A brand new site and blog update will be on their way very soon. Since March I've moved from Ireland, back to the wondrous UK where I'm now a full time freelance with bases in both Southampton and the London area.
My primary focus has been motion graphics and I've been privileged to work with such clients as Sony Ericsson, Neo Films Ltd & 3 Men & a Suit.
I am also pushing into the world of concept art to broaden my digital painting skills and complement my work in graphic design, it's all great fun and gives me even more reason to wear out my Wacom tablet.
Painter X officially rocks my socks off to the point where I now have no socks left.... So if you have any spare socks be sure to email me.
Monday, 15 September 2008
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Chad, Matt and Rob
Be sure to check out some of the shorts from Chad, Matt and Rob, currently the hottest thing on the whole darn t'internet.
Chad Hates Aliens & Cops and Robbers are the best of the bunch.
Thursday, 6 March 2008
Broadcast standards and clock numbers
It's difficult to find a simple guideline to UK and Ireland broadcast standards and how to get TV adverts, promos, and programmes into a format that TV stations are happy with.
So here's a rough guide to what's what.
Standards & Clocks - Working in Adobe After Effects
Every station nowadays only accepts video in wide-screen so get into the habit of setting your compositions to either PAL 720 x 576 (16:9 ratio) or 1024 x 576 (square pixels)
Avoid strobing effects as many stations such as Sky and MTV have strict guidelines relating to health issues. I'm not saying don't do it at all, but keep it to a minimum.
If you're creating an ad which requires legal small print at the bottom, make sure the font height is no less that 25 pixels. Make sure that the text is readable throughout the entire ad (including a clean and clear drop shadow will do the trick) and also make sure the text is on screen long enough to read.
Avoid slow motion effects which cause distortion of the image such as ghosting
Knock audio levels down to -10db
Leave a half second gap of silence at the beginning and end of your advert. If you stick on your TV and watch some ads or promo's you notice that the audio will kick in just after the video begins. This audio gap is needed otherwise everything would run together. Think of every ad as a sentence and the audio gap as a full stop.
Make sure any of your text or titles are within the title safe lines.
When you've finished your advert, render out with no compression. For example, I render out as a quicktime .mov, compression = none, de-interlaced and audio at 44k. If you're short of Hard Drive space you can get away with Photo Jpeg.
If you are going to use another production company to compress your ad into a fancy mpeg (which is required) and deliver your ad to TV stations be sure to ring them and ask what format they prefer. Many production companies require your advert to be interlaced (upper fields). This can easily be turned on in programs such as After Effects, Premiere or Final Cut. However the problem with going to another production company to deliver and compress your ads is that they often overcharge you by bucket loads. The answer to this problem is to get your advert to stations yourself using Episode Pro by Telestream. More on Episode pro in a bit, lets get back to your rendered out video, you're not done yet.
Every advert, promo or show requires a clock number. A clock number is a 30 second counter that plays before your advert and includes other details such as your company logo, address, job number and advert title.
I've produced a template in After Effects which will allow you drop in your video and make things a whole long simpler. Right click HERE and 'save target as' to download
A clock number is a number you create. For example: 2GS/DIDE015/010
As you'll see in the After Effects timeline, the clock will run for 27 seconds, then 3 seconds of black, then your video begins, then the last frame of your video needs to freeze frame for 10 seconds, then lastly a further 10 seconds of black. It all seems very complex and un-necessary but rules are rules and without a clock number, TV stations won't even look at your production
Once you've placed your video into the timeline and created your own personal clock number (with your logo, details and job number) you'll need to render out again making sure compression settings are set to none.
Your render out should be a good few gigs and is now ready to be compressed into a special kind of mpeg.
Now if you are planning on using another production company to compress and deliver your ad to stations you'll simply need to burn your video file to disc and pass it on to them. But if you'd like to do everything in-house you'll need to buy yourself a copy of Episode Pro by Telestream and set up an account with IMD ADSAT. Episode Pro may seem expensive but if you'll be doing transfers on a regular basis it'll pay for itself in no time.
