Observer - In production

Oberver motion test 2 (intro part) from Kupon on Vimeo.

The epic job that is "the Observer" continues!

It seems that this college year will involve a huge amount of work. We are made to think 'ideas' constantly by the tutors at college, and this isn't wrong. I have found through research that good ideas are worth more money, as a good idea can work across many media formats.

I also believe that in many cases, especially in the areas I am interested in, employers are also after people who can execute these ideas, and can work the software to a good standard. This takes loads of time and effort, and to be able to make progress requires almost obsessive dedication.

The challenge now will be splitting time up between working on creative ideas, designing them, and executing them. Each aspect involves enough work in its own right to take up all my time, and doing all this stuff in combination can feel a bit overwhelming. Last year i simply looked at my calender and set aside time to do each thing, but never got it all done.

This brief has meant looking at many new things, such as film language, animation, the whole after effects set up in combination with looking at how this kind of thing is used in real life. "Motion Graphics" in reality is utilised in many ways, from Broadcast design

Guinness by Psyop

Write up (TBC)

Credits for this spot:

Client: Diageo
Product: Guinness Ale
Title: “Dot”
Length:00:60

Agengy: IIBBDO, Dublin
Creative Director(s): Mal Stevenson
Art Directors: Jonathan Cullen.
Copywriter: Rory Hamilton
Producer: Onagh Carolan
Beer Stylist: Thomas Power

Production Company: Psyop/Stink
Director: Eben Mears
Art Director: Haejin Cho
Executive Producer (s): Justin Booth-Clibborn, Psyop/Blake Powell, Stink
Producers: Jen Glabus, Psyop/Sophie Kluman, Stink
Asst. Producer: Carol Collins, Psyop
DOP: Igor Jadue Lillo & Steve Koster
Additional Design: Tanya Weiss, Jon Saunders, Gordon Waltho, Pete Sickert=Bennett, Anh Vu, Ine Van Den Elsen
VFX Supervisor: Jake Slutsky
3D: Jeff Lopez, Damon Ciarelli, Iggy Ayestaran, Aditi Kapoor, Saira Mathew, Boris Ustaev, Jeff Dates, Jordan Blit, Josh Harvey, Todd Akita, Tom Cushwa, Lee Wolland, Pota Tseng, Jason Vega, Kitty Lin, Jason Goodman
FX: Miguel A. Salek
Flame: Eben Mears, Aska Otake, Jaime Aguirre
2D Compositing: Molly Schwartz
2D Roto Lead: Leslie Chung
2D Tracking Leads: Hyunjeen Lee, Seung Lee
Storyboard Artist: Ben Chan
Editor: Cass Vanini

Observer - Storyboards and Assessment

This week was assessment time. The 'gaffer' pointed out things that I wasn't doing right. I was admittedly a bit annoyed, as I had been doing this brief for ages, and had already drawn story boards a few times the wrong. It was a bit frustrating, as I was throwing shit at the wall, just to see if any of it was going to stick. In addition to paperwork, the various digital attempts at moving this project are all documented in this blog (see college briefs navigation to the right, all under 'Observer'), as animatics, test shots and research.

I had a major headache after my assesment and didn't know what I was supposed to do. I did a bit of research and bothered my mate Olley, who pointed out it's worth learning film language stuff properly. I returned to college the next day in a very grumpy mood, and our group had a surprise lesson on story-boarding and film language. This was both very timely, and restored my faith in college. If only we had more lessons!

I have since done a little bit of research, and have a better idea, and have drawn up new thumbnail storyboards. I have taken the gaffer's comments on board, and realise he was right, even though it took a while to understand what he was getting at.

Contextual Studies - Film Titles Essay

My essay is on Film Titles.

I enjoyed researching this brief; I have always liked film titles, but never really knew that much about them in context. I am also increasingly interested in film and moving images in general.

The brief was to select five consecutive decades, compare and contrast the pieces, show development and explain why they were chosen. I began in the 1950's where film titles began to get interesting with Saul Bass's titles for 'The Man With The Golden Arm', moved into the 60's with Stephen Frankfurt's titles for 'To Kill a Mockingbird', and Richard Greenberg (R/GA)'s 3D CGI titles for Superman for the 70's. The 1980's were less clear, and to reflect changing times in films I chose 'Bladerunner', a collaboration between Ridley Scott and his team and Intralink Film and Graphic Design. I chose to wrap up the essay and link all the elements by covering Kyle Cooper's title sequence for 'Seven'.

The essay is available to download here