Shadow Screen was an exploratory process. Central Station worked with product designer Paul Kerlaff to create new patterns for the Shadow Screen service produced by his company, With Kerlaff.

Participants from all creative disciplines were invited to submit not only design proposals but also critical feedback, suggestion and comment. The idea was that the doors to the competition process were thrown open, to promote critical engagement and hence offer value to all who participated. 

In contrast to traditional competition formats, a long ‘shortlist’ were invited to show their proposals, for feedback by an invited panel of luminaries and by interested observers. There was one ‘winner’, but 5 of the shortlisted entries were offered a licence agreement for their pattern, alongside valuable exposure and feedback. Viewers were invited not to ‘vote’ in an X-factor style format but instead to use their powers of articulate persuasion to sway critical opinion.

Paul blogged regularly, as did the short listed designers. Read what they had to say, see their designs and find out more about the project by browsing through these:

Thoughts from Paul [With Kerlaff]:
Cutting out the Flaws of Competitions
Process Makes Perfect
Waiter: Social Media for one please
Shadow Screen Shortlisting – fly on the wall
Shadow Screen Judging – the Juicy Bits
Shadow Screen Winner

Thoughts from the shortlisted creatives:
My Shadow Screen Got Shortlisted by nothing
Shadow Screen Shortlist by Stephen Cappello
My Shadow Screens: Is Pattern Primary? by Titas
Smog Shadow Screen by daisymacdonald
Shdw Scrn \ The Man in the Moon by Dele_Adeyemo
Sublime Shadows by daisymacdonald
Shadow Screens – Does variety win? by Titas
Electric Bird x Shadow Screen by KavanStudio

Central Station set up it’s own commissioning strand to grant monthly awards to innovative and risky projects proposed by our members.

Research during the development of the site revealed that what artists, filmmakers and designers wanted most was not promotion, advice or access to facilities but cold hard cash.

In response we launched the Member Fund, £10K that was used to award small sums of cash each month to projects that wouldn’t be supported via traditional routes. No laborious application process, we just asked for applicants to tell us what they wanted to do and how much they wanted.

The Member Fund was judged by our panel of Creative Heads, independent practitioners that included designers, curators, filmmakers and artists.

Although the fund no longer exists, it isn’t impossible that it might just come back one day.

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Take a look at some of the projects we supported and read what they had to say…

Announcement blogs by Censta:
Member Fund: Who gets £1,500?
£1,500 round two
Member Fund 03: Who won by who?
The next Member Fund award
Member Fund winners 5&6

Member Fund projects:
Fools Gold [Recoat]
AGK [Yuck n' Yum]
Brand Vs. Ethos’ Workshop – 200810 [SASA]
Pop-Up Cinema Matinee [SASA]
Pop-Up Cinema Matinee 200810 [SASA
A BIG Poster Club thank you to Central Station! [Poster Club]
I was a child Futurist [ptarmigan]
Boswell in Space…! [Boswell in Space]
Boswell in Space goes to Sheffield [Boswell in Space]
An Unco Site! [Confraternity of the Neoflagalents]
Chez Gallip [Bobby Niven]
Magic Towards Your Face [Henry Coombes]
Norman Hogg: Neomedievalism, From Empire to Kookdom in Three Easy Steps! [Confraternity of the Neoflagalents]

And here are some additional bits to browse:
Q&A: Boswell in Space
Q&A Bobby Niven

For those who didn’t make the trek to the Sub Club on Friday, Stephen Cappello was the winner, receiving a cash prize of £500 and a licence agreement for his design, ‘The Devils’ Church’. Four of the remaining shortlisted designs were also awarded a licence agreement, so Kavan Studio, Veeny, and Titas (two patterns) will all have their designs offered as part of the Shadow Screen range. As with the existing patterns, the designers will be paid a percentage royalty based on the selling price for each screen sold.

So, how did the judges come by this decision? It’s probably fair to say that the immediate impact of the patterns is hard to shake – it’s pretty clear whether a design is visually arresting, and this rarely changes. When we met for shortlisting, we looked at nearly a hundred entries in total, and it was pretty clear which of these should make it into the final ten. Although we didn’t pick a winner at this first meeting, we all had our favorites. It’s probably fair to say that even though we took pains to keep the comments on the designs fairly equal, it’s hard not to hope that your favorite wins.

What really showed through from the facebook comments is that each of the patterns works in a different way, and arguably four or five of them could have been the ‘favourite’. It made the final choice immensely difficult. Should we choose the pattern with the most immediate impact (which for me was the ‘bubbles’ pattern by Chris Veeny)? Or the one that received the most positive reactions (the beautiful ‘Smog’ pattern by Daisy Macdonald)? How about the patterns most likely to be used by interior designers looking for a compliment to other materials (Titas’ work)? Or the pattern that looks simple but is actually more complex than it looks (Mathew Kavan Brooks)?