Episode Pro can convert your video into an mpeg file that is readable by the TV stations software. Right click HERE and 'save target as' to download the IMD ADSAT settings template for Episode Pro.
Once you import this template into Episode Pro it's simply a matter of dragging your file into Episode Pro and then dragging the IMD settings template onto your file. Render out and you'll be left with an mpeg file which is now ready to go to stations.
You'll need to set up an account with a digital distribution company that can send your file to stations. I recommend IMD ADSAT as they are far cheaper than Ad Stream. IMD will set you up with some FTP space where you can upload your ad. If you haven't got any FTP software you can download smartFTP or fireFTP for free. bung in your log in details and your in.
Before you upload, rename your newly mpeg'd ad / promo / programme to the clock number you called it.
Now upload your vid!
Be sure to contact IMD and let them know the clock number, which stations in needs to go to and the air date.
I think I've covered all the major bits and bobs, at the very least it should give you an idea of how the system works for the UK and Ireland.
So here's a rough guide to what's what.
Standards & Clocks - Working in Adobe After Effects
Every station nowadays only accepts video in wide-screen so get into the habit of setting your compositions to either PAL 720 x 576 (16:9 ratio) or 1024 x 576 (square pixels)
Avoid strobing effects as many stations such as Sky and MTV have strict guidelines relating to health issues. I'm not saying don't do it at all, but keep it to a minimum.
If you're creating an ad which requires legal small print at the bottom, make sure the font height is no less that 25 pixels. Make sure that the text is readable throughout the entire ad (including a clean and clear drop shadow will do the trick) and also make sure the text is on screen long enough to read.
Avoid slow motion effects which cause distortion of the image such as ghosting
Knock audio levels down to -10db
Leave a half second gap of silence at the beginning and end of your advert. If you stick on your TV and watch some ads or promo's you notice that the audio will kick in just after the video begins. This audio gap is needed otherwise everything would run together. Think of every ad as a sentence and the audio gap as a full stop.
Make sure any of your text or titles are within the title safe lines.
When you've finished your advert, render out with no compression. For example, I render out as a quicktime .mov, compression = none, de-interlaced and audio at 44k. If you're short of Hard Drive space you can get away with Photo Jpeg.
If you are going to use another production company to compress your ad into a fancy mpeg (which is required) and deliver your ad to TV stations be sure to ring them and ask what format they prefer. Many production companies require your advert to be interlaced (upper fields). This can easily be turned on in programs such as After Effects, Premiere or Final Cut. However the problem with going to another production company to deliver and compress your ads is that they often overcharge you by bucket loads. The answer to this problem is to get your advert to stations yourself using Episode Pro by Telestream. More on Episode pro in a bit, lets get back to your rendered out video, you're not done yet.
Every advert, promo or show requires a clock number. A clock number is a 30 second counter that plays before your advert and includes other details such as your company logo, address, job number and advert title.
I've produced a template in After Effects which will allow you drop in your video and make things a whole long simpler. Right click HERE and 'save target as' to download
A clock number is a number you create. For example: 2GS/DIDE015/010
- The 2GS is short for 2gether Studios, the studio I freelance for.
- DIDE is short for DID Electrical, the name of the client
- 015 is the actual job number and shows this is the 15th ad I've produced for them
- 010 indicates the length of the ad. It was a 10 second ad, if it was a 30 second ad the number would be 030
As you'll see in the After Effects timeline, the clock will run for 27 seconds, then 3 seconds of black, then your video begins, then the last frame of your video needs to freeze frame for 10 seconds, then lastly a further 10 seconds of black. It all seems very complex and un-necessary but rules are rules and without a clock number, TV stations won't even look at your production
Once you've placed your video into the timeline and created your own personal clock number (with your logo, details and job number) you'll need to render out again making sure compression settings are set to none.
Your render out should be a good few gigs and is now ready to be compressed into a special kind of mpeg.
