Feature: Jordi Pages ~ Playgrounds Fest 2012 Titles
Posted on January 16, 2013 by contact
Our latest feature :: the first of several coming up for 2013
We had a chance to chat with Jordi Pages who recently collaborated with MRK, Gabor Ekes and Echolab, crafting these titles for the 2012 Playgrounds Fest.
1. Please describe the initial brief.
The brief was mainly a blank canvas. The only requirement was that we had to feature in some way the line up of artist that were going to be part of Playgrounds Fest 2012. Leon (Playgrounds director) just wanted to give us creative freedom and he encourage us to try any thing we had in our heads.
2. Was the collaboration remote?
Yes it was, we shared a dropbox folder with me, Gabor and MRK and posted there all the research and development that we were doing during the first days of the project, then we borrowed each others ideas and files and applied a little bit of every one in each scene. Gabor was borrowing my shapes, I was using some of MRKs materials, MRK was using some of my animation setups…so we kept importing and exporting things from one another, so we learned a lot from one another and also the style and look was more consistent through the whole piece, but still keeping our individual styles. The guys at Echolab also worked on the project remotely from Dublin and Leon was following every thing from the Netherlands.
Working remotely wasn´t ideal, but we were so exited about the project that we went for it anyway, and we all agree that the over all experience has been really good.
3. What was the timeline for the design vs the production processes?
The team was put together three weeks before the event, so there wasn´t much time to follow all the pre-production process that would like to do, so we did a week of design and experimentation with concepts and the software and at the beginning of second week we structured every thing we had so far and started production. We had to be really careful not to be too ambitious as timings were really tight and it would´ve been a disaster if we create something really amazing but don´t have enough time to get it rendered.
4. During the design process, how did you approach shape and form? Did you begin with final shapes in mind or where organic shapes developed as you progressed through the project?
All three of us used different techniques to create our shapes, but our workflow was quite similar, first we extracted some basic shapes related to what we considered playgrounds, depending on our interpretation of the research and word “playground” contrasted with some experiences from our childhood. Once the basic shapes and movement where extracted we imported them into the different environments that we created, these environments were more inspired by a self expression of ourselves and the direction we wanted to take as designers.
5. The soundFX by echoLab were very well done. Please tells about how echoLab became involved and his contribution to the project.
We asked Leon if he had any suggestion/preference for the sound design and he mentioned that Echolab was comming to Amsterdam and he might be able to get on board. We all have been following Echolabs work for quite a long time and he is definitely one of the most talented sound designers out there, so when Leon told us that he would like to join the team we got even more exited about the project.
We sent the animatic to Echolab one week before the event and in about four days the score and sound design were finished with top quality, we all would love to have another chance to collaborate with Echolab again.
6. Were there any outstanding technical or creative challenges?
The fact of having to produce the whole thing remotely with just three weeks time was the most outstanding aspect of the project we would say. It was a really short period and we wanted to do a really good job, and the fact that we had to work remotely didn’t help much. But thanks to every ones hard work we ended up with a piece that we are all really proud of.
7. I don’t believe that digital tools used in motion graphics make much of a difference in developing the final product. Meaning, most techniquescan be equally achieved in most cg and post applications. Would you agree?
We do agree, in fact these issue was brought up during the festival, when Peppermelon were giving their talk and someone from the audience asked what software did they use, and their first reaction was “Well…that is a boring question…” and is totally true, when working on motion graphics that is a common question although is quite meaningless in relation to creativity. Thanks to the fast evolution of computers, motion designer tools are more accessible every day, so any one can choose pretty much any tool they want…but is not about the tool you use, is all about how you use it.
8. And just to throw things off on a complete tangent ::: what are your
current top four played tracks in your music player?
At the moment they are:
Transient – Pluxus
Colomb – Nicolas Jaar
Lost & Found – Amon Tobin
I’ve got that tune – Chinese man
