Stop motion photography

For our D&AD brief we are doing the E4 monday night movies brief and have decided that our method will be stop motion photography for the ident as I have wanted to return to this medium for a while now and should have some fun with it, Hoi Kam will be working on a series of 5 second stims which will focus on the idea of character creation and film parody cartoon sequences.

We will then pool our work together for the final result, We will be aiding each other throughout the process, but should get alot more done more quickly this way.

Here is a video clip of some stop motion photography work that I really like and want to do something along these lines and most importantly, I want it to have a quality feel and a professional edge over other shaky and low quality stop motion efforts I have seen.

I would also like to incorporate some Bjork-ishness into the video as I have always felt at my most inspired when listening to her music.

D&AD

I like this Ident here for E$, I think it visually embodies all of the properties that they are looking for to inform their personal image, fun, irreverent, entertaining and not to be taken too seriously.

I really like the use of stop motion, I have seen a few E4 idents that incorporate stop motion and this is a technique I am keen to return to as alot of my earlier work was done this way,

It would work well to keep this kind of theme running for the monday night movies brief for E4.

Enterprise task 4

Enterprise Task 4.

Who else is out there and how good are they?

Based on the principles that have been introduced in lecture 4 of the enterprise lecture I have found some other practitioners in my specialist field to evaluate in accordance with the SWOT analysis method.

The first designer I came across is called Kevin Adamson, He is a freelance illustrator, animator, web designer and graphic designer.

He has his own website which shows a fairly strong showreel of work and you get a sense of who he is as a person when looking at his site as it has his own personal touch and gives key information.

This is handy for people who want a tailor made service with a more personal feel as a pose to going to a big company who may have a “mass-produced” feel to them.

His site gives clear links to the different areas of his work and a detailed bio, stating that he works in the UK, is an award-winning designer, has ten years commercial experience and a Diploma & degree in graphic arts.

He also goes on to name a few companies that he has worked for previously and a list of his clients.

Tandem films.com are the next designers that I looked at, noticing that in comparison to the previous designer their site has a much more “business-like” appeal to it, for example, the personal and individual touch is not present here and there is a showcase of work on display from a variety of in house designers, this is good as a potential client can chose from a variety of styles and designers as a pose to just one, however on the flip side this could be off-putting to some clients who would prefer a more personal touch, although each designer on this site appears to have their own individual style of working and their own method of working and skills base so a client would get a very professional, businesslike and personal service at the same time from what this company is implying through it’s visual message.

They also have many prestigious awards and high profile clients and a very strong portfolio of work.

In relation to my own practice I would want to work under another company or design studio myself, I have no desire to be a freelance designer and feel the benefits of working for a larger production company by far outweigh the prospects of my attempting to set up my own business and go freelance.

Bjork

One of my favorite artists, I've just been revisiting some of her videos, I have always felt inspired by this artist and some of my earlier work is clearly influenced by bjork, I wish I could find that creativity again, sometimes I wonder if the computer has taken it away? I used to use stop motion, photography, I drew alot more- on paper with a real pen! lol and a few times I would draw on myself and create artwork on my face, I used to create clay models etc. but since starting digital media I haven't once returned to any of these things instead opting to use the computer for everything, well this is digital media after all. But I feel most of it is about making money and creating what a client wants, it is not art for arts sake and therefore I feel I can't be as creative as I would like to be, there are limits and boundaries. I cannot wait to get all these constant briefs and work out of the way so I can just return to my "roots" and do my own thing.

Something I'm very interested in writing about for my critical studies essay

another game I've been trying to play but can't however......

Nice looking game, I just haven't worked out how to control it yet........

messed up game I was talking about in my earlier post........

Thank you Playstation! xxx

Well I just played the eyepet in college and had a look at the PS3 online games etc and that was it, I was hooked! Crittercrunch is the most awesome and addictive game I have ever played in my life! I absolutely love it, it pushed me to just go and buy a PS3! so I did! and of course the first thing I did when I got home was order crittercrunch......

I got it with little big planet and a few other games, I really like little big planet and got it for my PSP too, I think I will experiment with making my own levels with it eventually, but for now I am just getting in to it and seeing what it's all about!

