Locomotion Creates Peter Andre Arena Tour Visuals – The Robotic Phoenix

 

Locomotion’s 3D/ VFX team wanted to create a powerful finale to Nick Addison’s opening titles for Peter Andre’s arena tour based on a creative briefing with Dave Palmer of Shameless Talent. The story of the phoenix, rising from the flames, reborn with greater strength was selected to represent the artist’s own rise to great fame and public adoration after coming through his own trials of personal adversity. However, our own trial would be to complete the animation from concept design to final HD delivery in just 10 days.

Taking inspiration from a variety of artistic depictions of the phoenix creature, concept designers George Belcher and Danny Coster also wanted to reflect Peter Andre’s image by incorporating his defined physique into the design. For the bird-like aspects of the design, they researched and took reference from the images and movement of raptors like the owl, eagle and red kite; as well as the shape of a bat’s wings as it wraps around its body.

The client further specified a robotic rather than flame and feathered look for the mythical bird. This vision paid homage to the classic Michael Jackson tour videos which depicted the pop star as a high tech robot so convincing that the audience wondered if they were at first seeing the pop star or a sophisticated machine. The team drew reference from the images of Japanse Gojira monster movies, Robocop, Terminator, as well as metal sculptures of warriors, eagles and even automobile engines to further inspire the development of their design.

The CGI phoenix was created by lead animator Tony Lee based on Locomotion’s concept art, while being mindful of how such a creature could be animated. Once the phoenix was rigged, the 3D team performed tests on the wings and joint systems to get the wings to unfurl, fan out and flap in an organic way. The challenge of a short production time encouraged the VFX team to seek simple solutions using as few controllers as possible to generate the wing movements.

For the audio element of the piece, the clients supplied a track from John William’s Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. The animators were able to use the music to time the action of the phoenix’s movements. The next stage was to rig the rest of the creature, setting up test cycles for the wing and body movements. During this process, the lead animator and VFX supervisor wanted to get a feel of how it would move, often by acting out bird and pterodactyl-like movements much to the amusement of the production office. Also, as our client was working remotely with Peter Andre on other segments of the show, it was important that he was kept abreast of all the work in progress through Locomotion’s online review and approval system. Locomotion embraced the challenge to create a dramatic performance of the animated, mythical creature in line with the soundtrack. We look forward to seeing it wow the arena crowds, increasing their excitement for Peter Andre’s performance.

To view the animation, check out our showcase page or click here.

For more information on Peter Andre’s arena tour, visit his website.

Check out the December issue of Televisual (in print) for more about the tour visuals and our Press page for a glimpse of the article.

Animated Building Projection for V&A Museum – Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes

Credits:
Animator/ Editor: Miland Suman
Development: Alex Hare
Executive Producer: Chris McKeeman
Projection: Des O’Leary & Angus Dunwoody Dun
Music: Stravinsky’s The Firebird

BT Digital Music Awards at the Roundhouse

Locomotion’s Alex Hare designed, created and animated the motion graphics for an ambitious 8-screen projection at the 2010 BT Digital Music Awards in London’s Roundhouse. Commissioned by Ballistic Events, Alex enhanced the BT DMA’s existing branding and developed visuals to complement Reality Awards’ innovative stage and screen set up.

The BTDMAs are the premier awards, recognising the best in digital music entertainment as well as uses of digital technology in the music industry – from websites and blogs to fan-sites, podcasts and more. The BT DMA website opened up many of the awards for public voting while other category winners were selected by industry judges.

The challenge for the VT content was to create an animation sequence on the first screen which would trigger further animated pixilation effects to move across the other 7 screens while all 8 simultaneously displayed video content. Alex used Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and Final Cut Pro to produce stunning results. Creating the pixilation effects and simultaneously displaying excerpts of a different nominee’s work on each of the screens created the look and feel of an immersive digital experience for the enthusiastic audience.

Amongst the big screens and bright lights, hosts Caroline Flack and Matt Edmonson presented awards to the likes of JLS, Adam Buxton, Tinie Tempah and Gorillaz. The event also featured live performances by Marina and the Diamonds, Tinie Tempah, Professor Green, Scouting for Girls, Roll Deep Ne-Yo, and McFly. For more details about the nominees and winners, please visit the BTDMA website.

Animated Building Projection for the Victoria & Albert Museum

To promote the Victoria and Albert Museum’s exhibition “Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes 1909-1929”, the V&A’s marketing managers Sarah Armond and Cathy Flanagan commissioned Locomotion to create an animated video poster which our colleagues at Exceptional Exhibits projected – guerrilla advertising style – onto buildings in and around London’s Theatreland as well as other significant sites for ballet audiences.

Locomotion’s Miland Suman used After Effects to animate images taken from a handful of contemporary photographs and postcards, reflecting the poster design for the exhibition while introducing movement and depth to engage the attention of a curious public. Diaghilev was revolutionary in his collaboration with composers, artists, designers to create the experience of ‘total theatre’, so it seemed fitting to bring the photos to life through animation and let them out into the world through building projection.

Miland’s skilful presentation of the portrait of Vaslav Nijinsky in costume for the ballet Giselle recreates the dancer’s gravity defying leaps and highlights the thrilling exoticism of the dancer in costume for Sheherazade. His teasing reveal of Waléry’s 1912 photograph of Adolph Bolm and Tamara Karsavina delights in the bewitching scene of the dancers in the ballet Thamar. And, his animation of Bassano’ 1910 photograph excites the passions of the pair in a scene from Stravinsky’s Firebird.

