Thoughtful Lecture

I attended the Thoughtful lecture today which was about how to get in contact with people within the industry and present yourself and you work to them professionally. It was an amazing lecture with loads of information i can take away and keep in mind for when find portfolio visits and even looking for job interviews. A word used by Greg Quinton from Partners design company was 'persistence' so basically if there is something you want you have to work for it, nothing is easy but if you want it so badly and try hard enough eventually you will get it.

Something else that also stood out to me was a statement made by Patrick Baglee a creative director at Navy Blue 'It is better to be interested than interesting'. Reflecting on this i believe it means to make yourself appear interested in everything that goes on around you and the studio your visiting and also appear interested and ready to learn as he also mentioned that you never stop learning.

Some things to consider about first getting in contact with a studio:-

1. Preferred method of first initial contact is e-mail.

2. Know something about the studio, letting them know you have done your research.

3. Find out who you should address the email to, to show it is specifically for that company rather than just a basic email sent out with out any thought to loads of different companies.

4. If you are going to attach anything such as a CV or PDFs make sure they are small preferably under 5MB.

Somethings to consider when at the portfolio visit/interview:-

1. Be prepared - ask how much time you have been allocated and make sure you don't run over.

2. Be organised - make sure you have everything prepared and ready.

3. Include sketches in sketchbooks or possibly even in a paper portfolio.

4. Make sure that while you are presenting your work it is visible at all times to the viewer and not yourself.

5. Sit up straight, portray good etiquette

5. Make something you can leave behind so that the studio will remember you after you have left.

Mini Blab 3

I really enjoyed the fact that a group of creative people from around Manchester was approached with a topic and asked to create a 15-minute presentation with the topic being 'Things you've seen'. Similar to our 'new way of looking' brief in the first year they went and found things that they would normally see around and about but never really give much thought to it until asked. It was really great to have short, snappy and very humorous presentations as I feel if one speaker is talking for a long time it tends to become fairly tedious and I loose focus.

There was one presentation that I think had the most effect on the speaker and me was Simon Griffin. He talked about ideas that stay hidden away in a 'notebook' and how we shouldn't hide them we should do something about it for our own pleasure (not just for business and money). It really got me thinking about some ideas about animations I would love to try but just don't seem to bother trying to create them even if just very crudely. Reflecting on my boat animation and my improvement in animation skills (even though still basic) I feel more confident in playing around with my own ideas and 'writing my own brief', which is something I never thought I would be confident doing this time last year since I struggled so much with my sonic project. So from this I have started to work on small projects of ideas that I have had so I can also place them in my showreel to show I am still working outside of what I am asked to create within Uni.

Openbare Bibliotheek, Amsterdam

Arriving back from Amsterdam reflecting on what I have seen one place in particular that really excited me - Centrale Openbare Bibliotheek quite obviously located in the centre of Amsterdam.

Not only was the outside of the building amazing but as you entered the building it took my breath away. I have never seen a library so big in my entire life and what was nice about it was that it was so futuristic unlike a stereotypical library we would find in England. It is the largest public library in Europe with 10 floors in total, each floor rammed full of books on a huge variety of subjects.

As well as taking in the gorgeous interior they also had a graphics exhibition called 'Everyday Graphics' which contained a range of different work from still graphics to short animated pieces using symbols universally recognisable to everyone. There was one piece in particular that stood out to me and it was as soon as you entered the exhibition - It was a short animation named 'Logorama' and it is described as 'A short 16 minute animated film that depicts events in a stylised Los Angeles, and is told entirely through the use of more than 2500 contemporary and historical logos and mascots.'

Similar to that of the 'Kiss' i saw at the Whitworth Gallery it creates that interaction between the audience watching as you automatically want to point out what logo and mascot is and where is it from. Using familiar and universal images also gives a sense of versatility which can be understood by all. It is also a change to create an animation using imagery already created by others it adds that element of excitement as the mascots and logos are given characteristics and personas you wouldn't normally associate with them. In context the animation was projected onto a white wall to keep that clean, sharp and neat feeling as you do within the graphic industry. It made me think again how I can create an interesting way of presenting at the final show.

Tate Liverpool - Alice in Wonderland

While we were in Liverpool I wanted to visit the Alice in Wonderland exhibition at the Tate, as I have been fascinated with Alice in Wonderland from a very young age. I didn't read any reviews about the exhibition before I went so I was completely unaware of what to expect but I automatically presumed it would be illustrations and memorabilia from books and films and I think that is why I was extremely excited. However the majority of the exhibition was works inspired by Lewis Carroll's book, some of the work was ok but I wasn't too impressed. One piece that did stand out to me was a piece called 'Through the Looking Glass' by Douglas Gordon that had two screens almost facing each other on opposite ends of the room with a scene from Taxi Driver.

