Managing a Creative Environment.
You should be able to tell apart certain professions. For example, if you take an office worker and an illustrator, their workspace should be very different from one another's. 
Artist's collect things, bits of inspiration. It is a great way to incorporate subject into your work. You are excited by your collections, they inspire you. Before you no it, you have a stack of findings. Put these up on your wall, on your notice board. Put your art work up. The more creative your work space is, you are more likely to do more work and it will be of a better standard. I'm not saying if you put up a few pretty pictures and say abra cadabra then your work will turn into something worth millions, doesn't work like that, but you will be driven and excited about being in a studio that is filled with visual ideas and reference that you will want to work and you will want to produce something amazing.

Here is someone's work space. It isn't too messy stopping him working but there is a lot of material in there. If he is stuck on an idea, he could look around his room at his work and other work he has collected and get inspiration and maybe help him spring up a new idea. Your work will be reflected on what it looks like, so it should reflect off you as a person meaning your work space should reflect the same feel as well. You will feel good when you are in your studio, its your own little world where you can get away from it all.
I have my own personal studio. It is how I want it and I get inspiration from it. I don't like to fill my space up with everything I own. I consider myself as a minimalist. Less is more. This is my analogy and I stick to it in my work. This doesn't mean I don'y collect things and have as much things as others, I just store my material differently. I like to have a clear head and I like to have a clear space, if my place is cluttered, me head gets cluttered and I find it hard to think. People work in different ways and its important this happens. If everyone worked in the same way, all the ideas would just be getting used all the time and nothing new and exciting would be happening. So keep your style. Be proud of your studio. Be excited to put that photo up on your wall.

Productions and Outcomes

Interpretation
We are in a world where change is always happening, there is always something different taking off, a new lead, a new way of doing things.
As a designer, it is so important that you are aware of everything around you. 
Today, we have the power to manipulate something and change the meaning of the story to who we wish to aim it at. I am going to look at the same movie but one has a very different twist on the original and explain the reasons for the change.
I am going to discuss Star Wars. Star Wars was released in 1977 and it is without a doubt, the best science fiction film that has ever been released, I am not a huge fan of it but I am aware it has changed the way we look at films and it is a very powerful film. 

This is the cliche image when you think of Star Wars. The battle. However, I am going to compare it to this.

This interpretation of Star Wars is Family Guy. A humorous take on the legendary film, straight away you can see the content has changed. For starters, it is cartoon where as the original is obviously real actors. Family Guy already have their own audience, but by doing Star Wars, it is grabbing a huge audience on top, the Star Wars geeks! They are going to want to watch this and compare it to the original. The storyline has stayed the same but the meaning has changed, it was made in a different time to the original so the take and the reaction will be different. The Family Guy take is very funny and it takes the mickey out of the original, but it is the directors interpretation on the film so it is going to reach out to a certain audience. Over time, you can see it change and the media change to get a completely different message.

Delivery

When designers design, they have to be aware on what they are designing and who it is for. This opens up to a big issue they need to resolve. What platform are they working to?

There are a number of platforms and all used in different ways;

Editorial,

Publishing,

Online,

Advertising and Branding,

Textiles/Fashion,

Installation and Interventions.

All very different platforms, so which one to use? It's simple, just decide what you are doing, is it an advertising campaign? If yes then you work on the advertising platform and so on. This would be anything from T.V ads to huge billboards all over the country. When you choose the platform, you then choose the audience.

You should be able to tell what the poster or website etc is for by looking at it.

Some designers use video and time lapse to show their work, it shows the journey they have gone through. Basically a camcorder playing in the corner and then speeded up, very simple but its very interesting t watch this piece of work taking place. Its qwerky! For example, take Blu's work. He works on very different platforms but has the same style in all of them.

Two different platforms, side of a building and a website. Two different ways of getting his work out there. But they are both the same style so you know straight away who's work it is so you can relate to it. Blu also works on video and stop start animation. He is a very determined artist and very interesting to watch his pieces take shape. This is all a way of representing yourself through platforms to show you are versatile and experimental. People like to see use of different materials, it keeps them interested and wanting to keep looking at your work.

So be experimental, be brave and take risks, all the best designers do.

On that note, Goodnight and don't let the bed bugs bite!

