“UPS Monkeys” style frames
Studio: 1st Ave Machine

Tell us about your approach and philosophy when it comes to pitching.

While sometimes it’s cool to play it straight, I definitely like bringing a bit of something unexpected  to the table. I like to try to weave narrative into a single image, I give the audience a small piece, but I make sure that glimpse allows them to visualize the rest of the world, so most of the work ideally happens in the imagination.

I also have strong leanings towards concept, the avant garde and narrative, so often when I first get a brief, I try to find the opportunities to explore those moments, sometimes mixing and matching.

I’m of the philosophy that a good solid plan before going into the nitty gritty goes a long way, so I definitely like to take a day to just hash out doubts and fears and ideas so we hit it boldly and with the utmost confidence and certainty.

I think doubt and a lack of belief in a pitch can ultimately be it’s downfall. The vision to me should always have a cohesion and direction.

You put a lot of work into this UPS Monkey pitch, tell us more about the process.

UPS Monkeys is one of my favorite pitches. I only had four-five days to work on it and slept very little. The pitch was done with 3D artist Ihsu Yoon, a long time collaborator of mine. We flow super well whenever we work together even though we have a bit of a language gap.

I spent a day sketching out all the ideas, and narrative bits which I thought would really shine. The brief had a few narratives and pieces and I found myself drawn to the one about the UPS slips being a team of monkeys. I thought it would make for an adorable piece, and so I fleshed out clever moments in my head. But I only had Ihsu for a day, so I had to do a lot of the heavy lifting myself.

I used the iconic logos and branding as a tool and implemented them into the uniforms. I thought that was a nice touch as it wasn’t a forced branding moment, but rather a natural one. Basically it was a lot of strong planing that really helped me come up with a game plan to pull this off with such a fast turn around. I did obsess a bit towards the end on getting the paper texture and authenticity just right.

Give us some insight into how you designed and built these characters?

It all started with a series of sketches and explorations. I watched a few monkey videos online to catch patterns of behaviors and catch a broad gesture of it. I gathered a ton of references of paper art and origami as well as some character design images I enjoyed.  I also drank a lot of green tea, coffee, and some beer too.

In terms of the more direct process, I used a combination of live action and CG. I used a lot of paper scans and imperfections to add into the frames over the 3D elements. I also shot backplates of astroturf using a macro lens to get the desired almost tilt-shift aesthetic. I wanted the world to feel small enough to happen on top of a welcome mat, so I actually bought a green one and used it for these plates.

Then I built the characters and set the scenes out with hits of narrative littered about. I made a few hero models which I was able to tweak slightly and thus get the most bang for my buck, based on the sort time frame I had. After I had all the elements put together, I was able to go in and paint in and refine some of the more subtle details that really made the piece shine for me.

Having the UPS job cancelled must have been a major disappointment. Walk us thru the highs and lows of the pitch.

Finding out it wasn’t going to happen because of money was a major blow for me as I thought it had the potential to be a fantastic spot, but ultimately I’m happy with what I pitched regardless of the outcome. I’d much rather have a solid set of boards than a mediocre spot.

I think we were all super-pumped when the brief came to us and I was delighted to pitch on it. The narrative points were very fleshed out and exciting. Even though it was a lot of work, I kept a very jovial spirit during the duration of it – an against all odds kinda feeling which I relished.

If you could change one aspect of the creative pitch process what would it be?

If I could change anything about pitching it would be a greater sense of collaboration and dialog between creatives regardless of platform or venue.

I feel sometimes we pitch blindly with little choice and ultimately that leads to a lot of difficult issues we all have to look at carefully. I’m always happy to create good work, but I do feel getting a strong dialog going goes a long way to more fruitful and collaborative work.

I’ve grown to love pitching but like a girlfriend, you have to take the good with the bad under the guise that the good is worth all the bad. Whether that balance is right or wrong I can’t say. Since I’ve pitched in the past as a designer and switched to pitching as a Director I find they both have pros and cons.

To speak candidly, I find pitching as a Director is a more rewarding experience as it is high risk, but high reward… I find that facet to be exhilarating because you have more on the line, and like a pitch junkie I honestly live for that rush a bit. Once you do win a pitch you feel a sense of bliss, but it’s like the first step to a long journey.

Tell us about your new home at CHRLX.

I plan to start creating a lot of unique work at CHRLX. It’s my hope to bring a lot of exciting prospects to the table under the vision and leadership of Ryan Dunn the new ECD. Our approach to work is very exciting and I think CHRLX will be someone to keep a close eye to in the years to come. I got some treats and goodies in mind… Should be an rad time.

“Trojan” style frames
Studio: CHRLX

Krismerc.tv

charlex.com

1stavemachine.com

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“Kai”

“Clue”

“Hexoral”

“Audi”

“Cadbury”

“Robot”

“Cirque de Soleil”

www.pysop.tv

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Herman, who counts his background in music and photography as influences, produces a staggering range of looks and moods with one common ingredient: an incredible dedication to detail that grabs your eye and demands you look deeper into the image.

