Internship Arrangement Email Update (Contact Reports)

(READ FROM THE BOTTOM UP!)

The problem with agents is that they take a commission...I never used one. Only been here for about 3 or 4 years and always found places through web research. There is a website called Westsiderentals.com
You have to pay something like 60 dollars but you have access to a lot of ads and they are usually more reliable than craigslist....I'll also keep an ear out for anything. What would your price range be?


On Apr 19, 2010, at 3:58 PM, Michael Williams wrote:
Hi Alex,

Thanks so much for the sound advice! I bet it's great living near the beach!

I was looking at craigslist the other day in fact, but I will try your link, it maybe different than my search! Can you recommend any decent property agents or companies I can look at on the web?

Many thanks

Mike

Sent from my iPhone

On 19 Apr 2010, at 21:27, Alex Czetwertynski wrote:


Ok, let me know once you have gotten through the Lynda and 3d fluff tutes. I will send you some more advanced ones at that point.

Yes, send me stuff whenever you have it.

In terms of accommodation...I live in Venice beach. I am about 45 min away from work so it is a long drive every day. But I feel that if I'm to live in LA, I might as well live by the beach... I also surf and have a young daugther, that makes sense for us.
If you were to get a car (which you kind of need in this town) you might want to think about where you want to live. The hollywood hills can be very nice, Los Feliz, Silverlake. Downtown has an interesting vibe.
The cheaper areas would be Mar Vista (still close to the beach) and Culver City (a lot of film studios and artists).
Let me know if I can help. Have you tried losangeles.craigslist.com?

Best
Alex

On Apr 19, 2010, at 1:24 PM, Michael Williams wrote:
Hi Alex,

Thanks very much for the advice as I have been researching already for accommodation. I am considering driving but I need to think it through some more.

The C4D tutorials I have at the moment are the lynda.com Cinema 4D R10 Essential Training and 3D Fluff Training For Cinema 4D. I am currently trying to get a hold of the lynda.com Cinema 4D R11.5 Essential Training cd rom, as I have the 11.5 version of Cinema 4D. I will look into Mograph and definitely learn it. I use AE frequently and I'm looking to improve my skills on that too. AI & PS I have been using for a few years and have knowledge of both. I would be willing to look at anything you decided to share with me because it can only help even more!

I am 20 years old at the moment and will be 21 in May. I do have other samples of work that are being updated within the next month for the end of year show and my portfolio. Is it ok if I share these pieces with you then?

Many Thanks,


Mike


On 19 Apr 2010, at 20:10, Alex Czetwertynski wrote:
Hey Michael

In terms of apartments, you should probably look around Hollywood. Our office is located at 627 Sunset Blvd. 90028 LA CA. We are at the corner of Sunset blvd. and Cahuenga av.
If you don't want to drive, find a place that is close and get a bike or walk.

Which tutorials did you get for C4d? I definitely feel you need to learn Mograph as much as you can. Also develop your modeling skills as much as possible. If you are interested, I have a lot of tutorials I can share with you.

You definitely need to get comfortable with After Effects, as the combo of Cinema4d and After Effects is what we use all the time. Try to look into all the ways to connect music with graphics in both those applications (sound effector in C4d and the "convert audio to keyframes'/Soundkeys options in AE). I would also get comfy with Illustrator and photoshop. That will get you in a good place.

How old are you? Do you have any samples of work you have done other than the one you sent me in that first email?

Best
Alex


On Apr 18, 2010, at 11:07 AM, Michael Williams wrote:
Hi Alex,

I have already looking at apartments etc, any tips or advice on where I should looking? I'm trying to find somewhere cheap! Is the public transport in LA not very good or something? I can drive anyways so getting a car is an option I can ponder over further. I have recently acquired some C4D tutorials 6 dvd's worth and will be looking to get some more! I would say I have a decent knowledge of 3D software after working with it for over two years using Maya. I finish university in early May and will dedicate my time then to preparing for this internship. What other software packages would you recommend I focus on? I am Adobe CS friendly too! I would really appreciate it and be really grateful if you would share with me whatever you can as i believe every little helps!