Playing games like crittercrunch on the playstation and pet society on facebook has really inspired me, I want to use my writing skills and come up with something along those lines for myself and make it into an interactive game or animation. I always loved Ghibli films and cartoons, comics and anything with that general style, but I also like dark content, such as Tim Burtons the nightmare before Christmas, Coroline, Salad fingers etc so I would want to implement a dark undertone into my stories but blended with a cheerful and quirky style, like our Cannibals Video, the final version, with the animals and gore everywhere I absolutely love that kind of thing and could spend forever creating like-minded stuff!

I didn't get the Eye-pet for my PS3 although I did enjoy playing with it and felt it rather innovative and fun, I felt the few problems I had with it outweighed what I liked about it, for example, not being able to see your hand in front of the eyepet or being able to pick it up, a few glitches here and there and then replay value, how many times am I going to want to play with it? just like my hamsters I'll loose interest..... except I can't feed the eyepet to the cat when I get bored of it.

I really like the direction that 3rd gen consoles are going in, we got a Wii for christmas for the kids and I quite like how it controls, very fun and innovative but I still prefer to just sit and hold a pad as I do with the PS or the 360! Although it is worth having the Wii just for mario galaxy alone! what a superb game! I won't even go into it or this post will be an extra 300 words and I don't think anyone actually reads these posts all the way through anyway so it would be a waste of finger tapping and brain cells.......

I also absolutely LOVE loco roco and patapon for my PSP I sold my PSP last year with all the games to get a xbox and it has always been my biggest regret, but I recently got another one and it's just like having an old friend back! I didn't even realise how much I missed it! I will never put patapon and loco roco down for more than a day now and I feel very inspired and sure of what I want to do with my work and where I want to go with it, so thank you Playstation for reminding me of the good old days and bringing back my mojo! LOL

Oh I just remembered this other game I got called "noby noby boy" and all I can say is"WTF!!??" this has got to be the most bizarre and F'd up game I have ever played in my life! what the hell? were the developers on crack? I mean, I'm this worm thing called NOBy boy, (ok) and I can stretch and shrink myself, and I have to make GIRL grow bigger? girl being a large girl in space that you can see when you zoom out.... I can't even walk around as one analog controls noby boys bum and the other controls his head, and his bum is about 10 times the size of his head for some reason, and at the start of each game you fly out of a chimney, oh and people walking around in the game like to sit on you at random, I can't even go on, it's just so messed up.......

TASK THREE

Task three.

How will I promote myself?

As mentioned in “Task two” I felt that the best way to promote myself as an interactive story-teller is to have my own website that will demonstrate my technical abilities as well as being an online show-reel of my work and a way for me to be found online and contacted.

I will need to find out how to build a website or look into getting one built by someone else as I am not a web designer, I also need to find out about domain names, and how to have my website come up on internet search engines as of course it is no good having a website of no-on can find it!

I also find the idea of having my site listed under larger “umbrella” type sites would be useful and would give clients a means to finding out more about me and It would also help with gaining trust and a reputation if I am seen to be approved by various legislations and well known sites.

For example if you want to buy a pair of GHD hair straighteners you can buy them in a salon or online, however the official GHD website endorses other reputable sites where you can buy them from and it is not recommended to buy them anywhere that does not have their approval as such, so something like this would be very useful in reaching my clients, especially as children are involved, parents will want to know that the content is suitable for their children to watch.

I also plan to contact the BBC, and other networks such as the cartoon network and nickelodeon as all of these children’s channels now have websites with interactive games and stories for family entertainment and educational needs.

Looking at the marketing mix covered in creative enterprise I realise that it is important to know about place, product, promotion and price, and how effective placement of my product is essential in my goal to reach the right audience, for example children’s and parenting magazines might be a good place to start, also a television commercial would be beneficial but if I am aiming to work under a known company I guess I wouldn’t need to be looking into that side of things, only how to reach the companies I am interested in working for and I feel the first thing would be to call the companies and find out who I would need to speak to about potential work etc.

I would also need my details. Website to come up in search engines and I feel it would be advantageous to have my details listed on job sites that employers may approach for staff. Registering with agencies is another good option and sending my resume off to various networks is also a must.

