Senior and Junior full time and freelance positions available at ISO Design, Glasgow.

ISO is one of the UK’s leading digital design studios. We create large scale immersive media and interactive projects for cultural clients, brands and television.

A number of positions for 2D/3D MOTION GRAPHICS and INTERACTION DESIGNERS has opened up at our Glasgow studio.

Full time and flexible freelance contracts are available.

Based out of our new studios in Glasgow’s Merchant City you will be working alongside ISO’s Creative Directors and Production team to design a wide range of media projects for UK and international clients, developing high quality motion graphics and animation with innovative interactive experiences.

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MOTION GRAPHICS DESIGNERS (SENIOR)

Responsibilities:

As a senior designer your role would start at the concept stage of a project, and you would be involved right through to delivery. We would expect you to be capable of taking briefs and conceptualising and storyboarding creative approaches. You would lead the development of designs, animation, sometimes composite live action and 3D with motion graphics, typography and illustrative styles.

You will be client facing with excellent communication and presentation skills and be comfortable collaborating and leading other designers and the wider production team.

Presenting ideas, both to colleagues and to clients

Strong conceptual thinking and storytelling skills

Leading the development, preparation and delivery of creative proposals and pitches, generating style frames, storyboards and sample animation

Generating high quality animated and motion graphics content

Working closely with creative teams, content managers, scriptwriters, designers, creative technologists, producers and project managers

Working on multiple projects at once

Requirements:

Excellent Adobe CC skills (After Effects, Premiere Pro and Illustrator)
Cinema 4D experience
5 years+ professional experience in a design, animation, interaction or games studio

Beneficial skills and experience:

Live action film direction or photography
UX / interface design
Information graphics or data visualisation
Experience of digital production pipelines and linear-to-interactive workflows
Video mapping or large scale media design
Character animation

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MOTION GRAPHICS AND INTERACTION DESIGNERS (JUNIOR)

Responsibilities:

As a studio designer you will enjoy working in a group and are fast learners and who show initiative and are willing to throw themselves into a challenge; that may be quickly learning a new piece of software, assisting on a live action shoot, double checking edits or digital assets before they are delivered or quickly developing a series of creative ideas to a client’s outline brief!

You will be working amongst ISO’s design and production teams to assist with the development of a wide range of work from linear animation and motion graphics (2D and 3D), illustration, graphic and brand development, UI and UX design and the development of digital assets for interactive software.

In return you will be gain invaluable experience across projects of vastly different scale and design ambition. These might might range from 360 degree film installations to television idents, large scale interactive environments to online animations.

The opportunities are varied so we are interested in people across a wide range of skillets.

Requirements

Good solid skills in Adobe CC skills (After Effects, Premiere Pro and Illustrator)
2D / 3D motion graphic or animation experience
Evidence of working in larger digital production teams
Evidence of personally designed projects taken from brief to delivery
Good presentation, writing and communication skills
2 years+ professional experience in a design, animation, interaction or games studio

Beneficial skills and experience:

Live action film or photography experience as director or assistant
UX / interface design
Information graphics or data visualisation
Generative graphics
Visual effects and composition
Installation work
Illustration or character development work
Specialist 3D skils (modelling, lighting, texturing, animation, rendering etc)
Experience of runtime environments (Unity 3D, Unreal etc)
Creative coding

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Submission details:

- Cover letter indicating the job you are interested in, introducing yourself and explaining why you think you would be a good addition to the studio
- CV with two references
- Digital link to examples of your work
- Please include the reference CEN_MGSJ_01

Please forward to
opportunities@isodesign.co.uk

No agencies, thank you.

More: Website | Twitter| Vimeo

To celebrate one year since Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the Riverside Museum will gather the creative talent behind the ‘Best Games Ever’. You are invited to meet the leading designers of silversmithing, textiles, graphics and cabinetmaking whose work made such a massive impact throughout 11 days of sport and celebration.

Meet the Makers takes place on 24 July at the Riverside Museum.