If you didn’t happen to pass by the Royal Opera House on Wednesday the 13^th of October, or walk along the Southbank to see the Royal Festival Hall on Thursday 14 October or indeed stroll through Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus on Tuesday 12 October, the night of the UK Music Video Awards and after show party, you can still view the projections here.

The Exhibition runs from 25 September 2010- 9 January 2011 to read more about it, visit the V&A website here.

To book tickets for the exhibition click here.

Wincent Wespa: “The Adventures of Wincent Wespa”

Lee Bamsey from Locomotion & Steve Gurr have just released the music video they directed and created for “The Adventures Of Wincent Wespa”.  The animated song-story follows our hero, a cute, 60s-style Mod named Wincent on his scooter journey through a 3D city environment.  Lee and Steve designed the buildings which Steve built in Cinema 4D to look like life-sized children’s drawings pasted into a hand-made mini diorama complete with thread-spool fire hydrants and sewn-on button traffic lights.  Lee and Steve used After Effects to animate each scene on a shot-by-shot basis taking Wincent through a series of entertaining mishaps including trails of fire, angry dogs, rainstorms and a flat tyre.  They even created pesky pigeons, which in their habitual way of adding insult to injury for our adventurer, splat-segue into the psychedelic sing-along section of the video.  Happily, Wincent is revived from his trip, undeterred and heads off into the sunset.  We hope he’ll be back soon to ride again!

Wincent has his own facebook page if you’d like to be his friend and you can check out the video on our showcase page.

Credits:
Director/ Editor/ Compositor: Lee Bamsey
Director/Editor/ Compositor/ 3D Modeler: Steve Gurr

Notorious Hi Fi Killers. “More Again Now”

Miland Suman directed, edited and animated “More Again Now”, a Monkeys-esque music video for the Notorious Hi Fi Killers. Filmed on a Canon 5D with a crew of 12, most of whom were part of the art department, Miland and his team created a magical undersea world and other trippy environments all within the band’s rehearsal space. He did a second stills shoot to capture images of the band members and their instruments so they could be transformed into puppet-like animations. Back at Locomotion, Miland composited and animated with After Effects and graded using Color Finesse.

Amnesty International UK Media Awards

Locomotion is proud to be editing the on-screen content for the Amnesty International UK Media Awards. Locomotion’s Alex Hare has been working closely with Louise Stevens, producer and events organiser from Ballistic Events as well as Sarah Ross, awards co-ordinator for Amnesty International Media Awards.  Alex created opening title animation and compiled excerpts from the short-listed nominations.  The nominated pieces feature international stories as well as those from within the UK and cover a range of media including television, periodicals, radio, and web.  The Amnesty International Media Awards were established in 1992 to honour human rights journalists who have made a significant contribution to the UK public’s understanding of human rights issues. The awards ceremony will be held on 1 June at the BFI Southbank.

Hidden Talent – Miland Suman creates new Bertie Blackman promo ‘Black Cats’

Miland lives and breathes moving image, so when the opportunity arises for some out of hours creative action he is rarely a man to say no. So, when the chance was offered to work on an exiting new pop promo for Australian singer songwriter, Bertie Blackman, the answer was a resounding ‘yes please’! Working in partnership with 3D artist Richard Thomas, the pair formed a directorial collaboration and found themselves up against all the usual restraints of the modern pop promo.

The dynamic duo pulled out all the stops to create a highly original, creative and technically complex animated film for the new single ‘Black Cats’. In just 12 evenings Miland and Richard developed the creative treatment, made and cut out 6 cardboard puppets from Bertie’s artwork and rigged, shot and animated the elements to create a 3 minute film where each shot is individual, there are no repeats of backgrounds or animation.

Miland and Richard received high praise for the finished film, Bertie loves it and her management company think it’s ace. But Miland and Richard aren’t hanging around, work has already started on their next project, another promo for the new single from Notorious Hi-Fi Killers – watch this space for more!

Lee & Kim’s Adventure: Animal Magic. Flash Animation.

Credits:

Animation: Petria Whelan, Milo Waterfield
Editing/ Compositing: Miland Suman, Lee Bamsey
Post Production Executive Producers: Dan Coster, Russ Hughes

Locomotion’s online safety adventure

Working in association with Straker Films, Locomotion has recently completed work on a short animated educational film. Commissioned by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) centre – the UK’s national centre for protecting children – the film is central to CEOP’s response to European Safer Internet Day on 9th February, and lies at the heart of a group of initiatives being launched by the organisation, targeted at children as young as five.

The 8 minute animation introduces Lee and Kim, a brother and sister navigating the online world with the help of their trusted superhero friend SID! With his super powers, SID shows them how to keep themselves safe while having fun online. Based around 4 simple tips for children to remember and a song, the cartoon aims to teach children how to protect themselves and others around them. As well as addressing grooming, the animation also focuses on digital citizenship highlighting the importance of treating each other well and behaving responsibly not only in the playground, but also online. This resource is being delivered to school children across the UK and we’re hoping kids around the world will get the opportunity to enjoy it too.

Locomotion’s brilliant animator, Petria Whelan, designed and created the characters and backgrounds in Flash. With the soundtrack pre-recorded, we were tasked with bringing the voices to life with Manga style animation, which was developed to achieve a more international finish. Particular attention was given to the predatory adult to ensure that he was portrayed as an ordinary rather than villainous character. Like the adult user who pretends to be a child in his online profile, the adult has been drawn to look like a child in the online world but gradually his scale and movement reveal him to be an adult as the sense of danger increases. Fortunately the children have SID to save the day!

Locomotion are very proud to be involved in such an important campaign and hope that our animation will help educate children about online safety.

Watch Lee and Kim’s Adventure now!

Read more on the BBC News site.