From this internship I expect to gain experience and knowledge of the creative industry. Also, the chance to be in a working environment and working with others on projects making some beautiful pieces of work! I do think also that this experience in the end will greatly enhance my own personal skills on many levels including technical, design and people skills. I hope that I can bring something to your team that would be good for all! I am extremely passionate and have continuos interest in this area of moving image design.

I'm very grateful for such an opportunity

Many thanks

Mike


On 18 Apr 2010, at 01:42, Alex Czetwertynski wrote:
Yes that sounds good.

A couple of questions
-Are you going to be ok looking for lodging and transport etc...? LA is a city where it is pretty hard to get around without a car
-What will you be learning between now and september? How much prep work are you willing to do in learning specific things about C4d and other software so I can make sure we optimize your time here? I could point you to certain tutorials and send you some things I feel would be good for you to watch/read which would give you quite a good edge on things.

Also please let me know more about what you would expect from an internship such as this

Thanks
Alex

On Apr 17, 2010, at 5:33 PM, Michael Williams wrote:
Hi Alex,

That sounds great. Would six months starting in September be ok?

Many thanks!

Kind regards,

Mike

Sent from my iPhone

On 17 Apr 2010, at 00:55, Alex Czetwertynski wrote:


Hey Michael

So I finally was able to discuss this with my boss.
What he suggests is that we pay you when we are in production on a job (we factor you into our budget) and when we are not in production you do not get a salary.
Would this work for you? The base salary we would pay an intern is 15 dollars an hour.
Keep this between us, but I think that if you can prove you are capable of more than an intern normally would, your rate could easily be renegotiated.

Let me know

Best
Alex

On Apr 13, 2010, at 1:56 PM, Michael Williams wrote:
Hi Alex,

What do you normally do? I don't really understand.

sorry for any inconvenience!

Thanks

Mike



On 13 Apr 2010, at 20:33, Alex Czetwertynski wrote:
Hey man
I did. My boss is in Australia, he should be back in a few days. It should be fine.
Can you let me know if you need compensation? Would you be ok with getting compensation only when you work on a given project?

Thanks
Alex

On Apr 13, 2010, at 12:18 PM, Michael Williams wrote:
Hi Alex,

How's it going? I was just wondering if you received the email I sent the other day?

Kind regards,

Mike

Maya VS Cinema4D (Issues & Practices Eassay)

Maya VS Cinema4D

The use of 3D animation applications; Maya and Cinema4D has in the past few months greatly intrigued me. What intrigues me is that through visits to commercial design studios and my own contacts with the industry I have found that many of them are using Cinema4D and on my degree course I am using Maya when I create 3D design. Companies such as Double Negative who work on block buster movies such as 2012 use Maya where as companies and practitioners such as We Are Seventeen, Ian Macklin and Frank The Plumber who I am arranging an internship with have advised me to learn Cinema4D in place for me to work with them. It is curious as to why students are not being educated or the industry with industry standard tools in some respects, as Maya is a great industry tool and is extremely powerful but a more common Cinema4D. Whilst discussing this with my tutor I found out that Maya can do everything Cinema4D can and more, which makes it a sensible choice for using in education. Also, my tutor mentioned to me that a lot of 3D applications all work in the same way so learning Maya lays the groundwork for other 3D tools. Another point my tutor made was that price was a huge factor as Cinema4D is a lot cheaper than Maya so it is more attractive to companies and practitioners who have to handle a tight budget. From an educational point of view Maya is a better choice for those reasons.

