Hat Trick Productions invited me to pitch for the titles to their upcoming comedy series, ‘Some Girls’.
Discovery Channel - NorthWest Wild Promo
Test frames for graphic interstitials.
AXN Promo - ‘Monday Night Action’
I can’t speak Italian so I’m not precisely sure what the VO is saying in this promo but it’s along the lines of ‘Don’t Miss the Action’ or ‘Impossible to Miss’. Focussing on the key message of ‘not missing’, Lambie Productions pitched this shooting target concept for AXN’s new ‘Monday Night Action’ promo. (See my storyboard design below.)
I spent two weeks animating two versions of the sequence in Cinema 4D and After Effects. AXN were very happy….but they did make a couple of requests! I don’t think the B&W film star pics are really necessary in addition to the VT. Plus, the official master had the red drop shadow removed from the text which was a shame in my opinion so I’ve restored it to its former glory for you all to see!
AXN Promo - ‘Monday Night Action’
This storyboard was presented to the client to demonstrate the general look of our proposal. In particular, they were interested in the typography and how vt could be incorporated into the concept.
H3G Promo for AXN Italy nominated for 2012 Promax BDA Europe Award
Best On Demand/Catch-Up Promotion category
AXN Brand Promo - ‘All the Faces of Action’
Ever since I finished AXN’s ‘Moment in Time’ channel promo a couple of years ago, I’ve fancied applying the same technique to human faces. I was also influenced by Onesize’s amazing Playground Festival titles from 2009.
Projection mapping is the technique of projecting a 2D picture onto a 3D object. The 3D geometry gives the picture a third dimension which you can exploit by panning or zooming the camera. You can’t move too much otherwise you start to see the distortion of the image stretched around the sides and back.
At last, back in November, I got the perfect opportunity to do it. Lambie Productions asked me to pitch an idea for AXN’s new brand promo showcasing the upcoming season of programmes. The brief was to focus on the characters’ faces and reveal or dissect them in a ‘cutting edge way’. I won the pitch (see below) and spent January animating it.
I started off using a piece of software called FaceShop which is supposed to generate 3D models from photos but I found it fairly useless. It seemed to generate identical models from different photos. It did at least give me a decent starting point which I then pushed and pulled around in Cinema 4D to fit the various characters. The projections all go a bit wrong around the nostrils so you’ll notice there’s no shots looking up noses! Next, I used Nitro4D’s Thrausi C4D plugin to fracture the model into pieces. Once the model was fractured it was fairly simple using C4D’s mograph to animate the pieces exploding apart in various ways.
As usual with Lambie Productions, I worked closely with director Tim Lacey to reach the final outcome.
AXN Brand Promo - ‘All the Faces of Action’
(Storyboard pitch explaining one transition.)
PBS Idents
PBS, the US public service broadcaster, launched in the UK earlier this month. Creative branding agency Dunning Penney Jones (DPJ) were appointed to create their on-air branding.
DPJ devised a concept which communicates the brand promise of ‘Epic True Stories’ and the breadth of content to be featured on the new channel across it’s four key programming genres: history, science, current affairs and arts and entertainment. The simple yet visually arresting concept takes the viewer on a journey through vibrant imagery, using dynamic camera moves to create an infinite photographic montage.
Under the direction of DPJ designer Peter Allinson, Mooschool animated the concepts using Trapcode Form to produce a huge grid of picture circles. The Trapcode plugin cast another picture over all the circles, visible only when a camera is set back enough to enable 20,000 circles/dots to provide enough definition. A lot of time was spent on developing the camera moves and smoothing the joins between a bigger picture becoming part of the next picture.
It was a challenging project; it often is when you’re so dependent on a plugin and its occasional irregularities. It’s the most I’ve thrown at a computer for a while. Staring at thousands of circles for a month certainly tested my sanity. But, sitting here watching the idents back afresh, I’m really pleased with them and, more importantly, DPJ and PBS are too.
PBS UK is on Sky Channel 166.
Having worked with Mooschool in the past, I knew they had the ability for this challenging production. Their skill, dedication and enthusiasm for a project is always appreciated, and they’re great fun to work with too.
RBS Sponsorship Ident
Here’s a simple but, hopefully you’ll agree, polished ident we recently designed and animated for M&C Saatchi. RBS sponsored ‘Jack Nicklaus’ Greatest Open Course’, a documentary broadcast on STV to celebrate 150 years of the Open championship.
Thomson Reuters
The branding agency, Jack Morton invited Mooschool to present ideas for the global launch of Thomson Reuters new financial website. The main event of the launch was based around 4 huge LED arches tunneling towards an HD 16:9 LED screen. Our concept centred around the idea of this financial tool ‘connecting financial professionals around the globe.’ This animatic, explaining the opening sequence, was part of our pitch which unfortunately we lost to th1ng.
AXN Mobile
Sony AXN Italy have teamed up with 3 Mobile to make the AXN and AXN Sci-Fi channels available on mobile phones. Lambie Productions commissioned Mooschool to help them create an explosion-packed 30sec sequence promoting the new service.
