Puppeteer.
Puppetry - for anything inanimate to appear alive.
- Why puppets? Magic! Animism
- Not restricted by human form
Acting course, theatre-ish - think about the whole stage characterisation
'Faulty optic' ---> invisible thread.
Create whole worlds on the stage, be in control of everything. A year at home making and learning puppets ---> little performance venue etc. Audience feels different with puppet/acting. Used her as landscape w/costume.
Odd doll puppetry - make shows for touring ---> always creating something to sell. Adults and children. Shadow art b/c BGT ---> popularity of shadow puppet workshop going up so she held some herself.
Dabbling with shadow puppet film ---> w/ a quiet word (shadow puppet company) experiment = collab with dancer. Use shadow, puppet, silhouette, project as installation. 'Importance of sharing my practice''
---> Night called 'Animate Live' - puppeteers, musicians, improvised performance. MA student at LCA - figure out what she does, 'celebrating the darkness within' ---> validating yourself - THE UNCANNY 'combining objects and puppets'/ Made an idea that didn't work so now trying again. Collab- important.
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Though puppeteering isn't really relevant to my practice (and I don't think that I would like to design for puppets), some of the things that she mentioned acting wise was interesting, and I like her idea of creating whole worlds on the stage and being in control of everything, along with using herself as the landscape with the costume. Finding other ways for the puppets to interact could be good to think about when it comes to creating and designing for animation, especially or more experimental animation.
Wednesday 25 February 2015
Monday 23 February 2015
Kath Shackleton Talk
Fettle - run own company (w/Zain Whittingham)
- Childrens' baftas
Pitch interview from BBC but rejected, had to let go of people. Didn't give up, eventually got another pitch. Pitching = persuasion.
Not always about quality - price, time, were uninspired by their previous work. "TV people do not innovate, they iterate".
"Children's media conference" - did a pitching course. Had stuff prepared before - showed original holocaust animation on tablet - pitch woman asked for links etc. Ultimately rejected. (1/100 ideas accepted) ---> months later 9pm friday email from pitch woman, got a meeting.
Animation tax break - 25% budget back.
Still waiting for final wages from June. Had to cut down recorded material A LOT. 'No experienced enough' - given executive producers but they actually helped. Worked with a LOT of trainees, dropped b/c ego and/or skills. A LOT of people taking money out of production budget but it worked out.
Needed to sell after making - asked and emailed everyone - 'weird subject'. MANY NETWORKING EVENTS.
Sydney Neter - all sorts of sales related to holocaust so took them on. Scale and size of team got bigger.
What you write is MINIMAL a bit about you, bg, your audience, one line about show. No career development, so support - animation.
Find projects that naturally work with your skills.
Identify where your strengths lie. Breakfast networking conferences. Butter people up. Track down everyone on social media that she could see were going to the media conference - "professional talking".
I found Kath's talk interesting - it showed that even after successes you may still fail, but even after failing you may still find success. She mentioned a lot of interesting things about pitching (even if I'm not crazy about the idea of pitching) and left us with a very useful sheet about it. She put a lot of emphasis on networking as well which I am already trying to do, but going to the children's media conference does sound like s good place to meet people and find out maybe a bit more about working in that area of the media industry even if it isn't necessarily animation related.
- Childrens' baftas
Pitch interview from BBC but rejected, had to let go of people. Didn't give up, eventually got another pitch. Pitching = persuasion.
Not always about quality - price, time, were uninspired by their previous work. "TV people do not innovate, they iterate".
"Children's media conference" - did a pitching course. Had stuff prepared before - showed original holocaust animation on tablet - pitch woman asked for links etc. Ultimately rejected. (1/100 ideas accepted) ---> months later 9pm friday email from pitch woman, got a meeting.
Animation tax break - 25% budget back.
Still waiting for final wages from June. Had to cut down recorded material A LOT. 'No experienced enough' - given executive producers but they actually helped. Worked with a LOT of trainees, dropped b/c ego and/or skills. A LOT of people taking money out of production budget but it worked out.
Needed to sell after making - asked and emailed everyone - 'weird subject'. MANY NETWORKING EVENTS.
Sydney Neter - all sorts of sales related to holocaust so took them on. Scale and size of team got bigger.
What you write is MINIMAL a bit about you, bg, your audience, one line about show. No career development, so support - animation.
Find projects that naturally work with your skills.
Identify where your strengths lie. Breakfast networking conferences. Butter people up. Track down everyone on social media that she could see were going to the media conference - "professional talking".