Researching into forums I have found that Cinema4D has great integration features with other design tools such as After Effects. I found this extract in a forum. ”Cinema 4D will output multiple passes to After Effects, Combustion, Apple Motion, eyeon Fusion, and FCP as native project files, which you’d have to build up and render out manually in Maya or other 3D apps. Cinema 4D is a bit easier to get up to speed on and grasp, but Maya is the king out there, so Maya experience makes you very employable” http://toolfarm.com/phorumNew5/read.php?4,1523

The full highest priced Maya package is $4,090.00 which is very pricey and in the forums many are saying that Cinema 4D is about half that price which can be appealing especially as some student prices come to around £130. Another argument in favor of Cinema 4D is the workflow that I quote from the CGTalk forum “I prefer C4D mainly because of the smooth workflow. Comparatively, Maya can feel clunky at times. This is really a testament to how refined the C4D interface is.” I can agree with the user experience of Maya not being very attractive but it is no reason to not choose it over any other. It’s quite clearly the tool you get in the end for the job you want it to do rather than the user experience but there if you purchase all the extras to give Cinema4D more capabilities is closely rivals the price of Maya. I think that Maya gives a good start covering all areas of 3D as the quote said earlier that Maya is the king and it should be rightly the first choice to use in education for all of the reasons above.

My own personal view of Cinema4D and Maya is a little biased as I have very limited experience with Cinema4D and it is for me a totally different experience but has some excellent user features mainly in the interface, there is less mess in term of windows being open everywhere all over the place. Maya feels very comfortable, but this is down to nearly 3 years of using the application. I felt more intimidated the first time I used Cinema4D than the first time I used Maya.

EDITZ (Research)

Whilst researching render farms and their prices my search led me to EDITZ a Manchester based design and post production company. This company according to another website has render farm facilities for rendering out big projects. EDITZ has been established since 1988, which in my view is an amazing stint. Their abilities are quite wide as they have experience using many sorts of techniques to get the job making them very desirable. Such desirability has led them to be on the BBC's approved supplier list which is shared with 30 other companies. They have a huge range of clients, which include Coronation Street & Manchester United, works and showreels available on their website.

http://www.editz.co.uk/

Avatar Behind The Scenes (Research)

Whilst researching Maya 2011 3D software and its features, I came across this youtube video (below) of how the movie Avatar was made. The video is presented at the Avatar Presentation at Autodesk University. The video gives great insight into how the movie was made and the technologies used. The behind the scene footage makes out that the filming process was easy thanks to the technology but I imagine its a lot more difficult.

AntiVJ Visual Project (Research)

Hello Mike!

Saw this on the OneDotZero website and think it is amazing and right up your street!

AntiVJ - ENGHIEN from AntiVJ / Joanie on Vimeo.

This visual label production did an AudioVisual in June 2009 in France. The music is by Thomas Vaquie and the visual artists involved are all artists who participate in the AntiVJ label: Yannick Jacquet, Joanie Lemercier, Olivier Ratsi and Romain Tardy.

ANTIVJ - Nuits Sonores Festival

I was looking a VJ-ing group that ONE DOT ZERO had put on their webpage in the events section, it was the ANTIVJ live event at EMPAC in New York, although the event is not on ANTIVJ's website (AntiVJ is a visual label LINK) I was keen to look at what they do. The video below shows an example of what they do. They were VJ-ing at the Nuits Sonores festival. ANTIVJ designed the stage and the visuals for this event across three nights in Lyon, France last May. I was amazed how they manged to make the entire DJ/VJ booth into a screen itself whilst there were other screens around it.

AntiVJ - NUITS SONORES (LINK)

ONE DOT ZERO Adventures In Moving Image

I found this event that is happening in New York at EMPAC running from the 30th April - 02nd May. Below is a synopsis of the event from ONE DIT ZERO's website.

