Form

Summer 2009

Issue 1 | Summer 2009

THE SHAPE OF KIWI CREATIVE CULTURE

Grassroots publishing Looking at New Zealand’s design zine culture

froit hopst

Beware the Ninja STEALTH-LIKE RISE FOR KIWI ONLINE GAMES STUDIO

[ FEATURE ARTIST ]

YET MORE INCENTIVES FOR FLOGGING A DEAD HORSE

FEATURED ARTIST: Sam Cox SOFTWARE USED: Adobe Illustrator CS3 EDUCATION: Media Design School

[ CONTENTS ]

Contents EDITORIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Featured Form COVER ART: Tamara Nyholt

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 GRASSROOTS PUBLISHING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 EXQUISITE CORPSE: Unique storytelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 BEWARE THE NINJA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Fine Form

CREDITS/ CONTRIBUTORS EDITOR

Darron Leslie ART DIRECTION

MATT CAMPBELL: The cheeky creative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 ANDREA GARDNER: Digital mixologist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 BEING SIDHE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 ALEKS “THE VIDEO KID” SAKOWSKI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Tamara Nyholt

GABRIEL SOUZA: Motion master . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

SUB-EDITOR

KARACTAZ: Character building in Hollywood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Suzi Harvey DESIGN

Tamara Nyholt CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Formed Opinions

Bernadette Peters, James Russell, Jennifer Corbett, Kate Humphries, Leon Woud, Michael Andrew, Link Choi, Stephanie Dunant, Suzi Harvey, Darron Leslie

WHAT’S FLASH OUT THERE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 We Choose The Moon Run the Red Living Sasquatch

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

3D SHORT SHORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Miam!

Alarm

Dionne Ward, Charlene Shroj PUBLISHER

Media Design School (Auckland) CONTACT

Darron@mediadesign.school.nz www.mediadesignschool.com

WHAT ADS UP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Nikon D700 Chasers War on Everything Nestle Aero GAME DRONES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Shatter – Sidhe

FORM 1

[ FEATURE ARTIST ]

FEATURED ARTIST: Will Handley SOFTWARE USED: Adobe Illustrator CS3 EDUCATION: Media Design School

[ EDITORIAL ]

Editorial FORM MAGAZINE WAS BORN OUT OF A COLLECTIVE DESIRE AMONGST A BUNCH OF LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE TO CHRONICLE, IN STYLE, SOME OF THE INSPIRED GOINGS-ON AMONGST THE KIWI CREATIVE FRATERNITY. For such a slight population we have surprisingly lively Games, 3D, Advertising, and Design (Interactive and Graphics) industries. These digital content industries, and the players and personalities within them, propel our unique style, wit, verve and inventiveness in design to the rest of the world.

It’s an exciting time to be in the creative field; convergence in technology and the ever-expanding online universe has opened up limitless potential for cross-over, collaboration, engagement and IP that exists across multiple platforms. Our aim at Form is to dip our toes into the lush pond of Kiwi creativity around four times a year to bring you a selection of artist stories, studio profiles, features and reviews of happenings – primarily in the digital space. We hope the subject matter contained in these pages will inspire and open your eyes to the fact that there is a lot happening in our backyard, and that this activity is garnering a host of global acclaim.

Issue One lies before you: in it we look at a cross-section of digital creatives ranging from Motion Designer Gabriel Souza’s fresh, contemporary take on design, to the multi-layered dreamscapes of Digital Artist Andrea Gardner, to Adman Matt Campbell’s impressive array of work out of his New York base.

We catch up with the grand-pappy of Kiwi gaming studios Sidhe and prolific online games company Ninja Kiwi, chat to the multifarious Karactaz Animation, and profile other cool Nu Zild Zines we like in our features section. And a whole lot of other stuff besides. Enjoy.

Darron Leslie Editor

FORM 3

Upfront

Above: The Yellow Treehouse took home four awards. Below: This Fruit Burst campaign picked up three awards.

ADVERTISING

Punching Above Our Weight Cannes Lions Ad Awards – Kiwi success

The world’s advertising elite had their annual catch up at Cannes in June, celebrating the weird, wacky and wonderful ads of the past year. With 50 shortlisted entries and 25 wins, New Zealand agencies were noticeable throughout the competition, providing that as a small country, we continue to punch well above our weight – apparently New Zealand comes second only to the UK when it comes to winning creative awards per capita.

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Upfront

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Adobe Pixel Mash at MDS

ADVERTISING

Creative Advertising 100 Day Challenge; ‘Faking It’ Earlier this year a group of Creative Advertising Students from the digitally savvy The Ad School (at Auckland’s Media Design School) were given a project – create an idea that added ‘to the gaiety of the nation’ and get people chattering. You might have heard about those kids selling photos of their Mum on Trade Me, but how about changing the name of K Road, petitioning Samantha Hayes to dye her hair red and a Facebook group dedicated to making up your own referendum questions? The students certainly created a lot of buzz.

David Walden, CEO of TBWA\Whybin has this to say: “It’s great that the students are learning to think like the rest of us. Today’s media environment means it’s not just ‘what you say’ it’s ‘how many people repeat it’. That’s why agencies build treehouses, get rugby players to swap their shirts online and pepper their ads with quirky little ‘repeatables’ like “Giant log-o.” The guys have obviously got a good grasp on getting talked about. Cracking talkability AND communication is the toughest thing to do.”

Pixel Mash, the competition, came to six design schools around New Zealand, including Auckland’s Media Design School (MDS). The comp, described on Adobe’s website as “a graphic designing standoff” puts designers head to head to create their best design in 15 minutes.

3D star Ejiwa Ebenebe took out the high intensity MDS heat before going on to the New Zealand finals, held on September 30th at the Empire Tavern, Auckland. And although not the winner on the night (congratulations Gillian McCarthy from Otago University), Ejiwa had a supportive crowd and displayed her tremendous talent and skill under pressure. Nice work Ejiwa!

EXHIBIT

Playtime at Plaything New Auckland gallery Plaything is setting out to make art accessible to young folk.

Plaything specialises in contemporary art with an emphasis on pop art and street art.

The plan for Plaything, according to its operators Adam Bryce and Ben King, is to alternate exhibitions by emerging young local artists with big international names. Since it opened in April, the gallery has exhibited work by local artists, including hosting its first annual 24-hour art challenge. “People need inspiration in a depressing era. What we’re doing is focusing on things that are important in life: getting creative about art, about culture, about connecting people. These are things people search for in a recession and we can offer it,” says King.

FORM 5

Upfront

GAME DEVELOPMENT

Nightfall’s rocket launch People thought they were mad! A group of Game Development students from New Zealand’s only dedicated Game.Dev academy, Auckland’s Media Design School, have built a first person shooter (from core concept to shipping) in an incredible six months.

Nightfall was launched on July 3rd 2009 to select guests from the games industry and media. Guests had the chance to play the game, meet the graduates and hear about their experience making Nightfall in less than six months.

Six programmers and six artists (self-titled HighPolyMonster Productions) worked together to create Nightfall using the middleware Emergent’s Gamebryo and featuring single or multiplayer gameplay, destructible environments and day and night cycle.

Nightfall: Control your environment to control your enemy.

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Upfront

ANIMATION

The Yoozzoo Universe Auckland animator Julian Stokoe has created a series of plush dolls to help build interest and promote a concept for a children’s TV show (and associated media) – Yoozzoo. Taking the dolls into a 3D environment to add weight to his pitch document, Julian has teamed up with 3D Modellor and Media Design School graduate Prashant Patel to render his characters in 3D. Julian was in LA recently pitching his concept to a series of production companies resulting in more than a few nibbles and some serious ongoing dialogue for future developments. To find out more about Oodles, Juniper, Gooloop and the rest of the Yoozoo crew visit www.yoozzoo.com.

FORM 7

Upfront

ANIMATION

POPPY CGI Drama

Above: Official Poppy movie poster, below: Digital stills from Poppy

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Poppy, a Performance-Capture driven CGI Animated short film from Kiwi Director James Cunningham is featuring heavily out and about in the worldwide festival circuit.

The CGI drama set on France’s western front in World War One, tells the story of two New Zealand soldiers trapped behind enemy lines who are trying to find their way to safety. The men find an orphaned baby under its dead parents in a ditch.

