sorry for the delay in posts. i have been sick all week and am finally getting better! yay! more of these all week!

I can honestly say I have never been a big fan of video work, but Danny Yount put on an amazingly professional, clean presentation that really conveyed his love for the work he does. He has an impressive show reel, and worked on some of the biggest film releases over the last year or so, like Iron Man and Rock ‘n’ Rolla.

danny yount - iron man opening sequence

What I liked about Yount’s presentation was the way he kept it fun. Showing random little snippets from the internet, or his analogy of filming a squirrel, and how he will never do it again.

Out of Yount’s work, I am most impressed by his motion typography, from the way the type in the Six Feet Under behaves like ash when the crow flies past it, to the amazing graphic style used in the Rock ‘n’ Rolla opening sequence.

Be sure to go to his personal site to check out the projects he has worked on.

For more information on Danny Yount, follow these links:

Personal site, with great video works – www.dannyyount.com

Great Q&A over at computer arts – www.computerarts.co.uk

Tamara (Dean) and Dean (Sewell) are an incredible photojournalistic duo hailing from Sydney, who are some of the most technically practiced photographers I have ever seen. While I was not too interested in their presentation, it’s hard to not pay attention when the images they are showing have so much depth and emotion; I felt bad even sending a text message.

dean sewell - aceh

Dean Sewell opened the talk with a large portfolio of images taken in Aceh, after the tsunami in 2004. He is believed to be the first, and only international photographer to be in the region at the time, and he fly in under the pretence that he was a tsunami expert, tricking government officials to let him into the area.  It is interesting to note that Sewell shot with film instead of digital, as he believed the tragic events needed to be recorded on a quality medium, and he shot in black and white in order to draw the eye to the extreme scenes that were being represented. For him, colour would have added an overwhelming dimension, and would have distracted from the reality of the events he was capturing.

tamara dean - squatters

Tamara Dean, on the other hand, shoots a lot of scenes from everyday life, and suburbia, using friends and family as the subjects of her photos. While the images she captures are of the everyday, they are far from mundane. Extraordinarily emotions shine through, with a strong focus on femininity, family, and friends. She shared with us her Squatters body of work, entering the world of squatters living in Sydney’s inner west. Again displaying a range of technically brilliant works, perfect exposures, and emotive images.

Both Tamara and Dean have works in progress that have already spanned over a decade, with Tamara documenting the girls around her, and their journey to womanhood, and Dean attempting to catch those brief moments of amazing colour in his tricolour series based in Hillsdale, where he grew up in Sydney.

Dean Sewell is a founding member of the photographic collective Oculi, later inviting Tamara Dean to join. Both now work for Fairfax, and continue their amazing work through Oculi.

For more information on Tamara and Dean, follow these links:

Tamara and Dean have extensive portfolios at – www.oculi.com

an interesing interview with Tamara just before Semi-Permanent 09 – www.fourthousand.com.au

Kris Moyes is an amazing director, working mainly with music video and commercials, he is the kind of person who can let his work do his talking. And while his talk at this year’s Semi-Permanent started out very shaky, nervous and read from his notes, it did not detract at all from the impact that his videos make.

moyes on the set of cut copy's going no where

Working with companies like Cadbury to create commercials that engage the viewer, and creating music videos for some of today’s most well respected artists, Moyes has really forged a name for himself as a director that loves a challenge, as well as creating something memorable.

Videos like My People, for The Presets really stand out. It was amazing to see the behind the scenes for this one. After speaking about a scene in the movie Gerry, where the actors are walking together and they keep oscillating in and out of synchronized steps, the idea developed. This is evident at the start of the video, where the band members do that same. Moyes continued to show his full working process, from storyboarding, to motion tests with old stock footage, pitching the idea to the label and the band. It was a great chance for us to see the inner workings of a music video.

While his commercial work what Moyes is best know for, some of his more subversive works mite be just as well known. A few years ago, there was a leaked Wolfmother video, which had live concert footage that had been defaced, with all sorts of imagery drawn over the top in a haphazard, amusing and almost childish way. This was part of his agreement to edit the original video. I honestly prefer the defaced version to the original, and Moyes does too.

Moyes has a curiosity in making videos that show a visual representation of the music, from My People to a video for Softlights, where the inspiration was taken from Disney’s Fantasia, Guitar Hero, and Stefan Sagmeister. It is interesting to note that Moyes reminisced about this scene from Fantasia, saying “…Ever since I was a kid I have loved this moment, and it was awesome when I got a chance to rip it off!” It has been said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. After showing the Fantasia scene, he showed the full video, speaking over it to explain how various aspects of the stop-motion animation were created.

By the end of his talk, Moyes had really warmed up and got into it. In the past I haven’t had much interest in working with video, but after seeing the way in which these works were created, it has really sparked my interest in motion imagery.

For more information on Kris Moyes, follow these links:

Kris Moyes – www.kmoyes.com (very info skint, but great video collection)

Directors Bureau Profile – www.thedirectorsbureau.com

and an interesting interview from Alex Young – www.milieu.alexyoung.org

below are some stills from Moyes’ work, as well as my notes taken during his Semi-Permanent presentation.