INAH Mayan Short film
Studio: Superfad NY
Director: Micheal Wiehart
Design: Greg Herman

PROCESS:

“In the beginning, my process is a culmination of writing and brainstorming. Once I have a solid direction, I move onto finding the proper aesthetic language that can live within the goal of my assignment.

“I like to capture stream of consciousness ideas using Mind Node (A free mind-mapping software for mac). Below is an example of a mind node I did for Spike Table of Contents (click to enlarge).

“Once I have ‘done the work’ on the concept writing and research side, music is always the aphrodisiac for getting my mind to check out and for my subconscious to take over. That is a blissful place. I’ll have all of my elements pulled up, my concept is ready to go and its off to exploration.

“Design wise, I definitely like to venture down lonely roads that seemingly lead to no where. It feels like a fail at first, until I stumble onto something I would not have found without making the seemingly unnecessary journey. I suppose that is why it is called an exploration, but I have learned that those journeys are necessary.”
MLB on FOX:
Studio: Superfad Seattle
Director: Will Hyde
Design: Greg Herman

PHILOSOPHY:

“One of my fave philosophies that def ties into my pitch work is ‘There is no Negative.’ I even bought the domain name thereisnonegative.com. The idea is based on the concept everything is always moving forward and will eventually work itself out, even the seemingly bad things.

“Another philosophy of mine that took me years to figure out, but now helps all the time is: ‘Do your work, and move on.’ That idea is about trying to never look back and dwell negatively on the past, but keep your thoughts in the present, where it all matters most.

“That was mostly related to failed pitches. I used to not sleep once I turned in a pitch. It would kill me and especially when I wouldn’t hear back. Now, the second I turn the pitch in, it is gone from my memory and I’m on to what ever is next. I sleep much better now.”
Southern Company TVC
Studio: Imaginary Forces
Director: Brian Mah
Design: Greg Herman

“IF contacted me to pitch for a really cool Southern Company :30. IDEA POWER was the main foundation, coupled with a journey through the evolution of electricity and power.”

Spike broadcast open
Studio: Imaginary Forces
Director: Brian Mah
Design: Greg Herman

NFL on FOX
Studio: King and Country
Director: Efrain Montanez
Design: Greg Herman

http://www.morechi.com

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How elaborate do you like to get with your pitches?

We try not to overproduce the pitches. Just because sometimes you have the feeling that when you are really specific, they just freak out so we try to keep them abstract and conceptual.

What % of your work day is best described as:

Pitching for work: 15%
Actually working: 80%
Procrastinating: 2%
Playing Call of Duty to create team bonding; 3%

On a scale from 1-10 how much do you enjoy the pitching process (where 1 = nausea and 10 = euphoria)?

It certainly is a good question because there’s always this weird feeling they are making you give your best for free. And I hate that. I have to twist and trick my mind to be 100% at my best, because I think money means respect for your work, so why am I doing this for free?

For future money – a promise that in most cases comes with surprises. “OK, you win, but you have to make this and this change”. So, why did I win if you want to change my proposal?

Randomness. So you never get to know if they like your proposal or you were the cheapest or the less bad. Awful.

What percentage of your pitches are paid vs spec?

5% of our pitches are paid. Mainly when it is a broadcast image campaign. Advertising doesn’t pay for pitches.

How many projects did you personally pitch on in the last 12 months?

Six.

Do you find the creative freedom of wide-open briefs daunting or invigorating?

I hate wide open briefs. Because they don’t know what to expect and so you are always feeling that you’ll be pitching something out of tone or too this or that or too whatever.

If you could change one aspect of the current pitching process what would it be?

Money. Just a little to keep your Pitch team going.

Complete this sentence: If I was not a animator/designer/director I would be 

Astronaut. Gardener. Rollercoaster technician nerd.

Complete this sentence: My favorite method or ritual for generating ideas involves

Basically brainstormin between the team. The other day I read somewhere that Disney used this three-role brainstorming structure where you have the Dreamer, the Pragmatic and the Devil’s Advocate. If an idea survived this structure, then he would get involved and work on the idea.

Complete this sentence: The tools I rely on most to create my pitch art are: 

Wacom painting style frames, Cinema 4d for quick, good looking, simple 3D and pencils.

Tell us a pitching war story. Horror or comedy. Or both.

We were pitching for this shoe company. A huge pitch. Awesome creativity and awesome budget. Somewhere in the middle they say that we are out. Depression and tears.

The next day they call us and say “it’s yours”. The “really well known illustrator/director” that they have picked went bonkers and they had to let him go. So it was some kind of a consolation prize for us, but we did the project.

