31 Oct 2013

AWAKE. LOVE. INSTINCT. VALUE. ENERGY.


Hey Everyone,


Last night I was lucky enough to go the 02 arena to see Jessie J live for the first time. I first heard of Jessie J on youtube a few year's ago when she was Jessica Cornish, no stage name, just her in her bedroom singing 'Big White Room'. I have followed her career ever since.



The show she put on was INSANE!!! I have been to a few concerts at the 02, but none quite like this one. I left feeling inspired, to continue working hard to succeed, not to strive for perfection because it doesn't exist, but to be a better me every day. The show highlighted Jessie's positivity and brought to light her talent that shines through her music, her incredible vocal ability but most importantly the message to be ALIVE. The message to A - feel awake,  L - learn to love, I - trust your instincts, V - know your values, and E - be your energy. 

From the stage production, to the outfits to the backing vocalists, everything was amazing. Something that really stood out for me and set this show apart from others I have seen, was the interludes during outfit changes. They were well created, thought out, and visualised.  Each part expressed the continuity of positivity through everything she does and I like that about her !!

(Photography: LILCDESIGNS) 

What I took away from this show was that nothing comes easy, nothing is easy, but nobody's perfect. We can chose to live or just get by, but whilst we are alive we should make the most of it. I hope that if you don't listen to Jessie J's music this opens your mind to her and her messages behind what she does, and helps you believe that anythings possible, no matter what obstacles come your way.


Happy Halloween!!

 Live Life Chase Your Dreams!
See you Saturday!!
LC 
xx

29 Oct 2013

Hey everyone,

So this week I have also been working on two logo animations. I have been looking for way's to expand my skill's and clientele and came across a website called People Per Hour.  So far I have found this website very useful. 



This project was a challenge, the client wanted me to produce two logo animations for his company, in less then 24hours. 
Live life and chase your dreams!!
See you thursday!
LC
xx



26 Oct 2013

Career Update!!

Hey Everyone,

One of the projects I have been working on this week was with Australian Independent Singer/Songwriter Elliot Hamilton Brown. After completing the lyric video for his single "As I Go", I was then asked to do an album sampler for his debut album 'Empyrean'. 

Having not done this before, I was excited to start this project. This project brought up new challenges, and allowed me to teach myself new skills. I started with learning how to cut the album track's up, in order to make the sampler audio. Then I imported the audio into Adobe After Effects, and went from there to create the particle background, and transitional text. I learnt a lot about sound engineering in general and more about Adobe Premiere Pro on this project. As ever I love trying something new!


After uploading the video to youtube, I then had to use annotations, to make the video even more interactive. Elliot's album 'Empyrean' comes out on the 31st October. You can Pre Order it here: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/empyrean/id715252262. There are three track's that I really love on this album and they are 'As I Go', 'All My Love', and 'Lonely Life'. When working with lyric video's and music it really helps if you love the songs as you play them again and again.


'As I Go' and 'All My Love', are upbeat tempo tracks. 'Lonely Life' is a nice contrast it start's with a melodic instrumental, and easing vocals. This track is for those that have been in love, or had their heart broken and definitely one I would recommend off the album! 


You can watch the album sampler below.

See you Thursday!!!
 Live life and chase your dreams!!
LC 
xx

24 Oct 2013

It all starts with self belief!!

Hey Everyone!!

For the past few years having been working within the music industry, I have been aware of the growth of the company SBTV. Founder of SBTV Jamal Edwards recently hit newspaper headlines "Youth TV Channel zooms to 8M" as he has just signed a deal with Sony RCA to start his own record label. Previously in August 2011, Jamal featured on his own google chrome advert, among the likes of Justin Bieber, and Lady GAGA. He has also written a serious of six ebooks, and had over 189 million hits on his youtube channel as well as achieving so much more success, at such a young age. 




For those of you that do not know, North London born Jamal Edwards who is in his early twenties started SBTV seven years ago when he was just 15 years old. When he was gifted with a camera for christmas. SBTV is now a global media enterprise, with a strong production team. 

I want to explain why it is important to use what you have, and not let lack of equipment stop you from achieving success. Jamal started out with just him and his camera, he would go out and about in London filming the talent in his area, as well as his friends. He started with the Grime Scene, and artists such as Chip, WIley, Dizzy Rascal and more. He now works with everyone from Jessie J, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran to David Cameron and Richard Branson. 

Earlier this year Jamal also brought out a series of six ebooks "Self Belief The Vision", to help others out there who want to be the best at what they do and how to be successful in the industry. I particularly enjoyed reading these books and did each task that was set in the books, which indeed did lead me to a few opportunities that I believe I perhaps wouldn't have thought of, if I hadn't read these books. 

