STUDIO AKA @AESTHETICA

STUDIO AKA Montage Reel 2015 from STUDIO AKA on Vimeo.


First agenda was to show there current showreel, as this is the first port of call to show clients to attract more work, the current showreel shows a large variety of styles of animation, recently there's been a reinstatement of hand drawn animation as they can do this on there cintiqs.


There's 42 people working on commercials in the studio and 25 on the tv show.

They are quite regularly only given 24hours to pitch for a commercial and will be against six to eight other studio's.

He admitted in a way its often there own fault work is rejected as the standard they set with the visual concept design is taken almost with everything ready to be animated and is very high.

A nugget of advice was If you have your own personal style don't do it commercially. Commercial work is to pay the bills and personal styles often don't suit banks etc. The good thing about commercial work is the fact that the tight deadlines and pitches means an artist becomes more desicive in own work.

Ideas need variety.

Often work is done on spec and is unpaid especially if rejected after pitching. At this point he showed us a whole host of work that was rejected and some of it was incredible not just drawings of characters but they were fully rendered in Maya with animated tests of there movement.

HOW DO WE PITCH

Pdf's of boards and usually animatics moving work on vimeo.

Example shown: Kraft Mr Wallace then and now.

Emphasis on character and the animatic with some concept art of what the world would look like. It's difficult to make sure you have enough work, and they usually only take 3/4 of the best ones to the pitch.

It's like a lottery and your spread betting and spinning plates.
Bank campaign:

They were super lucky to win that "lottery" with the Lloyds tsb advert, there was a strength in the fact they provide a service rather than a product so they could focus on narrative and the journey of the story development. In total they made 48 commercials with Lloyds and it basically funded the studio for five years.

An interesting fact about the Lloyds commercials is that there is a trainspotter in every one of them.



TRAINSPOTTERSPOTTING from STUDIO AKA on Vimeo.


HOW WE MAKE A STORY



TSB Campaign: 'Local Banking For Britian' from STUDIO AKA on Vimeo.


TSB: so this was the first ad they did that was mainly 2D, even though it has a 3D world. Originally they wanted to do it all in 2D but the story they were given by TSB was so long they didn't feel that they could fit in all the action with cuts in the shot, so they used three d for the environment for the 90s advert. In the end TSB loved the hand drawn characters and the studio got away without needing a three d background in the next campaign.

Studio AKA say they do have a moral threshold and there are some companies they won't work with, however they do have a grey area. If you don't have a grey area don't work commercially.

Working With Products:



GREENIES PILL POCKETS from STUDIO AKA on Vimeo.


There's a trade off with selling products in that you can have really nice character animation for a little product placement. Take for example greenies pet treats. Here they focused on the characters looking like the dogs they owned and the animation of the animal a nice change up in the studio.




THE METH PROJECT - Campaign Montage from STUDIO AKA on Vimeo.

The Meth Project:

Charitable work. This meant they could do a more personal darker style rather than being commercial, however it meant as they weren't getting paid they had to fit it in around other work and the first one started off with limited animation being done in Photoshop and After effects. The series is a set of different voice overs of sufferers of teenagers with a meth addiction, and they felt it prudent to do each tale in a different style to individualist them. the series begins with Oriah. The sound for these was very important and unlike Lloyds tsb adverts they weren't given any music but a lot of people dual up on skills in the studio so Nick the guy who edits most of the work also composes music, and he did the sound for the meth project.

FILM MAKING:



JO JO IN THE STARS from STUDIO AKA on Vimeo.


Jojo in the stars was a short made in 2004. With it being quite dark with shafts of light, this meant for faster rendering times. They really enjoyed making it because at the time they were working on a super happy characters animation for orange and this quite opposite.



Varmints from STUDIO AKA on Vimeo.

Varmints - Preteen audience. A film on the environment and sustainabilty and is still used by schools today.




LOST AND FOUND - Official DVD Trailer from STUDIO AKA on Vimeo.

Lost & Found - worked with author and illustrator Oliver Jeffers, took 2D and made it three d. First ever piece of work for kids. They enjoyed this project so much they are thinking about working with Oliver Jeffers again soon.

About to start making feature length film first ever.



Love_Sport_Trailer_UpRes_AKA_YouTubeHD (720P).mp4 from STUDIO AKA on Vimeo.


