Press Release
Preludes Mixed Media Animation by Matthew Rankin Receives the A' Design Award in Movie, Video and Animation Design
Matthew Rankin recognized for movie, video and animation design by the international grand jury of the 2019 - 2020 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 23, 2020 /DesignNewswire/ Preludes Mixed Media Animation by Matthew Rankin has been granted the A' Design Award in the Movie, Video and Animation Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The result belongs to the 2019 - 2020 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
What the A' Design Award Means
The Iron A' Design Award is awarded to good designs that meet the rigorous professional and industrial standards set by the A' Design Awards. This recognition is reserved for works that demonstrate a solid understanding of design principles and show creativity within their execution. Recipients of the Iron A' Design Award are acknowledged for their practical innovations and contributions to their respective fields, providing solutions that improve quality of life and foster positive change. These designs are a testament to the skill and dedication of their creators, showcasing their ability to address real-world challenges through thoughtful design.
More About Preludes Mixed Media Animation
Preludes is a short mixed media animation based on the poem of the same name by T.S. Eliot. The film runs for one minute and eight seconds and pairs Eliot's imagery with an original musical composition. Scenes are linked by theme and by sound rather than by a single visual style. The work combines 2D and 3D animation, modelled in Cinema 4D, rendered with Redshift and composited in After Effects. Aerial views shift to street level, where figures pass one another behind screens. The animation reflects on modern life through an older text.
About Matthew Rankin
Matthew Rankin is a Brooklyn based animator, designer, and illustrator who has done work for broadcast, commercials, and online clients. His illustration work has appeared in Pictoria Vol. 1 artists directory and has done work for clients ranging from NBC Sports and MSG Network to MTV, PBS, and the History Channel. In his personal work he explores issues of class, identity and the way they shape modern living using an array of visual styles and tools to fit that best works with the idea. His inspiration is pulled from his own life, American and World histories, and his genuine interest in the people around him.
Award Record
This recognition makes Matthew Rankin a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Movie, Video and Animation Design Award
The A' Movie Design Award is an international movie design competition recognizing outstanding movie designs by best movie designers and directors worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to movie designers, animation artists, directors and film producers from all countries. Typical entries include feature films, short films, documentaries, animations, music videos and experimental films. The awarded movie designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/movie
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/103476
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/103476
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!103476
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/274584
- Further Information from the Laureate: http://bit.ly/3eedGTl
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Preludes Mixed Media Animation
- Function
- Mixed Media Animation
- Category
- Movie, Video and Animation Design
- Discipline
- Communication Design
- Industry
- Entertainment and Arts
- Colors
- Indigo, Medium Orchid, Rebecca Purple, Midnight Blue and Dark Orchid
- Images
- 5
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Matthew Rankin
- Country
- United States of America
- Recognition
- A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2019 - 2020
- Design ID
- #103476
Credits
- Team
- Max Rothman and Angus Macrae
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Preludes is a mixed media collaborative animation based on a poem by T.S. Eliot. The process involved the poem being chosen by the producer, who then invited a musician to compose a one-minute piece which was handed off to me to provide to create visuals on both the the words of Eliot and the music.
- Inspiration
- Preludes is based on T.S. Eliot's poem of the same name and a one-minute musical soundscape provided to me and composed by Angus Macrae. The whole project was organized by a group called Campfire Poetry that uses poetry as away to promote collaborations between musicians and animators.
- Research
- For this project the research fairly straightforward. It started with a cursory reading of the poem, Preludes by T.S. Eliot, and listening to the soundtrack created by Angus Macrae. I listened to the audio repeatedly to let it sink into my memory and to help with visualizing general concepts. This was followed by seeking out deeper analysis of the poem so that I better understood the themes, ideas, and symbols. While I could certainly have skipped this step it was profoundly important as I went along and was searching for visual fragments to add to the density of the piece.
- Challenge
- The challenge became putting the many ways this manifests into only one-minute and matching those visuals to an already created musical composition. And that's how an aerial view helps to alienate us from the tracking signals on the street and we are suddenly shifted to street level view to see faceless people bumping into one another with screens blocking the vision.
- Realization and Technology
- Preludes utilizes both 2D and 3D animation all composited in After Effects. The scenes with 3D were done in Cinema 4D and rendered using Redshift. It also uses several After Effects plugins such as Video Copilot's Sabre, Rowbyte's Plexus, and Red Giant's Particular and Form.
- Operation and Interaction
- I was immediately drawn into Eliot's non-narrative and slightly abstract form, even though he was describing a very defined and concrete world. I took that as an opportunity to create scenes that were thematically, but not necessarily aesthetically, connected. Instead, I chose to let Macra's soundtrack be the connective tissue weaving together Eliot’s view with my own as I explore how our modern world looks and feels in the context of Eliot’s ideas.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project was started 20 December 2019 in New York City and completed in February 2020.
- Specifications
- Duration: 1-minute, 08-seconds
- Keywords
- poetry, animation, motion graphics, 2D, 3D, after effects