What I have learnt over the last year, and particularly been inspired by Jamal's story, is that anything can happen, and you can do anything! You just have to put yourself out there and believe in yourself! If you believe in yourself, other's are more likely to believe in you and what you do.
Watch my motion video I did to inspire other's! 
I hope Jamal continues to strive and succeed and inspire our generation. I would love to work with him or interview him in the future.

You can keep up to date with Jamal on twitter: https://twitter.com/jamaledwards
See you Saturday!!!
 Live life and chase your dreams!!
LC 
xx

19 Oct 2013

Dare To Dream Movie Review (Cloud With A Chance Of Meat Balls)

Hey Everyone,

So today's blog is something a little different for me, as I am a designer I love to watch animation films! Shrek being my favourite. Today I went to the cinema with my little sister, to see 'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2', after watching the first film I was looking forward to the sequel.  
It is a film about dreams and ambitions, and this is one of the reasons I like it. A young scientist is trying to make a career with the help of his friends and family, and then things do not go to plan(we all know that one).The creativity within the animation, and concepts of the food animals blow my mind! Well done Sony Pictures. After watching this film, I am left very inspired, and motivated to continue working hard on my dreams to be successful. 
The movie ended with the credits and outro song sang by artist Cody Simpson, Cody is a sixteen year old Australian singer songwriter, from the Gold Coast. Cody began his career three year's ago when he released his debut single. Since then Cody has gone on to release his debut EP, moved to Los Angles, and released two albums. 

Live life and chase your dreams!! See you Thursday
LC
xx

17 Oct 2013

Career Update!!

Hey Everyone,

This week I have been working on a few projects with Australian Independent Singer/Songwriter Elliot Hamilton Brown. I previously worked with Elliot around eight month's ago where I was asked to create a lyric video for his single "Yeah Baby". At this point in my career, I hadnt reallly explored After Effect's so I wasn't as confident as I am now with this software. 


"Yeah Baby" was the first lyric video I ever created, I feel that this video show's dedication to my craft and that everyone starts from somewhere. I believe that from this video to the one's I have created in the last few month's there has been lots of improvement. I am proud of this piece of work, as it proved that I could do what I've always aspired to do and that was create lyric video's for artists. I wanted to combine my music passion, with my design skills, and I feel this product has a niche 
market and I am glad I can provide this for people. 





  
I then went on to working with Elliot on a concert visual for one of his show's. Visual Stage Production is something that really interests me, and something that I aspire 
to be involved in. This project allowed me to explore different effects using the Trapcode Plugin as well as explore how to create visuals that react with audio tracks, an effect which features on i-Tunes as the visualizer. 




And here is my latest lyric video which is for Elliot's single 'As I Go' from his debut album Empyrean. 


You can keep up with Elliot's latest music 
by visiting his website http://www.elliothamiltonbrown.com
or following him on twitter 
https://twitter.com/ElliotB_MUSIC




I love being creative, and learning! I am always looking and trying to be the best at what I do!! Looking for innovative way's to portray lyrics within music. I am currently also working on an album sampler video for Elliot's album Empyrean which is out on the 31st October. 
Live life and chase your dreams!! 
See you Saturday!!
LC
xx


12 Oct 2013

X Factor's Sam Callahan "Chasing Dreams"

Earlier this year as part of my degree I interviewed X-Factor's Sam Callahan who is now through to the Live Show's. 

I interviewed Sam for my magazine Aspire To Inspire. Aspire To Inspire was a magazine which aimed at promoting artists, that I believed in, and that I felt had a story to tell that would inspire our generation. As well as give an insight to the fans, into the musicians career/life. I felt there was a niche in the market for promoting talent positively to the people and the fans, that support these up and coming artists. I wanted to send out the message that anythings possible and thats what I hoped to do with this project.

I want our generation to know that no matter who they are, where they come from, they can be anything they want to be. Society create this idea of perfection, and the fact is, nobody's perfect, everybody's different. Yes!! It takes dedication and hard work but you can achieve your dreams. Having supported Sam for a few year's and interviewed him, I have been following X-Factor this year closely, the bootcamp stages I felt were uncomfortable to watch. To some it may have deemed entertaining to watch but this is peoples lives and dreams, and I felt this stage of the competition was harsh. 

You can read the magazine/interview here http://lilcdesigns.uberflip.com/i/133584

You can also follow Sam on his journey https://twitter.com/samcallahan94

Comment and let me know who you are supporting this year and why, I would love to interact with you guys and get your opinions on the show!!

For now Im going to love you and leave you. See you thursday!!
Live life and chase your dreams!! 
LC
xx

10 Oct 2013

Music Matter's

MUSIC!! It plays a major role in my life, and probably yours too! After reading Zoella's blog (http://www.zoella.co.uk) I wanted to share my view's on music. 