One of the men wants to save it, the other does not.

James Cunningham: “I think the medium of CGI has more potential beyond just animations for kids and visual effects pyro-technics. When partnered with strong stories and great acting it opens up possibilities in telling stories that might otherwise be too difficult or not possible at all.”

Upfront

Things we like

Retro ads making a revamped come-back (I’m talking about you, Instant Kiwi) To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Instant Kiwi, DDB re-released the iconic 1989 bungy jumping fisherman ad with the inclusion of Mexi-Doug, the star of the latest ad campaigns. The original ad, directed by Lee Tamahori, is a Kiwi classic and it’s great to see it back on the air.

Stop Motion

Sidhe’s PikPok™ The new iPhone and iPod Touch publishing label and development studio created by Sidhe is going to deliver games to a mainstream audience for play on the apple technology.

Starting off with a dance game based on the movie Fame, the Wellington agency has been quick to make the most of the opportunity, with other titles in development. www.pikpokgames.com

When people allow the budget and time to do it, you can create some wonderfully interesting and brilliant things.

Not enough stop motion around the place. Fancy effects are great, but don’t forget the old school. Coraline 3D a great recent example of stop motion in action. Wow.

Twits Tweeting on Twitter While it’s been around for awhile, it’s great to see the New Zealand design community becoming a part of this social networking phenomenon, sharing ideas, insights and great design. It definitely has a community feel and there is very much a supportive, inclusive feel around it. Onya.

Follow us on twitter www.twitter.com/mdsnz FORM 9

[ FEATURE ] AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

A plywood Moa in all its glory from Nuzilla.

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AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION [ FEATURE ]

Audience participation KIWI DESIGNERS TRANSACT WITH DESIGN LOVERS IN THE DIGITAL SPACE WORDS JAMES RUSSELL

It’s the classic scenario: the talented artist is devoted to the production of his art, but has neither the means nor the inclination to effectively deliver it to his audience.

Meanwhile, an audience saturated with cheap imitation and shallow fakery yearns for meaningful art, but doesn’t know where – or how – to find it. Thankfully, where there’s art, and where there’s audience, good people sometimes step up to facilitate the connection.

And the new breed of facilitators are online.

It was the creation of that happy union between designer and design lover that prompted Paul Kayser to devise Clever Bastards, a website showcasing – and selling – the work of artists and designers from all over New Zealand.

“It was clear to us that online was definitely the way of the future, and especially in New Zealand,” says Kayser. “If you are isolated geographically, which we are, and lots of our artists are, the internet is the way to go. If you use creativity and make a product come to life online, you can overcome some of the barriers of that isolation.”

But Kayser also likes the opportunities for presenting products on his website.

“80 per cent of the websites selling things are shocking: they tell you nothing about the product or who made it. We make the products look good and most importantly we tell the story of the creator.

We bring the buyer and the artist face to face. The Maori have a name for it – kanohi ki kanohi. The internet creates opportunities that you don’t get in a traditional bricks and mortar retail situation.”

Kayser, otherwise known as the ‘Head Bastard’, and previously a 24-year veteran of the advertising industry, arrived here from South Africa 21 years ago and through his work on iconic kiwi brands such as Tip Top, Vogels, Air New Zealand and Watties, observed our devotion to what we perceived as real New Zealand brands. “In order to sell those well you had to have a good insight into what makes a good New Zealand brand.”

Hence the total dedication to New Zealand designers on Clever Bastards, and the hand-picked »

FORM 11

[ FEATURE ] AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

80 per cent of the websites selling things are shocking: they tell you nothing about the product or who made it.

The original ‘Head Bastard’, Paul Kayser is passionate about bringing New Zealand design to the world through the internet.

artists on the site. Hence the in-depth stories and videos of the contributing artists and the high-end visual presentation of the products.

Kayser also says his model takes the fat out of the selling process, and as a result everybody wins. “The product goes directly from the person who produced it to the person who buys it. From the consumers point of view we want to make good New Zealand design more affordable, and we also leave more in it for the supplier.”

Despite having over 70 retailers stocking his weird and wonderful wares, Cris de Groot of Nuzilla, a young New Zealand design company, says that seven per cent of the company’s sales are through start-up online design retailers Endemic World.

“Endemic World would be among our top five retailers. As a manufacturer you have to make a decision on how many people you go with and what their market segment is. With stores you have to consider geography – in small towns you can only have one retailer and in larger towns you have to give each retailer a geographical radius. With online they’re anywhere, they’re everywhere.”

12 ITSWHATYOUMAKEOFIT.COM

Nuzilla has left its online retailing exclusively to Endemic World “to retain commitment.” And Endemic World has rewarded that by profiling Nuzilla designers and products extensively and actively selling its stock. “They do a really good job of promoting our products, both through email databases and the online forum,” says de Groot.

Endemic World founder Elliot Alexander is under no illusions about what makes a successful online retailer. With less than three per cent of all retail spending accounted for online, Alexander wants all of the visitors to his site to engage with it. “It’s better to have 100 visitors, all of who engage, than 1000 visitors, with only 50 actively interested.” And it’s the vitality and flexibility of the internet that he can manipulate to ensure the continued interest of his customers.

“If I have an idea for a new T shirt, in five minutes I can put it to a thousand people and ask for feedback. If there’s a positive response, we can go ahead and print it.”

This speed to market is coupled with a inexpensive marketing campaign – thanks again to the internet – done through communication through social networks such as Twitter and blogging sites.

“Rather than pay for advertising, instead we allocate time each week to doing this, so what we pay for is that person’s time.” The only other marketing includes a weekly email to subscribers and a cheap Google campaign. “At least 50 per cent of our custom is through word of mouth,” says Alexander.

Over 20 per cent of products sold on Endemic World go overseas, and it’s the area Alexander intends to grow. “That’s phase two,” he says.

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION [ FEATURE ]

Lindsay Pemberton is the quintessential ‘clever bastard’. With a diamond saw she cuts horizontal cross sections of vintage china teacups to create Tea Bangles.

If I have an idea for a new T shirt, in five minutes I can put it to a thousand people and ask for feedback. If there’s a positive response, we can go ahead and print it.

Elliot Alexander says that with just two per cent of retail spend online, website retailers have to fully engage their visitors.

FORM 13

An image created by Jasper Goodall for Matt’s Dry Pits Win – Pit Maddness game.

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www.areyouexcited?com

MATT CAMPBELL [ PROFILE ]

Matt Campbell The Cheeky Creative INTERACTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR MATT CAMPBELL’S GOT A FEW STORIES TO TELL… AND NOT ONLY ABOUT THE STREETS OF NEW YORK. WITH AN IMPRESSIVE PORTFOLIO OF WORK HE BOASTS AN ARRAY OF INTERESTING WORK. HERE MATT SHARES HIS INSIGHTS AND OFFERS ADVICE FOR OTHER ASPIRING CREATIVES WORDS JENNIFER CORBETT

FORM 15

[ PROFILE ] MATT CAMPBELL

Levi’s A CD Rom that went out to all of Levis’ distributors and third party promoters as a definitive guide to styling the brand, the piece itself reflected the cultural attitudes of Levi’s in a practical and interactive fashion.

This work recieved a Web Marketing Association (USA) “Standard of Excellence” Webaward in 2003.

The Levis Standards Guide This piece was primarily designed to be distributed as a CD Rom to all of Levis’ distributors and third party promoters as a definitive guide to styling the brand.

I aimedbrought to make the piece itself online reflect the cultural of levi’s in a way thatdirect the Up till 2004 Matt worked at Bartle Bogle Hegarty to life in anattitudes interesting way was not only very practical, but also a pleasure to interact with so that vendors New York. It was here where Matt got behind a successful creative work. would most willingly refer to it with enthusiam. simple viral campaign to launch Axe Deodorant, a At the end of the day, it “still comes down to tos Freshmeter previously unknown brand, into the US market. whether or not what you’re doing is interesting or s, the challenge was to communicate both the benefits of fresh breath (social m) and the dosability of the productno - “The more about you eat, the fresherbig thingsthings get”.