"onedotzero_adventures in motion festival returns to empac [experimental media + performing arts center] in troy, new york state for the second invasion of installations, live performances, screening programmes and educational projects. the weekend kicks off with stunning live performances. onedotzero have invited international visual label AntiVJ to empac to create a brand new live painting project during a three week residency which will culminate in a live audiovisual show to open the festival plus an installation to be presented over the festival weekend. AntiVJ are renowned for transforming architectural structures with 3D mapping and “live painting” with light projections so we can’t wait to see their response to empac’s extraordinary architectural features.

we’ll also be joined by diplo, the multi-talented dj, producer and songwriter who, as well as dj-ing with live visuals on opening night, will present his latest feature film favela on blast.

back-to-back screenings of onedotzero’s latest compilation programmes will take place in empac’s 400 seat theatre over the entire weekend. meanwhile installations including AntiVJ’s light painting, an interactive music video lounge and the onedotzero_adventures in motion latest festival identity [developed by wieden + kennedy london + karsten schmidt].

empac will also host the first stateside installment of cascade. under the guidance of AntiVJ and onedotzero, empac students will collaborate on projects that will be presented to the festival audience."

onedotzero | adventures in moving image

More Soon - NTT

After reviewing a link that Jen had posted on my blog about More Soon I decided to follow up her recommendation and whilst looking at the piece she recommended I saw the video below that caught my eye. It was done for NTT a telecommunication company (NTT Data - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). I really liked how the music synced with the sound and it kind of reminded me of a Big Brother title sequence with shape of the circle being like an abstract eye. The imagery reminded me of a camera lens with reflections glaring from it. Whilst researching it was unclear what the purpose of the piece was for. I am now tempted to contact the company and find out more about the work.

Mathematics Contact

I contacted Mathematics (Mentioned in an earlier post > http://mikewilliams11.blogspot.com/2010/02/empire-of-sun-visuals-mathematics.html)in Australia to ask them some questions about some concert visuals they have produced for band Empire Of The Sun for a festival which I really liked because I think the visuals work well with the band's psychedelic style and I also liked the abstract style used.

e-mail conversation:

"Dear Sir/Madam

My name is Michael Williams and I am currently studying on the BA(Hons) Design & Visual Arts - Moving Image course at Stockport College in the United Kingdom. I am very much interested in the work this company produces especially the work on live concert tour visuals and hope to get into this industry myself one day. I was looking at the work that you have done for Empire Of The Sun and was wondering if I could ask someone a few questions about the work to assist me in my studies?

Many thanks for your time,
Kind regards,

Michael Williams
3rd Year Student
Stockport College
United Kingdom"

Reply:

"sure

fire away..."

To which I replied:

"Hello Josh,

1)Firstly, I have watched some of the individual number from the set on youtube and i was wondering what were the concepts for the majority of the visuals because they are very abstract?

2) How did you work with the screen because it was layered in a way in which it was many screens in the form of arches but from front view it looks similar to a single screen? Was there a template to work to? Was there a specific reason why the screen was built this way?

3) What software packages do you use, because a lot of it looks like it was maybe done in 3D software but i know you can achieve 3D effects in non 3D packages like after effects?

4) Do you have any tips or advice for me on how to visualise music successfully and how to get into the business ?

I am very grateful for your time and I would like to comment on how rich the content was for Empire's performance in terms of colour movement and composition.

Many thanks,

Kind regards,

Michael Williams
3rd Year Student
Stockport College
United Kingdom"

Waiting on reply to questions, the answers will help me understand the design process for this work hopefully and I may gain some vital tips to take to my major project!

I Think 6 months

I have expressed to Frank The Plumber and asked them what they thought about me interning with them for 6 months commencing in September. I am now waiting for a reply and hopefully begin the planning! I think that if I did 6 months I would have the chance to settle in, work on a few projects and walk away with a fantastic experience under my belt that could perhaps make me more desirable to potential employers and give me new industry knowledge and design skills.

Ian Macklin Reply

I was really glad that Ian Macklin got back to me and told me of when he would be giving me some feedback which I am looking forward to as I discussed the project with him during the production of the piece.

Macklin's reply:

"Hi Michael,

I do indeed remember you.

Sorry for not getting back sooner, i've been away from my computer for a few days.

We will indeed take a look at your work. I'll grab my wife this week and we'll pass you some comments over.

yeah, shame we didn't see you when you were down, were you with the group that went to weare17's studio?

hope you're well,

cheers,

ian"

Getting The Ball Rolling!

