Michael Clark » Motion/Animation

Necsa Talking Frame

Mic — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 08:29:00 +0000

A short AV produced for Necsa (South African Nuclear Energy Corporation) where I got to play around with fiery energy balls, Star Wars holograms & flying meteors…

I worked together with Luke Younge (editor) of Lucid Pictures to create this piece for Sean O’Connor (script writer) from TakeAway Theatre in Cape Town. The project was commissioned by the infamous Gloo Design for Necsa’s new visitor centre in Pelindaba.

The basic idea is to get kids interested in science. A motion sensor triggers the video as someone walks past a hidden screen in the exhibition…read more about it here.

It was a great little project to work on!

Credits:
Script Sean O’Connor
FX/Animation Michael Clark
Editing Luke Younge

My City

Mic — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:49:39 +0000

My latest foray into the enthralling realm of hand-drawn, 2D animation.

A 15min informational film, inspiring people to integrate sustainable energy approaches into urban development. Developed for leading NGO Sustainable Energy Africa and designed for use with city officials in South African.

I worked on this project with Luke Younge of Lucid Pictures in Cape Town, South Africa. I basically did all the illustration and animation for the chalkboard in the background.

Credits:
Directed and Produced by Luke Younge
Featuring Unathi Fani as Bonnie
Executive Producer Cliff Bestall
Script Sean O’Connor
Animator Michael Clark
Sound and scoring Daniel Eppel
Acting Coach Lara Bye

Reel ’09

Mic — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 20:49:54 +0000

	Hi-res Quicktime
	YouTube

My reel for 2009.

This reel has work from the last couple years, spanning my time as a broadcast designer in Johannesburg, a digital designer in London and several freelance/personal projects.

Many thanks to Jeff Metal for the music.

Enjoy!

Timberland – Calling all Earthkeepers

Mic — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:46:06 +0000

YouTube Channel

My first project while working at Holst Digital in London. We created this as a YouTube video for Timberland that deals with their environmental initiatives.

I was involved in initial look & feel design, editing the green screen footage and then animating the keyed footage and environmental elements in After Effects. Every environment was basically built from scratch using still photography before animating it in After Effects in 3D layers.

DStv On Air Promos

Mic — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:25:24 +0000

Broadcast work done while at StudioZoo for DStv, the premier satellite TV brand in Africa. I spent a year working at StudioZoo, a mid-sized production studio where I worked in the graphics department doing 2D design & animation as well as directing some of the 3D work & interns.

Below are some examples of the type of work I did:

This was an festive season ident I designed and animated for DStv’s Africa Magic channel. The channel’s imagery is very rich & textured, which worked well with the idea we had of creating this baobab with Christmas lights – a nice African twist to a Western tradition.

All the imagery was created in Photoshop and then animated in 3D layers in After Effects.

I created the title boards for this promo for DStv. This was pretty much standard fare for we while working at SudioZoo. I would get a rough edit of the promo from the Avid suite and would then have to design and animate title boards, normally using Photoshop & After Effects, to fit the theme of the promo. Turn around time for these kind of projects was usually 2 – 3 days (It was a busy studio!).

The idea for this promo was to integrate the titles into the edit as much as possible. I worked with an intern on designing the boards in Illustrator, then animated them myself in After Effects.

It was fun…

This was a TV ad we created at SudioZoo for the Sunday Times Food Show in Johannesburg. I received the artwork that had already been created for the print campaign and had to then translate it into animated boards for the TV commercial.

Standard Bank Shorts

Mic — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:59:41 +0000

A series of animations for internal use by one of the largest banks in South Africa. I managed a team of 3 animators, did the character design myself and animated 3 of the 8 clips.

The animation was done in After Effects with hand drawn artwork scanned into and coloured in Photoshop. I quite like the simple quirky nature of the final product which was very well complemented by the cartoony soundtrack.

Everything was completed after hours over the course of 4 weeks on a very tight schedule – that included characterisation, story boarding and final animation.

MNET Stars

Mic — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:52:36 +0000

While at StudioZoo I worked with the graphics team on the creation of the MNet Stars identity (a new movie channel launched by DStv). My part of the project involved designing and animating the various broadcast elements, such as highlight boards, countdown clocks and age restriction ratings.

It was a really nice project to work on and turned out quite nicely despite having to work to a very tight deadline.

Worlds in One

Mic — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:41:10 +0000

An animated short completed in my 3rd year at university for entry into the South African Briefs competition (2005). The piece was one of ten finalists, receiving a commendation for animation.

The concept was to show the differences & similarities between French & South African industries.

The final piece is very incomplete, most of the animation was done in 5 days! I was however very pleased with the style and some of the movement, it has a certain energy about it.