Showing posts with label Lectures on the professional world. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lectures on the professional world. Show all posts
Posted by
Julia Giordano
In:
Lectures on the professional world
Video Games Design & Comics Publishing
Today I attended two more lectures, the last ones. I feel quite relieved that they have finally come to an end. Although some of them conveyed interesting points, I've already heard most of their content at Mataró's university or read or heard about them. And some other facts could be simply deduced from those classes and by observing the world around us. Anyway, I admit that they allowed me to take a look at other people's work and experience.
Today Neil Thompson came to talk about his career in games design. He's a studio art director in London, for SCEE (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe) and he's been involved in the creation of Play Station 3 games. He actually showed us some examples of their products in the lecture theatre.
He talked about the different existing roles in a studio and insisted that the only prerequisits to work there are being able to turn one's hand on anything and being enthusiastic about computer graphics. I find this a bit simplistic, because studios will undoubtedly take on the most technically experienced candidate, but maybe luck and self-assurance might help some find their way up.
He also talked about the artistic aspect of games and how art offers a broad source of inspiration for graphics creation. He mentioned several films that had inspired him because of their photography and shots composition: Stanley Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon", Yimou Zhang's "Hero", Ron Fricke's "Baraka", Luc Besson's "Le Grand Bleu", Murnau's "Nosferatu", etc.
Inspiration can also be found in painters or even in the NASA photographic archive.
Finally, I went to Shane Chebsey's lecture, from Scar Comics. He works as a publisher, distributor, creator, editor and events organiser. He started by explaining why we may choose to start self-publishing: to showcase our work to larger publishers, to get feedback and to develop our own skills, to make money and develop our own brand, just for the fun of it or to produce material for TV or film.
When starting business, we may ask ourselves about the demand, about who's going to buy our comics and how and where we're going to sell them; who else does the same and whether he's successful or not...
In terms of finance, we need to consider the printing cost, professional fees, marketing and advertising, web hosting, postage, distribution, the number of copies we need to break even, etc.
In terms of creative options, we need to sort out some things like the format we're going to use: print, web, both? Do we want a graphic novel with long shelf life or a series of books that we'll need to sell quickly and in large amounts? Are we going to publish in black and white or with full colour? Do we need collaborative artists?
When considering production and printing, we should take into account that some decisions will affect the price we'll charge for the comic. We must decide if we're able to produce it all by ourselves, if we'd rather use digital short runs or large litho runs, if we need an ISBN number and a bar code...
We'll also have to get people to know our product, so we must think about advertising, networking, viral web marketing, attending conventions, sending out review copies to critics or artists that may give us their opinion, posting out flyers and posters to retailers, etc.
And the final stage of the business, distribution and sales. Shane explained to us that Diamond Comic has the monopoly on comics distribution in the Western hemisphere, but that other options for distribution could be online POD (Print On Demand), Turnaround Publisher Services, Amazon and Ebay, Haven Distributions in the USA, selling directly to retailers and from our own website or selling at conventions, at concerts, even at coffee shops.
Posted by
Julia Giordano
In:
Lectures on the professional world
Design & Video Production
Today's lectures weren't much related to my studies but I'll write a bit about them. The second one was by far the most interesting.
The first one was given by Steve Roke and it was called "A career in design". Its content didn't interest me very much, since he spoke about his diverse experiences in several agencies. After that he talked about some marketing issues I had already studied at university in Spain, like SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) and the PEST analysis. He finally gave us some tips about getting a job, presenting our CV and creating our website to show our work, about the importance of creating a good first impression, etc.
Daniel J. Fox's lecture was very enjoyable, since he spoke fast and with so much enthusiasm about his work at Chat Noir Productions Ltd. He graduated from NEWI in 2003 and he's done different kinds of productions since then, from a promotion video about a bricks factory to a music video, concerts and weddings recording and editing. He insisted that we should always keep in mind that our time is valuable and that we mustn't underestimate ourselves: if we think something isn't correct or that the client's offer is not profitable for us, we have the right to express our opinion. It may even be preferable to turn down an offer instead of being underpaid for our work. He admitted, though, that we'll probably have to do some bad paid work at the begginig of our careers, but insisted on the fact that we'll learn something from it and that every experience will help us progress and gain expertise. He added that accepting easy or boring projects will let us get time for our personal projects.