I found Kath's talk interesting - it showed that even after successes you may still fail, but even after failing you may still find success. She mentioned a lot of interesting things about pitching (even if I'm not crazy about the idea of pitching) and left us with a very useful sheet about it. She put a lot of emphasis on networking as well which I am already trying to do, but going to the children's media conference does sound like s good place to meet people and find out maybe a bit more about working in that area of the media industry even if it isn't necessarily animation related.
Thursday 12 February 2015
James Wall Talk
2010 graduate with a First.
Bought equipment during uni. Made short film on Youtube. Connections through collaborations. 6 months - 10 films/2months - lots of portfolio stuff - was noticed by actors and people wanting to work with him. Decided to do feature length. Fundraiser, bad timing and failed attempts. Instagram and Twitter support. Launched a pre-production site. Contacted by distribution companies. Wanted to buy if he had a star name attached.
Realised scheduling issues - needed more planning. Skype, PDFs, all digital.
Unscheduled changed improved the story. Nearly a year in post production compared to 2 weeks filming. Also freelancing and working full time - freelancing go him a lot more money. Hated the film a that point.
People enjoyed 7 mins so broke it down into chunks = more content, lots of social media = build up interest + interaction = more audience. Asked for reviews before posting.
'Internet famous' etc - more followers to see it. Stay up late emailing *everything* to get the news/word out.
Got to do a talk at BAF. Got a sequel funded (meeting in August).
2010 = graduate - 2012 - make film - 2013 - publish film - 2014 funding offer.
Cash from youtube partner thing. Film more for portfolio etc rather than anything else, little financial return. 'My calling card' Youtube - international.
Could have planned for subtitles. Lot of work. Freelancing through uni. LINKEDIN. Look for marketing companies. Recommendations between companies. He went to a company w/a brief (look at what you can do on youtube) took his brief and ideas to someone else. Rebranded as a company after a while; 'Creative Director'. Told a company 'this is a job role you need filled, I can do it' became content creator for 11th biggest site in UK. Company, freelance + graphic designer. Still Leeds based. 'Travel to where work is' is v-important. Does a lot in Manchester (after Bradford). Some in London. Networking > being good at the job. Social Media - thumbs up. "Chatting shit is important". Blag.
Business networking events for work.
Job at the start of freelancing but recurring commissions. Be careful w/contracts etc. Identify what you are going to do for the company. Difference between professional person or yourself. Don't get disheartened. You're always as good as the last thing you made so keep improving.
Bought equipment during uni. Made short film on Youtube. Connections through collaborations. 6 months - 10 films/2months - lots of portfolio stuff - was noticed by actors and people wanting to work with him. Decided to do feature length. Fundraiser, bad timing and failed attempts. Instagram and Twitter support. Launched a pre-production site. Contacted by distribution companies. Wanted to buy if he had a star name attached.
Realised scheduling issues - needed more planning. Skype, PDFs, all digital.
Unscheduled changed improved the story. Nearly a year in post production compared to 2 weeks filming. Also freelancing and working full time - freelancing go him a lot more money. Hated the film a that point.
People enjoyed 7 mins so broke it down into chunks = more content, lots of social media = build up interest + interaction = more audience. Asked for reviews before posting.
'Internet famous' etc - more followers to see it. Stay up late emailing *everything* to get the news/word out.
Got to do a talk at BAF. Got a sequel funded (meeting in August).
2010 = graduate - 2012 - make film - 2013 - publish film - 2014 funding offer.
Cash from youtube partner thing. Film more for portfolio etc rather than anything else, little financial return. 'My calling card' Youtube - international.
Could have planned for subtitles. Lot of work. Freelancing through uni. LINKEDIN. Look for marketing companies. Recommendations between companies. He went to a company w/a brief (look at what you can do on youtube) took his brief and ideas to someone else. Rebranded as a company after a while; 'Creative Director'. Told a company 'this is a job role you need filled, I can do it' became content creator for 11th biggest site in UK. Company, freelance + graphic designer. Still Leeds based. 'Travel to where work is' is v-important. Does a lot in Manchester (after Bradford). Some in London. Networking > being good at the job. Social Media - thumbs up. "Chatting shit is important". Blag.
Business networking events for work.
Job at the start of freelancing but recurring commissions. Be careful w/contracts etc. Identify what you are going to do for the company. Difference between professional person or yourself. Don't get disheartened. You're always as good as the last thing you made so keep improving.
Tuesday 10 February 2015
Importance of Research in Design
Research before design is extremely important. Jumping in without any thought can make for ineffective designs, and a lot of the time it shows.
Three big things that I focus my research on when doing a projects is Audience, Content, and Style.
