What impressed me most was the people who dedicate their time to producing this kind of theatre purely to enrich peoples lives and leave us with the memories. I guess you can say this about all theatre, but with something so public it feels different. It was great to see the streets of Liverpool slowly building the crowds as the time approached for each of the characters to appear.

Would love to see more of this more often, but I guess making it such a unique event only adds to it’s charm and significance. Great job everyone involved.

Since then plenty has been going on. We’ve been working on a new CBBC show that is in development for this summer, the new Radio 1 Chart titles (motion graphics for radio, never thought that one would happen), a set of animations for Blue Peter, pitches pitches pitches, indents for 2 Far East airlines, and currently working on a film for Save The Children. How’s that for a mixed bag.

What we’re allowed to show we will of course post in due course. Keep them peeled.

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.

Some stuff that really inspires, some that just baffles, some that blows your mind! If you’ve got a spare few minutes it’s worth a browse.

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.”