In the end, the shortlist was so strong that I decided to offer licences to the five patterns which were most likely to be commercially viable for use as a cut screen. This decision left some fantastic patterns out, not due to the quality of the patterns themselves, but because they had a major issue with production – Dele Adayamo’s lovely collage of children and balloons, for example, didn’t offer an obvious positive and negative for the cutting process, and Daisy Macdonald’s Smog was stunning but very hard to crop due to the areas of uncut sheet. Daniel Sunden’s Untitled would be great as a piece of art in it’s own right, but hard to incorporate into an interior without overwhelming. The simplicity of Catrin Lewis’ work, though very strong in the right context, could be mistaken for a standard pattern, with the same going for the undulating waves of Titas’ third pattern.

Offering several licence agreements also freed up the choice of winner, and the judges felt that it’s clear concept had been executed in a refined way, pushing both the intellectual buttons but also subtly the right visual ones. What clinched it was that the pattern offered the possibility for customizing a screen to incorporate a hidden message of particular relevance to a client, or a context. It’s simplicity of form might also offer the potential of more economical production techniques, should the volume be sufficient. I’m looking forward to working with Stephen and with all those who have been offered a licence agreement to develop the work.

A huge thankyou to all those who entered, and I hope that the experience has offered some value even for those who didn’t win.

Along with elements of optical illusion, the pattern repeat also makes reference to the abundance of sleek and linear architectural forms around us. Be it a window, door, gate, or railing, the changing pace and width of apertures are forever present, creating bold shapes and lines that weave a sense of structure and order. The nature of the pattern on the screen aims to emulate this in it’s shadow, which is directly affected by the ever changing angle and position of the light.

Above all, both the screens surface pattern and it’s three-dimensional projection into space aim to provide a visually exciting experience.

The artwork “Electric Bird” leads to you so many new places, its modern appearance is actually heavily based in a real old school grid of science and math yet its structure is full of movement and fluidity. The design functions in a variety of ways, its initial visual allows it to appear current and on trend, its make up and design allows an audience to discuss its roots in academia and traditional art forms whilst its movement and swelling forms make it appear fresh and new from every angle.

The design has been created on a bed of grid work designed by the artist and mathematician M.C Escher. Initially his grid was designed to fit tessellating shapes of butterflies. With every edge of each butterfly touching his artwork was debatably flat and lacked an extra dimension that allowed it to be a successful visual rather than just a pattern work. With the Electric Bird design every negative space that flows around each teardrop is just as important as the positive space and therefore lends itself greatly to the shadow screen design. The negative space gives our eyes the freedom to move and link between each form and define our own visual path which in this design is often a fluid journey as we move between the swelling sizes of the shapes in the artwork. If you look closely you can make out each defining wave of the artwork as Electric Bird is made up of one set of teardrops in the shape of a butterfly which is then repeated in circular arrays and endlessly fits together to make the full composition.

Now that you know where the design came from and how it fits together you can take pride in its modern appearance as well as discussing its traditional design structure but what was even more important to me as a designer is to give the artwork a visual purpose to serve as a graphic that speaks volumes about who I am and what I have to say. I have mentioned the artworks fluidity and swelling a lot when I talk about this design and the reason for this is due to the commentary I am trying to insert into its design. I wanted the artwork the have a sense of emotion and mood, in all of my works there are great references to the sea, surf culture, a relaxed but up beat way of life, and so on. This design was put together so that as a Shadow Screen sits in a room it not only is a new piece of furniture it is a voice, an amplifying sound that resonates a mood. The Electric Bird speaks volumes of calm and cool, the way the design expands and shrinks mimics the movements of the waves, tides and the ocean and allows the screen to give out a sense of calm and serenity.

I hope this can bring great clarity to this design and give the opportunity to many new viewers to enjoy the artwork in an array of new dimensions. If you have any opinions on the design, any feelings about the visual or any questions I would love to hear from you. You can write them on the facebook group and I will answer as many of them as I can.

Matthew Kavan Brooks, KavanStudio

Another question is would the patterns remain the same after being done from its actual material?

Questions and ponderings above are just my personal observations, and I would really like to know how others would describe the winner. So please feel free to comment :)

I was motivated to put finger to keyboard after being shortlisted for the GFF trailer competition for which I owe a big thanks to the folks at ISO and GFF for being able to read my handwriting and for seeing some potential in my ideas. I hope once I get together with Mark and Clyde at ISO I’ll be able to push the concept in new and interesting directions.

We just had our first project meeting today where we met the lovely ladies of the GFF and the equally lovely Paul from DigiCult who talked us through the aims of the project and how things would progress over the coming few weeks. We also had the chance to share the ideas that got us shortlisted and to hear what the GFF people liked about them. I won’t reveal any of the other entrants ideas as I’m sure they’ll be posting them themselves here on cSta soon, but I will say that they’re all pretty damn good. I have to say I have my work cut out to be in with a chance of winning this!