Here’s the schedule for the day:

10-10.45am: ISO Design
Design of the Opening Ceremony Big Screen Graphics

11-11.45am: Jilli Blackwood
Team Scotland’s parade costume for Opening Ceremony and costumes for the Delhi 2010 Flag Handover

12-12.45pm: 4c Design
The Queen’s Baton

2-2.45pm: Tangent Graphic
Glasgow 2014’s brand identity and Look of the Games

3-3.45pm: Paul Hodgkiss Designs
Medal ceremony podium, athlete’s gift and medal tray

4-4.45pm: Kerry Nixon
Medal ceremony costumes for medal-bearers

5-5.45pm: Jonathan Boyd
Glasgow 2014’s Medals

Places for this event are free but limited and must be booked in advance. Call early to avoid disappointment and reserve your place for each presentation on 0141 287 2720.

For more from ISO about designing for Europe’s biggest ever video screen, read our Q&A here.

More: Website | Facebook | Twitter

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Find more events in our weekly bulletin here.

Gabriel Durnam from Graphical House with Home/Away merino wool scarves from Scotland Can Make It!

Graphical House’s Gabriel Durnam kicked off the event with an explanation of their two identities for Commonwealth Games related projects – Scotland Can Make It! and The Empire Café. Scotland Can Make It! is a Panel curated collection of six limited edition souvenirs, designed and manufactured in Scotland. For this logo, they were inspired by wreaths which were traditionally offered to winning athletes at major sporting events. The Empire Café is an exploration of Scotland’s involvement in the slave trade and the logo for this was inspired by the cross section of a ship.

Next up, Lee McLaughlin from IC Mobile Lab discussed how they got involved in a Digital Sprint Competition for the Games. They had 6.5 weeks to deliver an augmented reality app. The end result enabled users to scan Commonwealth banners, which were visible across the city (and beyond), to see Clyde the Games mascot doing a variety of different sports.

Lee McLaughlin from IC Mobile Lab

Dancing Teacake Development images by Artem

Mike Kelt from Artem talked about those infamous teacakes you saw dancing around the Opening Ceremony. With offices in Glasgow & London, Artem normally make props for Film & TV. 3D printers were used for smaller props and that giant Gretna Green sign was made using a large 7 axis robot which carves 3D objects with a 0.2mm degree of precision.

William Mitchell from 4C Design (the makers of the Queen’s baton) spoke about having to rethink their usual approach to the product design process. This was not the typical design and build for a market; it was a one-off piece meant to travel the globe. With a large number of key stakeholders all contributing their ideas, Mitchell explained the need to pin down the final design early on in the 6 month project to leave enough time for manufacturing. The lattice structure in their design relates to engineering on Glasgow’s River Clyde and it kept the Queen’s message reassuringly visible within the baton. Kays of Scotland (a curling stone supplier from Ailsa Craig) were involved in making the granite top for the baton. See more about the design of the baton on 4c’s website including images of its manufacturing here.

William Mitchell from 4C Design

ISO Design’s Damien Smith ended the evening with an engaging discussion on creating motion graphics for the immense LED screen at the Opening Ceremony. ISO created over two hours of sequences for the 18 million pixel LED screen using a variety of different techniques. The most challenging aspect of this was the Athlete’s Parade where ISO wanted to show all 71 flags in an interesting and dynamic way by deconstructing the flags themselves and combining them with live broadcast material. See more from Damien about ISO’s work on the Games in a Q&A on Central Station here.

To see Design in Action’s upcoming events, please visit here.

More: Website | Facebook | Twitter

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Looking for more blogs? Visit here.

Learn more about the design process around the Commonwealth Games at Designing the Commonwealth Games, an evening of talks and Q&As on 3 October at the Lighthouse. Presented by Design in Action and Creative Clyde, the event will feature speakers from companies involved in the design of the games. ISO Creative Director, Damien Smith will discuss the graphics and visual effects created for Europe’s largest screen at the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony.

Other speakers include Graphical House who will talk about their work for the souvenir range Scotland Can Make It and designers of the Queen’s baton, 4c Design.

For more information and to book tickets see the event page. Can’t wait until then? Read this Q&A with the ISO Creative Directors about the Opening Ceremony.

More: Website | Facebook | Twitter

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Find more events in our weekly bulletin here.

