Carlos Lascano – keynote speaker
He is a multi-faceted artist who has successfully made incursions into various forms of art creation.Writer, director, animator, illustrator, painter and photographer, his ability to tell stories and his unique visual universe led him to devote himself entirely to filmmaking, as it allowed him to merge all different forms of expression. In 1997, after graduating from Law School but still captivated by his artistic vocation, he founded his own production company, at the head of which he developed commercials for big, international companies. At the same time he wrote, produced and directed several personal projects, for which he won international recognition. His original artwork, editing and animation directing of The Legend of the Scarecrow earned him in the short film category over 20 awards worldwide, a selection to the 20th Goya Awards, and a pre-selection to the 2005 Oscars. Read more…
Title: The use of animation as a narrative tool
Carlos Lascano will share his insights about the main characteristics of animation, focusing on the concept of ‘narrative’ and its use in the media arts, the nature and codes of animation, the styling and integration of characters and backgrounds, and how animation can help create a universe in where anything is possible.
Graham Elliott – keynote speaker
He is an award winning designer / filmmaker, who has worked in nearly all areas of commercial art for the past 25 years. Whether directing music videos for Puffy in Japan, television promos for Nickelodeon across 8 countries or a Coca-Cola commercial shot in the backstreets of his native, Manchester, England, Elliott brings his own brand of visual storytelling to the screen.In recent years he has started to embrace documentary filmmaking and his latest film ‘New York in Motion’ is an exhilarating expose of the ubiquitous, yet hidden art of motion graphics. It is currently on a festival run in a dozen countries worldwide, including IDFA (International Film Festival Amsterdam), in Holland. The film makes it’s Mediterranean premiere here at IMF. Read more…
Title: New York in Motion
She teaches Graphic design Portfolio and Visual Branding at the New York School of Visual Arts. She is the Creative Director of Magical Monkey, an award winning Branding, Graphic Design and Advertising Company.
She was responsible for the concepting, branding and developing of a visual language for many successful companies, including Rheingold Brewing Company, MovieFone, The Hebrew Home at Riverdale, Kingsborough Community College, Harper Collins and Gym Source to name a few.
Title: The World in Motion
Never in our history has it been easier to share our stories. Affordable technology and distribution is available all over the world and access is constantly growing. Software and programs have become intuitive and can be learned quickly and with little previous experience. Motion Graphics combines picture and type and sound and movement in a digital form and has become the most powerful tool to capture, tell and share our stories.
With these tools in hand, the voices of individuals and communities today easily overcome previous boundaries of geography, language, ethnicity, age, economic or social circumstances. Without ever leaving our living room, they let us peek beyond our own world. We experience new and different points of view and see things through someone elses’ eyes, someone often quite different from us. Heard in their new context, these voices hold up a mirror to storytellers and audiences alike: they present a fascinating opportunity to become aware of what we often take for granted: our own cultural context.
While filming the documentary “New York in Motion” we interviewed more than 50 of the Motion Graphics industries leading New York creatives – they are “New Yorkers”, although they grew up all over the world. It is New York’s amazing diversity, condensed into a very small space, that creates this city’s unique “flavor” and makes it’s mark on the way New Yorker’s tell their stories.
Each place has their own physical and cultural identity. “The World in Motion” – an exciting documentary film project that was inspired by our experiences while creating “New York in Motion” – picks up on this intriguing backdrop and sets out to explore how environment and cultural context influence designers and their creative expression in different cities and countries all over the world.
He was born in 1982 and in 2004 he finished his bachelor degree in Media and Advertising at the London Metropolitan College. He is active in the Motion design area in the last four years in Athens. He has developed his own personal style in an industry which is especially demanding and competitive. His works have won awards and have been showcased in serious magazines and participated in festivals in Greece and abroad.
Title: Deconstructing the Motion design Aesthetics
The talk will concentrate on the philosophy/history of aesthetics in a motion design piece.
1) Giving the term of aesthetics and also some relevant to it terms connected with design.
2) Exploring today’s trends in motion design and how they adopt old or modern aesthetics.
3) What really creates our own perspective of aesthetics and is there any skill that can be improved?
4) How do we choose the aesthetics rules for our own projects?
5) Breakdown of my motion piece TOYLIFE and how I came up with all the graphics and titles.
6) Q&A
Zohar Zohar Elefant is a Film Director and Video Artist. Born in 1975 He holds a B.F.A from the Department of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University, and a M.F.A in Fine Arts, from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. Zohar Combines between his Commercial work and his experimental film making. Has presented his Personal works in Art Galleries, Museums, and Film Festivals all over the world,and won Prizes For his commercial work.
Title: In the viewer’s eyes
1) Screening of the film “Sivan”
2) Commercial vs Experimental – Coincidental management
3) Technology and content, How the Dslr Camera was in use during the making of “Sivan”
4) Documentary video art as a tool to discuss society
5) Q&A
Nicos Synnos – 3hour long workshop
Synnos Nicos is an Animator, Designer and Director. He holds a Master’s in Visual Communication with concentration on Cartoon Imagery and Animation from BIAD, Birmingham City University (former UCE) and a BA(Hons) in Visual Communication – Graphic Design from the University of Wolverhampton and California State University in Long Beach. He worked in the film, television and internet industries in New York and London and formed “toonachunks” an experimental film and animation studio in Cyprus. As an Animator /Filmmaker he participated in several film festivals in Europe, U.S.A. and Canada. He is a member of the organizing body of two international film festivals in Cyprus (Nicosia Documentary Festival and Countryside Animation and Documentary Festival). He is a Special Teaching Staff at the Multimedia and Graphic Arts Department of the Cyprus University of Technology and a PhD Candidate in Experimental Animation. His research interest focuses in animation, graphic communication, experimental filmmaking and the creative process and results, from the use of hand made, camera less and digital animation techniques, along with alternative projection methods.
Title: Animated Graphics: Adding behaviour to motion
The behaviour of the graphic element is the determine factor of expression. The observation and analysis of movement by focusing on the animation principles of timing, staging and directing will distinguish the difference of behavioral graphics from motion graphics.
Nicoleta Avgousti – 3hour long workshop
Avgousti She is a visual arts educator, mixed media painter and video artist. She has participated in numerous group shows and festivals in Cyprus and abroad and has had a solo exhibition in Cyprus with paintings and collages. Her main interest, however, lies with the moving image and video/experimental art, both as an art form and as a visual arts education and its integration at all levels of education. She works as a visual arts teacher at elementary schools and as a visual arts advisor for the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Cyprus. She also teaches a specialised course at the University of Cyprus that focuses on the integration of video/experimental art in primary education.
Title: The potentials of integrating video art and video making in the visual arts classroom: a hands-on workshop.
The workshop is addressed to Pre-Primary, Primary and Secondary educators with an interest in visual arts education.
What is the potential of introducing contemporary video art and video making in the visual arts classroom? How can educators and students be engaged in video making and relate to ideas and experiences about everyday life and the world around them? Contemporary video art is introducing new practices, media and technologies, as well as new ways of considering its integration in the visual arts classroom. During this workshop participants are invited to explore video making processes that form the basis of contemporary visual artists’ practices, and connect these experiences with real-classroom situations. Participants will produce their own video by getting involved with taking photographs, filming video footage, browsing the internet for videos, and video editing on computers.
Each participant is requested to bring a usb stick in order to take the finished product / video with them. It is also advisable (optional) to bring a digital photo camera, preferably a photo camera that can film videos, with the required wire to transfer photos/videos to the pc.