It was awesome and everybody was happy, but at the end the shoe company decided that they wanted something more techy. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck them!

http://www.punga.tv

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Luis Torres, “The idea was to represent the energy and artistry of the show, as it is the biggest show of it’s kind and takes place in the biggest water stage in the world.

“Because of an agreement between Franco Dragone Productions and the casino, no actual images of the show could be released until the opening night. So the challenge in this pitch was to represent the actual show without showing any element of it.

“Saatchi wanted the pitch to represent Chinese culture, but not to fall into cliches. They wanted water and ink as they are two important elements of the show and chinese culture.

“My approach was to use these elements but give them a twist as Chinese ink has been use in many spots throughout the world. So I focused on bringing more body to the ink and use it as a graphic element, and use water to show the different elements that we had to show.

“This was one of our best pitches and we ended up being one of the runner-ups for the spot. Unfortunately at the end, the client decided to go in another direction and made a live action spot rather than an animated one.”

Client: City of Dreams Casino, Macao, China
Agency: Saatchi Hong Kong
Studio: La Flama
Director/designer: Luis Torres

www.laflama.tv

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GM DAEWOO MATIZ “CREATIVE”
Production company: MerryGoRound, South Korea
Director: Sangkyu Lee

This was my first time working with an overseas client and the process was very different than the typical American workflow. It seems the South Koreans didn’t like using email, everyone wanted to use phone conversations and they insisted on calling me “General Manager” (This is a very Korean cultural thing.)

Some of the terminology was also different, for instance they refer to frames of boards as “cuts”.  Timezone difference was a factor also, the director would call me in weird hours all the time.

I started to make full boards, but they wanted more of an “image cut” so they could sell the idea to their client. After several revisions, the director drew a rough on a scrap of paper and the final frame got approved.

A week later they got back to me and said the clients loved it, but wanted to change the setting to an inner city setting, I had already moved on to another job (and was burned out from the late night schedule) so I couldn’t flesh that idea out.

Even speaking the language, I had a difficult time; because of culture and customs. However I have a feeling the experience was mutual. American designers are more assertive in stating ideas or opinions than our Asian counterparts.

TARGET VICTORY “ART CONNECTS”
Studio: Superfad

I was pretty happy with the way these Target frames came out. In the pitch meeting I was confident in the boards, but I didn’t verbally explain the concept (Art Connects) very well.

A colleague’s design got selected, but I still feel like if I’d verbally communicated the concept better these would have had a good chance of being chosen.

PITCH STORY:

At the beginning of my career I was briefly on staff at a studio. I did a pitch moonlighting for a new company and as luck would have it, my boards for the new company won the pitch.

The producer at my staff company somehow convinced the agency to show us the winning boards. So then we had to sit through a lecture evaluating what my staff company did wrong compared to the winning boards (which were mine).
markim.net

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Luis Torres: “These style frames were created to rebrand the Kids segment of Canal Cinco (Channel Five) of Televisa in Mexico.

“Televisa wanted to include some images of Lucha Libre wresting as it is really popular here. At the same time we were developing an animated show concept for Televisa that involved canvas dolls, and Televisa wanted to permeate the concept into the rebranding of the Kids segment.

“Our proposal was to make the representation of the most popular wrestlers as these dolls, and each piece of the broadcast package for the Kids segment will feature them on it. We teamed up with our friends and partners ExodoDW to develop and model the dolls, while we developed the overall look and design for the broadcast package.

“Normally when we think of Lucha Libre, automatically images of silk print, texture paper and bold colors comes to mind. I wanted the package to be really clean, made of shiny and reflecting materials, to compensate for the gritty roughness of the dolls.

“At the end the animated show didn’t receive the green light and so this rebranding image didn’t get the green light either.”

CITIZEN PITCH
Agency: J. Walter Thompson México
Studio: La Flama

“For this pitch, Citizen wanted to create a really artistic and dreamlike piece. The creative concept was Citizen was going to give you the time to dream for 30 seconds.

“The agency line began with a watch that transforms itself into a pair of eyes that right away transform into a winged man and then an airplane, again a pair of eyes and a circle of color at the end. I saw this spot as an opportunity to create really strong and artistic visuals and to really make this 30 seconds give something that people will appreciate after watching it and stand apart from the rest.

“When we went into the briefing meeting the creative director showed us various examples of ink-like animation styles. I told him right away that I didn’t think the ink style was going to add something to the idea as it was an over-used look and effect, and if we wanted to create this dreamlike, visual astonishing piece we should explore more options.

“He wasn’t 100% convinced but he let me propose to him what I had in mind. Because of the deadline, we didn’t have enough time to develop two visual concepts so I took the risk of not developing the ink style and going forward only on what I thought the spot could look like – knowing this could definitely put us out of the project.

“I thought the visual solution for replacing the ink was to use more heavy media like acrylic or oil-based paint. As the spot has this idea of representing flying as the main concept of this dream, I though of doing the style frames reminiscent of the story of Icarus, and use wings either real or made of paint as the element that unifies the images. That is how I came up with the idea of the winged fish as the element that would drive us throughout the story of the spot.

