New Work – Qualcomm GLONASS

December 12, 2011   Comments (0)

I’m pretty excited to share the latest project online. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon mobile processor has a pretty cool feature that can access a 2nd network of geo-locating satellites known as GLONASS. In America (and probably everywhere else in the world), there’s GPS – which refers to a network of satellites. GLONASS is another set of (Russian) satellites that Snapdragon processors have the ability to access. Having two sets of satellites helps improve location accuracy, speed, and save battery life.

The concept for the video was derived from that fun little pin art/impression toy that makes impressions of whatever you put to it. It’s a fun, adaptable toy (that can kill a lot of time in the office) and I felt that this would be a good representation of how this technology helps you no matter what the terrain around us is.

Figuring this one out truly challenged me in the best way possible. I learned a lot and am thankful for the team that came together for this project. Seriously, it wouldn’t have been possible without everyone involved and the patience from my wife and family.

GPS and GLONASS

Client: Qualcomm
- Executive Producer: Steve Sanders

Concept: StaticJoe Studio
- Director/Producer: Brian Jouan
- Associate Producer: Eileen Walgren
- Production Assistant: Anna Buzaitis

Production:
- Director: Steve Sanders, Brian Kim
- Director of Photography: Jorge Corrales
- Key Grip: Sean Hunter
- Lighting: Michael Kantrowitz
- DIT: Jeremy Sykes
- Production Assistant: John O’Brien

Post:
- Editor/Compositor: Brian Jouan
- 3D Artists/Animators: Brian Jouan, Birgar Olsen, Kevin Gabriel, Joachim Paul

Sound:
- Composer: Michael Raymond Russell
- Sound Design: Mark Dockery

Special Thanks:
- Vincent Perry

Posted In: Cinema 4D, Work

More Hairy Fun with Cinema 4D

July 7, 2011   Comments (0)


Posted In: Cinema 4D

Playing With Hair in Cinema 4D

July 7, 2011   Comments (0)

A fun little post today. I got a little carried away but learned a lot about the Hair tool in C4D. Thanks to Nick over at Greyscalegorilla for the push in the right direction with his intro to hair tutorial.


 

 

 

 

Posted In: Uncategorized

2011 Reel Update

June 6, 2011   Comments (0)

Another quick update. Been working on a couple of projects concurrently and almost forgot to update my reel. Here it is!

 

To see more on the projects featured in the new 2011 reel, take a look at my work page.

I’m really digging Beats Antique right now and went with it for the music. Not the usual fast paced electronic supersonic demo music but I hope you enjoy nonetheless!

Posted In: Work

new work added

May 5, 2011   Comments (0)

Just a quick little update this morning.

Red Bull Sound Clash Design Frames


View all Design Frames

New Animation Project: Skifta

Skifta This was a super fun project and my first collaboration with mega designer Josh Boston. Skifta is really the only reason I would ever consider going Android. Imagine being able to control and share your media with dlna devices is a slick and easy way. Skifta does that.

I’m pretty sure this was also my first animation project which was completely designed by someone else. In the past, I have always been involved with the design process in some way. Thanks to Josh’s slick style, it was easy to have a designer provide all the assets which let me focus solely on animation.

Posted In: Work

Use a Pen

May 5, 2011   Comments (0)

One of the purposes of this blog is to share things I’ve learned on my road to being self employed. As part of my mission to keep a blog going, I’ve carried a small notepad with me everywhere for the last three or four years. Any time I’d learn a business lesson, be it the easy or hard way, I’d jot a note down. How did I figure out how to take the leap into freelancing? How do I approach creative blocks? Do I want onions with my sandwich before an important meeting? My goal was to bank at least 50 topics/lessons ahead of starting a blog (thanks to Gary Vaynerchuk for the idea). I blew through that number.

Unfortunately, there was a very tough lesson I learned about this exercise and it really helped shape a part of who I am as a self employed person today:

Be convicted with your ideas enough to make them permanent.

I had a lot great reminders in this notepad to help me address business situations, all of them written in pencil. I only used pencil because I liked the subtle aesthetic of pencil on paper. The painful disadvantage of pencil is how easy these notes washed away in a washing machine after forgetting to pull the notepad out of my pocket before laundry day. Years of notes. Clean paper.

Lesson learned. Use a pen.

Posted In: career advice

making the cut

May 5, 2011   Comments (0)

Determining what should and shouldn’t make the cut for a portfolio site was tough. Maybe I have a few projects published that aren’t my greatest work, and maybe there are some projects that aren’t published that should have been. Nick Campbell has a great resource for cutting a demo reel. But what about a full portfolio site?

Here are a couple things that I stuck with to figure out what I posted.

  • Don’t complicate it. If you can’t organize your work into three or four categories, consider trimming your content down.
  • Have purpose for each project post. If you didn’t have fun the first time, don’t ask for it again. Maybe you have a great looking project but you were completely miserable creating it. Don’t post it.
  • Get opinions. Ask your industry contacts for constructive criticism.

It’s not easy. It shouldn’t be easy. You want to have your best work posted. You want the omissions to be painful. At that point, you’ll have the best of your best work.

Below are a couple commercials that didn’t make the cut. These were two, two-part 15-second commercials I produced for Corky’s Pest Control in San Diego. I LOVED working on these spots and got to work with my sister, Mandy Jouan, to illustrate a couple characters. I also got to work with my good friend Brian Kim to help out with the animation. Although it would have been a blast to continue building this campaign for Corky’s, I just don’t think it fit with what I ultimately want to be creating.




Posted In: News, Work
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welcome to 2003

May 5, 2011   Comments (0)

It’s 2011 but it definitely feels like 2003 with this! After years of wanting to blog, I’ve finally done it. First, welcome to the new staticjoe.com! Over the last couple years, I’ve felt as though the “staticjoe” entity has been going through a bit of an identity crisis. What is staticjoe? Is it a nickname? A production company? A horrible brand for a company that provides animation services?

Yep. It’s all that.

StaticJoe Studio is the office of Brian Jouan. I am a small production company with a focus on design and animation. As you might notice, aside from my involvement on each project, it’s a little hard to see a common thread between all the work on my site. Whether it’s an action figure design, a Times Square animated billboard, or a commercial for the best commercial real estate company in San Diego, I love to be a part of great projects.

It’s going to take a while to find my voice with this blog. I’ll post case studies, projects that painfully didn’t make the cut on my site, personal photos, or just my rambling on things I’ve learned about running my own business. Stick around and tell me how I can make it better.

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