Arty Owl

An bit of a long overdue update

2011-07-28T20:55:00.001+01:00

Well it's been a while since I last wrote about what I've been up to, so I felt it prudent to get back up to speed.

Since late March I have been working with Carse & Waterman on a big project, sadly I contractually can't mention much about it beyond that I was directing, it was a lot of fun to work on and we certainly learnt a few things along the way, particularly during the last month or so of 10-12h days (by choice, because we love our art that is!) That came to a conclusion, minus a few tweaks we've been asked to make, about a week ago now so things have settled down a touch, though there are still more projects on the go here of course.

One of which was getting the Carse & Waterman website overhauled (did I mention I work with them a lot these days?), which between India and myself - with some input and opinion from Mr Carse and Mr Waterman - has come out looking preeeetty good if I do say so myself! It has also led me to the conclusion that my own website is now looking like it could do with a spruce up, to catch up with my (hopefully) improved levels of design and technical ability.

I also have had some really exciting developments in the last few weeks with regard to a new position in September (I won't say more just yet until it's all finalised), and some more progress on the hunt for a place to carry out a PhD... oh did I not mention that yet... wow it HAS been a while. I'll have to go into that in more depth later! Hmm, which is now also making me feel like this blog page could also do with some shoe shine, another one to add to the list while I overhaul the main website.

Coming up in the next few days I shall be popping off up to Liverpool to visit the Magritte exhibition! (which is on until the 16th of October for anyone else who might be interested) And we start work on the pitch for a new project... which once again I can't say anything about other that it's a really really good one... you'll just have to take my word for it.

All the best for now peeps!

Math

P.S. I almost forgot, please take a look at the work by Laura Weston, she has been a great employer and friend over this last year and led me into improving my skills in several new programs to meet her design project requirements.

May the Pie

2011-05-04T15:51:00.001+01:00

Do you want Mustard Pie for dinner today?

Not 'Mustard and Something'... just Mustard... on it's own.

We know almost all of you wanted a different filling, but there were so many options that it was easier just to get one big pie and Mustard had the most orders... so we got that one for all of us.

I know you said that if you couldn't have Cherry pie that you'd rather have Beef or even Cheese as you are allergic to Mustard... but that was too complicated so we just ignored what you said!

Now tuck in to your delicious slab of potentially life threatening Mustard Pie... yummy.

Tomorrow is May 5th. You might or might not be aware that it's a voting day for the UK. And this year it's a more important day than usual, one that will likely have an effect on much of the rest of your life in this country.

We are having a referendum on the way in which we vote in the future. Do we stay with the system we have (First Past The Post) or do change to a different system (the Alternative Vote)?

The incident of the Mustard Pie is an example of what frequently happens with our current First Past The Post system. And because we end up with something we didn't want it puts off a lot of people from ordering at all in the future. You might well be one of these people, either you no longer vote or you just don't care as "it doesn't make a difference".

But, if tomorrow the country says yes to changing to the Alternate Vote, we would no longer end up with that mustard pie situation. Take a look at this food based metaphor:

Here's your menu. What would you like?
We are getting one big pie for the table.

Ok so Cherry is your first choice but if most people don't want that you'd be ok with Veg, Beef or Cheese. Fair enough.

These are everyones first choices. There are a lot of strong opinions on what flavour people think is best. And Mustard has the most votes so far... but most people didn't choose Mustard. Maybe we should see if there is a filling the majority of people can agree on!

Cherry had the least votes so we defiantly aren't having that, sorry guys, but you did say if you couldn't have that you be happy to have a couple of the others instead?

Right, with Cherry gone the remaining fillings have got more votes. Mustard still has a lot of votes but most people still don't prefer that choice. Now Veg is the one with the least votes, so we aren't having that one. What did you guys say you would have in it's place?

After we eliminated several fillings it seems at least half of us would prefer to have Cheese Pie rather than the other fillings. It's settled then Cheese it is. Sorry Mustard lovers, but most people didn't want that forced upon them this time!

So that's how the Alternative Vote works, seems like a fairer idea yeah?