“At the end  as I imagined, we were way off of what the agency was expecting and didn’t win the project.”

FEED THE ADDICTION PITCH
Agency: Riester
Client: Arizona Dept. of Health Services
Studio: La Flama

“This project was like a dream come true for me as a director, not only did we win it, we could develop it all the way till the end. The agency wanted to create a spot that created awareness in teenagers of the dangers or smoking, and they wanted us to create a creature that represented Addiction.

“For the original pitch I envisioned a look that was familiar to young people, the ones in comic books and rock posters, to communicate and make awareness of the dangers of smoking.

“Showing a stylized surrealistic environment formed by the organs and bones located in the torso of the human body, the veins and bronchioles formed a landscape that reminded us of a spooky forest. The colors and textures were reminiscent of those of ill and decaying organs.

“I thought of Addiction as bipolar character that grows inside the body of a teenager, the look and design of this creature conveyed two of the aspects of addiction, the seduction and sensuality that first comes with it, and the horror and ugliness that is also attached to it.

“That is why in this first stage Addiction was developed as primarily a big mouth, with full lips that responded to the sensual side of addiction, but that covered yellow nasty teeth with exaggerated gums and a vicious tongue.

“One of the first things that changed from the pitch to the final spot was the look of the interior of the body – we realized if we give this stylized comic look to the interior, we could water down the message and alienate the viewer into not registering the problem of smoking, so we went with a more realistic, yet stylized look for the interior of the body.

“It was so much fun to have the conference call with the agency and client and discuss if the design was nightmarish and horrible enough to get the point across. We decided that no matter how the creature looked in the end, we were not going to show it a lot in the spot, to ensure the feeling of uncertainty of what the viewer was watching.”

www.laflama.tv

www.exododw.com

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Animation concept design for TAAFI (Toronto Animation Arts Festival International)

Tell us about your approach and philosophy when it comes to pitching.

Over the years, the pitch stage has grown from a conversation into the elaborate presentations we see today. They often include an extensive write-up, style frames, and even fully realized animation. Because we end up spending so much time on pitches (whether it be for a commercial or a series), we’ve developed the philosophy that it can’t just be for the client.

We rarely approach two projects the same way. We might reference a previous project we’ve done, or follow a similar project method, but because we put so much time and effort into our pitches, we try to do at least one thing that we’ve never really done before so that if the commercial doesn’t land, or the series doesn’t get green-lit, it still adds something to our repertoire.

We’ve built a reputation for our design diversity. Changing up the aesthetic or  method of animation adds some excitement to the process for us, and it allows us to be challenged and to learn something new from every project. It keeps things fresh for us, as well as the client.

The end goal, aside from landing the project, is to get as much out of the pitch process as we can. That could mean a few new seconds of animation on the reel, or a new page in our portfolio, or the knowledge of how to execute something we’ve never tried before.

“Viking” unspecified work in progress. 

Are characters where it all starts for you?

We are definitely a character-driven studio.

I’ve never been the type of person to sit down at a keyboard and write a story.  What I normally do is sit down with my sketchbook and start drawing.  As I’m coming up with the look of a character, I’m also filling in the gaps in the back of my mind. Who is this person?  What are they like?  What do they want to do?

By the time I’ve done a few drawings, I generally have a pretty good idea of the world the character lives in, and that gives me the foundation I need to start writing, whether it’s for a commercial or series.

Design for a series of animated featurettes about child war survivors in a documentary directed by Virginia Abramovich.

Prop and character design for “Red Samurai”  

Do you feel a divide between your personal work and paying gigs?

I admire artists who can sit down and just draw for the fun of it. I usually keep myself pretty busy, so there isn’t a lot of time for me to draw for fun, and when I do get the chance it almost always ends up becoming something that can be turned in to an idea for a show, or a commercial, or even an app.

There are also times where a project comes along that fits a style or technique I’d just been playing around with a couple days ago, and all of a sudden my “drawing for pleasure” has once again been hijacked by work.

Character development and a style frame for “Sushi” a magazine comic strip series

When it comes to creative problem solving, are you the careful planner-type or the wild-eyed explorer? 

Design and pipeline go hand in hand for us. A beautiful design is a wonderful thing, but if it’s impossible or too expensive to animate then it does us no good.

Character design development for an online game / app.

If you could change one aspect of the creative pitch process what would it be?

I would make the initial pitch presentation the starting point for a greater conversation.

More and more often you come across what we like to call the “paint color” scenario. It’s where someone decides not to buy a house because they don’t like the color of paint on the wall.