The studio director then proceeded to skip through Love Sport, but insisted we watch it because its all about the detail and finish.



HEY DUGGEE - CBEEBIES TRAILER from STUDIO AKA on Vimeo.


Hey Duggee - Children's TV Show funded by BBC. A show aimed at preschool kids, it all about encouraging them to do stuff. There was a really small budget and a small crew. Most of the crew working on the tv show are new parents. The series consists of fifty two episodes each seven minutes long. It benefits from the efficiency of the commercial work experience the staff on the team have it means they can make fast descions and ideas and pump out a lot of work. The series has recently been comissioned for another 52 episodes.


Advice for students:

If you think your work is excellent come and show us.

Everyone must have a sketchbook pencil and paper is the start of it all.


This talk was an amazing eye opener, I loved every second of it, I was super urked when at the end people were talking over the questions. The best thing about it is that after this talk a competition entry was sent out for a pitch for a children's charity, so the deadline for this is the 15th of January which is the day after the dissertation hand in, but after seeing the amount of work Studio AKA put into their pitches I'm just going to go for it. I feel like it's a lot more important than the dissertation but it will be a key piece of portfolio work, and in a dream world this is a studio I would want to work at. At the moment I don't think my work is excellent, but my aim is to get it there to get in touch by february. So key things I would like to do, get a shit load more in my sketchbook, because after the emphasis on this I think this would be a great piece of practical work, boss the pitch for the charity, I already have several idea's buzzing in my head and I think the scream street animatic task no matter what the outcome was perfect practice to ace it on that animatic. I want a solid piece of animation of a monkey for my portfolio, I've also had this idea for an animation piece about babies with holes in their heart so I might see if I can do a little bit on that. And then worry about the matte paintings later.

Jan Pypers

http://www.janpypers.be

Jan Pypers is a Belgium freelance photographer, who I discovered on Trendland. I think it's important to take inspiration from all areas of the art world and design industry, I think it's good to appreciate them because in some way or another they can inspire your own practice.

There are two main elements skillfully stage-managed by Pypers: dreams and paranoia. The hare is seen hidden on conspicuous corners, to casually sitting on a windowsill; this character drifts from one extreme to the other effortlessly, always casual and calm. The female character is the opposite, bringing obvious drama to the forefront. The surrealism of the hare with the paranoia of the dame in distress.

http://trendland.com/the-mysterious-hare/

This one is my favourite piece, the composition and lighting is simply hypnotic, it sets up for a really mysterious scene and makes the viewer ask so many questions about what the hare is doing. The scenes he has captured in the Hare series are so surreal it makes you question whether or not they are photographs, I think this is what makes this series stand out to his others because they are so captivating and intriguing.

He does class himself as a fine art photographer and sells them as prints, what I often find difficult with fine artists no matter the medium, there often is a lot of lengthy analysis into them and the meanings behind the work which is often nonsense. I don't think I need to do that here, Trendland already commented on the themes of the surreal hare, and the dame in distress. I think in this series yeah the Hare is surreal but the dame never looks like she's in distress, I think if I was to talk about it I'd say it'd have more to do with him being someone who isn't comfortable in his own skin/hair but he's found someone to love but he's too afraid to approach. I think it would make an amazing short film, in films you have directors of photography, that work with the camera and lighting crew to make a certain look of a film and I think this guy would make an amazing Director of Photography.

 

Alexey Romanowsky

Alexey Romanowsky is a Ukrainien motion and graphic designer from Kiev. He specialises in Cinema 4D with his motion graphics and this one blew my mind. It made me want to learn the software so I spoke to Matt Burton down in AV to ask him how he created it, and he said I've seen that before on Cinema 4D it's actually an example file to learn the software, which I thought was super exciting for this guy to have his worked by the company. What I like most about the shapes is how on trend they currently are, we've recently seen a lot of aztec patterns in fashion a couple of years ago and it's started coming through graphic design with minimalistic arrows and hexagons, I think it's good that our industry is picking up on these trends. I released that it was less the software I wanted to learn but more the shapes and slickness of what he's chosen to appear and when it appears. I think I just want my work to ooze this coolness.