TASK TWO

Task two.

Where are they?

How will they find me?

If I am thinking of being a writer I need to decide what I want to write and whom it will be for. I don’t want to pigeon hole myself here so I am not just going to say the BBC because I could be writing freelance for games developers etc so I don’t want to limit myself to just one specific type of client.

I have found a few websites that may be of use to me, one of them is the BBC writers room, here anyone can submit a script for a TV drama, kids programme or radio play etc and they will look it over, I think this is very good for me and am considering writing something to submit to them.

Another site I have been looking at is Playfish games, they make games for the social networking site known as “facebook” and they are looking for people right now to write scripts for new games, come up with ideas, design characters and help with art direction, I find this very exciting for me and would absolutely love to be involved with some of their projects, I am very familiar with their product and it is very “up my street” and in line with the kind of “stuff” that inspires me and gets added to my “thought-bubble” if that makes sense.

If I were to look at this area for the sake of doing a PEST analysis I would concentrate on young people who use social networking sites such as facebook, twitter, myspace, msn, flickster, and Friendster etc.

I would say that the reason people go on these sites is to fulfil their love and belonging needs, i.e.: socialising, fashion and trends, expressions of love, symbols of shared interested and values, peer groups etc. as identified in the Maslow Hierarchy, and also a percentage of people will use these sites for esteem needs such as demonstrating status symbols, qualifications, awards, technology, personal grooming etc.

Only 19% of the populations spending patterns go on love and belonging, with the highest percentage being physiological.

Internet gaming is bigger now that it ever has been with more and more people engaging with interactive content, also thanks to third generation games consoles such as the Nintendo Wii we have seen a demographical change in who is playing these games, it is no longer dominated by teenage boys but we now have middle aged women playing games consoles, families are engaging in them together and almost everyone who is using a social networking site is playing pet society or mafia wars, country story or similar, regardless of their age or cultural background.

Of course mobile communication also has a large role to play in these changes, with most phones having internet browsing capabilities that not only business people are using but single parents, teenagers, children and the unemployed.

People are also especially open with what information they give out about themselves on the internet in this day and age, especially younger people who don’t really know any different as they are growing up in this technological world where social networking is the everyday norm, whereas a person in their 40’s, 50’s and upwards may engage with this technology but they are much more wary about giving out certain information and using the internet.

I am also very interested in developing interactive stories such as this one:

http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-stories-monster-shopping-trip-popup.htm

The British council website has an interactive section for kids full of games and stories that are interactive and educate children at the same time, I am very interested in learning more about this as a career choice and think that by building my own website with demonstrations of my work and story-telling ability would be a good start, then I could contact the BBC and other companies informing them of who I am and what I do, I could then forward them onto my website, as this is an interactive field I think a website would be very appropriate as a way of marketing my potential and skills for future clients.

TASK ONE

Task one.

Who I am.

Revisited.

I have decided to revisit this task and go back to identify who I am in more detail as I have been thinking about this a lot and have come to the conclusion that I cannot move forward until I get this part right! For how can I prepare myself for anything if I don’t know who I am and what I’m doing?

It’s fairly obvious to me now that I should be a writer/story-teller, I’m surprised I didn’t come to this sooner, well I did once or twice but I felt it wasn’t anything to do with my degree so I kept pushing the notion away, however after some thought and talks with my tutors I realise that there are lots of ways I can incorporate writing into this field, for example I can write narratives for short films, radio, TV, children’s interactive stories, animation, advertising, commercials etc.

Although I initially felt like I was not being true to my “area of study” by simply just writing, but of course that is where teamwork comes in and effective teamwork! I would like to have some part in the postproduction process, be it helping with the animation or overseeing the visual style or simply aiding with the editing process.

What skills do I have and who needs them?

I have story-telling and writing skill; I am very imaginative and like to write creatively. I also have 2D animation skills in order to bring my stories to life.

I am adept in using flash, Photoshop, illustrator, final cut pro, and have experience with action script.

I feel I could be of use to companies such as the BBC, children’s websites, online social networking sites, television networks, games developers, advertising agencies and publishing houses.