Matthew Baxter video cgi interactive

video cgi interactive 2015

Matthew Baxter

Forensic approach to the brief and understanding of client needs

Conceptual thinking and Creative Direction

Presentation and communication of ideas both in writing and in person

Design for the digital, broadcast and physical environments

Extensive experience of video production, direction and post-production

User Experience and Interaction design

Creative & technical team development & management

Mentoring and development of junior colleagues

Script and copywriting

core competencies

[email protected] m 07785 460247 t 01932 843078 profile http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/matthew-baxter/16/425/574 portfolio http://baxtercreative.carbonmade.com/ blog http://matbax.wordpress.com/

Matthew Baxter experience

December 2012 to present

February 2010 to November 2012

January 2005 to November 2009

January 2003 to November 2004

April 1998 to October 2002

July 1997 to April 1998

1988 to 1997

1983 to 1988

education & training

head of ux & design, Caplin Systems

independent creative consultant

creative director & ux team leader DVA

creative director BDP

creative director Sky News

freelance designer & director

creative and managing director Baxter Hobbins Sides

designer & senior designer, BBC TV

bachelor of arts degree 2.1 in graphic designBBC general production course BBC studio direction course


Matthew Baxter

IVCA Clarion commendation

PepsiCo International talent sustainment award

RM Marketing Innovation award

IVCA commendation for video

2 Soho Shorts awards for animation

New York Festivals awards for interactive design and promos

Promax World Class award for virtual reality

RTS News Channel of the Year 2002 & 2003

Promax Gold award for promo campaign

4 CGI awards for computer animation

2 BDA awards for design

Promax Silver and World Awards for promos, titles, stings and design

RTS award for graphic design

Waters Technology award for best web-based development environment 2014

awards & honours


Matthew Baxter

I have been making complex information and important messages quick and simple to understand and use for nearly 30 years, on television, in the digital environment and in print. I focus on making what I do appropriate, intuitive, fit for purpose and a pleasure to use and look at, and I create working environments in which my team can do the same.

I am a creative, commercial, client-facing, team-leader with a lot of experience, energy and commitment.

My background is long-term digital, but media-neutral in outlook and training, and I am always looking to do exciting work with good people.

summary


Video exemplar persona for marketing concept work

For Realise Consulting and Heineken International

In UX I have used personas as a user proxy and focus for design work. This fake “selfie” movie supposedly found by the senior marketeers on “You Tube” is designed to do the same thing; helping marketing teams speak in the right voice and use the correct media for different target customers.

A Day in the Life


On-screen branding, including idents and bumpers and interstitials

For BSkyB


As creative head of Sky News, Sky News Active and Sky News online, I led the team that created, promoted, developed and defended the Sky News brand. I was responsible for all promos and screen-based design work, including the world’s first interactive television service.

I was also responsible for managing news creative services; a team of 28 designers and promo makers, including the post-production technicians and the live team, operational 24 hours a day.

Sky News


live graphics styling and news wall

For BSkyB


The on-air graphic grid, palette, typopgraphic styling, transitions and animation have to cope with the extreme rigours of 24 hour live news as well as presenting a crisp modern and instantly recognisable interpretation of the brand values.

This does that. It also acted as a template for our competitors rebrands.

Sky News


Promos for Sky News’ general election coverage using motion-capture and photo-montage techniques

For Sky News

Winner of a ‘Soho Shorts’ award

To move Sky News to a distinct position for its’ election coverage I chose to play up personalities rather than create yet another animated metaphor for the democratic process. Tabloid newspapers had already taken this direction to create interest and I felt it suited the lighter, edgier Sky News approach.

Motion capture married with a very stylised character design style creates a strange and memorable effect that gave the promos impact, and is challenging to direct.

Sky News


A training video with reference book introducing customer care to bus drivers

For GoSkills, the sector skills council for passenger transport

Good communication and the right attitude are vital in customer service. “The Ride” was conceived to show, through a drama based on real experiences, the benefits of getting it right.

