YCN x ITV2 Live

YCN - Self Evaluation

2009-04-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

Through this module I have developed skills in project/time management, set building, studio lighting setup and post production for digital media. This project was set out to be a simple stop motion animation for a TV ident/spot, however it turned out to be more demanding than I anticipated, which forced me to expand my skill sets through out this project.
I felt I have applied all my skills effectively, but there are always rooms for improvements. I think I've developed my skills further in project management for pre-production and post-production, Visualising concepts via mediums such as story-boarding and floor plans, anticipating the animation process takes time, I have given us enough time to develop and prep for production but finding more time was needed during post production.

2. What approaches to generating work and solutions to problems have you developed and how have they helped?

I approached this project with great enthusiasm, it's the first collaborative animation project for me, working with like minded partner proven to be very helpful when tackling a large scaled studio based animation. Without a creative partner this project would have not been possible for me to complete on deadline.
I learned to act quickly upon ideas with animation, because the actual making process always seems to take longer than anticipated. We encountered numerous problem during the animating process, especially with set building and lighting, we had to build devices and props to animate the objects and it was very time consuming being a stop motion animation. We had to simplify and cut out some of the original ideas we had in order to compromise with the deadline.
I developed a work flow to keep all digital files organised, all pictures were named and filed for easier processing when importing to after effects and final cut. I thought that for a live competition brief it's important for the final product - the ident to be presented so it stands out as well as showing behind the scene workings. Being a digital media it was difficult to show all the works on a print based A2 board therefore I designed a simple DVD menu and organised the contents to showcase all these digital work with a canvase.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

I find that I can quickly visualise my ideas to show on screen and look for effective solutions to my problems. At the beginning of this project we had a clear vision of what we were trying to achieve, and I found that I can quickly come up with solutions for producing the visual effect that's needed. I have learned to make decisions quickly and be more proactive with the development process, which resulted in giving myself more time for realising my visual solutions and making things happen more quickly. Being more decisive has become my strength which I have benefited from this project.
Working with a creative partner also demanded me to communicate and manage work loads efficiently, spiting work loads focusing on both our strength.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?

Even though I did allow myself more time by making quick decisions early on in the project, I still found myself getting lost in the software, more research on the problems would have helped avoiding spend many hours experimenting with elements which stopped me in my tracks.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

- I would like to be more in-depth with my development of ideas, I felt with this project I forced myself to produce work quickly I over looked the development stage, which I feel if I worked more in detail I could've benefited more from it.

- I would like to be more organised with my work flow and getting a better work habit, instead storing ideas and findings in my head, I would like to put them on paper and screen more in the future.

- I would like to learn to be more organised with design for digital, as I felt this is the area in graphic design I would like to go into, I want to improve my skills as well as effective working habits, digital media requires well structured thought process and work flow, which I see can benifit me in other area of design.

- I would like to be more prepared for crits, I felt that I was never really ready at crits, I struggled with showing my development and getting the useful feedback I required. I would like to plan ahead more with crits and try to get the most out of them in the future.

- I would like to be more efficient with time, this issue with time comes up every time, but I felt my time management has been the best as it had been so far, I was able to complete work within my own sets of deadlines, but there's always room for improvements in this area.

Post Production - DVD Menus

2009-03-31T23:35:00.000-07:00

In order to present our ident in a professional fashion and to show what went on behind the scene we decided to create a DVD with navigation menus as a media for our idents and some of the development work. The menu system was kept simple for easy access and serve simply as a mere presentation board for the ident.

Post Production - Make Some Noise

2009-03-31T23:10:00.000-07:00

Our Sound Guy : James Robert Mazur

Sound Engineering at Leeds Met

James is my contact who specialises in sound from outside of college, I have worked with James on previous projects, at the beginning of the project I provided him with the original YCN brief and initial concepts and storyboards. both mine and jack's blogs were also given for him to see our on going progress.
We asked for a very subtle and dreamy feel for the sound, and something we could loop to use for other media such as the dvd menus.
He came up with a few different soundtracks, some being too experimental and sounded too dark, after discussing the solutions we wanted for the ident, he fine tuned one of the track which we decided to use for the final version of the ident.
For sample sound see Jack's blog.

Post Production - Creating the Look

2009-03-31T23:04:00.000-07:00

the stop motion footage was edited first in final cut to be tuned with the pacing we wanted, then exported to after effects for editing the background to a glossy white, then imported back into final cut for adding sound and final edits.

Post Production - Editing

2009-03-31T22:56:00.000-07:00

Three version of the ident was produced during post production, We decided the most effective version was the one ends with the lamp floats up and lights up, but the other versions were also included in the DVD submitted to YCN.

Sound Test

2009-03-24T12:47:00.000-07:00

DVD Menus - working progress

2009-03-24T12:46:00.001-07:00

ident final version

2009-03-24T11:45:00.000-07:00

final edit version 2

2009-03-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

final edit test

2009-03-23T12:45:00.000-07:00

keying background test

2009-03-19T11:26:00.000-07:00

As the brief asked for a glossy look/white background, In this test I keyed out the background and replaced with all white.

