As this year nears an end, we have seen a lot of global change in the commercial production world. Companies have folded or closed offices. Representation has changed. Moves to evolve, regain relevance or merely survive have been happening at a rapid rate.
It seemed things had begun to stabilize. However, the past week has seen some notable changes amongst some of the established players on the London scene.
This week, @radical.media has closed its London office and formed a partnership with Stink (who also recently took on TEG’s London roster) to provide production support in the UK and additional European markets. Stink will also gain access to @radical.media’s branded entertainment and TV production capabilities.
Additionally, LA-based Biscuit Filmworks and London’s Independent have ended their six-year partnership. Producers for both companies say the split is an amicable one that follows an ongoing discussion about how Biscuit’s roster of directors can be best represented in Britain. “There is limited amount of time in a given work day to spend supporting a lot of directors,” says Independent’s MD (Jani Guest). “In order for us to continue to build Independent, we have to really focus in on our company as opposed to running two companies.”
This move for Independent also comes off the heels of the formation of their animation/digital division, “A Very Special Place,” headed up by Dan Dickerson (formally of Rokkit).
As noted earlier this week, John Hassay, founder and EP of London-based Blink’s music video arm Colonel Blimp has left the company after four years to pursue an undisclosed new venture. Amongst the waves of movement in Soho, it’ll be interesting see where one of pioneer’s of London’s new-school production scene plants himself next.
As we all recover from the Boards Summit, here’s a recap of some notable items from Day 2.
The morning session, Business as Unusual, was a round-table with Jerry Solomon (Co-Founder and Executive Producer at Epoch Films), Javier Jimenez (Co-Founder and Executive Producer at Motion Theory) and Diane McArter (Managing Director of Furlined). The thread that united them all was the openness to change in the changing production landscape.
As Epoch’s Solomon discussed staying relevant, he spoke about a company before the individual and building a strong culture. He went on to say, regardless of platform changes, new media, etc. we are storytellers. So, find out what you do well and figure out how to maximize that. MTh’s Jimenez elaborated to say, pick the projects to invest in and do them so well. This would naturally lead to having to figure out a new way of doing things and to embrace that task.
During a Digital Storytelling session, B-Reel shared some of the storytelling and technology behind the horrific story of the Hotel 626 and its sequel, Asylum 626. After discussing tactics they used to absolutely freak out their users, they shared the spherical mapping techniques in flash that allowed for a 360 view whilst moving forward and the facial recognition software that let you avoid a bloody chainsaw massacre.
As I mentioned in my recent post about the ADC’s Young Guns; this year’s show Directors Showcase Screening also had a solid showing from mixed-media directors. Among the lot were some of our regulars: Alex Turvey, Corin Hardy, Dennis Liu, Hayley Morris, Gabe Askew, Sean Pecknold, David Wilson and Ray Tintori. There was also a chance to see some relevant work in the lunch-screening of Twenty 120.
The day then closed out with a heavy-weight panel of agency folk who all offered up different (and mostly positive) ideas of where we’re all headed in the next few years. The range was from JWT’s Harvey Marco saying, “we are fucked” to DDB’s Diane Jackson playfully reminding us that talent is and always will be our strongest currency.
More mini-news and quotes from the day can be found here.
Despite a stagnant first-quarter this year, the turn-out at NYC’s Boards Summit was still pretty solid. Innovation in creative thinking, content-delivery and technology were a major emphasis as many of the global production community struggle to become relevant again while others share and capitalize on new their approaches.
Stefan Sagmeister kicked off the morning after returning from a one year sabbatical. The key take-away was to take some time off and do something you’ve not done before. Upon returning to work, you might just feel like your job is your calling again.
Digital Domain’s Ed Eulbrich shared the teaser for Tron and also discussed the development of this project. To pitch it, they actually made the teaser first and then shopped it around. The project started with the director, Joe Kosinski, and styleframes — much like the process we go through to pitch commercials.
Aaron Rose, then shared some of his life experiences and discussed the importance of art projects that live in the moment. He shared some of the site-specific projects he has curated over the years as well as reinforced the mantra of, “Have fun, get paid and make the world a better place.”
Lastly, Psyop’s Marie Hyon, Marco Spiers and Justin Booth-Clibborn ended the day with a Masters Class in creative process. They kicked it off with case studies from their Fanta (new and old), Michellin and Converse work. They then rolled that into a workshop which gave creatives a chance to come up with a music video treatment in 15 minutes. They supplied the cut up porn mags and pictures of kittens.