Shot over 3 days with a cast of 14, ‘The Ride’ was post-produced in-house. The script was devised to work in conjunction with the curriculum modules for NVQ’s. The message is clearly, concisely delivered in a way that has relevance to the intended audience.

The Ride


An interactive guide for employers, staff and trainers, examining diversity issues within the workplace and demonstrating the legal, moral and business case

For GoSkills, the sector skills council for passenger transport

An IVCA Clarion winner

A group of actors, diverse in ability, ethnicity, sexuality and faith, play characters in scenes covering sexuality, gender, disability, age, race and religion. The menu is a series of ‘red herrings’; the characters don’t represent the stereotypical category.

I researched, wrote, cast, designed and directed the piece. I also commissioned the specially composed musical score.

Rebecca Harvey, Capability and Capacity Programme Manager at Government Skills said: “The DVD challenged my own stereotypes in an interesting and enjoyable way. The scenarios made the case for diversity in a sometimes amusing, but always moving, way. Well done GoSkills!”

Respect the Difference, Value the Mix.


Video component of a staff development course for senior marketing managers

For Realise Consulting and Heineken International

Created for Heineken as a key element of a training programme for senior marketing managers. This is a series of videos: mock-documentaries designed to set the scene for hypothetical scenarios played out in problem-solving sessions. But there’s a twist: some of the videos include interviews in which a character comments on the previous day’s events, and the individuals involved. This was achieved by scripting, recording and re-editing to a pre-agreed format overnight, before uploading the new videos for use the next morning in Amsterdam.

The videos livened up the sessions considerably, and increased their effectiveness to the extent that Elena Murnigotti, Manager Portfolio and Innovation Capability, Global Commerce at Heineken International, called the result “Incredible”. Rob Mitchell of Realise Consulting, who had facilitated the programme thought them “brilliant”.

Business World

view a clip: http://youtu.be/_4-T0G

7QQ

Ik


CGi sequences, synthetic reconstructions, graphics and post-production special effects

For Cicada Films

Massive geological fault lines lie beneath some of the most populous regions of northern Europe. Eventually earthquakes, stretching from Austria to Ireland will bring destruction on an unprecedented scale.

We were commissioned to produce CGi reconstructions of similar events in the distant past and visualisations of the effect the earthquakes would have on the infrastructure of today’s cities and industry.

The programme was broadcast on The National Geographic Channel in Europe and the US, and producer Christian Holland was convinced that the graphic sequences were a crucial factor in the show’s success.

Europe’s SecretEarthquakes


A promotional drama/documentary film for ‘Connexions’ youth employment and careers centres For CfBT

The ‘Connexions’ centres bring young people who, for one reason or another, have lost their way back into employment, training or education. This short film begins with a drama showing the personal story of a teenage girl who falls into and then recovers from a bad situation with the help of ‘Connexions’, and goes on to show real case-workers and clients telling their stories.

The drama, developed from real case-studies supplied by CfBT was shot on location in London. We blended shots in post-production to allow our character to walk through her past telling her story in the streets she walked in earlier years when things were going wrong.The film has been used to raise awareness, and funding, for CfBT ‘Connexions’ Centres across the UK, and as an introduction to the work of the CfBT further afield.

That’s not me


Interactive brochure and information resource, featuring a multi-menu DVD and combining live action and CGi for architects and contractors

For Sto

Sto, the market-leading supplier of high quality renders and external wall insulation systems, wanted an interactive DVD to present the brand and it’s products.

The DVD opens with a 3D animated sequence in which text and panels of case study imagery - representing art and technology, corner stones of the Sto philosophy - interact in a white vitual environment. Clean lines and classic imagery reflect the brand, and the final frame is the interface for the main DVD menu.

Case studies were filmed over 18 months on construction sites across the UK, capturing the construction process and visual changes.

The result was a stylish menu of assets and showcase for products, services and the prestigious client list.

Sto


An interactive DVD presentation featuring a travelogue video, 3D graphics and downloadable information modules For Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel Lucent needed a presentation for their pioneering all-digital network for Manx Telecom on the Isle of Man.

