Moving image design, whether viewed in the form of title sequences for television and cinema, movie visual effects, animating infographics, branding and advertising, or as an art form in itself, is being increasingly recognised as an important dynamic part of contemporary culture. For many practitioners this has been long overdue. This book is written from the perspective of a practitioner and educator and aims to bring to the attention of media historians, fellow practitioners and students alike the innovative practices of leading moving image designers. Central to their practice is the hybridisation of digital and heritage methods. âHeritageâ can be defined as traditional, analogue and handmade practices that predate or overlap digital technology. âDigitalâ is considered in this book as a description of the means of production and also a medium of communication.
The media historian Lev Manovich (2013) in his book âSoftware Takes Commandâ makes the argument that âhybridity represents the next logical stage in the development of computational mediaâ (Manovich 2013: 243). The âvelvet revolutionâ of software and more affordable personal computing hardware in the 1990s has contributed to the development of a new aesthetic and language in the moving image. Manovich describes this new aesthetic as âdeep remixabilityâ where media from different sources can be overlaid and combined in the same frame in endless variations without loss of quality. âThe new hybrid aesthetics exist in endless variations but its basic principle is the same: juxtaposing previously distinct visual aesthetics of different media within the same imageâ (Manovich 2013: 244). Graphic designers such as April Greiman quickly recognised the opportunities that Apple Macintosh afforded to weave a hybrid of digital and photomechanical techniques for print into a multi-layered âmetamediumâ (Greiman 1990).
For those animators and motion graphic designers who have worked in film opticals and analogue video this is not new. Indeed, artist Tacita Dean (2011) continues to explore the techniques and forms of multiple exposures and image combination using analogue film that were established by the Lumiere brothers in the 1880s. Digital technology has provided greater opportunity to many more designers and artists in moving image by making image combination more affordable, quicker, complex and media independent. Multiple layers and renderings can be combined without loss of quality, and non-destructively. Both film and analogue video suffered image loss each time a layer was combined and rendered, and changes involved remaking, and in the case of film and early video, cementing physical celluloid or magnetic tape. Manovich goes beyond the end image but describes the encompassing âmedia hybrids, interfaces, techniques, and ultimately the most fundamental assumptions of different media forms and traditions, are brought together resulting in new media gestaltsâ (Manovich 2013: 167). The merging of previously distinct processes and media has formed a whole new experience and language.
For the generation that has grown up in digitally dominated media, there is a growing inquisitiveness to explore older media and processes that have either a more tactile quality or a slower process of production that allows for creative thought and reflection. In my research (Macdonald 2012) I have found âdigital nativesâ (Prensky 2001), those born after 1990, and the launch of Adobe Photoshop, to be eager to challenge the digital orthodoxy and to work with hybrids that capture the unique expression of heritage and analogue practices with the flexibility and malleability that digital software affords.
Back in the 1980s, graphic designer April Greiman was a pioneer of hybrid graphics in print that was known as the âPacific Waveâ, who used ânewâ digital tools to âextend new opportunity to the traditional relationship between hand and eyeâ, in a post-modern weaving of a variety of technologies to express âa unity within diversity which is particularly contemporaryâ (Greiman 1990: 13). Like many graphic designers, she has used a combination of digital and traditional techniques to redefine her conception of the hybrid image. Three decades on the concept of âmetamediumâ (Greiman 1990; Manovich 2007) has changed little. Heritage practices appear to be timeless, and it is the unrelenting upgrades of digital software that make prior software and hardware versions quickly obsolete.
This book aims to examine hybrid moving image designs that reinvigorate heritage practices, the handmade and the analogue crafts. Wells and Hardstaff (2008) describe a âreimaginingâ of animation that has been necessary since the change in moving image cultures following the digital revolution and the expansion of animated forms across previously separate disciplines. Their study of creative animation work marks an important beginning to the debate concerning the implications that affect the teacher, student and practitioner. Manovich and Wells are among an increasing body of academics that recognise the rising status of design in this form. Now is the time to ensure that heritage skills do not atrophy and wither, but that their qualities and provenance are understood as potent components with digital practices in new hybrids.
Selected Works
The moving image designers from the UK, France, Japan and the USA that are featured in this book have a similar background to the author, but they also exemplify the different aspects of the field from channel branding, title sequence design, and visual effects to practice-based research and curation. All the designers involved have had an art college or university education where conceptual thinking was nurtured and drawing skills were practiced. They recognise the importance of transferring their knowledge to students and new practitioners, as guest speakers or as lecturers.
Graham McCallum has gone further than many to raise the public awareness and status of design through his gallery in Shoreditch, London. The Kemistry Gallery sits beneath his design studio offices and offers a window to contemporary graphic designers, as well as celebrating some of the legends of past 50 years, himself included. McCallumâs long career covers the most radical and challenging developments in television graphic design: the introduction of colour, video and digital technology. He moves with the times, and his inquisitive exploration of materials and processes is fuelled by his creative and intellectual curiosity as a designer. McCallumâs perspective is rare, and he provides an eloquent critique of the business and moving image culture.
