Seenoevil.tv

In the last See No Evil Event, we did the usual raffle to help us to pay towards the cost of the event and to keep it growing. But, this time something more important came into our minds and we are proud to say that we decided to donate all the raffle money from the night (£50) to the UNICEF’s Haiti Earthquake Children’s Appeal.

Thanks to everyone that helped us!

Dear Sesame Street,

We, the undersigned, would like to register our concern over the contest you are now conducting with Aniboom. We are concerned that your contest includes a solicitation of original design concepts, characters and content to be produced on a speculative basis by cartoonists, artists, motion designers and animators.

This approach, requesting new and original work to be created in competition, is one that we believe seriously compromises the quality of work that is entered into “competition” and is questionable, at best, for a reputable organization to request.

Sesame Street has long been a highly esteemed provider of educational programming for children. From its inception, it has shown respect and support for the independent animation, film, and design communities. Artists have responded by creating lasting work – that is as valuable for children and adults today as when it was first created. We applaud that work, and hope that Sesame Street will continue to push the fields of animation and film-making. As such, we also think that Sesame Street should uphold the ethics and professional behavior we’d like our own children to grow up with. Is the education we want to pass on to them that artists’ and animators’ work is not valuable? That the only way to ‘make it’ is through winning a contest?

There is a more appropriate way to explore the work of various artists. A more effective and ethical approach to commission new work is to ask a pool of talent to submit examples of their work from previous assignments as well as a statement of how they would approach your project. You can then judge the quality of the artist’s previous work and her way of thinking about your project. The artist you select can then begin to work on your project by designing an original solution to your criteria while under contract to you, without having to work on speculation up front.

Design should not be a one-way street, with artists creating work in a vacuum. We believe the best design, art and content comes at the request of a specific brief, mission or client. Speculative design competitions and processes result in superficial assessments of the project at hand that are not grounded in a client’s specific needs. Art always has something to say.

There are few professions where all possible candidates are asked to do the work first, allowing the buyer to choose which one to compensate for their efforts. (Just consider the response if you were to ask a dozen lawyers to write a brief for you, from which you would then choose which one to pay!) We realize that there are some creative professions with a different set of standards, such as advertising and architecture, for which billings are substantial and continuous after you select a firm of record. In those cases, you are not receiving the final outcome (the advertising campaign or the building) for free up front as you would be in receiving an original film or character design.

There are many artists, animators and cartoonists who can provide you with original and highly creative new work that will far exceed your expectations, with respect for an appropriate budget and schedule. We can think of dozens off of the tops of our heads who we’re sure would love to work with Sesame Street. And we’d would love to point you in their direction.

We believe that “leveraging the power of the web” is an exciting prospect and casting a wide net can quickly provide many interesting results. But we think that more considered curation and the selection of applicants whose goals may be more closely aligned with your own can provide better results.

It’s your contest, though and you are free run it as you wish. But you will do so without our participation.

Your consideration of these professional issues is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Cartoon Brew
Motionographer

Bran Dougherty-Johnson
Amid Amidi
Jerry Beck
Justin Cone
Ryan Rothermel
Lilian Darmono
Caroline Attia Lariviere
Michael Uman
Aaron Stewart
David Ahuja
Matt Owens
Joe Vaccarino
Thiago Maia
Arlan Smith
David OReilly
Steve Scott
Jonathan Notaro
Saiman Chow
Cassiano Prado
Daniel Piwowarczyk
Fernando Del Reginato
Liam O’Connor
Sean Pecknold
Guilherme Marcondes
Wes Duvall
Ira Lederer
Mario de Toledo-Sader
Adam Wentworth
Salvatore Dell’Aquila
Marck Al
Andy Kennedy

Michael Langan

Tatia Rosenthal

Will Krause
John Canemaker
Ralph Pinel
Fx Goby
Christopher Abbey
Jim Le Fevre
Hazel Baird
Matt Hunter Ross
James Houston
See No Evil
Fabricio Lima
Syed A. Meer
Gabe Swarr

Emily Hubley

Celia Bullwinkel

Chris McDonnell
Dylan White

Christian Bevilacqua
Fons Schiedon
Ryan Uhrich

Ryan Hooks
Simon Robson
J Baab
Boca Ceravolo
Igor Sordokhonov
Howard Beckerman
Tim Finn
Julie Zammarchi
Gina Kamentsky
Josh Hassin
Brady Baltezore
Julian Brown
Jussi Kemppainen
Tom Williams
Genevieve Konecnik
Sungtae Will Kim

Portions of this letter have been adapted from the the AIGA’s position on spec work. We believe it is high time that Motion Designers and Animators took such a principled stance on the issue of producing effective and original work for their clients. We also stand with the Belgian advertising agencies, whose recent virtual strike protesting the pitching process in their country should be applauded.

Please contact Bran Dougherty-Johnson if you would like to become a signatory on this letter.

Hello Everyone!

It is a new year and a new decade and See No Evil is back with a new venue for you.

It is just the start, we will be bringing you a lot more new stuff throughout 2010. Keep an eye for updates!

For the first See No Evil of the year, we have none other than McBess & Simon Landrein. The director super duo from the world renowned “The Mill”.

We’ve also the usual DVDs to give away, courtesy of the lovely folk at Stash Magazine.

*NEW DATE AND ADDRESS

When: Tuesday 2nd February 7:00pm doors open (talk starts at 8:30)

Where: Bar Kick, 127 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6JE (near tube Liverpool St/ Old Street)

Team See No Evil

Happy 2010!!!

We are back with the next See No Evil on 2nd of February with McBess.

For 2010 we have a new venue. It is bigger and better for you all.

Kick Bar:

127 Shoreditch High Street, London. E1 6JE

More info and poster will post later.