With idea how would not.” The ability of an idea to speak, or the level of ng Breathmakers Fresh-meter seen here allows you to control the amount of get, his team worked hard to build “a deliberate ‘interestingness’ to stand out – is perhaps the most kers that the camper eats. The more he eats, the more “friendly” the bear gets urn provokes some‘undergroundy’ very fresh reactions from asub wild bear . culture feel” to the interactive important thing to keep in mind. Essentially, it either osfreshmeter.com work. It was a raging success. The launch earned itself needs to be entertaining and humorous to work. “If a slew of awards, not to mention a Gold Effie in 2004. it’s not about anything of interest who cares how Matt’s portfolio demonstrates a quirky balance interactive it is or isn’t”. www.areyouexcited?com of large brands (Levi’s, Johnnie Walker and Mentos) Then there’s the element of mystery or discovery. alongside uniquely kiwi projects. Ever heard of the Where the audience can participate in unlocking Beanman, “Under the Weta” Game, The online or revealing something. ‘If you can manage to do companion to the Instant Kiwi “Little Thrillers” TV this and combine it with a cohesive offering – be it campaign. That little viral for DVICE ? entertainment or utility’ then you’re on to something.

Interactive is a diverse and exciting space to But the key thing? “Don’t waste peoples time.” work in. Matt’s an advocate for its creative potential.

For creatives starting out Matt’s advice is to just The flexibility it offers makes it “a very fluid go for it. Just be adventurous and leave something medium where you can combine many disciplines, memorable. and jump back and forth between them live like “Go after what you want and make sure to have fun nowhere else. It’s borderless too – the world can along the way – then you can’t go wrong. Don’t be shy participate together.” to approach people you admire – and make yourself as But though interactive offers plenty of room to useful as poss. Have something to leave with people – innovate, there’s a tendency to give into trends. He something that they’ll remember you by.” believes that staying true to the brief, exploring the fun to be had and following the way an idea can be For more of Matt Campbell’s work go to www.areyouexcited.com

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MATT CAMPBELL [ PROFILE ]

Johnnie Walker Two pieces from the hugely successful Johnnie Walker ‘Keep Walking’ campaign developed specifically for Jumbotrons, one in Times Square and one on Sunset Boulevard. The campaign was brought alive by animating in 3D. Johnnie Walker - Jumbotrons

Johnnie Walker - RSVP

The Johnnie Walker “Keep Walking” campaign was hugely successful, running

The Johnnie Walker Mentor Program (free Scotch

worldwide throughout 2004 - 05, principally as outdoor and print. I was asked

tasting evenings) was in need of a bit of a rev up.

to create 2 pieces specifically for Jumbotrons, one in Times Square and one

I was asked to create piece of online communication

on Sunset Boulevard. We embraced the opportunity to bring the campaign

that would generate renewed interest in the events and

literally alive and animated them in 3D with stunning results, each one telling

provide some insight as to what alot of fun the were to

a tale of progress specific to the actual location.

attend (free whisky after work). The brief was to create something with viral potential that would also inspire people to invite their friends along too (and provide an easy way for them to do so).

Vodafone

www.areyouexcited?com

Hidden amongst the clickable humorous asides of this interactive environment (which also celebrates the New Zealand Summer Holiday Season) is a promotional offering itself which pops up when triggered and leads you to a transaction.

ce Store nary Sex Machines was created as a viral for a small but rapidly expanding designer

nchise called Dvice - based in both New Zealand and Australia.

ow if there’s much more to say about it than that.

tion was done by teaspoon films in Wellington NZ and it features

Instant Kiwi

undtrack and voice over provided by Chris Knox.

An online companion to the Instant Kiwi “Little Thrillers” TV campaign, a fluid interface allowed users to very quickly make their own “Little Thriller” from a wide range of pre-animated clips.

e Beanman nder the Weta” Game

Vodafone Bay Summer Promotion The brief for this project was to make some promotional offers as interesting as possible by creating and interactive environment that also functioned as a celebration of the new Zealand Summer Holiday Season.

The scene is very interactive - clicking around triggers multiple reaction animations and sound effects. Hidden in amongst all of the humorous asides is the actual promotional offering itself which pops up when triggered and leads you through to the fulfilment / purchase forms.

Awarded campaign of the month in Ad Media magazine.

www.areyouexcited?com

Instant Kiwi Online Campaign Make your own “Little Thriller”

ece was developed to raise the average 20 somethings general

This was the online companion to the Instant Kiwi “Little Thrillers” TV campaign

asm towards baked beans (Nature’s Superfood no less) in the most

(New Zealand). Based on the idea that scratch and win lotteries are essentially

FORM 17

GRASSROOTS PUBLISHING [ FEATURE ]

Grassroots publishing RATHER THAN LOOK TO A STUFFY DEFINITION OF WHAT ZINES SHOULD BE, WE GLIMPSED INTO THE WORLDS OF THESE CAREFULLY CRAFTED PIECES OF BRILLIANCE WE LOVE TO SEE WHAT THEY GOT UP TO WORDS SUZI HARVEY

The three that we checked out all started here in New Zealand, but in very different ways. From White Fungus’ political intentions, to Threaded’s bent on emerging creatives and Cardboard Box’s beginnings in a dark room.

White Fungus Initially only intended as a one-off publication, White Fungus was formed to create a stir about the thenproposed Wellington inner-city bypass. The planned bypass was going to displace a large number of artists and they wanted to let the government know about it.

White Fungus didn’t stop at the one issue, and has now grown to be a much respected zine, which they describe as an “experimental arts magazine… featuring writing on art, music, history and politics, plus original artworks, poetry, fiction and comics.”

With 10 issues under their belts since they started ‘kicking about’ in 2004, they’re now busy planning their 11th issue, and with their most recent issues taking about one to one and a half years to create, it’s definitely a labour of love for editor Ron Hanson.

Now based in Japan, White Fungus is produced by a collective of artists, writers, designers and political activists, and Ron says “it’s just a matter of keeping up; the project gains its own momentum and sets its own rhythm.”

The future for the zine? Ron tells us “as the spores have been released, its creators look forward to seeing which way the wind blows. The only thing more uncertain than its future is its past.” whitefungus.com

Threaded Kyra Bradcock and Fiona Grieve started Threaded in 2004, when Kyra was studying Graphic Design and noticed a distinct lack of magazines geared at the emerging creative market. Frustrated at not being able to get great advice and see what other emerging designers were coming up with, they decided to fill the niche themselves.

Over the years, Threaded has evolved into a publication that Kyra tells us “offers insights into best practices across the creative industries, and bridges the gap between recognized and emerging practice.” »

FORM 19

[ FEATURE ] GRASSROOTS PUBLISHING

Left: Threaded mag is available through all good magazine stockists nationwide. Right: Order copies of White Fungus on whitefungus.com

Each issue is given a theme, and once the initial planning has been done – a process which takes four to five months – the pair invite industry-based creatives to respond to the theme, with collaboration playing a huge role in each issue. “Each issue is a joint venture; guest designers are invited to design their profile, interviewers determine their own interview conventions.”

The pair launched Threaded Media in 2007 off the back of the zine’s success, and use the graphic design and print services company to offer creative solutions to people not prepared to “settle for vanilla, paint-by-numbers design.” The success of the zine certainly allowed for this to take place, but you get the feeling with these two that failure is not an option.

“What makes me tick is the endurance (and lots of caffeine) required to live, breathe, eat and sleep design. The passion for art, design and culture which is necessary to be creative and the dedication to see that passion or inspiration through – not skip corners or take short cuts, but be pedantic, almost borderline obsessive, so that when it is complete, it is perfect” says Kyra.

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For Fiona, it seems the question provides an endless list, from publication design and designers, the constantly evolving industry, collaboration, the work New Zealand studios are creating, other publications, and a K’Rd bookstore… you get the idea.

Kyra and Fiona have their own goals for the zine; “that it breaks even, continues to grow up and challenges us as both editor and designer.”

The future is full of possibilities for Threaded. www.threaded.co.nz

Cardboard Box A power cut was all the impetus Nicola McNabb and Sharon Russell needed to start working on their zine, Cardboard Box. Both working at a printing factory at the time, they had always talked about creating a zine, featuring “anything we think is awesome, be that art, craft, music or fashion related.” Sitting around in the dark, surrounded by “uninspiring machinery” and a few cardboard boxes was enough, and Cardboard Box the zine was born.