Test Edits

2009-03-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

8 til 9 on the set

2009-03-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

Plan Ahead - Floor Plans/Lighting Setups

2009-03-18T09:57:00.001-07:00

Story On Paper - Final

2009-03-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

Story on paper - Initial Ideas

2009-03-18T09:27:00.000-07:00

what we up against

2009-03-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

Jack discovered some possible competitor's work for this YCN brief, I found this one today so I'm going to keep a tab on our competition from now.
this one is produced purely digitally, the 3D elements were created using 3D Studio Max, and the compositing done in After Effects.
'I decided to set the ident in a pub scene, where the competitive streak in males of that age comes through in classic pub games such as pool and darts.'
I'm impressed with the quality of this animation, modelling in 3D and physic isn't easy, but the ident as whole seem to have something missing, the overall feel appear bland and did not get my attention while watching.
compare to the series of idents Jack discovered, this one seems less personal. where real video was used in the other idents they give something much more real for the viewers to relate to.

Noah Harris

2009-03-04T01:12:00.001-08:00

Interview

Rob Carney meets the former Precursor man behind album typography, games intros and those animal-infested idents for E4

“I liked the fact that I could make a funeral wreath with flashing fairy lights rise up out of the boardwalk on the beach, and it would be an E4 logo.” Noah Harris’ latest batch of E4 stings are bizarre – brilliant, but bizarre.

Each of the spots brings an everyday environment – a barn, hotel, beach, loading bay and front room – to life in a fusion of stop-motion, 3D, motion graphics and farmyard animals. These 30-second spots feel like a stream of consciousness is being forced upon you, but it’s a stream where you want to kneel down and have a drink. “I wanted to do something that was both cute and dark. I like the juxtaposition, and wanted to create something quite surreal but very appealing,” he explains.

“Coming up with the ideas was a fun process,” Harris continues. “First of all there is an overall theme for the spot, which is the main environment, and then there are the hundreds of events that populate the space. Initially I came up with lists and lists of events which I then narrowed down. It was a case of thinking, ‘It would be amazing to actually do that on set’ – like the socks cascading out of the drawer and the pillow crawling up the wall in the hotel ident.”

There was another consideration: “E4 appeals to a young and very media-savvy audience. They’re pretty jaded with branding and advertising – it’s either condescending or it just passes them by. I didn’t want these spots to feel like branding. It’s also about confidence I suppose. E4 is a well-recognised brand on TV, so I could afford to be a little more flippant with its identity.”

Before going independent Harris was one of the founders of Precursor, with Tim Swift and Chris Angelkov. The multidisciplinary agency, based in Shoreditch, flourished for five years, winning clients like Microsoft, MTV, Five and Sony. Nevertheless the trio decided to pursue their own interests several months ago.

“Initially I found it difficult having to be my own creative foil,” says Harris. “I left an environment where there were two other strong creative brains to challenge or back up ideas. Suddenly it was just me. I found myself questioning my creative solutions more, which is a good thing I think, and part of the reason it was necessary to leave.”

Harris is currently planning a few personal projects that have had to take a back seat. A short film he wrote with a friend has just been funded, and a plethora of smaller jobs fuel his desire to design – even if the fee is non-existent.

We can’t finish the interview without asking about the yellow pig that crops up in each of the E4 idents. “Ah, the pig,” Harris laughs. “Well, my grandmother made it many years ago.” But why did it end up in the idents? “I felt the pig was a nice way of holding everything together – it gave a specific link across the idents, but it wasn’t such a focus for him to become a character. It also allowed some sadism. He looks cute, but he’s an alcoholic – spot the bottle of booze in the front room, and the drunken stagger in the loading bay. And he generally ends up dead.”

E4 identity 07

2009-03-04T01:00:00.000-08:00

E4 identity 07
Idents / Bumpers / Full graphics package

Concept, design and direction: Noah Harris
Production: Hothead Films
CG: Busty Kelp
Audio: Si Begg

Hotel Ident / View Quicktime

Hotel Bumper 1 / View Quicktime

Hotel Bumper 2 / View Quicktime

Barn Ident / View Quicktime

Barn Bumper 1 / View Quicktime

Barn Bumper 2 / View Quicktime

Beach Ident / View Quicktime

Beach Bumper 1 / View Quicktime

Beach Bumper 2 / View Quicktime

Loading Bay Ident / View Quicktime

Loading Bay Bumper 1 / View Quicktime

Loading Bay Bumper 2 / View Quicktime

Front Room Ident / View Quicktime

Front Room Bumper 1 / View Quicktime

Front Room Bumper 2 / View Quicktime

Menu Background 1 / View Quicktime

Menu Background 2 / View Quicktime

Menu Background 3 / View Quicktime

Promo Endboard /

These E4 idents are good examples of using a combination of video, 3D and motion graphics. the visual language are consistent through the entire set, as the identity of E4 is emphasised through the use of purple and featuring the large scaled 3D logo.

The lighting and set build are done to a very professional level which is what we will try to achieve with our ITV2 project.