But why should you care?

Well voting isn't always just about putting people you might not like into power. We also get to make important decisions for the whole country during referendums, like this one. And next time it might be a decision on something you really care about: like which city a nuclear power station should be built next to, how much money should we spend before we stop bailing out failed banks, or under what circumstances the country should be allowed to go to war.

If we say yes to the Alternative Vote now it will give you a much better chance that your voice will not simply be ignored like the majority of people currently are with the current system! You will gain the power not only to say what you most want to happen but also, by choosing your other preferences, you will be able to say what you really don't want to happen!

Please, go out tomorrow May 5th and make your choice on the Alternative Vote!

Math

If you are not yet registered to vote you can quickly apply online here:
https://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/register_to_vote/electoral_registration_applica.aspx

And if you are still not convinced maybe this animation about cats will help:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiHuiDD_oTk

Vimeo just got that little bit closer to going Plus

2010-09-16T14:00:00.003+01:00

Ok odd thing to blog maybe, but I felt great pleasure at seeing some news in my email inbox today. Vimeo have finally decided to offer unlimited HD embedding for their ViemoPlus account holders!

This removes the main gripe I had with their video hosting service - i.e. that even if I had paid for the full account, if I embedded my showreel from Vimeo onto my website in HD it would only be viewable for a finite number of times per month, whereas YouTube were offering unlimited HD embedding for Free (granted it was unlikely that, at this stage, my showreel was going to be that popular that it would ever become a problem, but it was more the principal of the thing).

However all of that is now resolved with their removal of the monthly HD embed views cap. So I now feel happy with Vimeo as a professional video portal platform.

That said, I will probably continue to use YouTube for hosting my embeds for the time being; at least until cash-flow and page hits pick-up enough to justify a VimeoPlus account.

Math

My current understanding of what University 'is'

2010-09-04T14:15:00.007+01:00

Verbal Diarrhea Alert

It happened that I ended up rambling a bit today in response to a conversation thread about different peoples past, future and ongoing experiences and expectations of university. Because I rather erratically keep track of anything on Facebook and because I'd like to be able to read back on my thoughts at this time maybe when I'm somewhat older and wiser, the ramble is being duplicated here.

Feel free to read it if you are curious, I am not suggesting these words are anything even vaguely resembling a definitive answer, rather it's a small stream of my conscious of about 5 mins ago on my viewpoint of this particular topic, brutally (and I suspect somewhat egocentrically) copied and pasted into this blog. Equally if you're not curious at all don't feel any obligation read further :)

Math

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I think it's important for people to realise just how different university learning is compared to what they have grown used to at school and college and, moreover, how it needs to be approached differently.

We become used to the way of believing that there is a 'right' answer and a 'wrong' one and that "teacher is always right"; its a way of understanding that works for early education because it's largely 'facts' we deal with - times tables, the periodic table, how to cook banana bread etc. - but really it's not offen transitioned very well through our final years to the adult world of opinion, possibilities, critique and compromise. (largely, I believe, because of the various pressures put on teachers, schools and pupils alike which makes the childlike approach of a bias toward black and white teaching easier for all concerned - however I digress)

What I strongly believe, however, is that new students need to recognise that university is, and should be, a stage in life where you finally get the full freedoms of adulthood - you now get to make your own decisions in your own space. But with this freedom of decision also comes the responsibility of the consequences. By no means are you on your own, there are always people who can give advice, if you look for them - ultimately however, the decision is still up to you. The 'education' part of uni is no different.

Ultimately there are rules and boundaries set out, and life is certainly easier when you stay within them. But these boundaries are neither all-encircling nor impassable and, in the end, you will often find some of the greatest experiences, learning and rewards are actually found outside them.

Every module has it's briefs and criteria; these are here to be an anchor for your work not a wall to prevent you exploring. They tell you what your work 'should have', not what it 'cannot have'. Your job, and what your learning is driven by, is to play with what it 'COULD have'.