Posted by
Julia Giordano
In:
Lectures on the professional world
Linda McCarthy
After studying Ceramics, Linda started Animation at NEWI, she graduated in 2007 and then launched her own production company, Tiny Elephants Ltd. During her second year at the university she did the short stop-motion film "Little Circus" and in her last year she produced Small Birds Singing, a really nice short film adapted from a comic strip by Steven Appleby and that was screened last year at the Annecy Animation Festival and at many other festivals in the last two years. She's now working on a series of episodes about Small Birds Singing, and one new episode can be seen here, called "A traditional Christmas at Small Birds Singing".She showed us photographs of the creation process of SBS at Regent Street premises and at her home studio: the puppets, the characters clay heads, the props, etc. She talked about the soundtrack, made by professionals, and about the changes she's applied for the second episode, such as the use of After Effects software and the acquisition of armatures from Mackinnon & Saunders for the characters. Linda thanked Joe Dembinski's help, illuminator for the short film "The Sandman", by Paul Berry, because he's been her mentor and he helped her with her short film's illumination.
Posted by
Julia Giordano
In:
Lectures on the professional world
Joe List
He graduated from NEWI in 2005 and presented today's lecture as "4 years out. Advice from my limited career".
He explained to us that he's worked as a freelance and illustrator, that he's been a full time graphic designer and character designer and that he's also worked for Cosgrove Hall. He screened some examples of his works. For example, the character designs he did for Cosgrove Hall's short animated series called Eddie Retractorhead. He pointed out that he just did the designs and other people animated his characters. It was interesting to observe how some of the drawings appearing in his character sheets would turn up in the animated video looking exactly the same. That's an example of how important those complete preproduction designs are for the animated process and of how animators can make the most out of them.
He also showed us some of his graphic designs, websites and T-shirts designs for music bands.
I felt a little comforted when he admitted that selling his work as a freelance is not easy for him because he feels awkward and unconfident. And I totally agree with his last remark, which in fact I've applied to myself for a long time: he insisted that we should exploit every idea we have, that we should put them into practice or at least write them down for a future occasion.
And here are some links he gave us to some artists websites:
Posted by
Julia Giordano
In:
Lectures on the professional world
Freelance in the Creative Industries: Rick Villeneuve
Today's second lecture was given by Canadian animation director Richard Villeneuve, who's been in the animation world for almost 30 years.
He started by introducing himself and his work. Some of the productions he's been involved in are the Heavy Metal film, FernGully film, The Tales of Beatrix Potter, The Miracle Maker film, Mabinogi, Merlin and the dragons (as part of the Animated Tales of the World series) and Digi Dragons, among others.
After screening a showreel of some of his works, Rick explained to us 10 tips related to working as a freelancer.
1- P.A.Y.E. (Pay As You Earn) working has the upside of having the security of working for a company, but it doesn't give you as much creative freedom as you have as a freelancer and you have to accept the work they give you . The downside to a freelance job is the insecurity of your income, which puts much more pressure on you and requires financial discipline and maybe an accountant for tax pursposes.
2- When selling your work you can show a portfolio, a showreel, your website, your published work or the competitions you took part of. Rick insisted that we shouldn't just focus on the digital format and he assured us that companies are still interested in seeing "physical" work, such as sketch books. He remarked the convenience of doing collaborations and joining consortiums. And he insisted that we should know our own strengths and weaknesses to be aware of our possibilities and learn how to compensate them.
3- He told us about BECTU, the independent union of broadcasting, film, theatre, entertainment, leisure and interactive media workers of the UK. He ned to us how studio systems like the ones that would teach you while you were working for them don't do that any more. Besides, he warned us about the many tests we're going to be asked to do before entering a company and suggested not to specify the salary we are willing to receive in a job interview.
4- Rick suggested that we show our enthusiasm for our job by accepting to start a placement as a runner, receptionist or dogsbody in a company we're interested in, by being enterprising and working on our own projects in our free time and by being curious about the rest of the production system apart from our working area.
