The Mill Portfolio Visit

The last portfolio visit London was at the world famous Mill. After the timings and struggles of finding the last 2 visits I thought I get there very early. Find The Mill then hang around the area until it was time to speak to someone. When I arrived I saw the building and how fantastic it looked. Now I had found where it was (funnily enough it was near the Pizza place that Goolge told me was Rushes studio) I had a little wonder round to see what else was around as I know how close all the studios are together. After 5 minutes I stumbled across the studio of BBH which was another of the companies I asked to visit as they produced the advert I used for my research for my Nexus project.

BBH Studio

ANYWAY... Back to The Mill. I went back and turned up a little earlier than arranged but I thought being early just shows how keen I am, hopefully working in my favour. I sat in the reception area waiting for my contact Kate Hopkin to meet me. I sat there and watched the hustle and bustle of the vast studio. Even the customer area I was sat in (next to an Oscar) was huge with space for tenants to work and just gave me a clue into the scale of the whole company. It had a great welcoming feel to the company as people were asking after me and making sure I was ok. This is great to see even in a company that is world renowned.

I was then joined by Kate and Lisa and we sat in the tenant area and they asked about me and what I did and where I saw myself in the future. I'm not sure if they do this with everyone but it really made me feel like they were trying to get to know me before they started to show me around the studio. I asked what they did and they were there to look after the new talent in the company and make sure everyone was happy in what they are doing. Immediately I knew the opportunity this was to impress and see what the industry was like.

They passed me onto one of the runners at the studio called Robin who took me around the whole studio and showed me what to offer. It was a great opportunity, he showed me all the different sections, right from the underbelly/technical side right through to the smoke and flame suites. I used this time to ask him about the experience of being a runner and where he came from and how he got the place. I was really nosey but you have to be to get the most out of the experience. One point that really stood out to me at this studio was that it was a 24 hours a day studio, they work day and night as a lot of their customers are overseas with huge time differences they want to be flexible to the customer. This is great for their customer relations but must be hard on the staff. I was told about the rotation they were one and the kind of work they do. They are basically there to ensure the welfare of all the employees. They make food for people all over the studio, take people around, move things from different sections of the studio and then they also get to sit with someone and actually learn from them too. Robin mentioned that in they're spare time they are welcome to find space to work and work on they're skills and that they are asked which area they are most interested in and that is the area in which they can learn.

After this I was taken back to Kate and Lisa's office where they had obviously had a little chat about me and what I was like as they offered me a week's placement commencing the 20th July. What an oppertunity that is, Kate offered to give me details of places to stay and they have offered to pay for my travel on the tube so this could be a fantastic experience that I snapped up. It's something I can really look forward to and I have found when I have mentioned it to people in the industry it really makes them sit up and listen so hopefully this could help me in all kinds of ways.

Making of Nexus

This is a short video I have made showing the stages and processes I went through to create the nexus piece. The music is taken from the film, Snatch and is called Disco Science by Mirwais.

Audi R8 Spyder Beauty and the Beasts Advert UK by BBH

This Audio R8 ad is one of the main influences I had for my warehouse I built it in Maya for my Nexus piece.

The piece was shot in Londons ExCel and features over 22 hotrod cars dancing around the spae with the R8 working its way through. It is meant show the poise and agility. One of the best bits about this piece of work is that it shows how you can still make a great modern TV ad without all the CGI effects.

Nexus

Noun:

- (the means of connection between things linked in series)

- (a connected series or group)

This is an experimental piece I have produced in response to a self initiated brief. The brief was to study chain reactions and show / express this in a different way. It is meant to show how one object / decision can effect surroundings and outcomes.

I wanted to communicate a few messages so I wanted to leave the description of the piece short to let the audience take from it what they will. This piece could be perceived as...

- a chain of events where, one decision could snowball and develop into something else, something huge.

But on the other hand it could show...

-how something small, whether it be a person or a moving part, can play a large role in the 'bigger picture' and how everything works together to produce an outcome.

CMR Bumper

This is a bumper designed to go before and after ad breaks. These piece has a good limited colour palette than runs throughout. This piece shows a technique I could use because all the objects being formed is a chain reaction in a way. The rapid changes and dynamics within the piece keep the audience interested. The lighting and occlusion work well together to make the object really feel 3D and like they are actually being physically formed. The simple camera movement is much better than a static camera with the objects moving. The piece is lacking sound but I think it would benefit from a rapid soundtrack that would emphasis the rapid movements.

The Manouvre

This is a piece using Realflow by The Manouvre. It is obviously made from pipes and tubes that have been hidden when it was rendered or a method along the same lines. The liquid created looks so realistic and I love the fact they have used it in an interesting way. They have piece that makes the audience constantly ask questions.

"Whats happening?"

"Did the water just make a letter?"

One thing I really like about this piece and other pieces made in a similar way is the way there is a big reveal at the end. In my early research I was playing with the idea of having a big reveal. The soundtrack is also where I discovered the Band / Artists Monolake that features in my in my research into my final piece Nexus.

IRU.TV Stings

This is a collection of 3 stings made for IRU.TV which would be aired between programs. I like the minimal colour palletes. The close camera angles used in the first part make the object seem huge which I like. Having the camera that close to the compositions allows the audience the see every movement. I also like the composition of the piece with the light entering the rings orbiting the planet. The light really draws focus really well which leaves the audience wondering whats going to happen to it. I also like the tempo change and how the sounds emphasis the movements within the piece. The silence at the end of each piece brings everything back together.