Launched in September and sold through endemicworld.com, the zine has quite an organic feel, with the contents made up of whatever Nicola,

GRASSROOTS PUBLISHING [ FEATURE ]

You reach that moment where you hold the perfectly designed, perfectly printed product with some perfect and generally, insanely expensive print technique applied to it. And you can just smile.

Kyra Bradcock, one of the founders of Threaded magazine

Sharon and their art school friends/contributors are enjoying and finding inspiring at the time. The zine is produced when they’ve created enough content to fill it, which happens about every three months.

The pair, who met while at art school, have slightly different backgrounds, and while Nicola’s main interest lies in print and Sharon’s in photography, they have many shared interests. Do they ever fight over what to include in the zine?

Sharon spilt the beans, saying “if one of us doesn’t like something the other will most probably agree”.

Cardboard Box also hits the local craft market scene, flogging the zine to many regular followers and craft lovers at Auckland’s Kraftbomb (selling their zines in cardboard boxes… get it?). Look out for it next time you’re at the market. www.cardboardboxzine.blogspot.com

Each of these zines inspires us for a different reason, and we’ll be following their progress and maybe even asking for a bit of advice as our zine continues its journey. We certainly hope that we’ll get the same buzz Kyra gets when seeing the finished product: “You reach that moment where you hold the perfectly designed, perfectly printed product with some perfect and generally, insanely expensive print technique applied to it. And you can just smile. Step back and appreciate it as if you were seeing it for the first time… and you fall in love.”

FORM 21

[ PROFILE ] ANDREA GARDNER

Andrea Gardner Digital Mixologist GROWING UP IN AN ARTISTIC FAMILY HELPED FORM THIS ARTIST'S STYLE, MIXING REALITY WITH CHILDLIKE FANTASY WORDS SUZI HARVEY

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Revisions of the Picturesque (Silver Tear)

FORM 23

[ PROFILE ] ANDREA GARDNER

Growing up in an artistic family, you can’t really help but become artistic yourself. And with a woodshop, darkroom, painting studio and a welding studio all at your disposal – practically in the backyard, I’d say it’s pretty much guaranteed you’re going to dabble.

That’s exactly what happened to California-born Andrea Gardner, who now bases herself in Wanganui and has become a prominent New Zealand artist.

A sculptor at heart, Andrea has more recently incorporated digital elements into her design, firstly by taking up digital photography as an art form, and then learning the tools of Photoshop to add another dimension to it. She now blends the three together

Lamb and Bee Flat

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to create art that is distinctly different, but no less beautiful.

“My recent digital photographs are made from a photography small staged tableaux which I set up in my studio. They often consist of an actual painting for the background, and then various props. In the computer I add bits and pieces of the ‘real’ world: eyes, wool, skin, a frown, insects etc, so that the end result is a blend of the real and the unreal as well as a mixture of art and real life.

Because all the ‘real’ bits and pieces come from my own life, there is also an autobiographical element to the work.”

ANDREA GARDNER [ PROFILE ]

One can blend the real with the unreal to tell a new kind of story, whether it be personal or a cautionary tale of our times

Revisions of the Picturesque (Blue Forest)

Initially having a ‘love/hate relationship’ with digital technology, Andrea was soon seduced by its immediacy and flexibility, but still prefers to construct as much as possible for a photo shoot – for example, suspending objects with string, then erasing the string in Photoshop – to give a greater level of integrity to the lighting, focus and colour.

With an artistic education in the States, culminating in a Master of Fine Arts, and a string of exhibitions around the world since – including Rome, New York and various French locations, the world’s eyes are on Andrea, who has had over 10 New Zealand exhibitions in the last year alone.

Andrea’s advice for getting into the industry: “look at as much digital photography in the art world as possible.”

“What I love about digital photography is how it lends itself to the world of make believe, to fairy tales, dreams, surrealism, memories, fiction and poetry. One can blend the real with the unreal to tell a new kind of story, whether it be personal or a cautionary tale of our times.”

Not bad for someone who used to be afraid of computers!

To view Andrea’s work visit: www.andreagardner.co.nz

FORM 25

[ FEATURE ] EXQUISITE CORPSE

Some stills from the first few chapters of the Exquisite Corpse story.

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EXQUISITE CORPSE [ FEATURE ]

Exquisite Corpse; unique storytelling A USER-GENERATED ONLINE ANIMATED FABLE RESPONDS TO THE FLIGHTS-OF-FANCY OF ITS NUMEROUS CREATORS WORDS SUZI HARVEY

“A monstrous dragon flies over George and lays an egg mid-flight. George catches the egg and cracks it on his sharp, protruding nose. He eats the egg raw and grows three times his size.”

And with that, Exquisite Corpse was born.

The story is the brainchild of Cirkus, an Auckland 3D studio set up in 2006 by Producer (and Company Head) Marko Klijn and Animation Director Scott Wilkinson. The company is behind some impressive commercial TVC work for McDonalds, Ikea, Huggies, as well as music video work for top Kiwi recording artists The Phoenix Foundation.

With around 90% of Cirkus’ work coming from the international market, Exquisite Corpse shows off the agency’s talents beautifully, which is kind of the point. “[It’s an] online, ongoing animation project that will snowball into something interactive for anyone that is passionate about animation, design, storytelling and having fun – as we believe that’s what our brand is all about” explains Marko.

It’s a unique idea – everyone has the opportunity to submit the next 50 words of the story, and then each month the best idea (according to Cirkus) is selected, animated and added. The animated ideas so far have come from New Zealand, China and India, and come from both your average Joe and advertising agency creatives. A google search tells me that the story has been ‘Digged’ and “Stumbled Upon” with one website’s review of the story referring to it as “a great little project.”

The story is gaining much traction worldwide, and so Cirkus have amped up their coverage, with a new website and a dedicated blog, which features storyboards and other work in progress, unused storylines and quirky sidelines – such as the piece of art created with clay components from the story!

It’s hard to say exactly where Cirkus got the idea for Exquisite Corpse from, but they tell us that “the concept originates from the Surrealist movement back in the 20s/30s of last century. The idea was to »

FORM 27

[ FEATURE ] EXQUISITE CORPSE

The concept originates from the Surrealist movement back in the 20s/30s of last century. The idea was to pass on a painting, poem or storyline to the next artist rendering something quite random.

pass on a painting, poem or storyline to the next artist rendering something quite random.” Definitely something they’ve achieved.

Exquisite Corpse is a great initiative that shows off the skills of the Cirkus team, and lets your imagination go wild as you come up with next part of the story. It’s great to see that they’re not just picking the ‘easy’ ideas either – you only need to take a quick look at the animation to see that they’re choosing some challenging plot ideas. With some intriguing storylines being submitted, my inbox will become a must watch as I wait for the next installment!

The story so far: A monstrous dragon flies over George and lays an egg mid-flight. George catches the egg and cracks it on his sharp, protruding nose. He eats the egg raw and grows three times his size…

George tiptoes from mountaintop to mountaintop until he reaches a chasm too wide to step across. Below he sees a woman, Hilda, contemplating an egg much like the one George ate…

The egg which Hilda dropped cracks open and from a yolk a little pink chicken called Henry morphs and starts to chirp. As if in answer to the chirp something starts chirping from inside Georges stomach. And suddenly a blue feather pops out from the top of Georges head.

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The feather catches fire, melting a hapless George into a technicoloured pool. From his liquid remnants grows a vivid forest of bizarre flowers and plants, which unfurl skyward until they dwarf the mountains. Chocolate chip cheetahs, gingerbread giraffes and liquorice snakes wind their way through the thick foliage.

Marvin the cat opens the door of his spaceship and invites his buddy Giraffe in. They head off for the mushroom cloud. At the summit we see Bavarian Hilda and the Chicken riding the dragon whilst harvesting flowers.

A submarine flies across the sky and crashes into the dragon. The dragon lets out a roar and swings the submarine onto the mountains. A blue blob crawls out of the submarine and falls face down on the side of the hills.

As the blue blob (now a worm like creature) struggles to crawl along the side of the hills with difficulty, a bird suddenly swoops down and eats it.

Immediately the same blue feathers from earlier start sprouting all over its body as it morphs into a phoenix and flies after the dragon.

