4 O’Clock Club | In-depth | Broadcast

Nice little write up in Broadcast about our latest work for 4 O’clock club on CBBC.
or you can see it here: 4 O’Clock Club | In-depth | Broadcast.

Seems to be a big big trend at the moment for projection mapping. Lots of studios trying it out and pushing new boundaries in an ever advancing artform, that has existed in some form or other as long as the projector.

This good blog that collects works of this form explains what is is quite succinctly:
“Video Projection Mapping is an exciting new projection technique that can turn almost any surface into a dynamic video display. Specialized software is used to warp and mask the projected image to make it fit perfectly on irregularly shaped screens.” The introduction of more advanced cameras and tracking software is one of the reasons why it’s taking off:

This is the one that I think best captures the potenital and opened my eyes to what people are doing, largely because it has a nice narrative to it and seems to have a reason, rather than “we’ve got a projector, what shall we do?”

Mighty Giant’s good friend, and landlord The Neighbourhood have even been having a play with it over Christmas. This video gives you a little insight into the complexities of it also:

Now this piece is the reason behind my posting, and the reason behind a lof of the online chatter about it at the moment.

This is a superb piece of work, taking it to the next level by using some amazing camera tracking to give a whole new depth and vibrancy to the method. The main technology that has moved it on is the ability for the camera to work out where the room is, and therefore alter the projection accordingly to keep up the illusion. Sounds simple but needs some pretty clever software and operators to pull it off.

There is a difference though between projections for an event, where you are there and you get the wow factor, to something produced for screen. My question, and one I’d love to hear opinions on, is that when you are designing special effects you are producing something that you can’t achieve through conventional methods. This Playstation piece does that, but the pay off is only in knowing how it was produced, which I suppose takes me right back to the other article posted here, on low-fi graphics. Are we getting to the point where the ability and the skills to produce these kind of effects in “conventional” method, i.e using computers and talented 3D artists, is becoming old hat?

Be interested to hear thoughts on it. I’m not calling it right or wrong, I just think it asks some interesting questions.

This is the latest post from the How-Do Knowledgebank.

What is Motion Design? What better place to start than the current source of all knowledge…wikipedia:

“Motion Design is a subset of graphic design in that it uses graphic design principles in a or video production context (or other temporally evolving visual medium) through the use of animation of filmic techniques. Examples include the kinetic typography and graphics you see as the titles for a film, or opening sequences for television or the spinning, web-based animations, three-dimensional station identification logo for a television channel.”

As an area of design that seems to be continually expanding there are a whole spectrum of specialties and niches within the field. The boundaries to what is and what isn’t within it are subjective. These are what I see as the main crafts within this sector.

Animation

Firstly there is pure animation, the purest form being traditional hand drawn, cell-by-cell, like the original Disney cartoons. Similar in content and production is the stop frame kind of work produced by the likes of Aardman, another craft that requires huge amounts of patience.

More locally the most famous exponents have been one of my great inspirations and hero’s the sadly demised Cosgrove Hall (Chorlton & The Wheelies, Wind In The Willows). Also in this field we have 3D computerized animation, from international studios like Pixar, or Manchester’s very own Studio Liddell who produced the CGI for a big children’s hit, Roary the Racing Car amongst many others. Animation is a field that has a great heritage in the northwest from Dangermouse through to Fifi and the Flowertots.

Post Production
Continuing further in the 3D computerized world you have the CGI side of things, Producing ‘post production’ effects, in other words adding some wow to footage. From the top end “Harry Potter ” effects produced by the big post-houses (generally in Soho), you move down the line, although often not in quality, to special effects produced for TV shows. At the other end of the spectrum: a simple “green screen” job where you remove the green background from a shoot and place the subject in a different environment. All, in my opinion, are parts of the motion design field.

