Major Project Ideas

Well, the time has come to start to think about what I would like to do for my Major Project.

One thing that I have found myself exploring within the first two projects this year is type and I have enjoyed doing so. I have looked at how type can be used within composition and this is something that I would like to take the time to consider further.

Here are a few examples that I found recently:


jbfm from paralelo zero on Vimeo.

Thoughtful DO Lectures

Over Summer me and Andy got the opportunity to head down to Wales for the day to watch the filming. The day was a great experience, we arrived there about 9am thinking that we would just be taking photos and some footage in order to document the day, however they were eager for us to get stuck in helping set the stage and lights up. 

We were really surprised that Chris and Wes the directors of the shoot took the time to talk through different elements of how to set lights up and boom microphones, it was great and so much more than we had anticipated being involved in. It was fantastic been on a live set and watch the filming, especially when we had been involved with the Do Lecture project and heard the ideas evolve from earlier on in the project.

Here are some photos from the day:

Here is a link to one of the final pieces that Thoughtful created.

At the end of the day, whilst waiting for a lift me and Andy sat down outside for a bout an hour talking about ideas for our self directed project. It was great as we were both full of ideas and having experienced the day we were really motivated. The contacts that we made were great on the day and shortly after sending an email saying thanks for a great experience, we received the following email back from Wes, one of the directors of the shoot:

"Many many thanks guys - you two were excellent today, stay in contact. it would be great to work with you again in the future..."

The Neighbourhood Studio Visit

Yesterday me and couple of others went to visit 'The Neighbourhood' for a portfolio visit.  A friend from last year recommended that they would be a great visit to arrange, so when we decided that we were interested in the studio we felt that a joint visit would be a appropriate.



When we arrived we shown to there waiting area. Whilst we were waiting for Sarah, the studio manager and Jon, (the companies creative director), we had a chance to get a feel for the studio. Out of all the studios that I've been to visit, this one felt most homely and inviting. They had only been in the studio for 6 weeks and there were still boxes around and frames ready to hang up on the wall. The building itself had been restored, however they had decided to keep a few features such as the original wooden doors, and some of the architecture. They had decided the keep this feel throughout their studio and had traditional style chairs and table. The way that the studio had been designed was a great first impression of the studio and looked great. One of the first things that I spotted whilst having a look around was that in their meeting room their windowsill was full of awards that they had achieved, this gave the impression that we were in one of the studios which were at the forefront of design in Manchester.


Sarah, Jon and Stuart, (one of the companies artists/3D designer), soon came across to us and took us through to their meeting room. After telling us a little about themselves as a company they started asking us about our course and how we felt it was going. We told them about how we were doing and about the course itself, which they seemed very impressed with. When we told them about the types of briefs that we work on and the facilities that we had available for us to use they were impressed.


We took it in turn to show them our work, when it got around to show them mine I decided to show my showreel first. This had worked well when I had started off by showing my showreel at other visits so I decided that it would be appropriate to do so. I wanted to show the new brief that I had been working on for the 'United Utilities' brief. As I hadn't had any feedback on this brief yet I was happy when they liked it and liked the method that I had chosen to explore what not to flush using typography in the way that I had.


The feedback that we received was extremely helpful and since the visit I have used some of their feedback in order to help with the process of refining my piece. Out of all the portfolio and studio visits that I have been to, I felt that this was the best and most helpful experience. The studio environment was relaxed in terms of the atmosphere and the people were so friendly and happy and seemed happy to help. To say that they had only been in the studio for 6 weeks the feeling that I got is that they could have been there for years. I think that this only shows the strength of the agency as a team.


Just before we left they showed us a piece of their own work. Stuart had been exploring the use of 3D and creating animations giving the 3D experience, so when they asked if we would like to watch it on their new 3D TV with 3D glasses I was really excited. The piece was great and I think only highlights that they are ahead of the game.


Here is their latest (apologies for it not being in 3D)!

Studio showreel. 2010. from The Neighbourhood on Vimeo.