M o v i n g I m a g e

The Three Act Structure
ACTION!!!
When you are born, you have a beginning, middle and an end in your life. The same with books, with everything really, and it is no different in Film. 
In film it is broken down to Establish:Crisis:Resolve. The start of the film is all about setting the scene, knowing where the film is taking place, introductions to characters. The crisis (middle) is pretty self explanatory, a crisis is going to happen, a war for example and then resolve, where you see the outcome and how everyone lives happily ever after! Or do they in some cases?? This can also be broken down into time, generally it looks like this....
30:60:30, the middle and end don't need as much time as the middle, this is down to the crisis is the main part of the film, its the action, what people want to see. 
Let me take one of my favourite films and go into more detail, Avatar. If you don't like Avatar, then get off my blog!!
Okay, now we have said goodbye to the unfortunate people who can't appreciate an amazing film we can get down to business.
As you are more than likely aware, Avatar is a long film, the duration is over three hours, so where the normal case is 90 mins - 120 mins, this is longer so the timings for the three acts are going to be longer. 
Avatar and many other films have something called a Protagonist. This is the hero, the main man, he is the dogs b******s! Lets face it, we all want to be him. You cannot have a three act structure unless you have the hero. This is because it all follows suit, the story. The end of Act 1 (the beginning) ends when the protagonist makes a commitment, this is what leads us into the crisis, (Act 2) the training and the war. This is the part of the film that people want to see, its exciting, emotional, it draws you in. In Avatar, he protagonist commits to more than one one film, so which is the cut off point, is it when he is going to and make the natives move to a different location or when he stands and fights as a native and betrays his own race? The cut off point is when he decides to betray his own race, this is the crisis, you see people die, things close to them get blown away. There is a inner story, and this what you watch, you see the hero grow as a person, mentally and physically, you get attached to him (the training)You want the hero to win, and the thing I love about Avatar is that you want the "blue monkeys" to win the war, you want them to defeat the humans which is our own race! It is a powerful film to do this. Then the resolving of the crisis, what happens next? How does it all end? Again, should last around the same time as it started. We need to no what happens at then end of the film so we can all sleep at night knowing the blue monkeys are victorious!!

Character Development
Why do we represent protagonist and villains the way we do? It is because we all stereotype. By doing this, we can appoint the characters to the audience before we even introduce them. For example, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vadar. The protagonist (Skywalker) is in white and the antagonist (Vadar) is in all black. This is going back to basics and subliminal messaging. It is easy for us to pick up on this. In Avatar, you have the purity in the Avatars, the lack of clothes, the native spirit, where as in the human, the antagonist has scars on his face, his voice, everything is representing the bad guy! Easy for us to see who the good guys are and visa versa. 
There are different elements to character design.
1. Appearance- what they look like? The costumes? Colour?
2. Action - what the character does?
3. Interaction - how does the character relate to the characters ad the events in the story?
4. Rely on stereotype- we do this as much as it is cliche.
When all these are answered, you can develop your ideas and create the perfect protagonist/antagonist.
You also look into the dialogue, the way they talk, the vocabulary. E.G Darth Vadar's breathing. A typical stereotype of the antagonist. All in black with a scary helmet breathing heavily = scary!
Its what goes into the designs and how they convert to the movie. It should be obvious for the viewers to make judgement on the characters and realise who is who. If this isn't the case then the film is hard to follow and it confuses you.
THATS A RAP!!

Reflective Visual Journey

Work by Hand
You may be asking what is a Reflective Visual Journal?
The answer is in the title, its a journey of your visual ideas. Every artist, no matter what your profession is has to have an RVJ. This is where your thought process starts, your general ideas, your inspiration. Without this, you will not succeed.
An RVJ is never write or wrong, it is your perception and it is personal to you and  your project, so you put in what you feel is necessary.
I personally feel that the best way to work in an RVJ is to sketch/draw. This enables you to generate ideas quickly, sketch scenarios, brainstorm, see the idea visually and see it develop just by using a pencil! As you are drawing. Even if you are doing doodles as you are on the phone, you are creatively thinking, always generating thoughts. You can visualise and understand your ideas a lot more if you see them through an image rather than a block of text, its more pleasing on the eye, you can see it in front of you developing. As i said earlier, your RVJ is personal and you decide what content goes in it, you are free to explore what you wish. If you are shy or self conscience about your drawings, you can have pure confidence in your RVJ, it is your diary, your own little world that no one can say, I don't think that is appropriate. No one has the right. Drawing isn't always about using a pencil, you can use collage, work into different media types. Be open minded as explore different ways of solving situations. This is the place to do it.
People will understand what your ideas are just by looking at some sketches, obviously you will need to annotate but your sketches will be the priority.
So the moral of the story, go wild, be expressive and take risks. It will turn into its own little masterpiece.

Visual Language

The list for visual language is endless. The opportunity to explore is out there, you just have to choose to take it or not. This can be through text, different font faces, quick exciting sketches, brainstorms, basically anything you can record and put pen to paper and start generating your initial ideas. This is key.

When you are thinking visually, you use the right part of your brain, you see things visually as this enables you to communicate in a different way, in a different language!

However, it isn't just images that come into the scenario. Type is in there as well. It isn't Times New Roman type though, its a visual typeface. You can tell a lot from the choose of type face someone uses, you know what mood they are in, how they are feeling. This is the beauty of this subject, you can portray yourself in whatever way you wish. Be mischievous, break the rules. It is exciting for others to look at your work, they can interact with it, they can touch it, see it. It all becomes a lot more personal and independent.

For me, the main criteria for visual language is using a mind map. I don't just mean the topic in the middle and then words around the outside. I like to be involved in the mind map, see what they see, see where the ideas are growing, its a journey. Use of colour, type, get excited about your project. See different solutions, at the end of the day, when you are doing a mind map, you are solving a problem. It is an equation, work it out. But do it visually, you will feel better bout your work, you will be excited about your work. Have fun!!