Your work will always be seen by someone, but that someone depends on what it is used for and where it is shown. For example, if it was to be shown on a children's channel, then it must be suitable for children, and something like Adult Swim would not show CBeebies-esque work. Your audience informs both your style and content, though sometimes one of these can be less aimed at the audience if the other makes sure to concentrate on it - you could have adult content, in a childish design, like South Park, which is effective because of just how much the content is relied on and where/when the animation is shown.
By content, when talking about character design, I am talking about what it is that you are designing - a character from a certain setting, or culture. For example, if you were to design characters from a Roman setting, but not research it at all then you would mostly likely end up with some crude, stereotypical designs that more than likely would not stand out from the next guy doing Roman designs. Historical accuracy makes for more effective, coherent designs - and you might find something different that other people don't use much but that works really well.
Especially for more sophisticated or complex projects, historical research can go a long way to make sure that your designs are competent and interesting. Claire Hummel, character designer on Bioshock Infinite posted some advice about researching on her Tumblr;
Another thing to consider is the medium in which these designs will be used; animation, on a whole, uses much less detailed designs than games or comics. With animators have to animate so many frames in 2D, many details would take so much longer to do. In games or 3D animation, a 3D model will be made and the details will not have to be repeated as the character is animated, and it would generally take much less time to animate the details that may move.
Rules can always be broken, and sometimes great character design can come from that. Overall though, being informed and knowing what it is that you are designing and who it is that will be viewing your work is always a great idea, and should be a very important consideration for your designs.
Three big things that I focus my research on when doing a projects is Audience, Content, and Style.
Your work will always be seen by someone, but that someone depends on what it is used for and where it is shown. For example, if it was to be shown on a children's channel, then it must be suitable for children, and something like Adult Swim would not show CBeebies-esque work. Your audience informs both your style and content, though sometimes one of these can be less aimed at the audience if the other makes sure to concentrate on it - you could have adult content, in a childish design, like South Park, which is effective because of just how much the content is relied on and where/when the animation is shown.
By content, when talking about character design, I am talking about what it is that you are designing - a character from a certain setting, or culture. For example, if you were to design characters from a Roman setting, but not research it at all then you would mostly likely end up with some crude, stereotypical designs that more than likely would not stand out from the next guy doing Roman designs. Historical accuracy makes for more effective, coherent designs - and you might find something different that other people don't use much but that works really well.
Especially for more sophisticated or complex projects, historical research can go a long way to make sure that your designs are competent and interesting. Claire Hummel, character designer on Bioshock Infinite posted some advice about researching on her Tumblr;
ADVICE FOR RESEARCHING HISTORICAL FASHIONWhen it comes to Style, research really depends on the project. For some people, their own style is fine, and they will continue to stick to that. Other places have a house style, and they will be looking for other people who can imitate that. For example, a lot of Disney's artists use styles similar to Glen Keane and Jim Kim (most probably because that is a preferred style at CalArts, where a great deal of their newer employees come from). Cartoon Network also has noticeable styles (although this is in part because of the fact that a lot of their biggest hits were created by them same person, but using styles that do incorporate bold colours, lines and shapes are what they prefer, and what appeal to their audience much more. That isn't to say that you can't ever push the boat out and do something completely different, but different audiences require different things and it is always worth paying attention to what sort of style is popular to a specific audience.
- Read, and read about more than just costuming. Allowing yourself to understand the cultural and historical context surrounding the clothing of a particular region/period can be invaluable in sussing out good costume design. Looking at pictures is all well and good, but reading about societal pressures, about construction techniques, daily routines, local symbolism, whatever else will really help you understand the rhyme and reason behind costuming from any given context.
- Expand your costume vocabulary. When you’re delving into a new topic, costuming or otherwise, picking up new terminology is essential to proper understanding and furthering your research. Write down or take note of terms as you come across them- google them, look up synonyms, and use those words as a jumping off point for more research. What’s a wire rebato? How does it differ from a supportasse? Inquiring minds want to know.
- Double-check your sources. Especially on the internet, and double especially on tumblr. I love it, but it’s ground zero for rapidly spreading misinformation. Books are usually your safest bet, but also take into account their date of publication, who’s writing them- an author’s biases can severely mangle their original source material.
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Do everything you can to find out information on your own, but feel free to reach out to people with more specialized areas of knowledge for help! Be considerate about it- the people you’re asking are busy as well- but a specific line of questioning that proves you’re passionate and that you respect their subject matter expertise can work wonders.
