Studio Diary - Team Logo

For my latest brief we formed teams of two, to film a postcard of manchester and had to come up with a team name and logo! This is my idea, as we decided on the name "Northern Monkeys" and I wanted to show a cheeky monkey chilling out with a street art vibe and of course the manchester red brick!

Hand drawn and then messed with in photo shop, the result!

Review - How to Train Your Dragon

Went to see this film today with Louis and we both loved it! It had all the elements of a beautifully filmed live film and they realised this amazingly with animation. It had ambience, great lighting and a believability......I was completely drawn in. Of course it did help having the 3D element and it was in fact the first film I have seen in 3D that actually worked. I have found that a lot of films have been brought out in 3D and it has been pointless and unnecessary, but the whole element of speed and flying was definitely enhanced wonderfully through the element of 3D.

The dragons, were amazing, me and Louis came away wanting a pet one, they were shown to have cat like qualities and the use of eyes as a point of communication was very effective. It is all about the eyes!!!! There is a lovely part when they make friends as seen on the clip above, and the dragon decides to share his food with the boy. It uses alternative communication brilliantly and reminded me of when you feed a baby and have to use head gestures to get the point across. Such a simple idea, but it makes me wonder would I have thought about that! There is such a lot to take into consideration to make a piece beautiful.....I need to watch more films....is that possible!!!!!

I am a bit of a sucker for a tale of mythology and action and a all ends well tale, but even without this I loved the film, because I think you would have to have a hard unchildlike heart to not be drawn in. It had all the style of a film epic with great panoramic views and music and it showed how far and fast CG is moving. My favourite moment was when there had been a massive explosion and the ash flew around the cinema, the lighting was low and the sound almost completely silent and the ash was floating around your head. It was tres tres cool!!!!

So a definite thumbs up for this film....go see!

Cool!

I love this album cover. Great colours, and love the use of line to create the movement of the waves and the jaunty angle of the boat and the typography lends this to a young demographic. I also really like the use of texture in the cover, the sky in particular and this sort of style I think lends itself really well to my infographics piece. Shall have a play around!

Bob Dylan and Robin Hood Tax

I think I may go for Bob.....it has the message for the cause, he has purposefully used really general reference points so the song is both iconic and lasting!

Other ideas include;
Isley Brothers - Harvest for the World

I posted this on Facebook and got a huge variety of suggestions including Grandmaster Flash - The Message and Nine Inch Nails - The Hand that Feeds You, but definitely to wordy and not suitable for my stand up and fight in a merry way, folky vibe!

Posted it to the Robin Hood Tax page and they had a vote and are all in favour of the Bob Dylan idea, so I reckon that's my tune!

Studio Diary - A paid design job!!!!

So have just been commissoned by my local pub to create a poster for a band night. It has to be black and white and I have a few logos that need to be included but other than that I can do what I like. It is a poorly paid job, but paid all the same.....my first £20 for my work (well not 100% true but keeps the poor student designer image up)!!!! :)
I'll keep you posted with my progress but it'll be all about thirds, contrast and lines I think although may throw in a character or 2!

Review - Shaun the Sheep

Have just watched this with Louis and I completely forgot how amazing this is. With reference to some of the points made by Barry Purves it shows the art of the gag set up really well, but what I love most is that like watching a good silent movie you hardly notice it has no speaking in it. This is due to amazing music, the tempo tells the story so well and for example there is a very definite sound when Shaun has an idea etc. Also the use of expression or the thought process can be seen really well, so it goes to show there are times when less is more and the need for a language based narrative is totally unnecessary.

And who can resist a laughing sheep :)

Studio Diary - Bits and Bobs

Just going through some of my bits and bobs and found this in my photos. It is my mood board for the "You" Brief. I started out as a mood board and it slowly became more of a picture or piece of art but I wanted to call it a mood board as I felt it really captured what the whole feel of my piece was to be like. Anyway feel free to comment or critique constructively! Although probably won't change it :)