Friday 20 December 2013

Season's Greetings from the Assembly Studios Team


Wintry wishes from all at Assembly Studios! One of the best things about the holiday season is the opportunity to say THANK YOU to all of our clients and partners - it's because of you that we have had the chance to keep pushing boundaries whilst working with inspiring people!


May the wonder of the holiday season stay with you throughout the coming year!

Monday 16 December 2013

Dodgeball and Christmas

"If you're going to become true dodgeballers, then you've got to learn the five d's of dodgeball: dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge!"

Well, we learned this before our game - what we hadn't been prepared for was the pain that comes after dodgeball! 4 days after our match, the lift in our building is finally less frequented again, as the pain slowly gets better. The aching legs gave painful Christmas shopping a whole new meaning on the weekend for some of us! 

But enough of the apocalyptic scenario - we did actually have great fun playing Cobras versus Average Joe's! Here are our teams:

Cobras

Average Joe's
Here you can see us in action, so that you know that the pain didn't come from nothing, but from full use of physical strength:

Calvin going for it















Fighting for balls
















Dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge!
 















Good shall triumph - so the Average Joe's beat the Cobras 8 games to 10. We all ended the day together in a Shoreditch bar. It didn't get much less competitive, but in the end, we're all friends :)

Calvin and Pawel in their next competition


Merry Christmas!
















Thursday 5 December 2013

When Photographers Get High!


Shooting Aerial photography at this time of year is quite a challenge. Luckily for our Photographer, David Connolly, the clouds parted long enough to get the following shots. David was up high to direct the filming of a high profile animation and stills project we're currently working on in Central London. Watch this space for some more photos...








Why Low Cost CGI Could Prove More Costly In The Long Run












The CGI market is a busy one these days. Improvements in technology and communication mean that you are no longer restricted to local companies: it’s a truly global market and with that comes unprecedented choice. So, how do you select a company to work with? Skill levels? Reputation? Turnaround times? Or budget? For many, budget is the obvious choice and this is understandable in a financial climate where project budgets are squeezed and everyone is demanding more for less (your clients included). But is low-cost CGI always what it seems? We think not, and here are some of our reasons why…

The most important distinction between suppliers is CGI production vs 3D artistry. A production house is very much a technical facility, great at following instructions, but you will need to do the bulk of the background work. The onus is on you, the commissioner, to make sure that the information you provide leads to the result that you want. If there is a gap or a contradiction in your assets, then you could run into problems. 3D Artists, on the other hand, can work as consultants alongside you. They can take on as much of the process as you need: from advising on the best compositions, to commissioning the best photography, through to feeding back on what’s working, what’s not working and why. They are more than just your suppliers: they are your collaborators. I probably don’t need to spell out why this can save you money: we’ve all been there at some point in our lives. Perhaps it’s the cheap electrician that had to come back three times to get the job right, and then you had to get the work re-done six-months later anyway…

So, a CGI consultancy will often save you time in the long run. The 3D Artists are talented at spotting any pitfalls early in the process and advising on the best ways around them. This is critical when you’re working under pressure to a tight deadline. You may find that you do not have the time to micro-manage the process. The time that you spend project managing has a cost (albeit hidden) that needs to be factored into the end budget because that’s time that you can’t spend working on your other projects.

Then let’s not forget quality. Input throughout the process from talented artists who treat the CGI process as a service, rather than simple product delivery, can mean that you get a finished image that is better than you ever imagined. If imagery is a critical part of the decision-making process on your competition or scheme, then getting the best images you possibly can becomes the most economical decision you can take.

There is definitely a place for both types of CGI and you may find that certain projects actually warrant the low-cost approach. Just be aware of the potential pitfalls and ensure that it doesn’t end up costing you more in the long run.

If you would like to speak to us about CGI then please contact Charlotte on 020 7426 2080 or charlotte@assemblystudios.com



Monday 2 December 2013

Sculpture in the City


If you are in the mood for a stroll on one of these crisp winter mornings, we can highly recommend checking out Sculpture in the City, a free outdoor sculpture exhibition in the City of London curated by Arts Consultant and Cultural Producer, Stella Ioannou. It features site-specific installations from nine artists, including The Chapman Brothers, Anthony Gormley and Richard Wentworth. Artists’ work has been produced ‘in response to the surrounding architecture and built environment’ which made us smile when we saw Jake and Dinos Chapman’s fairytale dinosaurs titled ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’. We won’t speculate as to what they may have been referring! Sculptures range from the humorous (as already mentioned) to the poignant: Robert Indiana’s LOVE sculpture, which sits on the site of an IRA bomb 20 years ago in Bishopsgate.

Our Managing Director, Richard attended one of the Sculpture in the City debates, and these are his gorgeous pictures of the London skyline. There was some interesting discussion around the place for public art, something that Ryan Gander tackled head-on in his installation ‘More Shiny Things That Don’t Really Mean Anything’. Public sculpture through history has so often been about asserting the importance of an individual, or institution, that perhaps it hasn’t really meant anything to the public that it is apparently for. Keith Coventry's pieces ‘Bench’ and ‘Mare Street’ could be said to represent the urban environment as the majority of city dwellers more commonly experience it.

Public sculpture will always be a contentious issue, as is any intervention that changes the space around us. There will always be arguments, debate and the accusation of wasted money but that means that people are looking and thinking about the city they occupy and that has to be a good thing.

Sculpture in the City runs until May 2014 in various locations around the Square Mile.