Bedbugs Odyssey

2009-03-04T00:50:00.001-08:00

This short, Bedbug’s Odyssey is great fun. It was created in After Effects by Ned Wenlock, who had no story in mind when he started; he just completed one shot every day and made it up as we went along. Not bad results for not having a plan!

The Black Heart Gang

2009-03-04T00:33:00.001-08:00

This beautiful short film - The Tale of How is from Jannes Hendrikz and Markus Smit - The Black Heart Gang They’re just a trio comprised of a video-maker, an illustrator, and a writer/musician and that, between them, have produced such well-crafted and involving work…
The BHG have also produced a series of 13 prints based on scenes from the film (which was originally written as a poem by Smit). The success of The Tale of How led them onto a similarly sea-bound spot for United airlines, in which a lobster conducts an animal orchestra.

ITV2 - Ident / current idents

2009-02-25T18:26:00.001-08:00

A few current idents from ITV2, The current six idents ITV2 has are based on different executional styles and different ‘youthful’ scenarios (all based on a moment in the life of a typical 24 year old) - ‘lust’, ‘dancing’, ‘getting ready to go out’, ‘holidays’, ‘music’ and ‘open 24/7 society’.

They all share the similar style in colour theme and feel.
'The look and feel needs to reflect vibrant colour in a white world (with gloss). To reinforce the channel logo, green should be predominant amongst the colours.'

Other Choices

2009-02-25T17:43:00.000-08:00

Kleenex
Persuade young men to use and buy more tissues

1: Why have you chosen it? - what interests you about it

• I like the creative freedom of this brief regarding choosing the appropriate media.

• The brief is very specific, focusing on one demographic: target audience is clear (Men/15-24) but the design decision is left for me to make, I prefer briefs like this which gives freedom to create solutions within a set parameters

2: What do you want to get out of it?- what oppertunities does it offer you in terms of skills development,possible working methods etc.

• I want to explore a range of possible solutions to the set task of making the brand and product connect with a demographic that is not normally associated with.

• I want to create a solution based on a set tone of voice: ‘Optimistic and warm with a sense of humour’. The brief states the problem very clearly and the results from the initial research on the problem gives a good indication of the directions I should take. Providing a range of potential triggers for making connections between the product/brand and audiences

3:How does this relate to your broader design practice? - how do you work and how does this relate to your brief.

• This brief sets specific brand values that it wishes to express and make connections with its target audience, I will have to make decisions with a strong drive of commercial interest in mind which I would like to experience.

• I would like to consider video / animation as an engaging form of media solution.

O2
Bring to life the idea that 'we're better, connected'

1: Why have you chosen it? - what interests you about it

• I like the creative freedom given from this brief: ‘We're open to anything that brings the idea to life’.

• The message 'we're better, connected' is very simple and direct, which would be a challenge to communicate effectively.

2: What do you want to get out of it?- what oppertunities does it offer you in terms of skills development,possible working methods etc.

• I want to explore a range of possible solutions within the set tone of voice: ‘keep it natural. Fresh, positive, simple.’

• I want to learn to produce effective solutions with simple and direct concepts.

3:How does this relate to your broader design practice? - how do you work and how does this relate to your brief.

• This brief is very open which allows me the freedom of making most of the decisions regarding the visual solution. I would like to improve my project management skills with such open briefs.

• The brand identity of O2 is very simplified, clean and corporative. I want to learn to design for such commercial identity.

Why?

2009-02-25T17:31:00.000-08:00

After some careful consideration, I decided to work with the infamous Jack Cook as a creative partnership on this live competition brief from YCN.
The brief we have chosen is from ITV2 - Design a new ident to be added to ITV2's existing set, based on a moment in the life of a typical 24 year old

Here are the reasons for why I want to attempt this brief.

ITV2
Design a new ident to be added to ITV2's existing set, based on a moment in the life of a typical 24 year old

1: Why have you chosen it? - what interests you about it

• I like the idea of expressing ‘glamorous, sensational and fun’ through the form of ident, it’s a challenge to produce an ident that hits the target audience ‘16-34 year old’ as well as ‘focus on our proposition: fun at heart’.

• The brief is very specific, hence easier to focus on design decisions and produce work with speed.

2: What do you want to get out of it?- what oppertunities does it offer you in terms of skills development,possible working methods etc.

• Idents have become an interesting and engaging form of digital media’s identity, the motion graphic properties of idents interests me and motion graphics is a area of design I would like to specialise in.

• The brief is very specific on certain areas:
‘This brief is to design a new ident to be added to ITV2's existing set. The ident should be based on a moment in the life of a typical 24 year old and a style that best expresses that idea.’

‘The look and feel needs to reflect vibrant colour in a white world (with gloss). To reinforce the channel logo, green should be predominant amongst the colours.’

• To produce work within such strict boundaries will be beneficial for me as it would hopefully give me a sense of what it would be like to work with a client who has complete control on the project.

3:How does this relate to your broader design practice? - how do you work and how does this relate to your brief.

• My last brief was also a piece of motion graphics, I would like to extend my skills on working with digital media.

• I tend to work better design for digital, I want to improve on my work flow and project management skills, this brief is very focused and direct, which suits my skills.