Another theme that's really common in Romanowsky's work is his ability to include lighting and colour in his motion graphics, it's not just the shapes that make it cool. I think the neon lighting is something that's making a return in films, especially with a lot retro films we are seeing a rise in, a few really cool seventies themed ones with American Hustle and Inherent Vice. Inherent Vice uses neon lights for it's titles. I think the hard thing with this is that often it can look tacky, so it's a real skill to make it look cool. I feel really inspired by this guys work and if the right topic comes up it might be a cool portfolio of work to draw inspiration from.

http://romanowsky.tumblr.com/
https://vimeo.com/romanowsky

Alexa Meade

This video introduces this inspiring artist perfectly, I think it's an innovative spin on the way artists are taught to paint, to embrace the medium and no longer make it look photorealistic, but this pushes these limits by using the body as a canvas. It makes for a really clever optical illusion. I think she could really push this further by doing more moving image work with it, I feel like there's a story to be told behind this portraits.

I think it not only pushes portraiture but also installation art. As you can see above these are really large scale, I think it'd be really cool to see them in person because you'd get a completely different sense of the scale and the art work than from the photographs. I think it's interesting that they are only a painting for a fleeting amount of time, it's not like the Mona Lisa where you can hang it in a gallery forever.

Whilst I was looking into her, I discovered she had done a seven minute TedTalk. I found it really interesting to gage more about her, I found it especially interesting to discover that she did politics at University, and painted shadows that set off her painting career. I think she was brave to follow her project and instinct and move back home and I'm really happy for her that thing's are working out really well, I think there's a lot more she could push her creative practice, and I think it will be really interesting to follow her in the future and see where it leads her.

She talks about Timmy (photographed above) and how he was willing to model in everyday environments, I really like the composition and lighting in this still and how the scene is set, I think it's something she clearly has a natural gift for, and this looks like it would make a really exciting scene in a film. I really hope one day she does make one.

Alexa currently lives in Los Angeles, CA and travels the world creating art installations. She works on commissioned portraits and sells limited edition prints of her artworks. On the side, Alexa is currently transforming her home into a "Fun House," collaborating with magicians, working on a line of toys, and teaching visually impaired adults at the Braille Institute how to make papier mache.

http://www.alexameade.com/c-v/ 

http://webneel.com/webneel/blog/25-incredible-and-realistic-pop-out-paintings-alexa-meade-inspiring-showcase

http://www.alexameade.com/

Naren Wilks, Music Video

How amazing is this circular rig, this kaleidoscopic music video, almost looks like animation but it's so smoothly filmed. I just wanted to included it because I really liked it.


http://petapixel.com/2015/01/03/trippy-music-video-made-circular-rig-16-dslrs-clever-editing/

Jeremy Mann Paintings

Jeremy Mann(b. 1979) graduated from Ohio University with a Cum Laude degree in Fine Art-Painting. Afterward, he ventured out to California where he earned his MasterÕs Degree with Valedictorian honors at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Since then, Mann has garnered substantial attention in the art world. Praised by critics and collectors alike, his work recently graced the cover of American Art Collector magazine.

http://www.johnpence.com/visuals/painters/mann/

When I first started at art college I really wanted to be a painter, I like to think I've still got that talent, just not enough time to do it. I prefer to keep it as more of a hobby. What drew me to moving image was the fact that I've always loved telling stories and creating narratives. What I love about Jeremy Mann's paintings is how they immerse you and they feel realistic to be descriptive of a scene but also there's enough texture and emotion behind it to tell a story and give away a fantasy feeling. I like the fact that it isn't completely fantastical, and he uses light and tone with a set colour palette to highlight his ability to show where light falls in a scene. I think if I ever make it big and rich I'd like to buy a piece of his work for my living room. The city scapes are truly captivating and really capture the business of a city but also the isolation you can often feel once you are there.

I really like how in this one the glossiness and the blues makes it look like it could have just rained. I can really picture these moving and being an animation, I think that's another reason why they appeal to me so much. There's a really skill in the way he's designed the painting and how actually there isn't a great lot of detail but there's still a lot going on. I think if I was directing a feature film I'd see if he was interested in doing the concept art (maybe one day!!)

Here's one of his more saucier pictures, just to show he's good at portraiture too!

http://redrabbit7.com/

Romain Laurent. French Photographer

http://www.romain-laurent.com/

Romain Laurent is a photographer and director based in New York City. From fresh, energetic portraits to high-concept ideas, Romain does it all.  He was born and raised in the French Alps, where he nutured a love of extreme skiing, and studied product design at the Ensaama National School of Applied Arts and photography at Gobelins in Paris.