I am keeping up with the negotiations about my internship in LA with Frank The Plumber and the creative director has expressed a few things in his emails for me:

"I will find out what kind of rate we can pay you, but it will probably be quite low...."

I have heard from past graduates that have gone onto to do internships and placements the sometimes you don't get paid for what you do, but from what I have made out I may not be just there to run around and making coffee and that I will be involved properly on their projects as they were interested to know what software I use and that they are willing to pay me!

&

"Can you tell me what you would be expecting to get out of this experience so I can make sure it is all worthwhile for you?"

To which I replied:

"I hope to gain more knowledge and experience of the industry and have the experience of working in this area. I am really interested about the type of work you guys do and have been greatly interested in audio visual and concert visuals for years."

They replied with:

"Ok, my main concern is that during the time that you are here we are not in production on a given show, but that is rarely the case.

Even so, we will find things to work on.

Keep me posted on when you would want to come and for how long and I will inquire more on my end"

I Have Committed

With further conversations continuing with Frank The Plumber I have decided to commit and go out to Los Angles either in August or September 2010 and intern with Frank The Plumber. I asked how long the internship would be and Alex Czetwertynski (in house creative director) said that they have people from 1-6 months! Careful consideration will need to be taken as this is a major move in my life potentially.

I was asked what software I knew and I said in an e-mail: "The software I use and know is autodesk maya, after effects, premier pro, Photoshop, illustrator. I know some flash and starting to learn cinema4D."

To his reply he said: "Glad you are c4d friendly!"

This shocked me in a way because ever since from going to London and meeting with designers and group visits to agencies, I have learnt that Cinema4D is more and more widely used in the industry yet on my degree course in moving image we use maya. I can see why on my course we use maya and that is because it covers all grounds and is feature rich also there is a difference in price of the software, Cinema4D is cheaper making it more appealing to companies.

Further Conversations

Upon showing and getting feedback from Frank The Plumber's in house creative director Alex Czetwertynski, I have kept in contact with him and through further conversation he Alex has offered me an internship with the company in Los Angeles.

"I'm not 100% sure how we can work together yet, but if we have anything that requires a UK based person I will let you know. If you are interested in interning with us in LA, please let me know"

I was thrilled to receive this email and I am seriously considering the offer.

Frank The Plumber – We're Gonna Clean Those Pipes Right Out

John Narun Feedback

I contacted John Narun (http://www.johnnarun.com/)a moving image designer in the US to see if he could give me some feedback on my work. I decided to show him my self directed project was a concert visual piece for the Reverend & The Makers song ‘Bandits’ (Reverend & The Makers - Bandits (Visuals) on Vimeo). Narun has worked for companies such as Veneno to produce concert visuals for some major worldwide stage tours. He has produced visuals for the likes of Christina Aguilera and Madonna. I thought that for these reasons Narun's feedback and thoughts would be priceless and enable me to improve my work and it would give me some tools and tips that I could take to my major project which is on going and I am creating concert visuals that are going to be shown at a live event!

Narun's comments:

"michael,

thanks so much for your email. i watched your piece and i think its amazing fun! here are my thoughts for what its worth...

you have a great sense of rhythm. both the animation and the edit work perfectly with the song - even your use of blur in the slower part shows that you are very in touch with the musicality. nice work. i love the illustration as well. its colorful and fun. the icons that work with the lyrics are just right.

if you were to continue to evolve it i would focus on the following things:

1. find ways to make it more of a story. it should change from the beginning of the song to the end in some sort of arc. that keeps it more interesting for the viewer. perhaps its a simple machine at first and throughout the song it gets more and more complex until it breaks under the strain of its own complexity. something like that to keep it changing.

2. the reflections are gorgeous and make me wish there was even more structure. even some simple 3d structure would give it much more depth.

3. Look for moments to insert fun and unexpected nuances. The way the wheels turn and lock into place maybe. Variations in the way the lights blink. Things like that.

Overall, great work! Let me know how it's received.

J "