1024RandomisedScottishElections by Paul Maguire

“This is a visual of a run of 1024 randomised elections of a population of 5,000,000 created in Processing.”
Paul Maguire _ Electronic Media Developer & Lecturer | The Glasgow School of Art

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“Democracy has spoken, my Heart may be broken, but it will remain intact, If only through the memory of the passion and solidarity that I have seen in the people of Scotland.”
Michael Sherrington _ Director | The Forest of Black

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“Forza Alba!”
Damien Smith _ Creative Partner | ISO

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“I voted conscious of my experience, compassion, intellect and beliefs, I have no bitterness or disappointment, no anger or blame, I have my relationship to my country and know where I stand. It is a night where democracy won, and that is wonderful. Fight again and again for justice, equality, peace, freedom, speak up where you can without fear, vote every time, it is your obligation to your past, present and future. I love Scotland and I always will, but perhaps for now it remains a work in progress. But for now no anger, fear, recrimination, introspection and no more talking ourselves down. I am very lucky, an artist in a Western country with friends, family, health, hope and a lot of happiness. I will never forget the summer of 2014.”
Alex Hetherington _ Artist, Curator, Writer | Modern Edinburgh Film School

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“I am disgusted at the sight of people celebrating more nuclear weapons, less equality, more food banks and the refusal to grow up and take responsibility for ourselves. For the first time in my life I am ashamed to be Scottish.”
James Young _ Founding Partner | D8

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“This morning I’ve woken up in a country that has engaged and educated itself in how the UK is run – the political establishment, the economy, the media – and knows that it isn’t run in our best interests. Our binary political contests provide a black and white result for the people we once trusted with the running of our lives – politicians, bankers, and those who used to be known as journalists. This referendum stopped being about them, and became all about us. Everywhere I turned there have been people who believed in creating a better society – creative, generous, community-minded people who I could only aspire to be a bit like one day, and regret not being more like now. These are the sort of folk who won’t sleep, won’t rest, if there’s an important fight to be fought…and there now will be many. If you missed out before, join them now. If you feel bitter towards those who voted a different way to you, remember we need all the friends we can get.”
Emlyn Firth _ Director | a visual agency

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“Disappointing…”
Mark Breslin _ Creative Partner | ISO

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“For the thousands of young artists, creative people, writers and others who engaged with the Yes campaign, with the National Collective, and the broader independence movement, last night’s result will of course be very disappointing. Many have put their lives on hold to campaign for Yes, and felt a wave of inspiration and enthusiasm not experienced before. To them, the No vote represents a chance for another kind of future, lost.

But not all artists and those in the creative industries were Yes voters. Today, for them, will bring a sense of relief, perhaps, rather than overt jubilation.

Some of the more well known supporters of the Yes movement have successful careers and those will continue.
Whether the coherence and organisation of the creative movement for Yes remains, and perhaps morphs into something else, can only be judged in the fullness of time.”
Phil Miller _ Arts Correspondent | The Herald

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Scott Monument by Andy Hepworth

“It has been a long road; sometimes contentious, mostly kind and inspiring from the point of view that people have simply cared. There was a strange but invigorating peace over the capitol yesterday which I don’t think I’ve encountered before – and that peace I suppose was the sound of a nation using its voice. This morning’s news that greater devolution has been proposed for all the UK regions actually gives me a sense of hope, and what I hope for – across the whole of the UK – is that the voices within nations will be heard, and will not remain dormant. The process has been an eye-opener; let’s not close them again.”
Andy Hepworth _ Illustrator

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“Punk is dead!”
Mark Bell _ Architect | NORD

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“It’s business as usual, but with a heightened energy and respect brought about by a country that came out in force to let its voices be heard – and, I’m proud to say, a population that is proving to be as graceful in victory as it is in defeat. The road ahead should still bring about change (let’s keep focus without cynicism!), and hopefully this will be realised right across the UK. And, on a side note, if the creative sectors get on top of this movement, we might even be able to turn one of our biggest issues of talent migration on its head. Exciting times.”
Simon Meek _ Creative Director | The Secret Experiment

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“As a yes voter I am deeply disappointed but Scotland has spoken and I respect that. We have had an amazing turn out of 97% of people registered to vote which is hugely positive and I hope that this brings more change to Scotland. Let’s hope Westminster stay true to their word.”
Rebecca Torres _ Director & Designer | Rebecca Torres

