Vice "Rule Britannia" Ident Brief

The brief we chose to work on is Vice's Rule Britannia brief. They need a 10 - 15 second ident for their web series, Rule Britannia, that'll play before every video. It had to be one that reflects the reality of what goes on in the United Kingdom. It had to be well-researched, and effectively portraying the themes of the series. The ident also had to appeal to a demographic of 16-30 year olds. So the target audience is actually a very broad one, and it gives us enough creative freedom to work well with.

Collaborative Briefs: Which to Choose

Having chosen my partner now, we were looking at three different briefs from the website D&AD. There were a bunch to choose from, but we chose to look at these three, because they seemed to be the most likely to do given the time we have (plus it we HAD to because the tutors said we had to choose between three).

WWF: Open Brief to inspire young people to look after the planet:
This was suggested by my partner because she figured we might have more of a shot at this, seeing as it's an open brief and if we were to create an animation, as opposed to everybody else who would probably create a poster, or a web banner or something like that. I'd be up for that, although I do hate awareness campaigns, but this would be a good addition to our portfolios as it shows that we can create an animation for something beyond our comfort zone. The problem, however, is that the mandatory length of a video, if that's being submitted, is two minutes, and that would take way too much time to make.

wetransfer: Create an image of yourself in 10 years:
This is one I figured would be fun and easy to do. That's basically the gist of it, draw how you see yourself in ten years. I figured how this project would work is we'd help each other out with the illustrations and submit our images separately. If we decide to change our minds to this last-minute it actually wouldn't be much of a hassle too.

Vice UK: Create a 10 - 15 second ident for Vice Britannia:
I chose this one as well because it would be easy to make. I for one am not a big fan of Vice at all, but I am a fan of doing one ten - fifteen second animation! My partner agrees as well and thinks this would be a good brief to go for. I think it would be a great challenge to be creative, as a ten second animation can be challenging to be memorable. I'm thinking we could make something shocking and engaging.

Finding a Collaborative Partner

For my brief, I wanted to be picky with my partner. The one I had chosen already decided to work with someone else unfortunately so that left wondering who else I could work with. I wanted to pick someone who is well-organised, and is good at drawing and animating. It also had to be someone I like too, because while I would need to know how to work with someone that's not too close to me, I think when working in twos, it has to be someone I respect, can rely on, and enjoy their company. If I'm paired with a stranger who I risk hating then work simply can't be done efficiently. I'd like to learn, but I would much rather get work done effectively.

I think collaboration is very important for somebody working in animation, because animation is not something that can be done overnight alone, it has be a team of people generating ideas, and working simultaneously. A lot of people celebrate the idea of being more introverted, but that won't actually get you anywhere quickly. There's always something you need another person to help you with, or even do for you.

I wanted to work with a friend, as all as a talent at drawing and animation. I think highly of my own skills at animating, and feel that applying those skills alongside another talented person would result in great results. They would also have to be talented at an aspect that I'm not great at doing, such as painting or background art, I'm more of an inker and a character animator so backgrounds/landscapes/buildings are my enemies. I wanted a friend too because, as I said before, I don't like the idea of working with a stranger at this point in time, especially if I want to get work done and I know if the partner can be efficient. I'm not in the right position to be paired with a stranger at this point in my life.

I want to pick an animation brief. It's not really recommended because a lot of animators will be picking an animation brief, but I don't really care about winning. I'm doing this to learn so actually winning a competition brief is more on the back of my mind than anything else. It would be cool if I did win, but I'm not really bothered either way. Besides, I'm going to be animating with people in the future so I might as well develop the skills now.