The solution was a documentary-style travelogue cutting out jargon, and taking authority from interviews with Managing Directors and Chief Technology Officers at O2 and Manx Telecom, the riht voices for Alcatel Lucent’s target CEO level audience.

I wrote and directed the video, and designed and directed the graphics sequences.

The response was enthusiastic and Jan Piet Wielenga, leading Alcatel Lucent’s Marketing Team, said: “The piece as a whole takes our presentation up to a new level.”

Next GenerationNetwork


Promos and titles for a Sky News production

For Sky News

Anne Frank was not the only child who spent time hidden from the Nazis during the second world war. This documentary investigates other similar cases from France to Poland.

This live-action piece was shot in the storeroom of Park Royal Studios during the lunch break of another shoot. The post-production was done in the telecine suite using a Perspex ruler in the gate to create the ghostly images.

The Hidden Children


Subaru sponsorship sequences

A set of opening and closing sponsorship sequence for Sportsline on Sky News

For Subaru Europe and Sky News

A series of domestic scenes in which the concluding shot shows the family man acting out his rallying dreams - wearing a rally helmet and deranged expression.

The sequences were conceived to be shot on location on 35mm, and were designed to play on the unconventional image and sporting heritage of the Subaru brand.

Rally Dreams


Product launch video, a CGi sequence

For Fujifilm

Project Sentai


Opening and closing sponsorship sequence for the European resorts report on Sky News

For Isuzu UK and Sky News

The piece makes use of the middle letters in an Isuzu sign on the roadside to make the word ‘sun’ with the help of a local relaxing at a roadside taverna. The piece was shot using motion-control with a minimum of post-production – only the gecko is synthetic.

Isuzu Sun


A presentation campaign using familiar film and television styles and dialogue composed from song lyrics

For MTV/Vh-1

A Gold Promax award winner

I directed, co-wrote and designed these sequences (we also made ‘Rom-com’ and police interrogation pieces) principally created to re-position Vh-1 as more quirky and less of a stuffy AOR channel - a critisism raised in research.

Shot on film with minimal sets, I felt we were still able to achieve the right ‘look’ for a reasonable price.

Vh-1 Lyrics


A video-led microsite, to encourage PepsiCo executives to re-locate to Russia

For PepsiCo International

Winner of the PepsiCo International communications award

This is a major internal communications campaign to highlight the career opportunities in emerging markets like Russia.

I felt that the most appropriate way to address this was to use video as the information carrier, and PepsiCo’s intranet as the delivery medium.

Shot on location in Moscow, the film showed the working and social environments for PepsiCo people. Employees tell their personal stories regarding the move, the challenges and the opportunities.

Inspire: Russia


An interactive microsite, featuring an information matrix and ‘drag and drop’ game for PepsiCo International


This is a tool for self and supervisor assessment of manager potential. Although it was important that the activities were fun to do, there was always an underlying serious function to this interactive programme.

We designed, developed and created an interactive information matrix in ‘flash’ that allows the user to follow potential career paths and get information about what they will need to achieve their goal in each case. It tests knowledge and understanding at the end of the process.

The visual theme ‘rising stars’ is complemented by a sound-based ‘pointer’ system that helps guide the user.

The piece, originally intended only for use in the UK, is now in use across PepsiCo internationally.

The LeadershipModel


A international staff intake and initiation resource, allowing new starters to receive all appropriate information about their job and workplace


The front end of the piece is the ‘new-starter pack’ consisting of generic printed and video materials, and an interactive application linking to an intranet based resource.

The back end allows HR departments to compile totally personalised online information modules for each new employee, to accompany the pack.

What’s in Store?


A network-based staff retention and development resource, designed for individual employees and line-managers


Winner of a PepsiCo International award for talent sustainment

This online resource was conceived using video, interactive information matrices and downloadable presentations and assessments designed to let individuals and their line-managers work together to plan rewarding, sustainable careers.

I was lead creative, and directed the videos for the resource. The look, style and tempo of the piece were important to create the right relationship between the company, the resource and the user. It needed to be branded without being too ‘corporate’ and authoritative without being dull or distant. Most of all, it had to be engaging for the user.

C & B & me