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“For me, this referendum was only round five of a fifteen round thriller. We’ve landed a big punch but not quite enough to floor the idea that money is more important than people. Lets gather ourselves, enjoy the sponge, sook a few oranges over the weekend. The bell will ring again on Monday and we’ll be back in the fray, fighting the good fight. There’s a lot of points on our card already. And the world is rooting for us. Hand in hand with our friends and neighbours in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, we’ll do this.”
Paul Welsh _ Film Producer | Digicult & Edge City Films

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“Dear pals south of the border, we saw a chance for freedom from austerity, from unrepresentative governments working for big money not citizens, from illegal wars, from the systematic destruction of public services, from food banks and the demonising of the poorest… We saw that chance and we went for it. It didn’t work out, but look what we achieved against the overwhelming opposition of the media and the three big parties (who might as well be one): an energised, informed electorate, the engagement of the previously disenfranchised, a massive voice for change. The challenge is there for you to take up the fight and join us in bringing these Westminster shitebags to account next May, not to mention the ugly ugly threat of UKIP. Change is on the way. If we’re Better Together, let’s prove we really can be BETTER together.
Matt Lloyd _ Director | Glasgow Short Film Festival

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“37 publications, every TV station and Radio Station in the land lined up to quash an uprising of sorts. Is it a surprise that Scotland has voted No? Of course not. However the creative and inspirational message of hope that has sprang up in this campaign is not going away.”
Paul Crawford _ Head of offKILTR | KILTR

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“Despite the disappointment felt by so many Scots this morning, we can be really proud that we have collectively shaken the political establishment to their core and I honestly believe things will never be the same.

Scotland does not wake up today as an independent state, but the whole process of the referendum has empowered Scotland and our people to bring about significant and meaningful change to our political system.

This will affect the whole of the UK and I believe it will become a catalyst for greater social justice both here and in the rest of Britain. If we can
harness the incredible political energy generated in our wee country in recent months, and push hard enough, it can be a springboard for far greater democracy in Scotland and proper electoral reform within the UK.

We can’t let the Westminster political elite off the hook here and we should immediately begin a concerted campaign to bring proportional representation and an elected upper house in Westminster.

Power To The People!”
Michael Grieve _ Managing Director | Sub Club

Central Station covered the Scottish Indy Ref this week with events, showcases and features all relating to Scotland’s Big Decision. See more articles here.

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Looking for more blogs? Visit here.

With the largest screen in Europe, what sort of challenges did you face?

DS: Filling it for over two hours! It’s an enormous image area that is ultra high-resolution. It’s 5000 pixels wide and it’s a really unusual format. It’s like designing for 5 cinema screens in width.

Can you tell us about how the show was built?

MB: We designed twenty sequences with a mixture of purely linear sections and others composited within the playback system. The time lapse photography was quite an interesting challenge. It had to be created from a single frame meaning that the aspect ratio had to be altered for the thinner screen.

Some of it was supplied as a kit of parts so we would create animations and then break them down into their component parts and send them over as individual elements. It’s interesting because you don’t realise how some of it is going to work in situ. We created content with a lot of flexibility so we could re-jig it in situ.

CL: Ultimately, the kit of parts were then broken into hundreds of numbered tiles which were sent to the screens. We only saw them on screen two weeks before it went live.

DS: You can never visualise how it’s going to look on that scale. We see it with some of our video installation work. What looks great on screen, when seen in a room or immersive environment, changes your perspective on the media completely. You often have to slow things down because people get motion sickness. It’s taking that to an exponential degree in this case!

How did you go about translating concepts like “People Make Glasgow” and “Freedom Come All Ye” into tangible designs?

MB: They can go through the traditional design process so for “Freedom Come All Ye,” you look at the lyrics as your starting point and look and explore some of the themes or words, like ‘wind’, ‘blossom’  being a carrier for the message. We developed a number of different approaches which in this case were amalgamated into the final sequence. While you’re developing the treatments you have to retain an overview of how it’ll work in the context of the overall performance.

DS: You might go through three design concepts before you nail something. It’s an interesting part of the design process, to see which ideas survive. With some concepts, it really is survival of the fittest.