So any guidelines for submitting the next part of the story?

“We like random. We like weird. We’re Cirkus.”

To see and read more of Exquisite Corpse, head to www.exquisitecorpse.co.nz

EXQUISITE CORPSE [ FEATURE ]

DID YOU KNOW?

Exquisite Corpse (a rather fantastic name) is actually the term given to a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled, with each collaborator following a rule, or being able to see the end of what the previous person contributed. Thanks Wikipedia!

A scene from Exquisite Corpse.

FORM 29

[ PROFILE ] SIDHE

Sidhe: from left to right, Tyrone MacAuley, Stuart Middelton, Mario Wynands

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SIDHE [ PROFILE ]

Being Sidhe THE STRENGTH OF A GREAT TEAM AND SOME REAL STREET SMARTS ARE KEEPING NZ'S MOST ESTABLISHED GAMES COMPANY IN A HEALTHY STATE WORDS BERNADETTE PETERS IMAGES DIONNE WARD

FORM 31

[ PROFILE ] SIDHE

Destination, Willis St, Wellington. Total Levels, three.

Staff, 100. Target, Mario Wynands, Co-Founder and Managing Director, of New Zealand’s largest Games Studio, Sidhe.

After being hauled into Willbank House by the Wellington wind I take the lift up to level seven and the doors open to a welcome sauna that is Sidhe. A slick painted wall with their new logo lets me know I’m in the right place but two locked doors one to my left, one to my right guard the entrance into the office.

Am I inside a game? Which door do I chose? Will they offer me two different coloured pills? Luckily Stuart Middleton appears and my password “Mario” means I am allowed in. Inside the office it is dark, and you can

smell the intensity of drones of people hard at work.

I’m told the lights are usually off in Mario’s office too, but he turns them on when he has company – phew.

We settle down between stacks of paper and some promo material to find out just how New Zealand’s Granddaddy Studio of the Games industry is doing.

Not surprisingly, business is great. They’ve just released their self-published title Shatter and have sold 25,000 copies in the first week. The game has reviewed very well with 90% review scores and Sidhe have four or five other projects on the go across iPhone, PSP, Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 – a combination of licensing directly and externally with the focus on moving publishing companies out of the mix.

Screeenshot from the popular Sidhe title, Shatter

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SIDHE [ PROFILE ]

The key when you start out is making sure you concentrate on having a sustainable company with diversity and not to plough all of your money and you’re your investors’ money into one product.

Mario Wynands, one of the founders of Sidhe.

The twelve-year old company currently employs 100 Staff which Mario says makes for nervous times come payday, but when asked what Sidhe’s greatest achievement is he says without a quiver, that it is his team. When he, Tyrone McAuley, and Stuart Middleton began, their biggest ambition was producing one complete game. And despite making several coveted titles including Jackass The Game for MTV and Speedracer The Videogame for Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment, Mario says they quickly learnt that it’s their people that are their biggest asset and achievement.

As the tall poppy of the NZ Games Industry, Sidhe stands head and shoulders above many smaller studios. And Mario is more than willing to share some words of wisdom: “The key when you start out is making sure you concentrate on having a sustainable company with diversity and not to plough all of your money and your investors’ money into one product.”

Heading upstairs, Mario takes me on a tour.

Everywhere we go, people barely look up from their screens – there is a sense that these guys (and the occasional girl) are constantly trying to beat the

FORM 33

[ PROFILE ] SIDHE

Screenshot from the new Sidhe title, Shatter.

New Zealand has a lot going for it to survive the current climate through getting into digital distribution, original IP, cross media exploitation, collaborations and fostering online communities.

Mario Wynands, Sidhe.

clock; an inbuilt competitive nature that is no doubt shared by gamers the world over.

We head into the testing room, a simulated lounge complete with three-litre bottles of apple juice, where Sidhe bring their target market to try out games in their early stages. A couple of young brothers got into a playfight over the controller in here last week.

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On their newest level, the smell of new carpet is the most evident sign of the company’s growth. So just how sustainable is the Games Industry in NZ? Mario says the industry is as sustainable here as anywhere else. “New Zealand has a lot going for it to survive the current climate through getting into digital distribution, original IP, cross media exploitation, collaborations and fostering online communities. Mario tips his hat to Ninja Kiwi (see page 44) who he says are doing a great job of successful gaming online.

So which level will Sidhe be looking to clock next?

The plan is to move further into the publishing space, developing more of their own IP and eliminating the reliance on retail. Oh, and they’re also looking at getting a set of rules for the Lounge testing room, those playfights can be hell on the furniture.

Sidhe developed the GripShift title, a thrilling ride available on the Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PSP platforms.

GripShift is published under license from Prodigy Design Limited.

FORM 35

[ PROFILE ] ALEKS SAKOWSKI

With five months of pre-production, the Aleks Sakowski directed music video for The Parallel Dance Ensemble’s (Coco Solid featuring Bobbi Sox) Turtle Pizza Cadillacs was a somewhat stop-motion epic. The video was funded by NZ on Air and represents Aleks most ambitious stop-motion film yet – all up he managed 10 character designers on the shoot.

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ALEKS SAKOWSKI [ PROFILE ]

Aleks “The Video Kid” Sakowski A PASSIONATE AUTEUR FORGES AHEAD IN THE LAND OF STOP-MOTION WORDS DARRON LESLIE

FORM 37

[ PROFILE ] ALEKS SAKOWSKI

In movies you can become all of the above, below and beyond. You can materialize your own universe, and not be constrained by the physics of this reality.

Stop-motion at work: Aleks works the night-club scene in the Turtle Pizza Cadillac video.

When Filmmaker and Animator Aleks Sakowski was growing up his head was full of a myriad of possibilities of what he could become. The eclectic options included Paleontologist, Airplane Designer and Architect, but it was his first encounter with photography that really crystallized where his future might lie.

“When I first studied (and taught myself) photography my interest in moving image became apparent, and I realized that in movies you can become all of the above, below and beyond. You can materialize your own universe, and not be constrained by the physics of this reality.”

Aleks is fashioning an increasingly impressive body of work in music video production and photography. He has produced and directed a number of music videos for Kiwi DnB duo State of Mind, and Auckland’s electro rapper Coco Solid. He has also had industry experience ranging from short films to high end production with Weta Workshops off-shoot ‘Miniatures’ making models and environments for Prince Caspian.

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As an Animator Aleks primarily creates with stopmotion, but has also experimented with hand-drawn rotoscoped techniques. Self taught in Photography and formally trained in 3D Animation (at Auckland’s Media Design School), he uses these formative skills to add a weighty foundation to his style.

“Understanding the 3D production pipe-line is important if you want to direct animation (no matter whether its 2D, 3D or stop motion, they only differ slightly). I prefer working in true 3-Dimensional space with real materials. The CGI element enhances my hand-made work allowing me to pre visualize models, environments and camera moves.”

It is oft-mentioned that New Zealand is a very creative place, but grafting out a living as a creative person in this landscape is exactly that… a hard graft.

“Living as a creative, you have to be extremely flexible and multi-skilled. You never know when a job will come up, what the job is going to be and what skills you will need to employ, not to mention what city or country you will be working in. You also have to be

ALEKS SAKOWSKI [ PROFILE ]

resilient and have faith in your skills, not everyone wants to hire you, and even when you do get hired, the job will most likely be on temporary contract and sooner or later, will come to an end; such is the nature of creative project based work. I think one of the most important skills as a creative to learn is “Self Motivation.” As Bruce Lee said “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”

According to Aleks New Zealand has far more creative potential than the current state-of-play, as he feels the funding bodies priorities for financing creative endeavor are pretty off kilter. “NZ has a habit of awarding mediocrity… or should I say, funding it.

The funding bodies are interested in what will sell, and what fits the consumer market. That puts huge constraint on freedom of expression, and if you need cash to fund your project, everyone has to work to those standards. Technically, that’s not creativity, its creative compromise. Artistic expression is Culture, and if we dumb our art, we dumb our culture. You know things are wrong when people are investing millions in advertising, rather than investing in culture and art.”

Above: Self taught in photography, Aleks Sakowski is one of NZ's foremost stop-motion animators.