Filming for an web advert

Last week my Dad got in touch wiht me to say that he was having some filming done, to be used within a website that he was creating for a client. I thought that I would ask if there is any chance of going along and watching, with no expectations I was really pleased when this was hapenning on one of our days of so me and Ste went along.

Here are some images from the day:

We weren't sure what to expect on the day, however when we arrived it was a fantastic experience and I think that we have made a useful contact from it. Matt, the camera man had graduated a few years before, from Salford University and had worked for ITV, SKY, Directed music videos and also been involved in filming them himself. We had plenty of time to talk to him and he was extremely interested in our course, which we were happy to talk to him about. He then talked to us about opportunities he'd had since leaving University and he said what he personally enjoyed working on the most. He said he absolutely loved working on music videos and this was where his passion lay.

Matt said that he would take a look at our work after Christmas and I think that were going to have the opportunity to do this in his studio as he lives just around the corner from us.

Studio Babelsberg

As if the film archive the day before wasn't enough, the visit to Studio Babelsberg was just an unbelievable experience. To be shown around a film studio and lot was something that when the lady who showed us around said was something that they didn't really do. So this just highlighted how great this opportunity was.

Here are a few shots that I took on the day of one of their outdoor sets:

Seeing the outdoor sets was extremely intriguing, especially when most of the set was just frontage on scaffolding, however you wouldn't know when walking down the street. It was just brilliant to see the incredible detail that was used. We were told about how the street had been used within many different films and was just remodeled depending on the required aesthetic. We were shown images of the street in different films, it was used in the film "Inglorious Bastards", for the cinema scene and only the day before we were it was dressed with Nazi flags and memorabilia.

I was intrigued to ask about the turn around for a the set and when I asked, I was surprised to hear that if it was just a shop within the street that needed remodelling it would probably only take a few hours, however for something like the Cinema in "Inglorious Bastards" it took closer to 3 weeks. I was amazed by this visit. Not only did were we shown around the studio grounds, but we had the opportunity to look around one of the biggest prop houses in Europe, look and try on original costumes on and go onto their permanent outdoor sets.

One of the things that inspired me about this visit was the way the props and sets were created and has allowed me to consider the possibility of using props and even creating a set when thinking about my major project. Through posts on my blog, especially over the past few months, I think it is clear to see my interest in compositing and I have been considering ways I can bring this together. One possibility would be using props and sets, definately something to consder over Christmas when considering ideas for Major Project.

Sehsucht Studio Visit Berlin

The visit to Sechut was one of the many highlights from our recent trip to Berlin. One of the pieces that I thought was one of their pieces for Google, shown below:

GOOGLE STREET VIEW from Sehsucht™ on Vimeo.


One of the main things that I took from this piece is the way that they use the process of compositing, a process which I love and one that I am currently researching within the field of moving image. Not only did the show us the piece, but they showed us their making of video for the piece, shown below.


GOOGLE - Breakdown from Sehsucht™ on Vimeo.

This idea is something that is very current for us as, with all of the projects that we create this year we are required to create a 'Making of Video'. Before this was a requirement I was interested in it but hadn't really understood completely the importance of this. I had a go at creating one of these for the previous project and although I feel that there were aspects of it that worked it didn't necessarily work as an entire piece. So for this project I have decided to ensure that I create a video that tries to reflect on the process that I went through.

One thing that I think that really works within the piece by Sehsucht is the way that they showed a break down particular shots, something which I have done in my most recent making of video. Seeing the breakdown of a commercial piece of work in the same format that we have started to do ourselves has only highlighted how important they can be.

The working environment of the studio was great and they were very friendly in the way that they dealt with us and they took a lot of time to show us work, but then gave us loads of time to allow us to speak to the designers. It was a really helpful experience and that is definitely the type of studio that i would like to see myself working within.

David Carson: Designers that use type

David Carson is renowned for the use of typography within his design work. Within the piece of work you can see that Carson has considered the use of heirarchy. In the way that he has treated the type he has used size and weight to explore the idea of dominance for example.