'Through a looking glass - consisting of two large-scale video projections which quote one of Hollywood's most memorable scenes. Using a monologue from Martin Scorcese's "Taxi Driver," Gordon traps the viewer between two images of Travis Bickle, one 'real' and the other a 'reflection of the real'. The projections appear at first to be mirror images of one another but they quickly trip out of sync and into a manic dialogue which bounces around the gallery, both visually and audibly.'

The reason this piece stood out to me was the fact you were enclosed within a black room that had two large projections of this scene where you constantly have to look back and forth from each screen, it was almost like you were involved and in the middle of the conversation. Over the last couple of months after visiting a few different galleries and exhibitions I have come to like the more interactive pieces what I mean by this is moving image and still pieces that make you feel a part of the piece like the 'Black Flood' and 'Kiss' at the Whitworth art Gallery. It makes the piece more interesting to watch and also engages conversation with the people you are experiencing it with, so you gain more than just your own thoughts and opinions.

Over all I think the exhibition was fairly good even thought it was not at all what I was expecting and I am glad i got to visit as for my final major project I have been strongly leading towards creating a piece of work inspired by a famous narrative and interpreting it in my own way.

John Lewis Christmas Advert

I watched the John Lewis Christmas Advert for the first time yesterday and i have to say it is one of the best adverts i have ever seen!

Going back to the quote:

"The explosion of new technologies and the proliferation of new channels have served to remind us of one ancient imperative of the human race, the need to tell stories. As the oral tradition becomes a digital tradition, stories have never been more important."(Euro RSCG Worldwide)

I believe that this advert portrays a small but sweet narrative of a child counting down the days till Christmas. It works successfully because the majority of the audience will have experienced this as a child automatically gaining a large connection with a huge audience. After looking back at a few of the other John Lewis Christmas advertisements i have notice that nostalgia is used by making children the dominant characters when the advert is aimed at adults. I was thinking of using nostalgia within my feel good adverts to get my audience to remember those 'feel good moments' within their life - things that a large audience will of experienced and hopefully get across the message that these feel good moments will be like the fruity goodness of the drink. Also similar to that of the John Lewis' Christmas adverts which i look forward to every year the idea behind the different series of 'feel good moments' is the intention to get people to look out for them to see what other 'feel good moments' will appear and if they will remember them and agree.

Liverpool - Fact

On Thursday 17th November Kirsty, Oriana, Rick and I went to Liverpool to check out Kurt Hentschläger's Zee at the art house Fact, after hearing John, Jack and Tom talk about it we thought we would experience it for ourselves. Before I went I had previously heard of Abandon Normal Devises as my boyfriend is an Art Student at MMU who has been set a brief with it in mind but he didn't really tell me what kind of work they did or what it was about so it was really great to go and experience and learn about something totally new to me.

Ok so I was a bit nervous about entering the exhibition as Tom, Jack and John had said it was a bit strange and I had heard you can only breath through your nose and there were a few precautions to take which made me very wary but never the less I went in! Out of the four of us I was the first to enter grabbing the rope straight away being very cautious as to where I was walking, we followed the rope for a good while then decided to stop and let go! However Kirsty and me decided to hold hands so that we didn't loose each other, which could have possibly ruined the experience a little, but under no circumstances did I want to let go of Kirsty. For the first 5 minutes or so I was a little bit petrified as I was thinking too much about the fact I couldn't use my mouth to breath but as I calmed down a little I started to really enjoy it. Some people have described the experience as “insane”, “like entering Heaven” and “another planet,” all three of these I think describes the experience well.

Over all I am so glad I went in as I don't think I will ever experience anything like this again!

3D Lecture - 13th October 2011

As I am investigating the use of 3D cinema in the present day within my dissertation I thought it would be a good idea to attend the 3D lecture to try and enhance my knowledge of its history and development.

The information that I have thought about since the lecture that really interested me was some of the facts about its history that opened the talk. I was unaware of the fact that directors have dabbled in the field of 3D cinema since the 1920s but just hadn't quite managed to perfect the art resulting in 3D disappearing and reappearing then disappearing again from the film industry. Also I was unaware that in the 1950s the coronation was also filmed in 3D even though the footage was not shown in 3D it was still being explored.

After the lecture I realised that I have been very naive and narrow minded to assume that 3D has been a very recent development within film.