You can see some more pics and bits from today on our Twitter as well as live updates from day 2 tomorrow.
Last night’s ADC Young Guns opening was inspirational as always with a great showing from all 50. However, it was the growing inclusion of moving-image makers that was the most encouraging aspect of the night.
D&AD has celebrated and nurtured outstanding work in design and advertising since 1962. The Yellow Pencil is recognized the world over as a symbol of true creative achievement and in my opinion one of the best curated awards in the world. Get on it and submit animation, title sequences, promos/stings or commercials work from 2009.
Take a look here to see who took home the pencils in 2009.
To enter and for more information visit dandad.org/awards. Final deadline: Wednesday January 27 January 2009. Enter before Wednesday 18 November and save 10%
Print Magazine launches Print In Motion – the magazines first competition devoted solely to motion graphics and animation. From now until the November 15′th deadline, the challenge is accepting submissions that range from film titles to show packages.
This last Saturday night in LA, the 2009 Creative Arts Emmys were handed out. Amongst the many winners were some regularly featured on Motionographer.
This includes Psyop’s big win for Best Commercial with “Heist” for Coke (directed by Todd Mueller and Kylie Matulick) and Duck’s Jamie Caliri with his Outstanding Main Title Design win for The United States of Tara.
Congrats to all the winners—there was some serious competition.
Gil Irizarry sent us a notice about a motion graphics meeting at SIGGRAPH. Check it out:
There will be a birds-of-a-feather meeting at SIGGRAPH 2009 specifically dedicated to motion graphics. Last year, there was the first motion graphics BOF and the response was tremendous. This year, we have a great line-up:
Gil Irizarry, Conoa, talking about Conoa plug-ins for motion graphics
John Lepore, Perception, talking about the general workflow at Perception, with an emphasis on how they do beautiful work in really short time frames, and looking behind the scenes at some recent projects.
Pete Litwinowicz, RE:Vision Effects, talking about the latest versions of RE:Vision Effects for motion graphics
Rick Barrett, MAXON, showing the integration between Cinema 4D and After Effects and the benefits for motion graphics
The meeting is free and will be held at:
Tuesday, Aug 4, 3 – 5 pm
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
Room 264
Rama Allen, Designer; Shawn Fedorchuk, Editor; Matthew Mulder, Creative Director; Morgan Henry, Main Title Producer; Camm Rowland, Designer; Ryan Gagnier, Designer Making of and case study on Digital Kitchen’s site
Taking Chance (HBO)
Michael Riley, Title Designer; Dru Nget, Title Designer; Dan Meehan, Animator; Bob Swensen, Main Title Producer
When the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) announced the formation of a new chapter, AICP Digital, we wondered what impact that might have on motion graphics, animation and visual effects studios and freelancers.
Thanks to Motionographer’s Bran Dougherty-Johnson, we set up an interview with AICP President and CEO Matt Miller and President, Commercials Division and Executive Producer of Digital Domain, Ed Ulbrich, who has helped make AICP Digital a reality.
If you’re not sure whether or not this is relevant to you, don’t worry: it is. As Ulbrich says in our interview, “This should be of really critical importance to the individual, because their quality of life and their livelihood and their pay indirectly is determined by that relationship between these design companies, these animation shops, these visual effects studios, these web development houses—and the relationship with their clients.”
Many of our questions about AICP Digital revolved around rising issues regarding labor practices. “Labor is one of the great ticking time bombs of the motion graphics and design world,” says Ulbrich. “And it’s [about] getting the companies to have awareness of their obligations under the law and employees understanding what’s appropriate.”
Check out the interview here. It’s also available through iTunes, along with our other podcasts.
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John Hassay (EP @ Colonel Blimp), one of the most influential people working in British music videos and one of its biggest personalities, informed Blink MD James Studholme of his decision to resign from his position last night to pursue a new venture. (Read more @ PromoNews)
Imagining Mozambique: A Mass Market / W+K / Boards Exhibition (feat. Genevieve Gaukler, Superelectric, Parra and many more) NYC Premier October 25th @ 19.30 at 105 Rivington St, 2nd Floor.
HYPtv’s 24-Hour Ad Challenge. In association with M & C Saatchi & ICA. Judges include Alan Yentob, Peter Saville and Graham Fink & CR Ed. Patrick Burgogne.
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