Hello Everyone!

The weather’s getting colder and nights are darker which can mean only one thing…See No Evil Christmas Speacial is almost upon us! this month we have not one but two talks!

FX & Mat (Nexus Production) – recent ADC Young Gun winner and all round direction super team!

Studio AKA – should need no introductions! The BAFTA winning animation production company como down to share their secret.

Plus in addition to the normal Stash DVD’s, as it’s Christmas we’ll be giving each of you a present of your very own! We’re so kind to you all! Here’s the date for your diary;

When: Thursday 3rd December 7:00pm doors open (first talk at 7:30pm)

Where: East gallery, 214 Brick Lane, London, E1 6SA (near tube liverpool St/ Old Street)

Team See No Evil

Hi Gang!

October is a special month as there’s not one, but two See No Evil events!

- Thursday 1st October 7pm Bodhi Gallery 214 Brick Lane

- Saturday 3rd October Street Fest See No Evil Presents 30 mins of Inspiration

It’s time to get that design & animation fix you’ve been craving! 

We are lucky enough to have Mainframe visit us to give a talk about their contribution to Challenge Your World (http://www.challengeyourworld.com).

Contributing directors include;

Moustache

Bran Dougherty-Johnson

Yaya & Momo

Thiago Maia

Greg Herman & Babe Elliott Baker

We’re also lucky enough to be screening animations from;

Chris Cairns (Partizan)

Mrzyk & Moriceau (El Niño)

Asif Mian (1st Avenue Machine)

Vera Brosgol

And many more!

We’ve also the usual host of ace goodies to give away courtesy of the lovely folk at Stash Magazine, along with a few other special surprises! 

So come on down, get inspired and meet like minded people!

Hope to see you there!

Team See No Evil

Streetfest is getting bigger and better… and See No Evil will be helping in the next Streetfest one more time.

We will be showing around 30 min of inspiration Short Films. With some great animation and live action from around the globe.

ACTIVITIES

+ MUSIC (RHIL, Holic)

+ LIVE ART (Monorex collective, UK collectives & individuals)

+ FILM (See no evil, Stomper, voodlenation)

+ HAIR & FASHION (second son + adidas)

+ SKATE (lovenskate + invited skaters)

+ INLINE SKATE (Kingdom riders + invited internationals)

FOR MORE INFO: STREETFEST

Hey Guys and Gals,

Next See No EVil is coming on 1st of October with a nice evining for all.

Add the date in you calendar and keep an eye here cause we will add the info of the next event this week.

See No Evil In association with Stash Magazine.

Hey Guys and Gals,
 
It is that special time of the month where we bring you some good news.
 
Firstly thanks to all those who managed to come down to the last See No Evil
and a special thanks to David Wilson for a brilliant talk and presentation. That
guy is great!
 
As everyone is waiting for it.… and I hope you are really waiting for it, because the next
See No Evil will be great, taking place on….
 
**Next See No Evil 6th August from 7pm Bodhi**
 
And we need to say… after David Wilson’s talk, we got inspired about
Directors showing their stuff and thought to try it again. Yes, another special night for you guys and
gals.

This time we will bring none other than Simon Robson 

(http://www.knife-party.net) from Nexus (http://www.nexusproductions.com/).

He will be coming down to talk about his work and his next exciting project
“Coalition of The Willing”.
 
About Simon Robson:
 
Simon is best known for his direction of issue film, or issue animation if you
will. Too many evenings spent listening to the declarations of his pal, Barry
McNamara, lead to the conception of multi-award winning short film, ‘What Barry
Says’. The film is a response to the US invasion of Iraq and elucidates
McNamara’s outspoken views on what he calls ‘War Corporatism’. Quickly
championed by the motion community, conspiracy nuts and the worldwide public
alike, it blazed a trail across the world wide web and the film festival circuit
in 2004 and 2005. Simon has, as yet avoided assassination despite receiving
direct threats from the marine corps.
 
2006, a new year a new issue film, this time in the shape of a feature
documentary entitled ‘Taking Liberties’ conceived and directed by Chris Atkins.
Chris invited Simon to direct animation for his film, which addresses the
decline of Civil Liberties in the UK since 1997. Taking Liberties showed in
theatres across the UK in the Summer of 2007 and went on to be nominated for a
BAFTA in 2008.
 
When not trying to put the world to rights, Simon finds time to direct
commercial projects with Nexus Productions. Simon’s commercial work includes
graphic idents for Nike and Seeds of Change as well as a 60 second promotional
spot for Adidas featuring the world’s best footballers. Most recently he has
directed commercials for Save The Children, The Observer and The Guardian.
 
Simon is currently developing his new project ‘Coalition of The Willing’ with
philosopher and writer Tim Rayner. They are now at the helm of the evolving
project, bringing together artists from around the world to create a film and an
online event that proposes a pro-active response to the climate crises. If you
are a brilliant moving image maker and want to get involved, drop Simon a mail
at simon@knife-party.net
 
 
  
We also have a bunch of lovely DVD’s to raffle away from the kind folks
at Stash Magazine (http://www.feedhere.com).
 
**And it’s all for free, aint we nice to you!!**
 
So put the date in your diary, tattoo it on your forehead, just don’t
forget as you don’t want to miss this!
 
We have 50 seats for the screening based on a first come, first serve
basis so come early to avoid disappointment!
 
 
Look forward to seeing you all there, if you have any questions please
feel free to email the team at hello@seenoevil.tv
 
 
 
See No Evil In association with Stash Magazine. 

Just want to say Thanks to everyone that made last See No Evil. It was a great night with a great talk from David Wilson. Well done to all… next one is coming with more surprises and the Stash DVDs will be send this week for the ones that won it.

Thanks

See No Evil In association with Stash Magazine.