So, what is my concept for the trailer I hear you all ask!? Well, in the spirit of this website I’ll post my entire pitch for you to read through.

Concept

Glasgow Film Festival – Film bringing colour to Glasgow / life

Pitch

The Glasgow film festival is a celebration of film. Film brings us closer to events we would otherwise never experience. Film exposes us to emotion, drama, knowledge, excitement and unforgettable experiences; film brings colour to our comparatively limited and boring lives (ie when was the last time you dropped into Charlie’s chocolate factory or boated up the Mekong to take on Colonel Kurtz!?). The trailer I am proposing aims to illustrate this simple concept by showing a series of recognisable views around Glasgow; filmed in high contrast black+white. Over the duration of the 30 second trailer, elements within each view; ie buildings, furniture, people, etc flicker in and out of colour and pattern in time with the soundtrack; increasing in frequency and intensity until the end when the once mundane black and white scenes have become a cacophony of colour and sound amongst which the GFF logo will form along with the requisite text; dates, website and title(with sponsors logos beneath).

I’ve prepared a rough example of one approach to this colour and animation which you can find in the .mov file accompanying this document. I should point out that the music I used was not representative of the style I would prefer for the final work as it’s too much of a 4×4 rhythm; the aim of this was merely to demonstrate how footage could be chopped up and animated. In terms of a stylistic approach, for this example I used the colours of the GFF logo as a starting point which led to the neon colour scheme. .

As for locations, I would propose a mixture of classic Glasgow views (Buchannan St, Central Station, the Motorway, and views of the venues that will be used for the GFF.

Sound

The soundtrack would be positive and uplifting. Beginning from a humble beginning but growing in strength and depth towards the climax. The music of Forss (eg http://soundcloud.com/forss/journeyman) is probably the closest example to the style I have in mind. Electronic, melodic and contemporary.

Technique

The trailer would be created using a mix of live action footage; shot either at normal speed or timelapse, and digital motion-graphics. The graphic elements will be added using the compositing package After Effects. Given the festival is featuring a Japan retrospective, it could be relevant for the graphics to be inspired by Japanese graphic styles/conventions.

Artist Biography

Patrick Macdonald is a CG motion-graphics artist and illustrator specialising in photo-realistic 3d imagery and animation. Patrick trained in both the Edinburgh and Glasgow schools of art as an architect before becoming a freelance artist and animator. Although largely working in the commercial sectors of construction and marketing, Patrick is currently looking for more artistic opportunities in film and broadcasting.

In Rennes, artist David Zérah had a concept – to interview five contemporary artist’s in their cars, asking them questions from a French art magazine Galerie Magazine (1989/90).

Commissioned for the project Social Landscape curated by Patricia Fleming for La Criée centre d’art contemporain in Rennes, it was part of a series of artists’ residencies and events in France and Scotland curated specifically for the context of Glasgow International 2010 and the Rennes Biennale.

In order to create this cultural exchange between the cities, David’s ‘Artists’ in their cars’ project needed input from Scotland’s art world at the same time so that a short film/series of stills within the arts community of Rennes & Scotland could then be produced to show the documented outcome together. A call went out on Central Station and artist and filmmaker Holger Mohaupt was selected.

David and Holger produced the work as an on-line residency on Central Station.

For GI, Social Landscape appeared as a one –off event, which included a performance by Muscles of Joy, new animation by Katy Dove created during her residency in Rennes, new work by Sophie Macpherson and performances by sonic artist Damien Marchal created during a three – month residency in Glasgow. The final piece produced by David & Holger was also screened at this event.

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See the Artists in Cars collection here
Browse through images from the event here

Politically-driven art collective NVA collaborated with Central Station to re-enact the anarchic Amsterdam White Bike Plan – a radical scheme aimed at providing a city with a free and green transport system. 50 white bikes, free to use, were released into the city so that Glasgow International Festival-goers could travel freely between venues and events.

The initiative was launched with a 200 strong White Bike Ride Out. Central Station mobilised an army of cycling enthusiasts and experimental filmmakers to be part of a crowd-sourced film. Armed with head-cams, phones, and homemade contraptions to fix cameras to their bikes, footage was uploaded within hours reedy for Central Station’s final edit.

An online campaign and Twitter network tracked the project during the three weeks of action, enabled shared sightings of available White Bikes and named and shamed those who dared to keep them under lock and key.

“An informal network of bike spies has sprung up on Twitter, using the hashtag code #whitebikes to keep tabs on where the white bikes are for other users, as well as photographing and shaming those spoilsports who’ve attached their own padlocks to the bikes”
The Herald

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Browse photographs from the riders here
Read about one artist/rider’s experience here
Watch the final crowd sourced film here: