speedy collage of images sync to a track very typical of his work is very evident in the Skins opening credit. The end sequence always different from each other leaving the audience a very artistic presentation of the character that will dominate the next episode. Tals have been commission to work on the series 2 after doing a brilliant job. Here he will be approaching it with a typographic perspective masking footages from the series in a very close up shots of the letters.

I personally thing the edit for this opening credits were very fresh and clever.

WITHOUT YOU - Short Film

For the lecture he showed us another of his film titled Without You. A film inspired by Joseff Alber an abstract painter and poet which he likes. He starts off the film with lines from his poem. In this film Tal explores the industrial suburbia of Charring Cross. A lot of the inspiration came from the circle drawn at a 10 mile radius of Charring Cross.

Though tal had some technical problems whilst doing his presentation, his presentation was true to it self. Full of contents and raw ideas. The fact that i could relate with some of the experiments and processes he used in creating his work was really good. As with determination and careful focus I could create good work too.

Gillian Blease

TEST2