Abrstact Sperm Animation, WIP

This is a piece by WIP I found recently and I loved the way it was done. I love how the animation seems like your looking under a scope. I like how it looks negative with the white glow around the piece. The whole piece pulses and moves showing how the whole setting is living and changing. There is a nice depth of field used making the objects seem really large in the piece where they are actually minute. It also helps create good focus withing the piece, drawing the eye around the composition.

Norman Mclaren: How he made his sounds.

This is a short film explaining how Norman Mclaren produced his sound on his abstract animation. It explains how depending on the marks he made the sounds would be different. I've put this up when looking into experimental and abstract animation but also when looking into foleying my own sounds.

Particle Tests

Particles Test 1:

Particles Test 2:

Particles Test 3:

Particles Test 4:

Style Frames

These are the style frames I have produced for my final piece. I want to use simple colour palettes but still create focus using spot colours and composition. The idea of the top 2 images is that the red cube is the subject of the piece or it could react with the subject.

I want to use simple object and be suggestive with them so the audience take away what they want from the piece. They come up with their own conclusions.

This is the idea of a grid moving and creating a route or path the ball has to take.

This style frame is showing the idea of using dominos for moving round the space. As they start to fall the subject will have to speed up to avoid falling in the liquid below.

Modul, Maxim Zhestkov

This is the piece I looked at with Rick that showed me what I could do and how it could look. Now I have to see how I can interpret this and make it my own. I still want to show how chain of events could occur and how one action could change the chain and in turn, the future too.

I love how this piece is put together and how a story can be told with such a simple shape. Suggestions can still be made using these simple shapes and the message doesn't always have to be obvious.

Maxim Zhestkov

Maxim is obviously at the top of his game but I love his style and the fact he can give something so simple like a ball in a box a narrative. Like I said in my previous post why does my work have to be obvious maybe I should respect my audience more and let them work the piece out and take it their own way...

Anyway these pieces have heavily influencing what I want to make. It has also helped a lot with the style and how i want to make the piece.

New Direction

Yet again I am taking a new direction with this brief. I never thought it would be so hard to sort my ideas out with a brief that is basically, "do what you want to do (obviously within reason).

So now rather than looking at script writing and a conversation between to guys. I've gone right back to the storyboard and really looked at what I've liked over summer and why I chose chain reactions in the first place. After a discussion with my tutor I have decided that maybe an abstract, not so obvious interpretation is better. So I've looked at some artist that have influenced me for a long time...

This is a piece called Recursion by Maxim Zhestkov. Obvious the standards are high for me to try and interprit but I need to push myself don't I?

Rich Hall's Fishing Show

When thinking about my 2 guys talking and planning with the illustrations above them i immediately thought of this show that i saw on DAVE a while ago. Rich Hall and his friend sit in a boat fishing talking and trying to right the worlds wrongs. Its funny some of the subjects they manage to come up with. In my piece I really want to focus on the 2 guys and what they are saying so having them in a location like this really draws the focus in as there are no other distractions in the piece. I need to experiment how i can do this in my piece but i also need to write a good script to keep the interest of the audience as its the only thing drawing the audience in.

Outside The Box, Joseph Pelling

After a group tutorial where I discussed how I wasn't happy with my idea and that I wanted to have a project I could get excited about. So I found myself discussing what got me excited over summer and what I could focus on. I have written a script for a film intro that I wanted to do and I have the idea of maybe doing that for my final major later in the year. It was then suggested that I use his project to practice and build skills towards that. After explaining the basis of the story we all spoke about how it could be changed and developed into a project for the negotiated brief.

I explained the treatment and the script I'd written over summer and decided the new direction in which to go. After talking Rick showed me this which sums up where my project is heading and what areas i need to research now. Im focusing on the conversation between 2 guys and whatever they are discussing appearing in diagrams above them. This is a perfect starting point.

Domino City, Sony

This is great example of how a chain reaction can be built on a huge scale and shows how one event can change a whole city. Obviously this ad is about the colour Sony Bravia TV's provide themselves with but it can be seen in the terms of society. I like the idea that everyone contributes to the final outcome and it wouldn't end up the same with a missing link. Looking at the idea of votes, these blocks could be a physical representation of a vote. 

The Corkscrew, Rob Higgs

This is a short film where Rob Higgs describes himself and his intentions by his work. It focuses on his piece called The Corkscrew. The Corkscrew is a mechanical sculpture made of about 300 pieces which were found by Higgs and cast in bronze before assembled together. The Corkscrew emerges from a cabinet as well as opening a bottle of wine and pouring the first glass using its own power. Below I've posted a video which shows how it does all of this. I also like this quote i found from Rob Higgs,

"I would like my work to inspire people to consider the general pointlessness and excessiveness of the majority of man-made things in our world and to smile at our tireless pursuit of happiness through the invention of ingenious nonsense."

I like the idea of some huge mechanical operation used to do a task that everyone just takes for granted. Its just an over-the-top method of dealing with a simple task. The huge chain reaction of events is such a build up of suspense for something so simple. I like of a huge operation you just to go "All that for that" at the end. This is something I want to follow up and look into for my self initiated project this year.

The Nutcracker (Eden Project), Rob Higgs

The Nutcracker is a 10 meter high mechanical structure designed and made by Rob Higgs. He has taken an easy everyday task and come up with an extravagant mechanical solution. It is a fantastic structure made from scrapped objects Higgs found and assembled. The purpose of the machine is described next to the piece and says,

"A sledgehammer to crack a nut"

This is the over the top nature of the piece. All that mechanism and all that time just to crack a nut but apparently it is a demonstration of over-processing plants. This isn't the part I like though, that is the huge chain reaction of evens to end with something so insignificant. I like this idea and I'm going to look into it as well as chain reactions for my Self Initiated Project.