Another thing to consider is the medium in which these designs will be used; animation, on a whole, uses much less detailed designs than games or comics. With animators have to animate so many frames in 2D, many details would take so much longer to do. In games or 3D animation, a 3D model will be made and the details will not have to be repeated as the character is animated, and it would generally take much less time to animate the details that may move.
Rules can always be broken, and sometimes great character design can come from that. Overall though, being informed and knowing what it is that you are designing and who it is that will be viewing your work is always a great idea, and should be a very important consideration for your designs.
Crowdfunding
It can be hard for artists to create things that they want - getting the funding, having time outside of work to do things as well as raising awareness of their projects, especially when just starting out or planning a huge project that isn't something they could/would want to pitch.
Of course, this internet can help with these things nowadays - especially campaign starters such as Kickstarter and IndieGogo. They are crowd funding platforms that let artists ask the public for funding on a project, showing any work already done for the project/the intention/aim of the project - essentially a pitch to the whole internet. Generally they will offer incentives, like prints or bookmarks or little extras so that the backers have a little bit more to show for their donation. Both sites have been around from 2008/2009, producing a lot of successful projects.
I feel like this could be a great way to get a project started if I want to, although I think that something like an animation may be more successful and stand out, although that would mean definitely collaborating. However, there are options for smaller projects/pieces of work; Patreon is a site that allows you to set up your own page, where patrons can donate money every time you create art, or a fixed monthly fee can be paid instead. Patreon takes a 5% commission from this. The average person donates $7 per creation which is not bad when you consider how big an audience some people have.bThe site was initially made for musicians, but it has become increasingly popular with artists, especially webcomic artists who will consistently be posting work.
Patreon started out much more recently, in 2013. The creator themselves produced content on the internet and thought that it would be much better to have a way to get regular income than constant crowdfunding campaigns from other crowdfunding sites, which does make sense. I think that artists would benefit much more from using Patreon for their own work, but when it comes to collaboration or something that involves physical purposes, then Kickstarter or IndieGogo would be a much better choice. I would like to join Patreon when I get the the point where I am confident enough that people want to view my work and may actually pay for it; my art needs to be more consistent and confident, and I would need to produce it much more often but I think that it would be great to get to that point and actually be able to earn my own money through this.
Of course, this internet can help with these things nowadays - especially campaign starters such as Kickstarter and IndieGogo. They are crowd funding platforms that let artists ask the public for funding on a project, showing any work already done for the project/the intention/aim of the project - essentially a pitch to the whole internet. Generally they will offer incentives, like prints or bookmarks or little extras so that the backers have a little bit more to show for their donation. Both sites have been around from 2008/2009, producing a lot of successful projects.
I feel like this could be a great way to get a project started if I want to, although I think that something like an animation may be more successful and stand out, although that would mean definitely collaborating. However, there are options for smaller projects/pieces of work; Patreon is a site that allows you to set up your own page, where patrons can donate money every time you create art, or a fixed monthly fee can be paid instead. Patreon takes a 5% commission from this. The average person donates $7 per creation which is not bad when you consider how big an audience some people have.bThe site was initially made for musicians, but it has become increasingly popular with artists, especially webcomic artists who will consistently be posting work.
Patreon started out much more recently, in 2013. The creator themselves produced content on the internet and thought that it would be much better to have a way to get regular income than constant crowdfunding campaigns from other crowdfunding sites, which does make sense. I think that artists would benefit much more from using Patreon for their own work, but when it comes to collaboration or something that involves physical purposes, then Kickstarter or IndieGogo would be a much better choice. I would like to join Patreon when I get the the point where I am confident enough that people want to view my work and may actually pay for it; my art needs to be more consistent and confident, and I would need to produce it much more often but I think that it would be great to get to that point and actually be able to earn my own money through this.
Social Networking for Group Projects
Social Networks are extremely helpful for collaborative projects, especially where members are involved in many parts of the project.
Having a Facebook lets you share links and images straight away, where people can easily leave comments and feedback. A conversation could be started around something posted on there, and the layout of the site lets you know exactly what that person is commenting/replying to. There are different privacy settings if you only want certain people to be able to find it, and it is easy enough to add or delete people as and when needed.
You can also share/add people to pinterest boards, letting them see every bit of research you are doing (or even pieces of work, although I find a lot less original work on here). A lot of pins are sourced (even though really, they all should be) and that can give you more places to look for research. Again, the adding/inviting settings are easy enough, and the tag system lets you find all manner of things to add.
There are other sites that are useful for sharing work, but these are some of my favorites, especially for the sort of projects I am doing at the moment. I feel like this is a helpful and efficient way of working, especially if you only see some people in the project once or twice a week.
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