Aside from this overall I found the lecture very fascinating as it was great to find out what we can expect from 3D as we head into the future however I felt that the lecture was hugely tech based and I found myself getting lost. I was hoping that there would be more about the history of 3D, how it may compliment or limit the narrative within film and the audience’s reaction to the use of 3D. I also found that the majority of the lecture was based around 3D television within the home and to be honest it is not something that interests me. I think 3D should be limited to cinema as I think when it is accessible to the majority of the population to use within a home environment it looses it excitement of going out for that exclusive cinema experience.

Dark Matters: Shadow Technology Art

I didn’t know what to expect from the Dark matters exhibition, as I hadn’t heard of it before hand. It was a compulsory visit arranged by the Rick and I am really glad we went as I find it hard to motivate myself to go to galleries even though when I get there I always enjoy it!

I want to talk about two pieces in particular that I really enjoyed and made me come away thinking about them and how my work could be improved and influenced by them.

Here is the first:

Kiss by R. Luke DuBoise

The thing I found interesting about this video was the sound used, it was quite high pitched and intense straightaway changing the mood of the piece that I wasn’t expecting. It seemed like the use of ‘antique’ clips contrasted with the new futuristic high energy aesthetic and sound that really created a new and refreshing vibe. Something that I also noticed while watching the video is that we were all interacting with the piece trying to guess which film the clips were from since the technique of the aesthetic almost distorted them slightly. This is something I was trying to achieve though my boat animation, as I wanted the audience to feel for my boat and really connect with my piece.

The second piece 'Black Flood' by Barnaby Hoskins (2006) places the audience in a box shaped area with projected visuals of the room filling with water surrounding you. As soon as I entered the space almost straight away I thought of my boat animation and how this effect could be a possibility of show casing my work for the final show to really get the audience to feel my struggles and successes.

Rashid Rana

As the Asia Triennial was going on in Manchester I thought it would be good to go have a look at some of the exhibitions. So I went along to the Corner House knowing nothing about the artist featured or what to expect and to be honest I wasn’t very excited. Rashid Rana was the name of the artist and he uses photography as the main medium of his work, the exhibition name was 'Everything Happens at Once' and the majority of the exhibition was huge collages of small images creating a larger image or pattern. The images mostly relate to his culture in Pakistan and I enjoyed looking at places and images I have never seen before. This could be a technique that I could use within future work to excite and please my audience.

One image in particular that stood out the most to me was a collaged image of 5 ladies in Burkas. The really interesting thing about this image is, as you got closer you realised that it was made up of tiny pornographic images creating a huge contrast of cultures and belief, which gives an extra dimension to the piece. I really wasn’t expecting this and I think that is why I enjoyed it the most. As I am currently obsessed with narrative and the meaning behind an artist, director and animators decisions this image really excited me and as I seem to have been only paying attention to moving image pieces I completely missed that still imagery can also have the same affect.

This affect of portraying a simple visual that means something much deeper and possibly very personal really relates to my boat animation and how my audience and I perceive it, as it is open to interpretation. As Rashid Rana's image could have so many meanings and reactions it is very personal to the artist and viewer as they will have their own take on the work.

http://www.asiatriennialmanchester.com/

Narrative

"The explosion of new technologies and the proliferation of new channels have served to remind us of one ancient imperative of the human race, the need to tell stories. As the oral tradition becomes a digital tradition, stories have never been more important."

(Euro RSCG Worldwide)

I was looking at a design company called Euro RSCG worldwide when I came across this quote, Euro RSCG are responsible for the Evian advert with the dancing baby t-shirts which is what I was investigating at the time. This particular quote has hugely impacted on my way of working as I have began to look at stories and the importance of narrative within existing moving image work and my own. After reading this quote I have been consciously and subconsciously analysing film, animation and adverts to see if they have an interesting narrative to engage me and of course other members of its audience. I have never really thought much about narrative before and how as human beings we love to tell and listen to stories as a way to explain, inform and entertain so if a film, advertisement or animation has a great story line then the aesthetics will act as a tool to assist the narrative.

This quote has also majorly influenced my final outcome for the self initiated project as I have never produced a piece of work with a narrative before making the majority of my work lack any sort of meaning and as a result of this I have struggled. So this is the exact practice I want to put into play during future projects, for example in my self initiated project I have chosen a narrative that I want to portray and I shall use the aesthetics to help the narrative along and then let the audience decipher the animation in their own way.

This quote also spurred on a personal exploration into the importance of narrative within film and animation that is now my major theme for my dissertation and continuing into the future this will be one of the most memorable quotes I will come back to again and again to influence my work.