CL: From there you do test animations to show them the concept and get it nailed down. Part of the experience is a good client. That’s an important part of the jigsaw. Working with the producers at Jack Morton was a pleasant surprise.

DS: They’ve been here in Glasgow for over a year. They’re an international group who travel from major opening to major opening. At their core, there was a British creative team. It’s been great to watch all the strands pull together on such a large scale.

Opening Ceremonies used to just be ‘Here’s the opening of the games, here’s the dry speeches, give the athletes a parade.’ Now post-London host cities seem to have to encapsulate how a nation sees itself and how it projects itself in the future. That’s a lot to ask of any entertainment.

With so many different design elements, how did you decide on using specific techniques like particle animation and time lapse?

MB: It’s part of the theme of welcoming the Queen as Head of the Commonwealth and showing Scotland as a location, but it’s also more of an ambient scene as opposed to a high entry part of the show. The show is very thematic with a lot of variety. There was a different approach to each chapter and the graphics had to reflect that. For example, we used particle based animation (code-generated graphics) in Freedom Come All Ye.

DS: There was a script for each sequence but it was left open ended as to how we would visualise that. In some instances, animation was better. In others, it was photography and film.

CL: Over the whole two hours, we featured different techniques and styles to keep the show fresh and interesting. It’s also very different from what we normally do. This was a live show that we were building rather than a film as part of an experience. The tone of each piece is important and how it lifts and contrasts with other parts.

DS: Unlike a lot of film work we do this project involved working in parallel with a number of different departments: choreography, live performance, pyrotechnics, lighting, TV directors, live OB. You have to work in a complementary way with all of them.

What other techniques did you explore in creating the visual graphics for the show?

DS: We used traditional 2D motion graphics and collaborated with quite a few people with a team of about fifteen. In house, it was a big team effort from our talented designers Chris Bain, Blair Harrower, Brendan Bennett, Tom Pollock, Ross Douglas, producer Jamie Gillespie and ourselves. We also had associates like Will Anderson working on the Nelson Mandela sequence which was traditional hand drawn animation. Mark Huskisson was responsible for the time-lapse photography. And a regular collaborator of ours, Danny Carr worked on motion graphics. We used 3-D graphics to explode Wellington’s cone in the opening sequence and there was also a 3-D space station. The Queen’s baton was also 3D animation and we had John Butler working on that.

MB:  Chris Bowman from XL media was housed in the studio a week before the gear went on-site, building and sequencing the show on the playback system. He worked closely with us on the technical issues and show build as well as creating flexible frameworks for queuing graphics and integrating areas of live feeds.

DS: Something of that scale is so environmental. The designers are living and breathing that but until you actually see it in a stadium surrounded by people with the sound and the music and the lights, it’s a different experience.

What were you most pleased with about the opening ceremony?

DS: As a TV experience, I liked the athletes parade. In many ways, it’s the driest section. It’s really only about information but it was dynamic and it seemed to whip along the crowd. The athletes came in and the place was washed with colour and movement. So in many ways, it’s the biggest and most functional section and is usually the most utilitarian moment of the opening; I think the designers really added some beauty and art to that.

London and Glasgow both have huge visual arts cultures. What keeps you in Glasgow?

CL: You don’t need to be in London to do this type of work though there seems to be the perception that you have to be. It’s great to do a project like this up here. We do work on this scale but never in Scotland, so it’s the first time we’ve done something like this here. It’s a great opportunity for us.

DS: We had to pitch against London companies for this job. It’s expected that you’re going to pitch against London agencies, but where you’re based doesn’t affect the work you do that drastically. In this case, it was to our advantage in that we had daily physical contact with the client. Generally we’re based here because as Clyde said, you don’t have to be in London. There’s a creative melting pot in Glasgow. In London people live and work in quite specific silos creatively, whereas in Glasgow there is much more of an overlap.

MB: It’s also a nightmare trying to get Tunnock’s teacakes in London.

What’s ISO’s next big project?

DS: We just finished 18 media installations for the new WWI galleries for the Imperial War Museum 4 days before the Games Opening so we are taking a short break! Our next big media installation projects are in Sweden and the Middle East.

