Goals

Someone at the production company I interned at, shared the reel of a Norwegian motion graphics artist named Marcus Eckert. His motion graphics skills are extremely impressive. There are two abilities you have to have to be a successful motion graphics artist. Ideas and mechanics. Just because you know the program, doesn't mean you have the creative mind to come up with a design that successfully works with the project. And of course if you have ideas, you have to be able to implement them and make them come to life. This guy can do both, and I aspire to reach his level. Check him out:

Enmeshed from Marcus Eckert on Vimeo.

Who makes this stuff anyway?

Hey you. Yeah, you with the face. Ever wonder who exactly is behind the visual effects from your favorite movies or commercials? Well if you haven't, that's unfortunate. If you have, however, then the search is over.

MPC (Moving Picture Company) has been one of the global leaders in visual effects for over 25 years, and it doesn't seem that they'll be out of the game anytime soon. With facilities in London, Vancouver, Montréal, Los Angeles, New York, Amsterdam, Bangalore, and Mexico City, MPC is a powerful group that's stationed around the world. In addition to being one of the world's leaders in visual effects, MPC also specializes in concept design, shoot supervision, software development, color grading, and many other aspects of a production.

Man of Steel, World War Z, Life of Pi, and Prometheus are some of MPC's more recent successes that you probably know. I mean, really, how would you not? These are just a few of the company's unbelievable projects where they have gone above and beyond the norm. Take a look. I bet you won't be able to only watch part of the reel.

The company has made some spectacular accomplishments in the world of visual effects. MPC is currently working on countless projects including Godzilla and Game of Thrones (a personal favorite). Aside from films, the company has taken part in the creation of numerous advertising campaigns such as Coca-Cola and Lexus.

I'm not sure if it's the music or the visual effects that have got me amped, but either way, that's some amazing work right there. I guess it just takes a montage and some exciting music to make you realize how much great work is put into certain projects. That's not to say the effects aren't good enough to be noticed on their own, but it's just that a person wouldn't typically stop and think about them.

I don't mean for this to be a post where I shamelessly advertise for some company. No, they didn't ask me to do this. It would have hopefully been written much better if they did. I just think the proper people should be given credit where credit is deserved. Also, apparently MPC is working on this:

And that just looks dope.

The limitless possibilities of CGI and Animation

The video, brought to you by the YouTube channel, The Cgbros, is a character animation reel highlighting some of the best work of veteran animator, Greg Towner. Watching the reel is simply a riveting experience. Having watched all of his work up to this point, it's astonishing to find out that all of it was worked on by the same man. Towner certainly has quite the résumé.

I've seen all of these movies, and I've always wondered exactly how they were made. I mean, seriously! King Kong? That movie is almost entirely CGI and animation. Transformers? It has some of the most complex-looking CGI I've ever seen. At this moment in time, I find it absurd to even dream about the possibility of being able to make projects such as these in my lifetime.

Without the endless talent of Towner bestowed upon him by the limitless possibilities of CGI and animation, movies like this could never exist. That's a fact. I don't really know anything about how such creations came to be, but it's my goal to find out.