Romain's Gif series of One Loop a week caught my eye with the simplicity and effectiveness of each piece. I like the isolation of motion, this is something that's very common is very visual aesthetic hand drawn animation, it makes the movement the focal point, and also makes less to draw in animation. It's weird to see it in photography because you don't expect everything else to be so unnaturally still. I think there's a beauty in these Gif's, they are very cleanly made, I think the ball spins a bit too fast in the last one, and in the flying arms it's a little jerky, when the hand flicks back up. But that's me being very nit picky. I kind of like how, they haven't been made to tell a story or a narrative of any kind, but to me they come across like they were just made to show off. I quite like that a little bit though. (if you look at the full series there's quite a few of dance movements, skateboarders doing tricks etc.)

I decided to look more into his work after stumbling across his Gif's, (quite literally on stumbleupon.com) and discovered he's also a director, of shorts. Here's the first one I watched for a music video, I'm not sure I was a big fan of the song but I really like how the camera constantly spins around, and there's so much movement across the screen, again to be a bit nit picky it can be a bit shaky but it is really hypnotic. I think the shakiness is only emphasised when the sounds off (I might of just turned it off). It really reminded me of what Yoni wanted to achieve last year.




I much preferred this video. I love how simple the idea is of the man changing clothes, but then the clothes stay in position whilst he walks away, I thought it just oozed coolness. I also really like the lighting and colour palette. I think these are things that as animation students we tend to glaze past quite quickly but in film you get time to emphasise that because the actors do most of the motion for you.  I think we need more coolness in animation, maybe we need to focus more on these types of things to get it.

Alexander Khokhlov, Photography

Alexander Khokhlov and Veronica Ershova is a photographers duo world renowned for it’s creative projects. Unconventional ideas and daring approach to common shootings are their calling card.

2D or not 2D?

Most talked-about series Weird Beauty and 2D or not 2D were created in collaboration with famous russian make-up artist Valeriya Kutsan. Mix of face art, photography and post-production allowed to create optical illusions. 2D or not 2D series were included in Designcollector’s top-10 of Russian projects in 2013.

Optical illusion photography is something that has always mesmerized me, it blurs the lines between art direction and real life, I think it could push animation, because as animators we always say what's the point in doing this animated when it could be done in live action, if that's the case then there is no point. By looking at optical illusion photography you can see what aesthetics would be capable in live action. I also think that they always have really nice compositions and lighting techniques that could inspire my work.

I think it's interesting that this couple did an exhibition that was amazingly colourful and then there next was Weird Beauty was striking in comparison in Black and White. The diversity of their photography style even though they specialise in portrait pieces pushes itself as will continue to do so.

Weird Beauty

In this collection of photo's (bare in mind, I only chose a few from each selection there is an overwhelming number to look at, all visually striking), the lightening face is the most captivating to me. It's so cool how flat the lightening bolt looks.

I think it's important to recognise at this stage that it has come about from a collaboration with a top makeup artist, and I think as photographer's they could of pushed themselves more. I appreciate that they were really trying to push the emphasis on the make-up but from a photography point of view, I much prefer the compositions in the series White Garden.

White Garden

I feel like by this selection of work as photographers it's really matured. I like the space around the focal point. I only think they could of done more in the art side, the white paint on the bodies looks a bit patchy. Their could have been more detail in the flowers. I like it because it explores fantasy themes and it's real life but it's a bit magical. I wonder what the male equivalent of White Garden would be, Black City?


http://www.alexanderkhokhlov.com/

Richard Swarbrick

I love the visual qualities of this animation, and in fact all his work (included a screen shot of his portfolio on his web page so you can see it's all in this style.). It's simple, there isn't actually a lot on the screen, but the paint brushes in the people and in their faces are really complicated. This is something I am so envious of. It's something that's always bothered me that I haven't been able to manage during first year, is getting the simple side of things without overdoing it.

Now I couldn't find any information on the production of these animations, and after watching it few times, I feel like it might have been rotoscoped. Which makes me a bit sad, because if that is the case he hasn't actually added anything else to the scene to make worthwhile to be animation, except for being beautiful. I need more substance than this in my life.

With this in mind I decided to reassess his other works, and I feel empty and sad about them now. There beautiful but meaningless. He should stick to illustrations.

http://www.richardswarbrick.com/