Ross Lavigne361 9st SE

Home | (403) 487-0071Cell | (403)979-1100

E-mail | ross-lavigne@live.ca

EducationMedicine Hat College, Medicine Hat AB

Bachelor of applied arts (visual communications) degree

GPA 3.54Graduating Class of 2012

Objective: Seeking an entry level position in an organization that is in search of a highly motivated individual who can contribute to the overall vision and marketability of a studio.

Experience

Editor/Producer | Southwest Tv NewsSwift Current, SKApril, 2012 - September, 2012

Master Control Operator/ V.T.R./ Editor | Chat TelevisionJanuary, 2011 - April, 2012

Head Chef | Earls RestaurantFebruary, 2007 – September, 2010Coaching, training and mentoring of staff. Organization and cleanliness of the kitchen.

Design and Technical SkillsVideo + Photography | Nonlinear video editing, lighting, sound design

Studio Art | Figure drawing, still life, soft pastel, graphite, painting, Serigraphy

Graphic Design | Computer illustration, typographic problem solving

Industry Related Skills | Sound editing & design

Software: Final Cut Studio, Adobe Premiere Sundance, Logic Pro, DVD Studio Pro, Adobe Creative Suite, Corral Paintshop Pro X, Proficient in Mac and PC, M.S. Word, Excel.

Artist statement

I have always been fascinated by the representation of movement in still images and video. Both mediums are connected and essential to creating a cohesive work.Having a background in fine art and design allows me to broaden the number of mediums I can apply movement and storytelling to. Figure drawing has taught me how movement works, through the study of the human body. It has strengthened my work tonally allowing me to better frame a harmonious composition. This same principle also applies to my design sensibilities due to my appreciation of moving typography in today’s culture. It is my goal as an artist to tell a story with the creation of beautiful images that convey a natural sense of movement.Ross Lavigne, 2012

COLLECTPROCESS

ROSS LAVIGNE

ARVC 496FinalProcessBook

The COLLECT grad show was drawing near. Up until this point there has been a lot of learning how to work with stop motion animation. But also there was

presentations of multiple trial runs and the beginning of some projects meant to be final products. We always felt it would be efficient as well as consistent

with the branding to create an intro that would proceed the millions of videos that we were dreaming into making.

Previously on Collect grad show marketing...

INTRO IDEA

INTRO IDEA

RUNNING HAND

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The problem with our first intro was that it was hand drawn which looks great. But not if it is created by someone who is less than adequate at hand-drawing typography (me). Hand-drawn type in fact begins to look really bad when it doesn’t have the accuracy and structure of a printable type.

This intro really appealed to me utilizing the hand holding an artist tool which would change as it rotated around like the intro of an old news reel. A reference that I am sure was lost on most of the people viewing the work. Not to mention rotating your arm 360 degrees in stop motion proved difficult.

The running hand project is one that was starting to look really cool but the content was only loosely tied to the concept of the brand and over reliant on the final output which was to be the Monarch theatre. It didn’t make any sense to put so much time and effort into a forum with such limited reach and frequency.

PROBLEM!

RESEARCH

At this point in the project most research had already been done and the focus was really on the ideation process although this particular advertisement stood out. It is a stop motion commercial created by a studio in Montreal using paper which was cut to shorter lengths and rolled up a little bit at the end, with the entire process being shot in reverse. The ability to manipulate time is something we hadn’t

really considered in a creative sense. The behind the scenes video for this commercial showed us just what kind of process we were up against.

Check it out @http://www.karimzariffa.com/index.php?/commercial/--stm-stop-motion--/

THE IDEA

The first idea we had through this process was to make an intro that could be used for videos that would include general information about the show such as dates, time, and location. We wanted to make the intro focused on all the hand made

type being used in different areas of the marketing. This was not a project that we anticipated would take a lot of time. We were feeling confident due to the near 1000 frames of animation we had shot so far. We moved forward

with the idea of using some type that was made for us on brown cardboard, with a black sharpie and decided using a white/gray background would allow enough contrast for the typography to stand out.

THE IDEA

The first take of this concept was a good start but needed a bit more outside interaction with the typography. It was also at this time that talks of a einvite version of the intro video may be needed for the invite team. Unfortunately

there was a bit of a communication breakdown between the video, web and invites team so we weren’t really clear on what kind of a contribution would be needed on our part. So we decided that it may be important that we shoot again.

THE IDEA

The second take was done. But once again there was issues with the product. The first of which being that the black sharpie on brown cardboard wasn’t showing up very well with the smaller type on some of the cards. It does not translate

well with the smaller size viewing screen usually available on the internet. We attempted to circumvent that by creating any important details as black sharpie on a white background but unfortunately my hand made type skills

leave something to be desired. It had now come to our attention that contrary to previous information we also now needed to make an einvite for the website and so we would need to figure out two different out comes for the footage.

THE IDEA

The first opportunity we wanted to address to ensure this would be our final take was make sure that all of our type was clean consistent and highly legible. For this we turned to Eric Seymour and Jaime Tremblay. The need for typography

had become something that all the groups wanted for their projects. As our artistic coordinators they realized they could save themselves and everyone else a lot of time by scanning all the typography they had made at this point in

to illustrator to make it a vector. This way all we had to do was print and we could easily customize to our needs. As far as the rest of it we had a pretty good idea what was working for us over 2000 frames in.