Now if you are planning on using another production company to compress and deliver your ad to stations you'll simply need to burn your video file to disc and pass it on to them. But if you'd like to do everything in-house you'll need to buy yourself a copy of Episode Pro by Telestream and set up an account with IMD ADSAT. Episode Pro may seem expensive but if you'll be doing transfers on a regular basis it'll pay for itself in no time.
Episode Pro can convert your video into an mpeg file that is readable by the TV stations software. Right click HERE and 'save target as' to download the IMD ADSAT settings template for Episode Pro.
Once you import this template into Episode Pro it's simply a matter of dragging your file into Episode Pro and then dragging the IMD settings template onto your file. Render out and you'll be left with an mpeg file which is now ready to go to stations.
You'll need to set up an account with a digital distribution company that can send your file to stations. I recommend IMD ADSAT as they are far cheaper than Ad Stream. IMD will set you up with some FTP space where you can upload your ad. If you haven't got any FTP software you can download smartFTP or fireFTP for free. bung in your log in details and your in.
Before you upload, rename your newly mpeg'd ad / promo / programme to the clock number you called it.
Now upload your vid!
Be sure to contact IMD and let them know the clock number, which stations in needs to go to and the air date.
I think I've covered all the major bits and bobs, at the very least it should give you an idea of how the system works for the UK and Ireland.
Wednesday, 5 March 2008
Twitch is coming
March 10th sees the release of Andrew Kramer's Twitch plug-in for After Effects. Check out the promo and features video, then think of all the cool effects and transitions you could create. I figure Tony Scott's editor and visual FX guys use something similar.
In other news, There Will Be Blood was fantastic, making me wish that Daniel Day Lewis did more films, created his own range of talking Daniel Day Lewis alarm clocks and had his own honey nut breakfast cereal.
On the other end of the spectrum, Hitman was a pile of shite. I don't know why I expect video game adaptations to suddenly transform into cinema masterpieces. There are a range of well written video games (Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Half Life etc) and a library of great concepts but the transition from game to film never seems to work.
Producers and writers need to stop rushing the creative process, stop speed writing and forcing character development around unbelievable action sequences and sex scenes, stop using every event in the game as a template and just embrace the concept, stop writing dappy one dimensional dialog where almost every female character who'll drop her knickers as soon as a single double entendre is within earshot, stop following stereotypical genre conventions, stop stop stop, in fact STOP! You're grounded Mr!
Sunday, 2 March 2008
Adventure Gaming, still alive and kicking
Ah, those good old summer days, where Monkey Island, Day of the Tenticle and Sam & Max eclipsed homework, going out or bodily functions. In todays modern world of unjust war, global warming and Xbox vs Playstation geek battles, there seems to be no room for well written games of the point and click variety.
Fear not! As the underdog of gaming genres is being kept well fed due to a loyal fanbase of gamers and game creators. Checkout the Adventure Game Studio site for a selection of great games as well as the software to create your very own pointy clicky worlds.
I recommend checking out some of Yahtzee's games. 5 Days a Stranger (part of a quadrilogy) is a pure unadulterated classic!
VectorMagic! Like normal magic, only more nerdy.
stumbled across a neat little site that allows you to upload any image and then convert it into a vector image. VectorMagic
Here’s an example:
VectorMagic
The results are mighty impressive when compared to alternatives such as the Adobe Illustrator trace tool and very useful if you need to convert a low grade pixelly image into something smooth and infinitely zoomable.
Better than a kick in the balls anyway (unless you’re into painful kinky foreplay, if so call: 1800 BLUEBALLS for a good time)
Here’s an example:
VectorMagic
The results are mighty impressive when compared to alternatives such as the Adobe Illustrator trace tool and very useful if you need to convert a low grade pixelly image into something smooth and infinitely zoomable.
Better than a kick in the balls anyway (unless you’re into painful kinky foreplay, if so call: 1800 BLUEBALLS for a good time)
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