One of my favourite places to visit, and a place that holds so many amazing memories for me is The 02 in London. This week on Tuesday 8th October, I went to see Bruno Mars live at the 02. 


I've seen Bruno Mars live many times through out the years, but never at the 02 arena. The show was incredible, and it really showed how much of a musician and performer Bruno is. There was no over staged production, and no gimmicks, just amazing vocals and an all round feel good show. 

Generally,the thing I love about music is that it can change your mood almost instantly, it can take you away from life and the world and into your own world, it's all round feel good. 

If I'm not writing music then I'm listening or singing to it,  I love songs that are relatable that tell a story and that's why I listen to most of the music I do. The one thing I love about music is that it is universal and it has no barriers, it can touch anyone anywhere in the world. It connects people and brings people together, it allows people to find common interests and share memories. Music also allows you to express yourself and how your feeling, whether that's for your self to hear/read or for you to share with others that have been in the same or similar situations. 
(Photography: LILCDESIGNS)

See you Saturday!!
LC
xx


5 Oct 2013

No Freedom Till Were Equal!

There is  a lot of controversy in the world today revolving around equal right's, early this year in England same sex marriage was legalised. Many negative view's have been expressed online and through youtube comment's, about homosexuality. 

Society has become obsessed with wanting to know certain peoples sexuality, this is frustrating to see because some people do not want to say or may still be working it out for themselves. I understand that to put yourself on youtube, you are expected to get hate comment's and that people want to know more and more about who they are watching. Some of the thing's I read online towards these people, are totally unacceptable.

I think that all people should be allowed to be themselves, whatever sexuality, colour or gender they are, without constantly feeling like they are going to be judged by other's. 



I think that the song that implements this is "Same Love" by Macklemore from his album which you can download on I-tunes here- https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-heist-deluxe-edition/id560097651This album is a ray of light, listen to it, and understand the view's some of the ignorant world are unable to comprehend. The lyrics portray a message to society, that we shouldn't judge, that we are all different from sexuality to music taste, no person is completely the same. 

Some of the lyric's include lines like "It's human rights for everybody, there is no difference, Live and be yourself. I might be the same but thats not important, No freedom till were equal damn right I support it". Macklemore won a MTV music award for his song "Same Love" at the MTV Awards for video "with a message". Some critics believe that Macklemore is attempting to portray homosexuality as something "normative and "good" ignoring the social context it is normal put in, "a word rooted in hate year our genre still ignores it."
My opinion is 'always be OPEN MINDED and ACCEPTING of others', "treat others as you wish to be treated'.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think about the controversy. See you thursday!

LC 
xx

1 Oct 2013

HOW I GOT STARTED!! (Motion Design)

Hey everyone,

Around a year ago, I began my second year of my foundation degree in Graphic Design, during this time I decided that I wanted to learn motion graphic's. Using my own initiative I began my research. I started by downloading a trial of After Effect's, and this was when I realised it was going to take a lot of dedication to learn, as from the off set it looked very complex compared to many other CS programmes. You can do anything you put your mind to, so don't let this put you off!! 

The best advice I can give to those of you that want to start out with motion design or any type of graphic's is to do the same. Some of the website's I found useful for tutorials and learning the basic's, as well as youtube were one's such as http://www.videocopilot.net and http://ae.tutsplus.com

My interest in motion design has always been there, whether it's from watching ad's, to seeing displays, watching films, to growing up seeing the change in cartoon programmes, I have always wanted to know how they did all these "cool" thing's. 

After working in the music industry as a booking agent and A&R, I felt it was natural to combine my skill's and talent with the contact's I started to build up. Being inspired day to day by music, and creativity. I kept coming across lyric video's on VEVO, So I decided this was what I wanted to learn.

So whilst doing some commercial freelance projects, I was approached by an artist to do a lyric video to their song and even though I didn't know exactly how to do it at first, I just said YES. Since then I have done various commercial and non commerical lyric video's, each one I try to learn a new skill and do something different, experimenting with my creativity and technique. As well using youtube, and tutorials online, I managed to gain some work experience at a motion design company where I created a mock up concert AD, for P!NK's tour, that would have been used on Underground AD board's. 

Since then I have been working on a new lyric video, which is my latest motion design piece. The lyric video I created was for Jake Miller's single "Collide" which I previously blogged about.


You can watch that video here: 



Two lyric video's that I have watched and been inspired by are:




I am now looking to advance my skill's even further in After Effects. I have also started looking into Cinema 4D, as I am hoping to expand my skill's and show you that anything is possible. 

I hope you enjoyed this post!! See you Saturday! 
LC
xx