Interview by Madeleine Schmoll.

More: Website | Twitter

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Want to read more Q&As with creatives? Find them here.

What:
The Gallery of Lost Art, an immersive online exhibition which reveals the stories behind lost artworks from some of the world’s most famous artists, has won the Interactive Art Award at South by Southwest (SXSW), the world’s largest interactive media festival.

Designed by ISO for Tate in partnership with Channel4, the innovative project takes the form of a virtual gallery, bringing together fragments of lost treasures to be explored online.

Each item, now destroyed, stolen, or erased from the real world, is shown on a table that contains an array of media fragments – all that is left of the original artworks. They include artist’s notes and letters, archive images and videos, eyewitness reports and press reviews. The tables are grouped in thematic areas, each dealing with a concept around loss in art.

Visitors are free to explore the individual pieces by unpacking each table and exploring the digital assets released; building a personal interpretation of the artworks as they reveal the stories behind each incident. Stacks of pictures can be revealed, high-resolution images zoomed into and explored and rich media clips played back, with supporting curatorial essays. A visitor blog allows users to ‘see behind the scenes’ of the exhibition, post their own contributions and links to the project, and engage with the curatorial staff.

A richly interactive and multi-layered experience, the project so impressed the SXSW judging panel in Austin, Texas, that the British production outshone some very strong entries from major players such as Disney, Cirque du Soleil and MoMA to win the Interactive Art award.

Jane Burton, creative director at Tate Media, said: “We had stiff competition for the award, so winning was fantastic. I’m really proud of the project and of our collaborators, the brilliant Glasgow-based agency ISO Design, who put so much into this. I hope that winning will bring The Gallery of Lost Art to a whole new audience.”

Tate and Channel4’s collaboration on The Gallery of Lost Art is rooted in a shared commitment to high quality arts content, creativity and digital innovation. As the Tate’s first purely online exhibition, it has given the gallery unprecedented insight into online user behaviour and the demand for deep and rich curated content. Channel4 is to broadcast documentaries specially created within the project as part of its ‘Shooting Gallery’ strand.

The Gallery of Lost Art shows how archives can be unlocked and explored in innovative, non-linear ways by audiences and how digital tools can be used to create installations impossible to host in the real world.

The project itself will become ‘lost’ when the site is destroyed in July, leaving behind a trail of digital fragments. The Gallery of Lost Art will live on as both an iBook and a physical book.

For now however, the project is still live and can be accessed here.

Find out more:
Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter

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For more creative delights we’ve Spotted on the web take a look here.

“A mix of college / art school transitional positions…

01_ Weekend teller at my local Co-Op bank. Was wearing the mode du jour mohican, shaved on one side of my head which led to some cunning Bobby Charlton type comb overs every Saturday morning.

02_ Medical model. Involved stripping to my undies for a room full of trainee doctors in hotel conference suites whilst they pushed and prodded joints and musculature. They said they were doctors…

03_ Beach seller – Canet Plage, Perpignan. To the cries of “ Chouchous, beignets, boissons fraîches”, long, sticky days traipsing up and down the beach with a pair of refrigerated coolboxes punting drinks and funny little caramalised nuts to the locals and confused 18-30 types. Couldn’t afford the anglo campsite so reduced to sleeping on the roof of the lifeguards hut every night. Happy days.

04_ Parky, Saltdean Lido. Brighton. Dream job as a park keeper rising early to walk to work along the Brighton Coast. Morning spent dragging tennis courts and then a quick spin on the petrol driven mower before an afternoon keeping watch on the sunbathers at the modernistic masterpiece that is Saltdean’s 1930′s open air swimming pool. Get orf my grass!

05_The List street seller, Edinburgh Festival. First job out of Art School. After being told by my course head I was unemployable I grabbed the prime patch at the Assembly Rooms and set out to prove him wrong. 6 weeks later crowned top seller, given a big bottle of Morgans Spiced and free tickets to see Dennis Leary’s first UK gigs off comedy legend Tommy Cockles.

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We’ve asked professionals in creative industries what jobs they have had in the past to get their foot through the door (or at least pay the rent). For more in the “My First 5 Jobs” series look here.

Central Station, Channel 4 and ISO present Shadow Screen with Paul Kerlaff.