EXECUTION

For our last two takes of the intro/einvite we started working in the matte cutting room. I had completely forgotten about the stand set up in there to take pictures of your work. I was immediately reminded of the set up I had seen in the

STM stop motion video. This was a huge help to our process. Especially with all the reshooting we were doing. It ensured that our shots remained consistent, offered some not too bad lighting but most importantly it allowed us both to be

working on the task at hand. Some parts could even be shot with only one person there. I don’t think this saved us any time but it definitely ensured we were getting a higher level of quality for our final product.

BEFO

RE

AFTER

NATIONAL RECOGNITION!

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We were pleasantly surprised when photolife magazine recognized us for our einvite on their

blog. This is a well established and trusted publication. It definitely made all the hard work and

long hours we poured into such a small piece seem worth it.

THE FEATURE

We had finally created our intro, but what it was an intro to was another story all together. We had spent so much time working with our paper letters we knew we wanted to do something different. We wanted this project to be

more grand in scope. We also wanted to feature some if not all of the third years in the visual communications program. Something that people would take notice of as a little different. We decided that it would be beneficial to us

to use the type we had already shot for all information being used in this piece. We had an idea early on in our process that we put on the shelf while we fought with typography. We lovingly referred to as...

THE

THE GODHAND

THE FEATURE

The frames featured above really is the main fun thing we wanted to do with this video from the beginning. We have always been keen on shoving our fellow classmates into a box, or pulling them all out of one we weren’t picky. It was the rest

of it that we weren’t entirely sure what to do. We spent a considerable amount of time trying to create some kind of narrative or motive for the actions to take place. As it came closer to a deadline we started to see that there wasn’t any

need for something to explain it we needed to simply collect, label and store them. That has always been the larger concept of the campaign.

THE LABELS

COLLECT

You can check out the final product of this video as well as our other videos for this project on vimeo.http://vimeo.com/collectgradshow

What is up with Jonathan staring at me in every shot?

THE RATIONAL

After around 2500 frames have been shot and the dust has started to settle I can look back on this project being proud of the final product. We created fun, bite sized promotions for a terrific event. The typography portions of the work are consistant with the branding and still maintains a completely fresh approach to the material. We were lucky enough to be recognized and have our viewer base be broadened by the Photolife magazine audience. The material has a clean and professional presentation that

doesn’t take itself too seriously. The final piece featuring fellow students focuses on creativity instead of on modern technique which is what the visual communications program is all about. While we did use multiple softwares and state of the art hardware the concepts we worked with were simple techniques that have been in use for a very long time. These are simply the tools we chose to use in order to bring our idea to life. Visual communications is about problem solving and aesthetic creativity. I feel this was represented by our approach

to the material. It is amazing to see a single minded concept being approached by many different groups for multiple outcomes but all of the materials “hang well together”. I believe the marketing for this show was extremely successful and carries a look that will not age due to all of the stylistic references being made by hand.

I spent a year working with local band

Mahoney. In this time we were able to work

three projects all together. The first was a

short documentary titled Wedding Bands. This

piece as the title suggests looks at the world

of wedding receptions from the entertainers

perspective sharing thier experiences and

seeing the perspective of an outsider being

pushed into the forefront of someone elses

special occasion.

Mahoney

Next we created two new music videos For

singles from thier new album “Uncovered.”

The first song “A Little Bit Long” is a fun song

and for this we used wedding footage of

people having a great time on the dance floor.

The second single “Girl on the Radio” is about

a guy who falls in love with a radio dj. We

wanted to hilight the fun nature of the band

by having them jump out of hiding and begin

performing for unsuspecting passersby.

My previous work with Mahoney gave

me a small taste of making documentaries

and became something I wanted to

further persue. For this short documentary

I wanted to try and step outside of the

Genre by using documented footage of the

life and environment of being a student in

the visual communications program with as

much narrative stripped away as possible

Abstracted

and focusing on quiet and considered shots

being aided by the use of soundscapes.

The clips are very short and have a

building intensity mirroring the stress of a

student on constant deadlines to complete

multiple ongoing large scale projects. It

was interesting to gather footage from a

documentary stand point and then create

somethig very experimental.

For the graduation art show of the

visual communications program at the

Medicine Hat College I was tasked to

create video marketing for the show. The

aesthetic for the show has a hand-made

quality to it and it is for this reason that

stop motion was selected as the medium

for video marketing. This process began

with making an einvite for the event which

was then posted on the website for the

Collect

show. Secondly a more general spot was

created and postd on Youtube and Vimeo.

Another interesting form of distributtion

was concieved due to the the restrictions of

budget. The idea was to approach various

department stores and ask them to play

the stopmotion videos on a loop over all

the display televisions which creates a low

cost solution with good opportunities for

frequency and reach.

For my grad piece I have once again

turned to my love of documentaries. It is

the story of a former stundent from the

visual communications program who

tragically passed away at a very young

age. A teacher had shared with me and

my clasmates one of her sketch books

hilighting her strong attention to detail

along with the charisma and talent being

carefully organized within it’s pages.

Seeking Megan

Which left me with the question as to

whether or not you could get to know

someone through the viewing of her

artwork and talking with those who were

closest to her work. While the content can

at times be emotionally difficult to move

through it is the belief that there was a

great artist with a unique story I feel should

be heard.