Likewise with pitches, if everything looks great but there’s a detail or two that are off the mark, even if it’s something that is easily changed, it’s often enough for a client to keep looking. I would much prefer to build the creative collaboratively with a client, and being as diverse as we are, that’s something we’re always able and willing to do.

www.tinman.tv

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Cover page for the Amon Tobin pitch

What % of your work day is best described as:

On a scale from 1-10 how much do you enjoy the pitching process (1 = scabbies, 10 = puppy love).

It depends on who’s process we’re talking about. There’s a big difference between a massive competitive pitch and a presentation to a partner studio or corporation. The advertising pitch “process” that operates under “rules” can be a bit of a drain or totally exhilarating.

Either way it earns a 9.

I enjoy the “oh-wow-we’ve-never-done-this-before” intimidating challenges that pop-up several times a day.

The rushed moment of accept or decline an invitation to the battle royal is intoxicating. We get that opportunity to come up with a totally new and brilliant idea that either happens or it doesn’t.

What percentage of your pitches are paid vs spec?

8% paid. Oh wow. That sounds bad. I should point out that some of our best projects enter the studio without a competitive throw-down pitch. Priceless.

How many projects did you personally pitch on in the last 12 months? 

Just counted 13. Each of those little gems vary in pitch scale, time, importance and interest level.

What % of your pitches include the following: 

Do you find the creative freedom of wide-open briefs daunting or invigorating?

It depends on who’s dishing out the creative freedom! Those with wide-open briefs can have wide-open expectations as well.  I’m always divided on this kind of freedom in the advertising world…best to know more than less.

There’s always the temptation to jump in. It could be the best thing on the planet or that worst nightmare. The best projects come together when all involved parties possess strong vision and persistence.

If you could change one aspect of the current pitching process what would it be?

Communication! Sometimes as a third party, we spend so much valuable time sifting through clues and facts about a client before we even nail down a concept. If I could be privy to all the facts that led up to the point of the pitch request.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pitched an idea only to find out it’s against the clients brand guideline (which was never shared with me) .

Complete this sentence: If I was not a animator/designer/director I would be 

hiking the endless Pacific Northwest mountains, building forts, honing my modern home concepts and of course drawing all the time.

Complete this sentence: My favorite method or ritual for generating ideas involves 

getting outside because change of scenery and fresh air stimulates the mind. I also practice design opposites to clear my thoughts – exercise, tae-kwon-do, terrible comedy shows, time with friends and family. I like to speak at schools, portfolio critiques and Q & A sessions… it sheds some perspective on my position and usually lights up massive ideas.

Complete this sentence: The tools I rely on most to create my pitch art are: 

My team of amazing ones who make it happen every day.

Tell us a pitching war story. Horror or comedy. Or both.

This goes right back to the whole “communication” problem. I once spent a week cranking on an agency pitch for a new broadcast product launch. Threw myself and my entire team at it. Spent a ton of money – designed and printed an elaborate presentation – flew out to NYC for the big presentation.

Upon arrival and to the surprise of everyone involved, the product had been killed at least a month prior to the pitch. All I could do was laugh about it and think about the lesson learned. I left my expensive presentation open there on the conference room table for all to enjoy and went outside.

http://www.lvthn.com/ 

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BOSS MAIN TITLE
Client: Starz Entertainment, Studio: Shilo, CD: Jose Gomez, Design: Kultnation, Producer: Hilary Wright

Where does pitching fall on the love\hate spectrum for you?

I love pitching, it’s a healthy way to keep yourself fit as a designer. Pitching is a a win/win situation where you’ll aways end up winning something; whether it’s a new project, a new technique, new process, new ideas or simply just learning from mistakes and decision making.

Now, when it comes to pitching, I usually get two kinds of jobs: those coming from a studio as freelance designer and those coming directly from a client or agency.

Working with a studio and a CD is always great and fun because I have the opportunity to really go deeper into my designer role while understanding the project’s needs and sharing the CD’s vision. When working directly with clients or agencies; I try to work only on budgeted pitches and find a balance between being the creative director and designing the project.

NICKELODEON PITCH
Client: Nickelodeon UK, Studio: Kultnation via Lost in Space, Director / Designer: Kultnation, Design: Kultnation, Producer: Christian Hogue

Tell us about your actual working process and how/where you get inspired.

As a designer I think of myself as a visual storyteller where style frames are short stories within larger stories (the storyboard).  These stories can be told through photographs, illustration, camera angles, lighting, typography, color, shapes, forms, etc. The challenge – and the fun part – is knowing how to connect and shape these and other not-so-obvious elements to develop a coherent, cohesive and, above all, interesting story.

I also try to keep myself inspired by basically everything: from design, architecture, photography, books, illustration, typography, urban art and nature. 98% of the time during my creative process mistakes spawn a completely unexpected yet beautiful and amazing end result. This is the kind of purity and innocence I love from any creative processes.

NEXTEL
Client: Nextel Mexico, Studio: Los Hijos de su Madre, Director / Designer: Kultnation, Producer: Enrique Navarrete

Does your lack of a house style help or hinder when pitching yourself to get a job?

