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I really love that joke that visual effects guys are color blind for green and blue). Now surfing through my archive projects I had some fun memories too.
A Short History of Motion Graphics With Names Links and Videos. Part One: Experimental Animation.
Posted by Leonid Karachko on January 27th, 2011
Motion Design is my secret love. I try to grab every opportunity to learn the tools and tricks on the topic and to watch new stunning works that are published on sites like Motionographer.
So I’ve been reading a book called “Motion Graphics Design” by Jon Krasner. It has a good history section with lots of information and It makes you go and research the terms, names, videos or other pieces if info in the web. So I’ll be sticking to the story told by the book and will enrich it with more visuals. And be sure to surf the linked names or terms since some resources give articles worth a separate book.
Presentation Within Kinomedia Festival. Thoughts.
Posted by Leonid Karachko on November 3rd, 2010
Today I had a chance to speak in front of a student audience about how to make quality movies on a tight budget and limited resources. It was all done within Kinomedia festival and I delivered a great presentation originally created by my friend Igor Ryabchuk. So big thanks to them. I surely added some visual effects and post-production twist to it and people seemed to like it.
Right after I finished, some students approached me, and asked where can they learn all this deeper. Things like directing or storytelling or camera operation are tought in our universities. The quality of this education and its modernity are mostly very low. So we have a bunch of young self tought talented filmmakers and a lot of older ones that used to work in Soviet Union. This is a very short description of a very complicated situation. This topic is widely discussed on any related event and changes happen. But still a modern film school is a business of separate inspiring individuals or groups of associates.
File Organization and Naming In VFX Project. A Short Dive In.
Posted by Leonid Karachko on October 25th, 2010
There is no end to the process of organizing and structuring your files and other assets in your visual effects, motion design or any other project for that matter. Unfortunately, for some people, this process has no start either. Sometimes I find myself among those people. I’m almost sure that you also have some files named like “Final_Render_3”, “test”, “Comp1”etc. And this is not telepathy.
I try to keep order in every single project that I have. If I need to create some asset I might not start working until I have a clear vision of how is this asset has to be made and stored to be easily accessed and quickly used in a year or more by different artist. In times it really feels like you are not actually doing anything by hands. But it really saves time right away when the first revisions are made. And let’s be honest – no project gets complete approval and is finaled right from the first render. Not even the smallest ones.
A short followup after my VFX101 session
Posted by Leonid Karachko on September 8th, 2010
Leonid Karachko. Introduction to visual effects
Recently I had an opportunity to speak on the conference dedicated to a rebirth and development of Ukrainian film industry. It gathered a lot of specialists representing all aspects of movie business. I had my chance to speak about visual effects. Having a wide variety of participants (from writers to directors to distributors to lawyers to stereo producers etc.) I decided to do a general overview of what are the visual effects in essence, what basic techniques are available and what are the main points to consider when working in a low budget production.
I hope that most of the audience’s expectations were fulfilled. For those who weren’t there I’ll just restate few of my key points.
Greatest Software You’ll Ever Have
Posted by Leonid Karachko on August 13th, 2010
I’ve had opportunities to work for producers and directors as vfx artist as well as to play a role of producer and supervisor for a team of artists that worked under my management. We all know that projects get out of control once in a while. And it’s kinda OK because we work in the industry where creativity, technology and business collide. But getting stressed is a natural reaction to a critical situation (like a missed deadline). And it causes people to behave impulsive on all sides including producers, artists clients and so on. What I believe is a good thinking in this situation is that projects will end eventually. What will maintain, is your relationship with people you work with. And in any outcome you wanna keep them nice.
Now I myself am a big fan of efficient approach to work and I understand that there is a number of factors (like irresponsible artists) that may influence your work and that can’t be discussed in a tiny post like this. And new tools and instruments regularly come out to make your life easier. But no matter what software you employ, at the end of the day the greatest software you’ll ever have is the minds of the people you work with. And maintaining a good relationship with those people is your key to success.
Showreel 2010
Posted by Leonid Karachko on July 27th, 2010
