Here is my personal review of all the speakers:
Lifelounge
Brilliant creative individuals with a great sense of humor. Had a lot of useful tips along the way such as "not being afraid to say no to jobs" and "Working for government is better" and also had an interesting philosophy that they showed on a triangle based diagram. Basically, it showed that there a three points that make up a finished product and no one or two points can exist on their own without the third. The three ingredients to a perfect submission were fast, cheap, and good quality. So the theory is that if the submission is fast and cheap then its not going to be very good quality and if its good quality and fast chances are that its not going to be cheap and so on. Very inspiring!
Ben Frost
I did not really like this guy. Had a very dated and cliche "sex, drugs and rock n' roll" kind of attitude. He deliberately makes art that is controversial because this way he thinks that he is addressing the important issues in society. His style is mainly collages of different examples of popular culture and arranged in a provocative composition. I feel like I've seen something like this before - a kind of punk street pop art. I could be wrong but his presentation left me feeling that he makes protest art for the sake of fame because I don't know whether he is truly protesting against anything.
The Directors Bureau
I really liked this presentation. I was already looking forward to this one because I found out that the Coppolas are involved with this studio. And I really love what this family produces, particularly the work of Sofia Coppola. Lost In Translation is one of my favorite movies.
My favourite video in the line of work of the Directors Bureau was also hers which was the video for the band AIR "My Playground Love" clip. What I like about the Directors Bureau is that they stick to basics and are able to turn it into a unique style. I mean, most of the videos appear to involve just basic, clean, editing and that alone seems to do the trick.
The speaker also had some amusing stories on how they injured their clients on numerous occasions.
Debaser
I was not fully tuning in. The presentation itself was a little less entertaining, but it was still worth a listen for the sake of the information. It became a little more interesting when they began to talk about creating manual and tangible images. I really admire designers that put in the extra effort into creating original art and often that means switching off the computer and picking up a paintbrush, a pair of scissors and a glue stick! The DIY is definitely a trend and i am loving it.
Sixty40
OK, now these guys are Australian and they are about character development and putting animation into live action and they are kind of a multimedia design studio.
Their showreel was impressive but I would like it more if they used less special effects and mainstream trends in their designs. I guess I like it when less is more - I find it more effective and sleek. I liked their idents for the Comedy Channel but really disliked their 3d video ringtone designs with the crazy bear. I don't know maybe its because I see the ad for it all the time on TV and it annoys me but I think it is also the character designs. They appear a little aggressive looking to me.
Spencer Platt
Spencer Platt was the last speaker for the first day and my, what a speaker to finish the day on!
He is a photojournalist who specializes on war photography. He is particularly famous for his photo of the September 11th Attacks. He was an excellent speaker and very inspiring. I always wanted to know how people make the decisions to devote their lives to working in potentially life threatening situations. How do they develop thick skin like that? How do they maintain their sanity while they are surrounded by death? Platt's answer was "I just knew I was meant to do it" and "This is my calling". And also, "Somebody has to do it". Truly Inspiring. He also made a point about war photography not always being about death it is also about life. It is possible to have happy photos in a war zone because people keep on living despite wars going on in the background. He is a true hero in my eyes and not because he risks his life but because of his attitude to life and the responsibility he feels to deliver the truth that he witnesses to the masses.
Second Day
Alex Trochut
Amazing Spanish guy who does magic with typography! Never before have I been interested in typography until I've seen what this guy can do. His process involves developing various typographic systems. It could involve Gothic, Romantic, and Islamic type combinations. He sometimes mocks-up type with real life objects such as a VHS tape. He has amazing attention to detail and goes through a painstaking process of getting everything perfect but this eventually yields fantastic results. At initial glance, his work looks more like a piece of elaborate graphic and then when you look closer you notice the intricate and unique forms that make up the font. Five Stars and an A+ to this guy!
Anthony Lister
Worst public speaker award! He did not really bother speaking actually. He came out on stage in a weird way with a guy dressed in a Spiderman costume whom he shot down with a toy gun. After he just stood there while letting his slideshow with his art do the talking.
My impression: What the????? People in the auditorium began to leave in disgust in the middle of his performance. That was one sorry sight to have seen! But the thing is it was not as if he did not have anything to say. When people started to ask him questions he was able to answer. From his answers I found that he is interested in modern mythology. He equates the process of watching TV to a type of religious experience because it is a zen like situation. His style is heavily influenced by comic books, misguided models such as ex-criminals (Chopper) and contemporary heroes. If only he spoke about all that in greater detail and worked it into a proper presentation. Oh well.
Superfad
Was a nice change-up from the last speaker. This is what I call eye candy. Superfad is a motion graphics company and an awesome one too. The speaker was entertaining and took us through the process of responding to a brief. He stressed the importance of storyboards, treatments, animatics and motion tests which was good for us all aspiring designers to hear. The speaker showed an excellent showreel along the way.
Amy Sol
Amy Sol was next. I was also looking forward to her speech, as I already was a fan of her slightly surreal, romantic style. She seemed a bit nervous but it was fascinating to hear about her process. She works mainly on wood. Begins by layering forward from the vanishing point. First draws on vellum then transfers onto wood, marking out the composition first. Her wood of choice is pre-laminated, flat panels of Birch. Normally she spends 30-80 hours per painting. Very interesting.
North Kingdom
I read about this studio in one of the previous Computer Arts issues so I was aware of their work prior to the conference. It is a Swedish studio specializing in web design and interactive experiences. Unfortunately the speaker was not a very good public speaker, so the presentation was a little bit boring in some places. But again their folio was fantastic.
Pixar
Well, Pixar was for dessert. They were the highlight of the whole event and of course no disappointments here. Their public speakers are always top notch. I know because I went to AGIdeas here in Melbourne a couple of years ago where Pixar also was represented but that time it was by Ralph Eggleston the guy behind the Oscar winning short For The Birds.
Last year I also went to the Pixar exhibition at ACMI which was also very inspirational and educational. Anyway, back to Semi-Permanent. The speaker here was an animator who was involved in films such as Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo and Pixar's latest Oscar winning gem, Ratatouille. The speaker went into a lot of detail explaining the difference between two departments the Art Department and the Technical Department. How they do color scripts for the mood and concept drawings with a sense of lighting. Along with the character design, model packets, copy tests and shot production. No words, just super cool!
For more Semi-Permanent info check out http://www.semipermanent.com
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