Sorry this didnt go up yesterday, i had troubles with uploading pictures, and my posts are boring without pictures! so on with the show…

Timba Smits is an amazingly down to earth guy. When he was speaking at Semi-Permanent last week, he made everyone feel like they knew him as a friend, inviting us into his world, where he works as a graphic designer, illustrator, and one man band behind Wooden Toy magazine.  It is easy to tell from the way Timba talks about his work that he is a very passionate man, who throws himself at every project he has with enthusiasm.

wooden toy collectors edition contents page

Timba likes to work with a pencil and paper. Taking it back to basics and working with his hands has allowed his magazine, Wooden Toy, to grow and be loved, showing his hard work. Much of the title type used in the magazine are all hand drawn specifically for the article they are used. This love of typography has lead to Timba punishing himself to make each issue of Wooden Toy noticeably better than the last.

At Semi-Permanent, Sydney, Timba took us through how he puts together an issue of his magazine. The way he painstakingly lays out each page, pulling aspects of featured artwork to place around the accompanying pages in little flourishes. He stated that he may spend 15 minutes placing a small flower near the spine of a 2 page layout, even though people will barely notice, he knows that it’s there, and he loves that. The magazine, which started as a free, 86 page street style magazine has grown from 2000 issues to 5000 issues, with the latest issue, the Hand Made Edition, which features a twig and string font Timba spent about 40 hours hand drawing and colouring. The launch party for issue 6 of Wooden Toy Magazine will be held at the Gorker Gallery, in Fitzroy.

hand made edition slip cover

Gorker gallery is another aspect of Timba’s creative life. It is a gallery space he has run in conjunction with Luke Matthews, Nathan Holmes Trapnell, and Lauren Biedrzycki since June 2008. It features predominately Australian artists, in group shows, and has been home to works by artists such as Ghostpatrol, Eamo, Drewfunk, Miso, and many more. 2009 promises to be a big year for the gallery, with a great exhibition line-up.

Timba also works as a graphic designer and illustrator through The Fad Experiment. Recently having worked on illustrative portraits for The Sons of Stanhope, a photobook of Ghostpatrol and Miso’s works, and Diamondback bikes. Under The Fad Experiment, Timba has also spoken at many events and universities, such as Semi-Permanent, Shillington College, and Abu Dhabi Women’s College of Technology.

one of the sons of stanhope portraits

I have to say, after hearing Timba speak, he is definitely an inspiration. Someone who believed enough in himself and his dream to publish a magazine, and to open a gallery.

For more information on Timba Smits, here are some handy links:

Wooden Toy Magazine – www.woodentoyquarterly.com

The Fad Experiment – www.fadexperiment.com

Gorker Gallery, Fitzroy – www.gorkergallery.com

and a great interview with Timba, from Australian Edge -www.australianedge.net

below are some of Timba’s images, as well as my notes taken during his Semi-Permanent presentation.

semipermanent logo

Well, how do you wrap up an awesome couple of days at the Semipermanent Design Conference? By going home, cooking some dimsims and writing about it! yay!

First up, the announcments!

semipermanent WILL be in melbourne this year, oct 16 and 17, and i was the second person to get tickets! there will be 12 new speakers, but no announcements as to who they will be yet.

here is what the sydney sp09 program says:

For years now the lovely people of Melbourne have been pleading with us to host a Semi-Permanent even in their sexy city. We finally cracked and are pleased to announce the Semi-Permanent 2009 Melbourne event.

We’ll see you down there

Melbourne Semi-Permanent 2009 – 16 & 17 October 2009

melbourne convention and exhibition centre (southbank, melbourne)

speakers TBC (12 different speakers to sydney event)

so there you have it, i havent seen anything on the net about this yet, so i consider this to be an if forever exists exclusive!!! nothing is even on the semipermanent site as yet, but i would be staying tuned to get tickets before they sell out, cos if you guys wanted it that bad down there, its sure to sell out! (plus, you wanna sit next to me dont you? considering i already have tickets)

so thats the exciting announcement! now i just want to tell you, that starting monday we are going to be having profiles on each of the 13 people who spoke at this years sydney semipermanent, featuring works, information and exclusive parts of their presentations. as a bonus, i will include a scan of my raw notes for each presenter, so you can extract your own information if you want. that’s 13 amazingly talented people to be profiled over the coming weeks.

the lineup is as follows:

1. Timba Smits, of wooden toy magazine
2. Kris Moyes, film production
3. Ian Francins, mixed media artist
4. Tamara Dean, photographer
5. Dean Sewell, photographer
6. Danny Yount, film production/direction
7. Droga 5 (Ben Nott), creative advertising agency
8. XYZ Studios (Tim Kentley), animation studio
9. Kate Gibb, screenprinter/illustrator
10. Wired Magazine (Scott Dadich), technology/innovation publication
11. Daniela Federici, photographer
12. Ron English, billboard liberator
13. Digital Domain (Vernon Wilbert), digital production

it’s a massive lineup of some of the most creative people in the business, all of the wowed me at the event, and i hope they inspire you as well! This starts on monday!

I would like to take this opportunity to say thankyouthankyouthankyou to the event organisers – Andrew Johnstone and Murray Bell! without you guys, this wouldnt have happened! keep up the awesome work, and see you at the melbourne show!

dont forget, subscribe to the right to stay up to date with all the awesome on if forever exists.

and dont forget to check the semipermanent website for info on the brisbane, perth and auckland shows, as well as the freshly announced melbourne show!

www.semipermanent.com

peace

qwux