I think it can work both ways and depends on the situation. Developing a style takes time and effort and it may or may not guarantee that you’ll have success in certain types of projects. Most of the time I get contacted because the client liked a previously completed job of mine, and that means there is an expectation of what you can accomplish in terms of style and design. That eventually could help me develop my own style and ironically maybe make me work on the same types of projects.

CHILLER FILMS
Client: Chiller TV, Studio: Kultnation, Director / Designer: Kultnation, Producer: Bill Ikin

Do you take it personally when one of your pitches doesn’t win?

Not really no, I just wish I could get feedback more often from clients as to why the pitch wasn’t awarded. Although I do enjoy finding out who got the job so I can understand their creative vision and design direction.

VH1 TOP20
Client: VH1, Studio: The Life Long Friendship Society, CD: Kaori Sohma, Design: Kultnation, Producer: Marybess Pritchett

If you could change one aspect of the creative pitch process what would it be?

I would definitely add more time and budget to the pitching process and reduce the use of client references.

http://www.kultnation.com/

Read more at Style Frames - The Art Of The Pitch

Tell us about your approach and philosophy when it comes to pitching.

Two things: our philosophy towards pitching has changed a lot over the years and what’s more we have to adjust it in relation to each of the jobs we pitch on. There’s always that delicate balance between what the client wants and what you want to direct.

We used to pitch a lot on stuff we weren’t necessarily 100% in love with as a concept. We stopped doing that. Then we’d pitch what we wanted to do with their campaign rather than what we thought would win.

We tend now only to pitch on the stuff we actually want to do and is in line with what we want to do as directors. Our success rate has gone up and we end up working on fantastic campaigns that help us develop our own craft.

It looks like you put a lot of love into this pitch for O2, how long did you have between brief and presentation. And how many people worked on it?

A LOT of love.

We had a month from the initial brief which was rare, normally it’s a very rushed week, maximum two. Designing creatures is what we love to do so when we are asked to create monsters for a massive campaign it was very much a dream job, we threw ourselves at it and played to win.

The team we put together including us and our producers was nine.

The characters are exquisitely detailed and original: what is it about character design that gets your creative juices flowing?

Storytelling is an integral part of character design. To give the creatives on this campaign their due they had come up with a really fascinating world and tremendous ideas and direction for the characters.

To be presented with a blank canvas is one of the hardest things as a creative person but if you have a way in it makes things so much easier, whether that way in is self-imposed limitation, a creative starting point or a brief from a client.

We have always worked with incredibly talented designers. The two main ones who worked on this with us were Jon Beeston and Leong Wan Kok. They brought a huge amount of experience, inspiration, insight and great ideas to the table.

The role of the director is so often over estimated and quite often underestimated in other respects. In an ideal world by working closely with a great designer you end up with a piece of work, a concept or a character that adheres to your vision, has stretched the ability of the artist and is far better than anything you would have designed yourself!

Can you walk us thru the highs and lows of the pitch process on O2?

After about three weeks into the pitch we were thrilled with the directon and how well it had come together and felt ready to present to the agency.

The creatives were blown away, the creative director however was oddly unimpressed. We were also told that we were given a bit of a bum steer on the direction and what they wanted was in fact something quite different. They sort of apologized and asked if we could modify what we had created to make it more cute and friendlier.

The good news however was that there had been an extension on the deadline so we had time to develop this amazing work a little bit more.

What do you do?  Work your ass off and spend a lot of money to make something great for these people. From this point on we had a fairly good idea we weren’t going to win. What followed was all the typical pantomimes, of how much they loved our work and how we were so the favorites:

‘Oh we love it, maybe we could see it in color?’

‘Sure its perfect we’re just having trouble explaining to the client how its going to look in 3D, can you help us with that?”

“You guys are so nailing this.”

We took all that with the pinch of salt it deserved and more than anything we made this pitch for ourselves. In the end we were kind of glad we didn’t win it. We presented the direction we wanted to take the campaign in and we stuck true to our vision. It’s not always been this way but we try hard to stay true to the vision that put us where we are today in the industry.

It’s a difficult thing to balance when the scripts are good, you want that job and prepare to fight. Is it a question of how hard? If you bleed the most do you win? If you bend your vision to fit the clients will it be yours?

It’s never that simple, sometimes there are problems to solve, character designs to get right.

We beat Psyop on one of our first pitches, it was quite funny really, we were just two young guys working on laptops from home, we hadn’t even heard of them back then. Our pitch was good but I’m guessing not as good as Psyop’s. I think the agency just wanted to work with the new blood that time around.

If you could change one aspect of the creative pitch process what would it be? 

A bit more transparency would be nice.

www.tokyoplastic.tumblr.com

http://www.picassopictures.com/directors/tokyoplastic/

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“We work with the approach that in order for any piece of animation to be original and engaging, the method of animation itself, needs to be bespoke, and created within the context of the project.