Below: A dab hand at graphic art too: Aleks designed sleeve art for State of Mind.

To view Aleks work go to www.youtube.com/alkom

FORM 39

[ PROFILE ] GABRIEL SOUZA

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Gabriel Souza Motion Master DESIGN, SOUND AND MOVEMENT AN UNBEATABLE COMBINATION FOR A RISING TALENT IN MOTION DESIGN WORDS DARRON LESLIE

The lure of an ‘incredibly beautiful country’, affordable living costs and a superior design education offering (at Auckland’s Media Design School) proved an irresistible combo for Brazilian web designer Gabriel Souza, with New Zealand providing the backdrop for his transformation from Graphic Designer to Motion Designer.

Before coming to New Zealand, Gabriel, experiencing some frustration with the technical boundaries of his craft, wasn’t completely happy with what he was doing. “I realised that I was always trying to incorporate animations and movement into my designs but more often than not the media constraints forced me to pull back and simplify everything. Besides, projects where I could be more creative and really push boundaries were not that common. I felt it was time to change and Motion Design seemed to fit perfectly with what I was aiming for.”

Motion Design, essentially graphic design within the context of motion and moving graphics such as film, video or computer animation amounts for around 12 minutes in every hour of broadcast television.

The work of motion designers is sometimes known as the invisible art, as many viewers are unaware of this component of programming. For Gabriel the art form offered him so much more in terms of how he could connect his design with an audience. “Design, sound and movement.

You can’t beat that combination when it comes to firing up emotions in the viewer.” »

FORM 41

[ PROFILE ] GABRIEL SOUZA

As a designer, I don’t like the idea of being recognized with a style. I like to think of myself as a problem solver and defining which style to go for is an important part of the process.

Gabriel’s work is punctuated by a seamless fluidity of movement, great eye for colour and a clever juxtaposition of geometric shapes with more conventional images. Whilst openly acknowledging who inspires him (the likes of Brazilian Directors CISMA www.cisma.com.br and Guielherme Marcondes www.guilherme.tv) Gabriels approach is very much around the style which best befits the brief.

“As a designer, I don’t like the idea of being recognized with a style.

I like to think of myself as a problem solver and defining which style to go for is an important part of the process. I try to leave everything interesting I see floating around inside my head waiting for the right project to come in.”

Gabriel freelances for a variety of clients from motion graphics studios to online communities and will soon have one of his animations airing on MTV Brazil. Some of his highlights to date in a rapidly burgeoning career include his work featured on the heavily influential www.motionographer.com and some of his material selected to be part of a presentation at the PROMAX BDA conference in New York. So soon after graduating from design school, Gabriel is excelling at making a decent crust out of his art form as a freelancer, working for clients all over the world from his Brazilian base: “Fortunately I’ve been lucky enough to have new projects being offered to me on a regular basis. It’s a little stressful sometimes, as you never know if you’ll have another project to work on in the near future, but it pays better and gives you the option to take a break whenever you want (to work on personal projects or just travel around for example).

I always keep my online portfolio updated and try to post my work wherever I can. In the end what really counts is to always keep your clients satisfied. One happy client always lead to another. Word of mouth is priceless.”

To view Gabriel's work go to www.gareso.com

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GABRIEL SOUZA [ PROFILE ]

Opening shots for a series of TVCs for Auckland's Media Design School

FORM 43

[ FEATURE ] NINJA KIWI

Beware the Ninja AN EVER INCREASING PORTFOLIO OF ADDICTIVE FREE ONLINE GAMES IS ENSURING A STEALTH-LIKE RISE FOR THIS WEST AUCKLAND GAMES STUDIO WORDS STEPHANIE DUNANT IMAGES CHARLENE SHROJ

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NINJA KIWI [ FEATURE ]

FORM 45

[ FEATURE ] NINJA KIWI

A selection of screeshots from the extremely addictive stable of Ninja Kiwi games.

It is hard to believe that Ninja Kiwi, a New Zealand based online games studio set up in 2006, started with a game concept, which “failed spectacularly”.

In fact, founding brothers Chris and Stephen Harris can today celebrate their success with their website, www.ninjakiwi.com achieving five million plus visits every month; they are now running a very profitable business creating and flooding the world wide web with plenty of fun casual games.

Stephen Harris says, “The company started when we had an idea for an online game that would generate ad revenue. It failed spectacularly but we gained some experience in what was needed to make the business work.”

From failed attempts to the first big success It all really started with Ninja Kiwi’s “biggest success to date”, Bloons. Bloons is a fun flash game in which the player needs to pop most or all the balloons in a level to move on to the next. The game also features “powerups” with particular balloons giving the player special abilities. It all sounds pretty simple, but it definitely requires strategy, practice, and a little bit of luck.

It is no wonder Bloons took off in the casual gaming space: it’s fun and easy to play but it is also engaging – three simple rules to create a successful a game title.

After such a great audience response, the Harris’ brothers went onto launching www.bloonsworld.com so players could come and build their own Bloons levels and share them. But that’s not all. With such an “explosive” success – the game has been played over 400 million times since 2007, Stephen Harris decided to leave his job as a flash programmer in an ad agency to work full time on Ninja Kiwi.

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NINJA KIWI [ FEATURE ]

The company started when we had an idea for an online game that would generate ad revenue. It failed spectacularly but we gained some experience in what was needed to make the business work.”

Smart business strategy When the Harris’ brothers set up the online game studio back in January 2006, it only counted two part time staff; themselves. Today, the studio is counting four full time employees and they are even looking at expanding to six.

Ninja Kiwi has been able to grow because of the studio’s business and revenue model: mostly ad-driven. Games on Ninjakiwi.com are free to play, which is attractive to players, and revenue comes mainly from paid advertising on the website, which doesn’t sound to be difficult for Ninja Kiwi to secure considering the amount of people visiting the website every month.

More recently, Ninja Kiwi has also been receiving royalty from mobile licences, including the iPhone. They are not making iPhone games inhouse or intending to do so, by avoiding this timeconsuming development phase, they are instead licensing some of their game IP to third parties, and then receiving payments on each sale. Smart.

And when we talk recession, Stephen answers, “it has had no obvious effect. If anything there are more people than ever playing free flash games online.” There may be less click-through on paying ads than normal but all in all, Ninja Kiwi’s cofounder sounds pretty positive about it all.

The future is all about making more great games With an already successful model, Ninja Kiwi is looking into creating more, higher-production quality games and using more of the micro-transactions model to monetise them.

And when it comes to doing something they love for a job, Stephen and Chris Harris have surely found it. Stephen comments, “We make games because we love games. In our business you can make quirky high-risk type of games because the production cycle is very short.”

Even when the obvious question comes up: “keen to move to PC/Console games?” the two brothers say they have no interest in moving into “that highly competitive and risk area.” Ninja Kiwi is all about flash online games, and who can blame them when they are good at what they do.

Stephen Harris started in Geoscience but then pursued his love for games and enrolled on the first class of the Graduate Diploma of Game Development at Media Design School in Auckland.

Although traditional games were not his interest, he changed the path of his career and is now the co-owner of a successful studio creating just what he loves, games!

FORM 47

[ PROFILE ] KARACTAZ

A render from the upcoming Karactaz short Rocket.

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KARACTAZ [ PROFILE ]

Character building in Hollywood WORKING WITH A HOST OF OVERSEAS CLIENTS FROM THIER WELLINGTON BASE, ANIMATION SHOP KARACTAZ ARE MAKING A NAME FOR THEMSELVES AS A STUDIO WITH STYLE WORDS BERNADETTE PETERS IMAGES DIONNE WARD

Tucked away in a sunny Wellington nook is the hot house that is Karactaz. This small band of classical and CGI animators do regular rounds with the big boys of Hollywood, they’re damn proud of their achievements and so they should be.

They’ve just finished an original short film called Rocket and completed a 60-minute Motion Comic called Superman: Red Son. You may know them best for creating the popular Panasonic “Battery Hen” commercials. Day-to-day their bread and butter has come from Hollywood – Warner Premiere and DC Comics.

When Dylan Coburn decided to set up shop, he realised that in order to make a decent crust in New Zealand he’d have to put in the hard yards offshore. “There just isn’t the population here to warrant large scale projects.” So in 2005 he hired a former Hollywood executive to arrange some introductions.

