Portfolio visit feedback emails

The image below shows the response that i received with Chris Toole, after thanking him for the portfolio crit that he gave me. At the visit he asked me if I would like to do some flash animation for him. I thought that this would be a great opportunity for me and after completing the work and being paid for it it was great to receive the following feedback:

"From a commercial point of view the flash file is perfect, exactly as ordered” Chris Toole Nov 2010.

For me this was great to hear as it was unexpected and he has offered me any similar work that he gets in the future. It was good to hear that he felt that I was able to respond the the brief rather than go off at a tangent.

Film Museum Archive Berlin

I was really excited about going to see the film archive museum before we went, however I wasn't expecting it to be so interesting and such a great experience. I don't think that we were sure what to expect when we arrived, but I don't think any of us were expecting the gems that they had in store for us!

The two ladies that were showing us around started of by showing us original artwork for films, some German and some more mass released.These on their own were fantastic to see, however I think when they pulled out the concept artwork for Metropolis before the film was made, I think that everyone's jaws hit the floor. The images were incredibly beautiful and the amount of detail was just exquisite. A few shots of these can be seen below:

I think if the visit had been just to show us around the first room that we went into, we would have still been impressed however the archive was huge and they went on to show us room after room, each room more impressive. After showing us the first room they took us into the next where there was a room full of film reels and then in the final room I felt like I was in heaven! The final room was full of old cameras and memorabilia, just an incredible visit!

This is another image of one of the pieces that they showed us in the first room:

It was great to see the technical drawings for a scene within a film, because one thing that I have been considering recently is how I could incorporate a variety of elements within my own work. For example mixing a combination of live action, animation and other element, however one thing that I haven't considered is the use of sets and props, definitely something to think about. The visit was so helpful and thanks again to be given such an interesting visit!

Dirty Bathroom

It's important for me to consider how I make the bathroom dirty and grungy. Do I go literal and have a dirty bathroom, or do I suggest this in another way? If I have a dirty bathroom then at the beginning of the piece I don't want it too be dirty, in order to create contrast with the end of the piece. In the end I decided to achieve this in the way that I lit the scene. At the beginning of the piece the lighting is ordinary and the bathroom appears clean, however as the type starts to emerge from the toilet a slightly green light is introduced in order to give a grungy look. I think that this works well.

Early Test

This is a test that i have created in which I have explored using the type to illustrate the object that shouldn't be flushed:

Example typography

At the moment one of the ideas that I have is to consider using type in terms of building the composition. The video below is a great example of the use of type as a way of creating composition:

Portfolio Visit - Chris Toole

I had my second portfolio visit on Tuesday with Chris Toole, who works with a variety of mediums from print based platforms through to online media. I decided that I would show him my showreel first as I felt that this worked well as a starting point, in my previous portfolio visit earlier on in the week.

I showed him a few of my pieces. The first piece which I showed him was my Morph London Ident, which he felt was professional and seemed to really like the look of it. I think that this was because he spends a lot of his time creating brand identities. This was exciting to hear because recently I have found it quite exciting looking at advertising and identities.

I then showed him my title sequence, he said that the use of live footage worked well and he liked the overall look of the piece.

The last piece that I showed him was my Discovery Channel Ident. This led to a conversation about the use of 3D and how I really like 3D, but we discussed how its appropriate to consider where to use it in order for it to be most effective. With the Discovery Channel Ident I tried to use 3D, but still with a line based vector style. He liked the way I had used 3D in this piece. I feel that this is one of my stronger pieces, so it was good to get someone else's opinions on it which were positive.  He said he'd never touched 3D before himself, so he was impressed with what I'd shown him.

I think that there is definitely potential to go back for another visit at some point and when I asked him if I was to send over an email asking for feedback he said that it wouldn't be a problem.

This is an example of something that shouldn't be flushed: a puppy! This report is interesting because although it is quite eccentric when we contemplate the fact that a puppy has been flushed, the mere fact that a puppy can fit down the pipes of a toilet is ridiculous!

Something that is interesting within this video is the way that the camera travels down the pipe. It gives me an insight into the insides of the pipe and a way to consider th styling of the piece that I'm going to create myself.