“For example, the BBC commissioned us to create a short piece of animation about the life story of a holocaust survivor, so we used ash and water to create the majority of the piece, from the drawings and landscapes, to the particle effects for smoke and rain.”

NPX CONCEPT:
Brand: NPX/Neill Pryde

What % of your work day is best described as:

Pitching varies a lot (between 0 and 30%) and tends to take time away from administration rather than actual work.

On a scale from 1-10 how much do you enjoy the pitching process (where 1 = rant and 10 = rave).

It can be anywhere between 2 and 8, depending on the client and the remit of the brief, obviously pitching were we have more involvement in all stages of the job, from design to delivery is favorable.

ACID TEST
Brand: Darlow Smithson/Channel 4

How many projects did you personally pitch on in the last 12 months? 

10

What percentage of your pitches are paid vs spec?

100% unpaid

FEATURE PRODUCTION DESIGN

What % of your pitches include the following: 

We’ve indicated verbal pitch as 10%, however it is always our preference to pitch in person to fully communicate all aspects of the design development process.

Do you find the creative freedom of wide-open briefs daunting or invigorating?

When we know the client well, and we know how creatively literate they are, the creative freedom can be invigorating, especially when the pitch essentially involves writing our own brief.

When this is the case, we like to show more than just style frames and storyboards, and build up more of a story around a project and its design process.

When we know that the brief is open because the client doesn’t know what they want, then the freedom can be slightly daunting. Either way, we don’t see any point with pitches unless they are going to lead to a project which is interesting for us to complete.

This might have lead to a few unsuccessful pitches in the past, but over time the kind of projects that we are asked to pitch for, are closer to the kind of work that we like to do.

FEATURE PRODUCTION DESIGN

If you could change one aspect of the current pitching process what would it be?

We think that the pitch should include information on why a project has been put out to tender. Ideally, it is because the client wants the most original, most creative piece of work, but that isn’t always the case. We often encounter a situation where it is necessary for an organization to demonstrate they are being cost effective by inviting different companies to pitch.

This is generally a warning sign for us. The nature of competing for a project means that you push the creativity as much as possible, but sometimes this just isn’t necessary, and the client actually wants sometime generic and easy to complete.

FORGOTTEN SPACES EXHIBITION DESIGN
Client:RIBA/Royal National Theatre London

Complete this sentence: If I was not a animator/designer/director I would be ________

Something in between carpentry, law and music production.

Complete this sentence: My favorite method or ritual for generating ideas involves _________

A lot of talking and doing working drawings which don’t make sense when you find them a few weeks later.

Suggesting opposing ideas and then testing them against each other resulting in hybrid concepts which address all areas of the brief.

Complete this sentence: The tools I rely on most to create my pitch art are:  

Talking. The Internet (mainly blogs and image searches). Drawing.

SET FOR COLLECTIF AND THEN
Brand: Collectif and then

Tell us a pitching war story. Horror or comedy. Or both.

A client repeatedly saying that they “couldn’t picture it” , even though we were showing them a picture of it.

http://www.visitorstudio.co.uk/

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ATT
Studio: Motion Theory
Director: Mark Kudsi

Tell us about your overall approach and philosophy when it comes to pitching.

1. Pay very close attention to the brief and listen to the clients needs.

2. I feel it’s extremely important to do an excessive amount of research before starting any design or comp work. Research is probably the most commonly overlooked tool by designers.

3. White paper ideas.

4. Execute ideas in your desired application. For me the process usually starts in Photoshop and I turn to Maya and/or C4D to help on the 3D side.

AVENGERS
Personal

Tell us about your actual working process and how/where you get inspired.

Again, it all starts with research. Luckily we have outlets like Styleframes.tv that expose artists and studios. And the quality of work that is being produced these days is absolutely ridiculous, so its hard not to get inspired from what you see online or on tv.

I also have a tendency to find inspiration in everything I see on a daily basis. Whether I’m in traffic on the 405 or on a bike ride, I’m always observing my surroundings looking for new ideas.

CYBERCRIME (T-Mobile )
Company: Logan
Director: Kevin Shapiro

You don’t have a house style. Does that help or hinder when pitching yourself to get a job?

Its 50/50.  I just try and produce what the client is looking for. If they want blood and guts, they’re going to get blood and guts. I try and adapt my style to cater to the needs of the project.

CAGE
Personal

Do you take it personally when one of your pitches doesn’t win?

Never take it personally. You will be a very unhappy designer if you can’t accept losing pitches.

If you could change one aspect of the creative pitch process what would it be?

Everyone would get paid. I know sounds silly but there should be some sort of standardized “pitch” fee for every shop on the planet.

