Man Vs Machine Portfolio Visit

After struggling to find the studio for Man Vs Machine and ending up being 10 minutes late after walking past the office 3 times I finally got buzzed up to the top floor of large building overlooking a small courtyard in the centre of Shorditch. When I got up to the door of the studio and saw all the fixed gear bikes hung on the walls and as well as the employees jackets I knew I was in the right place.

I was greeted by Tim, the owner of the company, at the door who took me into the first room which was which had a great working atmosphere. The room itself was quite long with about 10 work stations in it. The guys working away in there but all chatting and helping each other as they were working on the same project passing files between each other. I was shown some of the work and programs they were using for the job they were currently working on. It was good to see they were using After Effects and maya which I have been working in over the last couple of years. I had the opportunity to watch a couple of them and see how someone would be working on a shot and then pass it over to the compositor. It was interesting how they split the team up and got each person to work on separate areas before it was all brought together in After Effects.

Tim said that the business started as a multimedia studio where they worked on the branding and the graphics paper based side of things as well as the motion graphics. This is down to his background as that is where he originally started. They were now purely a motion graphics studio with a great reputation all over London. They are producing the highest quality work even though the studio and team only consists of around 10 people. Time showed me into their meeting room which was at the far end of their 2 roomed studio where we sat and he showed me some of the work they have been working on. I asked to see how they pitch for ideas and the presentations they give to win the pitch. I didn't realise how much they put into the pitch for the job. They put alot of high quality test together as well as style frames and mood boards.

Put it this way the stuff they were producing for their pitches I would have been happy with for my final pieces! They really put forward how it is going to finally look and the high standard of work they would produce.

When showing Tim my work he liked the ideas behind it and encouraged me to go along the stylized route for my final piece as it would really stand out companies in the field. He also mentioned that I should try and stay away from realism as that is where the industry is heading and what everyone is wanting at the moment. If I try to do that style, it always stands out to people like him as that is what they do day in and day out. Even if they tried to look past it, they would always subconsciously pick up on it. For example, I showed him my Nexus piece which he did like and thought it was a good idea but the shot of the lighting on the warehouse roof (even though it only lasted seconds) really stood out to him as he noticed it wasn't as realistic as it could have been.

This was a very helpful visit and loved meeting Tim and the guys. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to get to speak to them in the future and I aim to be able to produce work of this standard. It is the best work I have ever seen. Everything looked so realistic I was gobsmacked.