In the process of researching the material for this book, it was clear that each of the contributors has had an early interest in computing. Some, the author included, can remember being introduced to the first Apple Macintosh and then the first Quantel Paintbox, immediately seeing the interface of a tablet, keyboard and screen as the future of graphic design production in print and on screen. Computer literacy and the advantage of being early adopters have propelled many of these designers at the beginning of their careers. Being on the front foot to embrace new technology, as well as having an eye on the past to appreciate the value of heritage practices, has also been instrumental to their career success. But it is the strength of ideas that count in the end.
The French studio Nobrain, comprises directors Saii, Charles and Niko, who began their careers as compositing artist, computer graphics editor and post-production supervisor, respectively. Despite what may appear to be a digital orthodoxy, they were responsible for the acclaimed multi-media animation sequence for the Christmas on BBC2 (British Broadcasting Corporation) ident (2011â2015). Nobrain prefers a rougher, more organic texture and aesthetic to the once ubiquitous smooth veneer of computer-generated imagery (CGI). Their CGI experience informs their process to exploit the speed and cost-efficiency of computers to often imitate heritage practices. The Christmas BBC2 idents involved puppeteers working as consultants to provide the raw movement of characters, which were then imitated with greater flexibility, which is only possible with CGI software.
The Moving Picture Company has long been at the forefront of the movie visual effects (VFX) industry, having started as a television post-production facilities studio in Londonâs Soho in the 1970s. Adam Valdez and Richard Stammers are world-leading VFX supervisors who have led the VFX work on The Jungle Book, Lord of the Rings, Maleficent, Harry Potter, X-Men and Prometheus, to name just a few. In a later chapter they reflect on the factors that influence the creative decisions when balancing aesthetics and narrative in constructing and designing the spectacular (and even unspectacular) sequences that have drawn in huge cinema audiences around the world. Stammers debates the advantages of combining real elements with CGI and the comparison of using model miniatures over CGI. Valdez describes how he learned his VFX craft through working with real lights and cameras in a studio, then being mentored by Star Wars VFX legend Phil Tippett. Valdez offers a contrasting argument that is more concerned with the emotional impact of the narrative over any particular process or production methodology. He is critical of how CGI pre-visualisation (pre-vis) work can overwhelm the emotional narrative before the recording of the actorsâ performance has even begun.
Artist and academic Eric Dyer uses pre-vis to test the designs of his models that are then manufactured using 3D printing technology. Inspired by the spinning animated sculptures of Gregory Barsamian, Dyer has developed immersive gallery installations that exhibit both a moving image artefact and the model that was used to make the video. His excitement in his work comes from designing something new that comes from an investigation of process and practice, without necessarily having an end outcome in mind at the outset. This is an approach that is contrary to his professional career, which began as a motion graphic designer in New York at Lee Hunt Associates and Razorfish where an end result was specific to a brief.
Momoco is a small studio based in Londonâs Soho that began in Los Angeles when Nic Benns from England and Miki Kato from Japan teamed together after graduating from California Institute of the Arts in 1999. Under the influence of Ed Fella and Jeff Keedy, they had a privileged education in typography and graphic design that has contributed to their award-winning design work in television and film titles. Their understanding of heritage graphic processes and approach to research are essential to the success of their ideas. They combine context and narrative factors with great technical skill in Adobe After Effects and Cinema 4D. Manovich (2013) regards After Effects and other Adobe software as central to the creation of a new language of moving image, for not only can it replicate lensing effects such as depth of field and blur, but its comparative affordability to its predecessors has allowed it to become the universal software, not just for small independent design studios but for students as well. Momoco sees a bright future for interdisciplinary creative work that blends literature and music with moving image design.
Before the work and hybrid practices of these moving image designers are explored in greater detail, it is useful to contextualise heritage and digital practices. A brief tour of theoretical opinions is aimed at engaging practitioners and students alike in the rich academic field of moving image design culture.
Bibliography
Dean, T. (2011). Film. London: Tate.
Greiman, A. (1990). Hybrid imageryâThe fusion of technology and graphic design. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications.
Macdonald, I. (2012). Why throw the negs out with the bath water? International Journal of Art and Design Education, 31(2), 191â124.CrossRef
Manovich, L. (2007). Understanding hybrid media (online). In B. S. Hertz (Ed.), Animated paintings. San Diego: San Diego Museum of Art. Retrieved January 24, 2015, from http://âmanovich.ânet/â
Manovich, L. (2013). Software takes command. London: Bloomsbury.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1â6.CrossRef
Wells, P., & Hardstaff, J. (2008). Re-imagining animation: The changing face of the moving image. Lausanne: AVA Publishing.