Blog by Lee

As I am somewhat new to the area it is exciting to be able to attend community event such as Savannah Stop Over. “One weekend. A years worth of music.” This is what they boast. I dropped by Saturday Evening where I saw Royal Canoe, A band I had never heard of, and Of Montreal who I had heard of. The theatrics, visuals and energy really built a fun atmosphere enjoyable to all ages. It seemed like there were a lot of people attending – but with local Beer, Food and music who wouldn’t want to go? I thoroughly enjoyed myself and hope to also catch some other concerts in the Forsyth Park or Savannah area.

Majoring in Motion Media Design, I was excited to see what I could find in the Blogger world for this often visually exciting content. What I found would sadly be classified as lacking. There seems to be very little blog use in this particular field. That isn’t to say I found zero blogs referring to Motion Media, however; Most were revolving around tutorial and informational necessity. These are nice but really leave people out of the experience. The content, jargon and realm could be confusing, dry or intimidating.

I did find a few that stood out from most, many motion graphic designers such as James Tottman, have websites or Vimeo stations where many display current and past works or demo reels for particular time periods.

I certainly hoped to find more current running artist blogs with updated content. I came across a common theme of abandoned blogs in the video and motion graphic fields. That being said Design as a general and broad category was filled with an array of blogs. Some were run by fans of certain design styles, others revolved around what their company worked on.

Overall I was surprised at the number of social media sites tied in with blogs and digital distribution of designer/artist content. Especially when I came across a lot of motion media reference on a popular website Pinterest.

Blogging can be a lot to keep up with at times, I can only wonder or project that reasons for the lack of blogs revolving around Motion Media Design has to do with the amount of time in making these works vs the fast flow viewing and updating typical of the blog experience.

References:

http://www.jamestottman.co.uk

http://pinterest.com/motionmediallc/motion-media-blog/

http://blog.motionmedia.com

http://capturemotionmedia.com/blog

http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/louis

Today Patrick Coyne, Editor and Designer of Communication Arts magazine, made an appearance at Arnold Hall, delivering the best presentation I attended thus far (may have had to do with his presentation style and skills). Patrick tied each decade’s social, political and art based influence to the evolution of Communication Arts. It was fun to see some of his favorite selections of what he referred to as, “designs using minimum expense.” He gave great advice with a heavy vail of optimism leaving admiration from my end. Speaking about not ‘burning out’,  using criticism positively and mentioning how some creative professionals gather inspiration and generate some of their successes. I’ll end with a quote by Patrick Coyne I found exceptionally enlightening, “This is one of the few professions where everything around you can enhance your ideas.” I truly love these events and appreciate the value in getting the most out of my education here at SCAD. This presentation was a wonderful example of that.

Ken Maruyama, the Vice President for Academic Relations, held a wonderful presentation discussing the various departments of Sony Pictures. I was unaware but Sony Pictures consists of three main branches; imageworks, interactive and animation. He emphasized Sonys ability to work with animation and visual effects while sighting many examples; The Smurfs – Spiderman – Pearl Harbor – MIB 3, Hotel Transylvania and more. Ken described a broad range of jobs within the company and what it takes to acquire a position at Sony Pictures. My ears particularly peaked when he described imageworks as a great opportunity for  motion graphic designers as that is my major and aspiration. I noted how impressed he seemed to be with SCAD facilities and faculty stating, “it rivals anything I’ve seen.” Truly this is inspiring.

This was my first experience at a SCAD event, I did not know what to expect but I was really blown away. The speaker, Richard Bluff, is the Supervisor for ILM Digital Matte as part of Lucas Films. He spoke in some depth about his job and the role he plays as supervisor to his team. As well as the troubles and problems he faces in his portion of the industry. He emphasized the difficult tasks and simplicity of how to get the job done, work quickly and use resources. I thought specifically of my design class as Richard mention composition and a basic understanding of design ultimately becomes the bottom line to this work. When it came time for questions Richard gave great advice on how to stand out in the visual effect field and ILM opportunities. I personally gained a lot from this, all I can say is I can’t wait for the next one.

Straight to the point. I am astoundingly grateful to be among these wonderfully talented people and minds. My decision to join the field of Motion Media Design did not come directly to me as I finished my Associate degree from the New England Institute of Art, where I studied Audio Production. No, this happened years after while working for Apple Inc. in Boston. As a computer instructor/technician or ‘Creative’ as Apple calls it I met an amalgam of people. Through their unknown insight I began to uncover my true passion of animation, film as well as graphic design. Leading me to work with production companies in the Boston area and Apple Internal Marketing. I will always have a place for music and engineering in my life however, I am truly ready to transform my passion for creativity, art and Motion Media Design into an inspiring career.

Alternative Info: Hiking, writing, reading and playing with my cat (Pixel) are a few hobbies of mine. Instruments I play are percussion and guitar. I am a huge fan of comedy and some day hope to do a little stand up. Thank you for reading.

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