David Carson: Use of type

The screen shot below highlights the way that I have explored legibility and weight in the type. In the first image it shows how I have made the type legible on the inside of the toielt where the camera in close to see it inside nad in the second how I have explored weight. For example you can see how i have applied a heavier weight in the yellow type used for the word "FATS", (does to its stogy nature).

Feedback from Group Crit

I received some feedback earlier on this week so I have been working on improving my piece based on some of the suggestions that I was given. The main thing that I took from the feedback is the comment made about easing the camera. I decided that I would go a little further than this and used just one camera, rather than cutting to another camera. I have taken the feedback to ease the camera more and I have also done this at the end.

I also decided to make the type rush out of the toilet faster at the beginning and then to slow down as it pooled across the floor. It was also stated the as the camera has fully pulled out then the type should keep moving and start to poll/bunch up in the corners of the room. Taking this feedback and using it to refine my piece has helped immensely and I think that overall it has strengthened the piece in the whole.

Major Decisions

I feel that its important to look at the reasoning behind why I made particular decisions. For example the length of the piece and the choice of sound. The reasoning around why I modeled the toilet in the particular style that I have. I also had to ensure that the piece fits within the rest of the campaign, which was something that was mentioned in the brief. Also the reasoning behind why I have used different weights and typefaces for particular pieces of type.

Within the restraints of the brief there was no mention of a required length of time, however as the brief stated that the piece that we create would live online I felt that it was appropriate for me to create something that wasn't too long in length and was punchy and too the point. I think that the length of the piece that I have created is appropriate and I think that its long enough to get the points across that I wanted to, but not too long to bore a viewer.

I decided to use just the sound that I have as I think that that alone emphasizes the point of the piece. As with any competition the use of soundtrack have to be royalty free so this also felt appropriate. In terms of hand in I could have added a music track however I felt that just by using the toilet sound it makes it stronger as a piece.

I decided to choice the style of toilet that I used for a particular reason. I decided to use a household style of toilet as I felt that the emphasis of the "What Not to Flush" campaign is primarily aimed at home owners, therefore choosing this style of toilet felt necessary.

I wanted to ensure that the piece fit with the current "what not to flush" campaign therefore a lot of the choices in terms of type colour and light colour derived from the already existing campaign that we were provided in the brief pack.

I also had to consider the way that I explored the use of type and how I would make decisions about what would be legible on the inside of the bowl and what would be legible and appear more dominant as the camera had pulled back. See the image below:

 

I decided to choose a heavier typeface and decided to choose a colour that reflected fat.

Trainspotting: Toilet Scene

It was only a matter of time before I came across this scene taken from the film Trainspotting. This scene hows a toilet in a disgusting state. At the moment I need to consider how I illustrate the idea of a dirty bathroom, without being too graphic. I also need to think about how I respond to the way that I show different elements that shouldn't be flushed down a toilet. This section of the film is a great example of a dirty/horrific looking bathroom, however I need to consider ways that I can create this effect, without showing revolting imagery but still conveying the style that I want to show.

One way

Choice of Camera Movement

This video is a playblast of the camera movement that I have decided to use. I have decided to stick with just having one camera pull back slowly as I think that this allows for more of an emphasis to be crated when all of the type is revealed. Originally I had two cameras, one close up to the bowl as the type started to come out and then cut to a camera which pulled back to reveal the full shot.
 

Light Flicker Test

This is a test showing how I could introduce the lighting:

The reason why I was playing around with having a flicker on the light is the introduce the "dirty" section of the piece. 

Type example

The image below is taken from a book that I was looking through.In it it shows another good example of how type is used in order to create composition:

Paula Scher

I've started to look into the work of different artists who use typography within their work. It was suggested that I look into the work of Paula Scher. I think that the examples below show how typography can be used in order to create composition. One thing that I have been looking into for a while now is how I treat the different pieces of type that I include. I have been looking at exploring different type weights and point sizes and in terms of reference the work by Scher has helped me consider how I put different pieces of type together in terms of composition.

 

This is a shot of one of the early images that I was playing around with to animate down down the geometry of the toilet and appear to pool across the floor.

Test occlusion