Your tutors are not the omniscient and perfect beings of early school, they are essentially the same as you or I; the only difference is they have had a few more years to think about things, more years to try things and have had different experiences in their life shaping who they are. Thus, now we have to adapt to the adult world of receiving guidance in the form of opinion rather than fact. Whenever people say you should take what has been said by someone with a "pinch of salt" they are right! You SHOULD question, research, double check what you have been told and, in the end, make your own decision. But that's not a unique rule to be applied to a selection of 'suspicious' or 'unqualified' individuals, rather it is something we should be doing with everyone we meet. It's not displaying a lack of trust for people, it's quite simply taking on the responsibility (and the freedom this provides!) of thinking for yourself.

As an oft-debated example: If you asked 100 different people in the animation industry what exactly the perfect showreel "should be" - and anyone who regularly attends animation festivals will discover this is a question that DOES get asked a lot - you will hear 100 different answers. Every one of them is right, and yet they would all be unique. Now, thats not to say there wouldn't be a great deal of agreement over certain points, but I've heard enough 'perfect showreel' answers to begin to realise that for every 'rule' that can be stated as a 'must' or 'must not' there is at least someone in the industry who would say the exact opposite - and if that someone just happens to be the person who is viewing your showreel for your perfect job...

In the end, as far as the showreel question is concerned, my experience thus far has told me, the best approach is: Firstly, for your general online-reel, appeal to as large a spectrum as possible by going with whatever popular opinion currently advises; and, secondly, where you are applying to a specific studio, try ringing / emailing them first to ask what 'they like', then weigh up how much work it would be to tweak your reel against how much you want that specific job and decide whether to send a custom reel or stick with your general one.

In closing, I'll say that, this step of 'asking the studios what they want on a reel' is an example of where that education you have come to university for is found. I believe, the money we pay to the university is to make available a selection of resources that enable US to learn skills and information, not to pay for them to put a hosepipe to our brains and pump it in (it would be great if they could, but sadly I'm currently unaware of the existence of this technology). Ultimately we will learn what WE go out and discover.

Ask and receive an opinion.
Seek and find possibilities.
Check everything through critique.
Discover a path with compromise.

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Graduation

2010-07-16T20:00:00.018+01:00

I graduated today.

A 1st Class with Honors in BA (Hons) Animation.
Also a 96.6% grade average.

Yay, go me :)

That is all.

Math

Current TV and Samsung Advert

2009-11-27T13:20:00.000Z

I have some good news!

After putting my 2008 showreel up on Vimeo I got an email from one of the marketing people at Current TV, saying they liked my work and asking if I would consider taking part in their upcoming VCAM brief for Samsung. Well, long story short, I took up the opportunity and produced a 30 second commercial for the Samsung 'Blue Earth' mobile phone, and when the final selection was announced my animation was on the list :)

So, after making a few overnight, minor alterations at the request of Samsung, it is now being shown on Current TV (Virgin Media 155, Sky 183 and various cable channels in America) and also online here: What If?

Hope you like it!

Math

Our ITV Signpost work is now online

2009-10-09T19:54:00.002+01:00

Just to let you know, the work Gary, Dan and myself produced for ITV Signpost at the start of the summer is now online. They have finished adding the sound, signing and other finishing touches to our video piece.

You can check it out here:
Signed Stories - Rock-A-Bye-Baby

Whilst I'm credited as an "Animator" in this, I was actually responsible for the compositing work; Gary Carse was the character animator for the project. Though, I can take credit for animating the opening camera flight... and being part of our crazy 5 minute re-pitch design work when we discovered we wern't going to be animating Hickory-Dickory-Dock! :D

Math

Entry to Animate She Wolf now complete!

2009-09-29T20:17:00.003+01:00

Just a quick note to say that, as of around 9.40am today, I've finally finished composting our collaborative entry to the Animate She Wolf music video contest. It's all up on YouTube (see links on the left) so if you feel like it, check it out and leave us some feedback. Also if you want to be very nice to us, vote "love it" on the Animate She Wolf contest page :)

What a lovely thing to be able to begin the blog with *beams contentedly*

Math