He then pitched original IP to Animation Networks in the US. Dylan says it is not all about who you know over there but more importantly who you trust. “Hollywood is very talent driven and the industry still sees huge value in face to face meetings. You won’t get someone’s mobile phone number until you’ve met them a few times, and there’s a tangible business opportunity.” »

FORM 49

[ PROFILE ] KARACTAZ

Make your production as good as you can. Artists should consider the client first. The client needs to know that they are working with the right people – that they’re getting the best product, that’s absolutely right for their property.”

-

Their proudest achievement? Completing the comic Superman: Red Son motion comic, and launching it at Comic Con this year “Doing a project like this has always been a dream. And being taken to Comic Con to talk to the world about it was one of those moments where you step back and go ‘Wow, here we are”.

So what is hot in the Animation industry right now?

“There’s been a shift to 3D Animation over Traditional 2D. I think people like things that look real – but not too real, or we may as well shoot Live Action.”

Dylan says 2D Traditional Animation is unpopular of late because it’s deemed an old-fashioned medium, but trends will see it back in fashion one day.

To that end, Karactaz has carved a name for itself, having developed its own custom styles. One of Karactaz’ original styles is Digital Claymation, as seen in the Panasonic commercial, where the characters are animated in 3D software and made to look like Stop Motion. Dylan says it’s a slick way of using the 3D medium in a style that is conducive to comedy.

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The team at Karactaz are headed up by three supervisors. Dylan is Creative Director, he steers the ship. Chris handles the technical direction including writing software pipelines and Chrissy Metge, their producer, covers client liaison, scheduling and HR. Dylan says the role of the producer is very underrated. “The team we have here is very good.”

Karactaz are committed to variety. In this industry says Dylan, it is very much about being on the crest of the wave and working to the industry’s needs.

Dylan advises any emerging studios to study what their position may be in the global industry, work to their strengths, and see where they can best contribute. “You have to stop telling people what you do and consider what they might need and want first.

“Make your production as good as you can. Artists should consider the client first. The client needs to know that they are working with the right people – that they’re getting the best product, that’s absolutely right for their property.”

KARACTAZ [ PROFILE ]

Chrissy Metge and Dylan Coburn

Creative Director/Owner Becoming Dylan – trained in traditional animation at Gnome, Dylan says “making it” was all about asking himself ‘how much do I want it?’ After cutting his teeth working on Hairy Maclary and Disney commercials for five years, he then travelled to the UK to get work in a larger studio. He wanted to learn off someone better. That was 1999. “I basically was walking into studios asking them for their jobs. I soon realised there were no big studios there, and they were outsourcing their production to cheaper locations.”

Dylan soon found that there was not the right kind of work available in the UK, so after a brief stint in a studio in Sydney he returned to New Zealand. “I soon realised in order to be an artist I would have to start something new – working for other studios was too restricting. So I went out on my own and in 2000, and completed the short film The Underwater Melon man.”

Dylan says a common misconception is that once you’ve set up your company, all the hard work is done.

But that is not the case.

Producer Becoming Chrissy – After gaining a Diploma in 3D Animation from Media Design School, Chrissy worked on the hit show Brotown. There, she got into the management side and soon realised she preferred interacting with people to sitting in front of the screen. She worked with Karactaz between 2004 and 2006, and then went to work in the Gold Coast in Australia working on the Animalia TV Series. Keen to come back, she got a job back in Wellington with Weta Productions where she stayed before coming back to Karactaz. “Working at Weta was amazing, but I love it here because I get a lot of creative input and variety.”

FORM 51

FEATURED ARTIST: Lime Studios (MDS Advanced 3D Productions) SOFTWARE USED: Autodesk Maya, Adobe Photoshop EDUCATION: Media Design School

[ REVIEWS ]

Formed

opinions THIS ISSUE OUR PANEL OF EXPERTS REVIEW THE LATEST AND GREATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN FLASH, 3D SHORTS, ADVERTISING AND GAMING

3D short shorts 55 What’s flash out there 54 Adobe Flash is such a vital tool in the online space, when sites use it well the user experience is a meaningful one; we profile three sites that use Flash very well, in a variety of ways.

What ads up 56 It’s not about the budget anymore in adland, with the tightening of belts amongst the paying clients, clever cost-effective use of ideas is more important now than ever.

Known amongst the traps as the best 3D school in the world, France’s Supinfo regularly produces ‘gob-smacking’ stuff. We review a recent film from the school – Miam. Also, a short that has had critics nodding at the technical stuff, but what about the story? – the Korean favourite, Alarm.

Game drones 57 Shatter, Kiwi game developments company Sidhe’s latest title, is a fresh take on the ‘brick-breaker’ concept.

FORM 53

[ REVIEWS ]

Our reviewers What’s Flash Out There/

MICHAEL ANDREW Michael Andrew is an Auckland-based Flash developer. He is a graduate of Media Design School’s Digital Media course and has a background in the print industry as a graphic designer.

In his spare time he enjoys Live Action Roleplaying, building elaborate props, and tinkering with various technologies.

3D Short Shorts/

LINK CHOI Auckland-based Link Choi uses the tools of the VFX and 3D trade to create figurative images, his digital paintings are getting noticed by the right people with one piece currently in the collection of the James Wallace Arts Trust. In addition to creating art with 3D technology, he teaches at Auckland digital content school, Media Design School.

What Ads Up/

KATE HUMPHRIES Kate is an award winning creative who spent 20 years working in the advertising industry in London. Her work has appeared in the UK, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the US and South America. She currently heads the Creative Advertising program at Auckland’s The Ad School (at MDS).

Game Drones/

LEON WOUD Leon is a self-confessed techno-geek. Passionate about the industry, he is heavily involved in the New Zealand 3D community including being a moderator on New Zealand’s top CG forum: NZCGI (www.nzcgi.com). Leon teaches Game Art at Media Design School.

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[ REVIEWS ]

What's flash out there!

GREAT FLASH WEBSITES IN WEBLAND From Michael Andrew (www.pitch.net.nz)

WE CHOOSE THE MOON www.wechoosethemoon.org

WHY IT ROCKS: This website was commissioned by JFK Presidential Library & Museum to celebrate the 40year anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. The user is greeted with an informative pre-loader, which explains how to use the site as it is loading, making good use of the user’s time. The site is divided into different stages, which load sequences of video and audio content on-demand and allow the user to get straight into exploring the content with minimal waiting. The story of the journey to the moon is told through 3D rendered video, as well as NASA archival footage of the Apollo 11 mission. At each ‘stop’ along the journey the

user can view the spacecraft from different angles, and access photos and videos of contextual information. The navigation bar at the bottom allows easy access to all the content. “We Choose The Moon” is a very rich media website and a great information resource that is easy to use for people of all age.

THE TECHNICAL STUFF: The ambient radio transmissions in the background of each page have been highly compressed, with minimal noticeable drop in quality, as the audio is supposed to sound a bit ‘dodgy’ because it has been dug up from 1960s archives, and the transmissions have been sent over hundreds of thousands of kilometres. The site seems to have been built using Flex, with custom skinned components featuring heavily.

FORM 55

[ REVIEWS ]

LIVING SASQUATCH www.livingsasquatch.com

WHY IT ROCKS: Everybody secretly fantasises about having a miniature walking carpet dancing on their desktop. Now your fantasy is a reality. “Living Sasquatch” is a viral video site, part of a marketing campaign to promote Jack Link’s Beef Jerky. Through their webcams, users are encouraged to create videos of a 3D virtual Sasquatch that can be manipulated by creating animated ‘dance’ sequences from a library of 30 pre-built Sasquatch animations. Created videos can be saved, downloaded and sent to friends. There is also a video gallery where you can watch and rate videos submitted by other users.

THE TECHNICAL STUFF: The core technology behind the site is Papervision and FLARToolkit.

Users are required to print out a ‘marker’, which is a special image that the site is trained to recognise.

FLARToolkit looks at the video from the webcam and is able to map the size and orientation of the marker in 3D space and display the animated Sasquatch over the top of the video using Papervision. Flash Media Server (Adobe’s proprietary server platform for Rich Internet Applications), may also be employed to help manage and serve the user generated videos for the site and to help balance server load.

