Click Here to see the visual effects reel from Gaspard Noe's new film 'Enter the Void'. I missed this at the cinemas but can't wait til it hits on DVD, a definite must see. The effects reel is simply breathtaking, making the dark underbelly of tokyo utterly beautiful in a haunting, neon way. Plus the Sigur ros soundtrack to the reel (avoiding the usual BBC sigur ros cliche bollocks) just adds to its dark beauty. Watch, and be amazed.
Really interesting video with Daniel Shiffman outside OFFF Paris 2010 (which I was lucky enough to have attended - and just realised I still havent blogged about...). But yeah, interesting video stating the reasons we should all get comfortable with a bit of coding. Give it a look.
Another amazing video from a warp artist. This is from Flying Lotus, and animated by Beeple. THe video is really simply animated, but really nicely executed too, with great humour.
Last weekend I visited my friends in manchester and also went to a gig by Chillwave band Neon Indian.
It was a sad affair. Chillwave has been described as the 'sound of summer 2010' and unfortunately, the summer is now over. Neon Indian looked sad, exhausted, and didnt really have the feel of summer about them any more. (not the feel of british summer, but rather the idealised version of summer that you see in 80's teen movies).
I imagine that chillwave bands suffer the same fate as wasps at the end of the summer. Or perhaps not, although i'd would be entertaining to see Alan Palomo go mental and start stinging everyone who eats jam sandwiches.
Anyway, as a homage to the dying genre of Chillwave, and my awesome summer that it seems to have sountracked, here is a video that I made on the train last week whilst coming back to London.
Enjoy the wavey chilledness of it.
The music is by Neon Indian, although feel free to replace it with your favorite track by Washed Out, Toro y Moi, Memory Tapes, etc. Its also better if you enjoy doing chillwavey things like jumping into lakes, and surfing.
Lumpens are based in Seoul, South Korea. They use amazing digital technologies to create great moving image pieces. I especially like their projection mapping projects.
"For us, working is like playing, and by playing, we make money. We want to keep living that way."
I successfully moved to London, however current lack of internet in my flat in greenwich means that my blog posts are still as infrequent as ever.
So i'm writing this from work. My job at the Mill is pretty amazing, I am sat by a shelf literally overflowing with D&AD awards, I get to work with some of the best creatives in the world, and within my first 2 weeks and a half i've worked on projects for Playstation, One, and the Mill themselves.
Anyway, more updates soon.
Also, here is a quick screenshot of something secret that I'm working on (if I ever finish it...).
Hi. So yeah, this is my first blog post since MARCH.
Everyone seems to be blogging again now and this makes me feel pretty lazy, so here we go...
THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED SINCE IVE BEEN LAZY:
I art directed/designed the degree show for my course BA(hons) Design and Art Direction.
I have had work in Grafik Magazine and Flux Magazine.
My font 'A_B_Stochome' is to be released on a disk and featured in a book in Tokyo all about independent fonts.
I graduated with a first class honours degree from MMU. (and managed to not fall over at graduation)
I launched my website www.adam-brandon.com
I got offered 2 jobs in London! I am moving on saturday the 7th to the capital, and start work at The Mill on the 9th!
Soooo yeah. I'm going to update this more often now. I think.
My submission for the don't panic TV brief.
I decided to base my idea on the Evolution of TV hardware, how the design has evolved over time to become what it is today.
I'm quite happy with the overall design. If you like it too, please vote for it here:
I have recently been asked to do some live visual work for my friend - and techno producer - Audibilis.
He is going to start doing live techno sets and I will be creating the accompanying visuals live.
It has always been an area of visual communication I have been interested in, and so I have been doing a lot of research over the past week.
The first thing that really opened my eyes up to this medium was seeing 'The Great Destroyer' by Nine Inch Nails back in 2006: (1:59 onwards for the amazing visuals)
So, inspired by this, I have been researching visuals all week.
I have been playing with the software Modul8 for a few days, and it proves to be a nice VJ-ing tool (i have also been asked to VJ at the 'Bring on the Dancing horses' degree show fundraiser, so I may use this software here...).
However, I have been craving a fuller, more creative visual experience.
I then found out about Derivatives Touch Designer. This appears to be more the kind of thing I have been looking for. However, it is currently windows only, meaning i'm going to have to install boot camp on my mac tonight :(
But, the visuals it creates are amazing. It has a procedural, visual programming environment, where pretty much anything can be synced up to music, and filtered using oscillators, midi signals, and frequency ranges (exactly the kind of geeky stuff I love.)
Some of the best examples of it being used live are by Alva Noto (electronic project of acclaimed visual artist Carsten Nicolai) He uses Touchdesigner with his live music to create amazing walls of light.
I think I could recreate something like this myself. (although, not exactly the same, I want to innovate.)
Plus, as a graphic designer, surely a sense of visual balance is a good transferable skill into live visuals?
Watch this space for more info on this project.
Right, i've banged this out in a day as a concept ident for the degree show. (obv the text will be different etc, but I made it to give a general 'look' and see how it went.) I like the melancholic music.
Just saw this today. It is by Bank, a german graphic design agency.
It may look like some cliched neon type at first, however it is all just ONE neon light, bent in a way that it can be seen as every letter of the alphabet from different positions.
Pure genius.
Right, i've been away from this blogging thing for a while, mostly, and so i'm going try and get back into it!
Ok, so an update on my life. Its been quite a hectic couple of weeks. I turned 22 a couple of weeks ago, and since then, its been go go go.
First, I have been offered a full time position at a marketing agency as a creative (an agency whom I currently freelance for.) I haven't accepted yet, i'm going to consider all my options, however its nice to know that I can get some full time work upon graduation.
Secondly, we got our marks back for the first term and I (somehow) managed to get 80% (which also happens to be the highest mark in the year group! (although I think it was undeserved, there are people who do a lot more work than I do on the course!)
Thirdly, I got an email yesterday of Vice Magazine in New York, they have somehow seen my VBS.TV idents and really love them, and so I am currently awaiting some feedback off the Vice Magazine design department in brooklyn. Exciting stuff.
Also, my work has been featured today on typography websitetypographyserved.com. I'm really pleased about this, especially seen as I had no idea, they just came across my work and decided to feature it.
Oh, and theres also a possible (albeit top secret) project in the pipeline with a certain Mr. Si Scott.
Today I received a package in the post from none other than The Designers Republic.
Enclosed was a copy of the new gatecrasher album that I helped design whilst on placement (I sourced and edited all the photos and designed the inlay booklet.)
As a thankyou for my hard work, I also got sent a limited edition tDR Sissy Figurine, which were exclusively hand made in japan with only 300 ever made! Needless to say I am very pleased :)
I have decided to leave my usual working methods behind for the moment.
Below are some shots of the hand drawn version of my 'A_B_ Stochome' font. I have completed the lower case and imported it to fontlab, and have now only to complete the upper case.
This (designing with a pen) is something very strange to me...
Hello there, my name is Adam Brandon. I have recently graduated from BA(hons) Design and Art Direction at MMU with first class honours, and am now working in London as a graphic designer, art director, and animator. This is a blog of things I do, things I make, things I see, and things I like.