MALKEMUS ID
Personal

TNT
Company: Fresh Paint
Director: Kevin Robinson

UFC
Studio: Think Nau
Director: Raffi Simonian

Jon’s preferred software:
Photoshop, After Effects, Maya, Cinema 4D, Real Flow, Illustrator.

http://jon.dntfckwth.us

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Surreal Tea Party
Year: 2010

“Surreal Tea Party is a series of photo collages using typical tea party elements in unexpected and surreal setting.”

Karen To: “I am a fresh LA-based graphic designer, illustrator, and letterer. While every project is different, playfulness plays a major role in my approach to pitching.

It is very simple and obvious that a designer has got to like their work and like what they are doing in order to make interesting boards. When a project is dull, sprinkling in fun ideas and playful forms definitely helps to give some life and personalty to the project.”

Client: Sanyo Eneloop
Year: 2010

“A 30-second spot playfully illustrates the journey of the +/ – twins as they are charging the Eneloop rechargeable battery by Sanyo.”

2OX9 calendar and poster
Year: 2008

“A personal project and exploration of the ox which includes a limited edition 5-color silk screen poster for the Chinese New Year and a 2009 ox calendar.”

Two Lines Align: Richard Paul Lohse X Cristiana Couceiro (poster)
Year: 2010

“Double sided fold up poster comparing a historical designer (Richard Paul Lohse) to a contemporary match (Cristiana Couceiro).”

Client: Papyrus
Year: 2010

“This ten second end tag is packed with an explosion of fun and holiday spirit as Papyrus believes that life is a celebration.”

REDCAT event poster
Year: 2009-2010

“Silkscreen poster that I did in collaboration with Masato Nakada for Scream Fest: Noisefold.”Client: Fountain House (end tag)
Studio: Brand New School
Year: 2010

“A five-second end tag to illustrate a water drop and eventually calms the water.”

BandAid
Year: 2009

“A 30-second spot for BandAid. This piece playfully illustrates the invasion of bacteria after a cut. The body eventually blocks out all the bacteria because the BandAid zipper crushes the enemy.”

http://www.epiclayers.com/

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Break down your work day for us.

In terms of being a freelancer and being an owner of a hybrid rep company, I would have to break my work day into two tiers: “freelance” and “direct client” with The Armory.

FREELANCE

DIRECT CLIENT

On a scale from 1-10 how much do you enjoy the pitching process (where 1 = absolutely loath it and 10 = it’s my fave part of my job).

FREELANCE: 10 – It’s what I do when I am hired by studios. Some people have given me the title of “Pitch Master”. I suppose it can be a title.

DIRECT CLIENT: 10 – I love concepting from the beginning, it’s where all aspects of a project can be foreseen.

 Client: United Healthcare, studio: Motion Theory, CD: Kaan Atilla, pitch design: Bryan Lee

What percentage of your pitches are paid vs spec?

FREELANCE - 100% Paid

DIRECT CLIENT - 100% Unpaid

How many projects did you personally pitch on in the last 12 months? 

FREELANCE - 40

DIRECT CLIENT - 10

Studio: Royale, CD: Brien Holman, design: Bryan Lee

What assets do you take into a pitch and how often do you use them?

FREELANCE

DIRECT CLIENT

Do you find the creative freedom of wide-open briefs daunting or invigorating?

I find wide open briefs to be the best part of my job. It’s my forte.

If you could change one aspect of the current pitching process what would it be?

Pitching should not be free.

Sometimes giving free ideas can be a bad idea. A client can still take your ideas and use them elsewhere with another studio/director. This has been part of our industry for years. Where is the justice? In my opinion, research and development for projects equals time. And time is money.

 Big Fish Entertainment, CD: Paul K. Lee, lead design: Bryan Lee

Complete this sentence: If I was not a animator/designer/director I would be ________

A spec ops agent, undercover doing recon work, traveling around multiple countries completely rogue.

Complete this sentence: My favorite method or ritual for generating ideas involves _________

A conversation, getting into the cave, music, time, and noting keywords down.

Complete this sentence: The tools I rely on most to create my pitch art are:  ________

• My brain
• [The Internet]: Flickr, Compfight, Google, Wikipedia, Tumblr, Cargocollective, various blogs, any and all resources dependent on the task at hand.
• [Computer Applications]: C4D, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects, TextEdit.
• [By Hand]: Canon 5D Mark II, various lenses, tripod, iPhone, iPad, scanner, pencils, paper, and paint.

Studio: Nylon, director: Bryan Lee, CDs: Bryan Lee, Jason Cook

Tell us a pitching war story. Horror or comedy. Or both.

I remember a pitch I worked on for two weeks before the holidays. The pitch went out. Client said they would have an answer after the new year. Came back after the New Year awaiting response. Turns out client already awarded the job before the holidays even started.

Client: Yogi Tea, studio: Laundry!, CD: PJ Richardson, AD/design: Bryan Lee

www.originalprogram.com

www.armoryrep.com

Read more at Style Frames - The Art Of The Pitch