RUN THE RED www.runthered.com

WHY IT ROCKS: Run The Red’s website really sets the scene for the kind of marketing that this company offers; genuinely engaging solutions that provide users with the best possible experiences around their mobile device. The site uses beautifully composed urban page backgrounds: the playgrounds of the modern consumer. The ‘Run The Red’ logo is cleverly integrated into the background images of each page, further reinforcing the company’s brand.

THE TECHNICAL STUFF: The site uses a dynamic soundtrack that seamlessly ‘ramps’ up when the user transitions between pages. The music then fades back down in the background. There is also a clever use of seamlessly integrated still imagery and video in page transitions, which add real depth to the visuals on the site. The experience can also be scaled back gracefully without disrupting the look and feel of the site, allowing the user to turn off video transitions between pages and background music.

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[ REVIEWS ]

The film may be based on an uninspiring formula, but the formula has been executed with an inspiring level of skill.

Miam!

3D short shorts THESE TWO 3D SHORT FILMS ARE CURRENT INTERNET FAVES From Link Choi

MIAM! www.miam-lefilm.com/index.htm Laurent Harduin, Delphine Bourgois, Victor Phrakornkham, Pierre-Vincent Cabourg, Fanny Vergne Supinfocom Arles, France 2008

Do you ever wonder about what goes on above the shelves of a supermarket? OK, I don’t either, but our five-year-old hero sure is curious, and when his mom turns her back her for a second, he takes the chance to find out for himself. Ascending the shelves of the candy section, he discovers a land of candy.

What follows is a mini-Indiana Jones adventure, complete with waterfalls, deadly beasts, and a girl

who needs rescuing. Every thing you expect to happen, happens.

The film may be based on an uninspiring formula, but the formula has been executed with an inspiring level of skill. Care and reasoning has gone into every aspect to make this film into the ultimate entertainment machine. The candy world is visibly sugary; the characters are cute and seamlessly animated. The camerawork and editing is solid. This film is a perfect showreel. Anyone who is interested in a job in animation should watch and learn.

I would not be surprised if the confectionarydentistry-Hollywood axis is financing a feature film version. Yum yum, indeed, if a bit thin on substance.

FORM 57

[ REVIEWS ]

ALARM www.mesai.co.kr/ Moohyun Jang, Jungwoo Choo, Mesai, Korea 2009

The premise of Alarm is this: A man who doesn’t want to wake up makes war with his alarm clock.

As someone who abuses the snooze button regularly, I utterly identify with the protagonist. But that doesn’t mean I care! It is boring and frustrating to struggle out of bed, and equally boring and frustrating to watch. Perhaps that is the point. The modern man traps himself in a meaningless existence, surrounded by possessions, but never able to rest, never able to wake.

Seriously though, never mind the boring story, how sweet are those renders? Every object in the pristine apartment is modelled to an amazing level of detail, down to the indented letters on the cell phone buttons, and rendered to an extreme level of

A still from Alarm; diffuse lighting contributes to the film’s languid feel.

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realism. The director shows his expert knowledge of composition and colour, and a beautifully diffuse lighting was used to create the neutered atmosphere of an interior design photo shoot.

And that is what this film really is – a demonstration of 3D visualization for interior and product design. As such, it is a must-see for anyone interested in the field. The curtains gently rolling with the breeze is the best example I have ever seen.

[ REVIEWS ]

What ads up COOL ADS CURRENTLY DOING THE ROUNDS From Kate Humphries

The online ads that are really doing it for me at the moment are all those recession friendly, smart ones that achieve truckloads of free attention for very little spend.

They’re the ads that use other people as media; the ones that spread by word of ‘mouse’; the ones that attract news media coverage.

They sometimes originate in the traditional space, like a billboard – but they’re usually special builds specially designed to attract online chatter.

Two current favourites are the life-size paparazzi billboard for the Nikon D700 and ‘the cheapest billboards in the world’, designed to promote the Aussie series ‘Chaser’s War on Everything’.

NIKON D700

new series of ‘Chaser’s War on Everything.’ The twist is the show’s tiny promotional budget: they could only afford six billboards, so they purchased the six cheapest sites in the world. They happened to be in places like Afghanistan, Estonia and Iceland; the very oddness of placing the ads for an Australian TV show in such far-flung and controversial hot-spots not only perfectly captured the anarchic ‘anti-advertising’ spirit of the show itself, they also garnered far more on-line buzz than any conventional, lavish ad-spend could possibly have achieved.

AN OLDIE BUT A GOODY skatefairy.com/Nestle_Aero_Evans_Directors_Cut_H264.mov Production company: Superstudio, director: Tony Evans, talent: Bob Burnquist, photographer: Atiba Jefferson, ad agency: JWT London

Another one that’s worth checking out is one that has been doing the rounds for a while – but is an absolute favourite – it’s the one featuring Rio-born skateboarder Bob Burnquist and thousands of chocolate balloons.

A perfect demonstration of lightness, that’s fleeting of foot and board – whilst simultaneously creating a full-on luscious chocolate experience, all advertising Nestle’s Aero chocolate bar.

Image courtesty www.thecoolhunter.net

This is a one off interactive, light-box billboard featuring a jostling crowd of paparazzi who start snapping away the moment anyone strolls past on the red carpet carefully placed in front of the billboard.

Makes anyone feel like a star.

CHASERS WAR ON EVERYTHING The billboards (designed by The Glue Society) are straight forward enough – all they do is announce the

FORM 59

[ REVIEWS ]

Game drones A FRESH TAKE ON A CLASSIC GENRE From Leon Woud

SHATTER – SIDHE Platform(s): PS3 / PlayStation Network (PSN), ESRB: E (Everyone)

Shatter is a “brick-breaker” game, the latest title from Wellington-based studio Sidhe; you control a bat to keep your ball inside the game arena and destroy all the blocks on the level. If the concept sounds familiar, well it should; this genre was first introduced by Atari with Breakout in 1976.

But Shatter is not a Breakout clone in any way.

Using Shatter’s blow and suck feature, you can change the trajectory of the ball(s) by blowing or sucking air with your bat. With more advanced physics than your average “brick-breaker”, effective use of this new addition is quite challenging.

Also, when a brick has been destroyed, it leaves behind fragments you can collect to fill your power bar. The power bar allows use of special skills such

as ‘Shield’, and when the bar is full, ‘Shard Storm’ a slow-motion inducing barrage, which can be used to clear bricks much faster than with the ball(s) alone.

The Shard Storm can be seen as both a blessing and a curse, as sometimes you will frivolously gather fragments so you can experience that oh-so satisfying slow-motion brick massacre, only to lose sight of your ball, which has somehow slipped by.

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The game arena will change shape and direction across different levels. They can be vertical, horizontal, rectangular or circular. This breaks up the monotony often associated with this genre.

Shatter presents three game modes, Story Mode, Boss Run and Bonus Mode. There are ten worlds to complete, and at the end of each world is a boss.

There is often luck involved with defeating the bosses; sometimes it will be a result of your ball getting stuck between a barrier and the target. After completing the boss, there is a bonus round, in which the sole challenge is to keep your ball(s) inside the arena as long as possible.

Of course there are still the familiar “brickbreaker” mechanics; power-ups like “indestruco-ball” where the ball will plough its way through bricks only interacting with the bat and game arena. There are bricks with different attributes and damage levels, some which float around freely, some that explode on impact, some which turn into jets when touched.

My only disappointment would be the game’s length; it is possible to blast through all ten worlds fairly quickly. To compensate, there are “leader boards”, which will give you worldwide high-scores and if you are competitive by nature, this can keep you busy trying to beat. There are also achievements and trophies; my first was “Overkill” which I was rewarded with for using a “Shard Storm” to take out the single brick left in the arena.

So Shatter is certainly NOT a simple Breakout clone; it has taken this well-established genre and built upon it, giving a fresh take on an old arcade classic.

What I like most about Shatter is its simplicity, its killer soundtrack by Module, and it caters for many player styles and skill. Please excuse the cliché but it is certainly fun for the whole family, a game even grandma can enjoy!

FEATURED ARTIST: Carla Shale SOFTWARE USED: Adobe Photoshop CS4 EDUCATION: Media Design School

Designed by Shani Luckman

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