Open to all!
Submissions are welcome by creatives of all disciplines for a piece of work which can be interpreted as a design pattern for With Kerlaff’s Shaddow Screen.

A shortlist of ten entrants will be selected for review by an invited panel. We are aiming to promote critical engagement, feedback and positive value for participants.

One design will be chosen for prototyping and will recieve a cash prize of £500, but a licence agreement may be offered to any number of the shortlisted entrants.

What is Shadow Screen?
Shadow Screens are sheets of rubber or aluminium. They are water jet or laser cut using patterns designed by leading textile artists. The Shadow Screens are used as freestanding room dividers, hanging panels and window panels in a variety of architectural and interior design projects.

Any patterns used remain the Intellectual Property of the artists and a percentage royalty is paid through a licence agreement with Paul Kerlaff. Current designers include Timorous Beasties and Jacqueline Poncelet.

Your Design
Be as creative as you like. Although the pattern range to date has been photograms of natural forms (maple leaves, flowers, birds) we are keen to see what else could work with the model. The sky’s the limit.

Submission instructions
Join the Shadow Screen with Paul Kerlaff group, then send your submission to the Censta dropbox. Don’t forget to let us know your Censta username.

Entries should be submitted in black and white and should be suitable for cutting from sheet material.
Patterns should be suitable for cropping to any proportion.
Please submit in the following format:
jpeg format
176mm high x 68mm wide
300dpi, RGB colour format
Maximum file size is 2GB.

Paul is keen to offer feedback on entries. If you’d like to receive industry feedback, please state that this when you submit your entry. Please note, any entries that have not requested this feedback will not receive it.

Paul will be writing a selections of blogs so keep an eye out here for any updates, or follow us on twitter to be kept up to date.

Here are some links you might find useful:
www.paulkerlaff.com
“Cutting out the flaws of the competition process” blog by Paul Kerlaff
“Process Makes Perfect” blog by Paul Kerlaff
“Waiter! Social Media for One, Please” blog by Paul Kerlaff

The original idea of the action happening within the windows of a Glasgow tenement building has stayed the same but the look and movement developed.

The camera may now start as a wide straight on shot at the bottom of the tenement, with cars and buses going past, the world carrying on as normal. Then the camera moves up the building, still keeping the tenement in a straight on wide shot, resting on the 2 top floors, so we can see about 10 windows in the frame. All of them are dark, lights start coming on in time with the keyboard, electro, retro Sega mega drive game type music, revealing the action within the windows.

The action is going to be people and objects becoming iconic imagery from films. The lights get switched on and off faster and faster in all the rooms as some of the characters start to interact with others from different windows until all the lights are on resulting a chaotic scene of movement made up of all the action that was introduced individually. The camera carries on with its movement up the building until it is in the sky exposing a cityscape of Glasgow where the GFF logo appears.

Before the meeting I didn’t want to get too involved in thinking about the action that the characters would perform. I wanted to ask Mark and Clyde how this idea would be possible to achieve, before getting lost in complicated action that wouldn’t work with the technical aspects. I knew I wanted the characters to be placed in front of a green screen and then take photos of random living spaces to slip behind them; this would take out any need for a set for each separate action. I did this type of idea with one of my films Grandma & the Monster (although that was back projected photos of a model city) and it gives a surreal quality to the scene. Also rather than straight filming the action I wanted it to be a moving .gif on a loop, which would add an animated fun feel, and would be easier on me in terms of lighting. Also I really like that Toshiba Timeslice advert that is like a “bullet time” looping .gif. Here’s a link.

Mark and Clyde said how the tenement building itself could obviously be just a photo with the windows cut out and used as a plate. But they came up with the idea of making up the image by collageing it together much like David Hockney’s photographic collages (link here) or like Dave McKean, collaborator of Neil Gaiman. As long as it keeps or even emphasises the essence and charismatic look of a Glasgow tenement building, all is cool. But as I was coming back from the meeting I liked the idea of making an actual small model of a tenement front and photographing that.

Anyway check out this guy: Arno Salters, I worked with him and got stuck on a train from Wales with him once, his style rules and I hope the style of the trailer to look influenced by his work.

Cheers my dears