5- He asserted that is good to specialize but that we must be adaptable to styles, directors and specific roles and to the studio's personality, trying to focus on our area while learning as much as we can from the rest of the production proces.
6- We must be open to new ideas, approaches and techniques and search opportunities in different fields where an artistic aspect may need to be tackled: medicine, corporations, conferences, graphic design, architecture, perfomances...
7- It's important to have a secondary activity or a "fall back" talent to turn to when work's becoming scarce, and Rick insisted in accepting a job opportunity even when we're expecting another offer, because we can never be sure of how things are going to turn up.
8- He told us to keep in touch with useful contacts such as friends or colleagues to create a network and he also said that personal recommendations give a good impression.
9- He encouraged us to keep learning by attending seminars, workshops and festivals and developing new skills.
10- And he insisted that we maintain the passion for our work and that we consider choosing the freelancing life style, though we should give ourselves a break from time to time.
Finally, he gave us a quick advice on how to present our portfolios. The first impression is most important, so the cover has to be "catchy", the portfolio must be well bound and we should put our best work in it. We must be aware of our strengths and weaknesses, as said before, and we must talk about our professional experience. We must decide carefully our portfolio's format, our presentation must be clear and concise, we may want to attach some contact details and we should bring some support material with us, like a demo reel, publications, etc.
Posted by
Julia Giordano
In:
Lectures on the professional world
Design and Advertising: Paul Roberts
This week there's a series of conferences at Regent Street about several aspects of design, animation and about the professional world and how to present our work to agencies and enterprises. The first talk I attended today was given by Paul Roberts, who works in the advertising industry.
He started speaking about job applications, and he remarked the need of demonstrating lateral thinking and savvy and of standing out from the crowd to interest agencies. He also highlighted the fact that the job market situation is worse than any time in the last 20 years, though it has never been totally good. The economic crisis is affecting the industry and, in terms of design, even the governments shift design needs in their public projects.
He went on to explain that there are so many students looking for work that you need to make your application stand out from the rest. You need to research your target agencies, trying to figure out what their needs may be now and in the future, and you have to be diverse to increase your options, since agencies are getting smaller and more specialized. Moving on to digital is an advisable action, and you may consider making a digital portfolio, considering that the amount of digital work in many agencies has turned from 30% to 70% in a few years.
Agencies will be interested in hiring students because they cost less in wages and because they contribute fresh ideas and novel solutions. Even if your work is not sufficiently rewarded, you may use each placement you get in an agency to extend your portfolio.
When talking about the creative work, Paul insisted on the need to wow and excite your audience, whatever media you work in. So, you have to know your target audience and try to apply the K-I-S-S principle: Keep-It-Simple-Stupid, because the best ideas, according to him, are the simplest. You need to focus on the most important characteristic of the product, because putting many facts may cause people to lose them. You must make sure that your message management is clear. When presenting your ideas, it's advisable to show more than one, to offer alternatives and to show that you have worked hard on it.
It's also important that you work on what to say and not on the how. You should work on your messaging before you start designing. Then you can focus on shaping the message appropiately, keeping in mind that a great idea is the truth well told.
Paul Roberts also gave us some tips to take into account when designing an advertising campaign:
- Playing with words: Create a message, sentence or concept associated to the brand's name so nobody else can use it.
- Building brands: Make it characteristic by using a word, a colour... that is bound to remain associated with the brand in the client's mind.
- Disguise your work: Some of the best adverts are those that don't look like adverts because they're disguised in items or places of everyday life.
- When presenting your proposals to clients or agencies it's a good idea to show them that you have used their brief. Take them through your logical thought process so your work makes total logical sense.
- Be enthusiastic and passionate.
- Have good working habits and constantly reinvent yourself.
Finally, and to illustrate the theory, here are some examples of original adverts and the resorts they use.
Integrate the means with the idea and surprise.
Play with words.
Implicate the consumer with a game, a riddle, something not too easy nor difficult but amusing.
Use humour. A good laugh fixes the ideas in people's memory.
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