The crew from South Africa certainly gave us one of the most excited presentation on F5. Shy the Sun could explain everything with good humor. Nina Pfeiffer just uploaded their video introduction on Vimeo exclusive for us.
Continuing with our resume of how was F5, we are now showing the video presentation that Brian Bowman, creative director of the New York branch of Digital Kitchen, prepared specially for the event. Talking about Utopia with Brian.
Lifecycle from Brian Levi Bowman on Vimeo.
“Lifecycle is conceptually focused on utopian ideology particularly in relation to architectural practice. My argument is that utopia finds itself in a constant state of failure and reinvention; urban futurism vs Epcot, housing tower vs Cabrini Green, etc. Hence, the cycle of utopian ideology is the application of ideology, the failure of application, re-assimilation of failure, and thus a revision of original ideology. The result of this ideological loop are the speculations for new kinds of conceptual hybrids.
Two hybrids I speculated on (through a film) are a fertility spa where reproductive technology becomes an aesthetic experience and a vertical tomb where the graveyard becomes a tower and an anonymous beacon to the city.”
- Brian Bowman
Dvein: F5 Titles from F5 on Vimeo.
Dvein has consistently blown my mind with their diverse and staggeringly awesome body of work. When they agreed to create the title sequence for F5, I actually felt bad for them. I thought, “This is too much pressure. The expectations are too high.”
But that didn’t deter them. Not one bit.
They were intent on creating a title sequence that reflected F5’s speakers, something that captured some hidden aspect of each person. Dvein explains their approach:
“When we were invited to make the F5 titles, we wanted them match the eclectic spirit of the conference. The idea was to get the soul of the speakers into the titles in some way.
We asked each speaker to name five objects that inspire them or has something to do with their work. We received all kinds of answers—really interesting objects that gave us a great starting point: wind turbines, microscopes, lights, smoke, lamb rib cage, French bulldog…
The speakers didn’t know what their answers would be used for, but they were the seed for our story. In this way, all the speakers added their bit. There is not a unique authorship but rather a multiple collaboration.”
I know I sound like a broken record, but I have to send my deepest gratitude to the entire Dvein team for creating such a wonderful title sequence. Again, there was zero budget. They did this because they love challenging themselves, and they believed in the vision of F5.
Antfood deserves big props for providing the music and sound design. Like the visuals, the soundtrack is a brilliant blend of analog and digital.
What is F5? from Alexi Parizeau on Vimeo.
Being the first speakers, Tronic opened the F5 Fest with a very solid presentation. Vivian Rosenthal and Jesse Seppi have built an impressive career with Tronic Studio along the years, gathering great projects and big clients under their portfolio. Not many studios can create cross media projects with a unique aspect the way Tronic does. As an introduction, they explained their background in architecture (a recurrent theme during the festival, as we will report along the blog) and how it brought them new perspectives to use in their motion design. Their current showcase includes some very impressive work made for Sharp, Target, Sony, HP (which we unfortunately can’t show here) and the promotional film created for an upcoming residential building at 56 Leonard, NYC.
Building their presentation through the timeline, Vivan and Jesse presented some projects that were mainly motion, and if you are following Motionographer, you probably saw the project created for Target, with Hi Def marbles and sculptures that were brought to life, and took the Target logo into a new space. They’ve transformed the brand in a work of art.
“We’re pleased that artwork can be shown to be a viable form of advertising that can get people excited about a product or brand though unconventional, non-literal means”
The project created for Sharp allowed Tronic to explore their art through other forms of design. For the Sharp installation, Tronic created a sculpture that is integrated with the digital media, creating a seamless experience between the physical form and the digital animation. This new approach allows them to actually do physical and cross media projects, uniting sculpture, architecture and animation. This mixture is what got Tronic where they are now. Hopefully, Tronic’s art will lead people to explore the boundaries of physical art and the digital world, and also make the market open their eyes for the beauty that can emerge from all of this.
1. The sculpture created for Sharp
2. The process of Sharp’s sculpture.
After the presentation of these projects, Tronic showed us in advance what they are doing for the main headquarters of HP in Palo Alto. If the Sharp project was already inspiring, the HP Palo Alto was a natural evolution of their approach to the mixture of art and motion. This new installation brings together the interaction of the piece and the environment, offering the HP visitor a new experience.
“It was terrific that F5 attracted such an international turnout. It’s always interesting to meet designers from around the world and encounter other perspectives.”
Jesse Seppi
“I loved meeting people that I had IM’d with for sometimes over three years. It’s good to remember we’re all human…and that there really are people behind all this digital work.”
Vivian Rosenthal
Thanks to Alexi Parizeau, we have a great video, done with the Canon 5D Mark II, about the pool party released at The Grace Hotel.
F5 Fest - VIP pre-party from Alexi Parizeau on Vimeo.
Ed is bringing us to the very detailed production of how Benjamin Button was made. ‘Their Holy Grail’. To get to this amazing result, they had to research out of the field, getting into FACS, created by Paul Eckman, that actually tracked all human expressions, using phosphorus to track over 10,000 points in the face. The whole process took over years, and they - of course - won the academy award for this. As Ed said, they are working on something even more complex than Benjamin now. Really excited to know that.
And that was a golden final to F5. Now let’s party!
* More content will be added to this blog as the days go by. There are hundreds of photos and more videos to be added.
Danny Yount from Prologue brought us into the cinema environment, and also introduced us a really talented designer that is currently working at Prologue (Ilya Abulhanov). There was a very detailed explanation of The Invasion, MTV Awards and Rocknrolla.
Doug Jaeger from Happy Corp. - also president of Art Directors Club - made one of the most creative presentations at F5. From the beginning ’til the end, everything was really planned. Not counting the presentation itself, the works Danny presented were really inspiring, counting the MOMA and the Cellphone Disease projects. All being very detailed and explained. Also, follow him on Twitter, to check what’s going on with Happy Corp. @
Shilo came here to present their side project, We Make It Good. A non profit way of exploring creativity. Being creative is about crontibuting, and not just being a designer or artist or a photographer. That’s why they maintain WMIG live. Also be sure to call 888 WMIG 666 to go to the Shilo/FADER secret party next week!