Motion Graphics
Alongside some bits of post-production and effects I’d say we sit in the motion graphics area. This can involve designing brands for programmes or companies, titles, advertising and jobs for the corporate sector. The biggest exponents in the moving brands field, are probably Moving Brands, hence the name! However broadcast design studios, and the companies that specialize in corporate clients also design brands. They will receive a brief like any design firm, the difference being the element of movement. Inevitably as part of the brief a Motion Design company will need to design the logo and brand of the product/show they are working for.

The ultimate aim of motion design is to move between points, different frames of a story. That’s why most jobs start with a storyboard. It explains the key points of the journey, and is a way of putting down on paper the thoughts and processes before committing to the final product.

Whereas print design, and web in (most forms) is a static form, the added element in our field is movement. It sounds so simple when written down, but when you’re trying to explain what you do to an elderly relative it’s not so straightforward! I actually explained what work I did at a conference recently to someone who was amazed the profession even existed! This article from vimeo (currently the main website to look at for the creative community) has some interesting points. . This section in particular where it explains the factors that motion design has to consider during production:

Timing and duration is critical for the motion designer to always keep an eye on. Just as in video production, flashing an image on screen too quickly can be jarring and may not get the message across. Conversely, leaving a graphic up for too long can cause the audience to lose interest. Keeping your movement organic is also very important (and I don’t mean keeping your movements pesticide-free). Think about driving a car very fast when it comes to a complete stop. When you stop, the car doesn’t instantly go from full speed to a standstill. Coming to that stop should be gradual. The same idea applies when beginning a movement. A car doesn’t instantly take off, it gradually works its way up to full speed. The more objects match our expectations of movement the more convincing and engaging your audience will find them.

And finally, back to wikipedia for the summary of what it all means:

“The term [Motion Graphics] is useful for distinguishing still graphics from graphics with a transforming appearance over time without over-specifying the form.”

This week was the Media Festival in Manchester, nice to have something like this on the doorstep so it seemed a good thing to head over to, for several reasons; to meet a few new faces, catch up with some old ones, and also to see if I could pick up anything new or any insights on future directions in the media landscape.

The quality of speakers was great, a nice broad reach of topics from the modern forms of news gathering, to social gaming. Lots of talk of maintaining IP and utilising the 4th screen (which some research from Yahoo seemed to say viewers weren’t as bothered about as maybe a lot of the media would like to think), but less talk about embracing and nurturing the creativity behind the content. My over-riding impression about what the future holds was no one really knows. “We don’t pretend to have all the answers” (James Burstall – Argonon) and “We haven’t a clue where we’ll be in 5 years” (Lou Cordwell – magneticNorth) were a couple of the stand out quotes, and not from new pretenders but professionals with dozens of years of experience behind them. Not that this is a bad thing. This came as a statement of promise, that the future is about collaboration and exploring new avenues…which undoubtably makes the field more exciting to be involved in.

It is bound to be the case that in the current climate there will be excitement about the connectivity and social aspects of all that is happening, but not at the expense of the craft behind it. Without the craft there is no content. One presentation that did discuss this side a little more was the one I approached thinking it had an air of ‘gimmick’ about it. In a session on the 3D work of Sky and Atlantic came the statement from John Cassy (Director of Sky 3D) that their commissioning approach is very much “Tell us the story, tell us who the characters are, tell us how the viewer gets involved and then we’ll consider 3D”. Nice to hear that they don’t approach it in the old sense of 3D which always seemed to be “What can we shoot to make people go ‘oooh!’”

Overall an interesting few sessions. Can’t say it addressed any of the work we do at Mighty Giant in much detail but nice to get out of the design bubble from time to time and see what the wider media world is involved in.

We’ve given Mighty Giant a new look, a new website, and a freshening up ready for 2012. The old look no longer seemed to match the direction the work was taking, so I guess it’s a case of the brand following the product….which most branding gurus would now be shaking their heads at. However as a young company in a rapidly changing media world it seems the right time to do it. What do you think?