Variety is the spice of Vice

Creating compelling creative assets for this edgy, youth-focused media company In Autumn 2018, VICE (UK) decided to launch 'VICE Film School'. Creative director, Adam Bracegirdle, who got me onboard to assist with onscreen graphics for the series, explained: "to share our good ideas, bad ideas, glorious triumphs and catastrophic mistakes ...". The short films were going to cover VICE staff at every stage of the documentary-making process – from Executive Producers to kit interns; from fixers to hosts – offering their advice, on how to make films. I started in the last few weeks before Christmas (2018), ready for an early 2019 start, to help Adam establish the animation style and to then produce all the motion graphic assets that a large project like this requires (Film titles, on-screen visuals, lower thirds, etc). In the states, legendary director, Spike Jonze, had recently launched TV channel VICELAND, with design studio, Gretel, in New York, providing the visual style for the onscreen animations. This new design and animation direction was adopted by VICE globally with Spike and Gretel then providing lots of example clips, as guides, for how to implement the styling and movements accordingly. VICE expanded the project with the '15 sec film school' to add 'curated courses covering all elements of making documentaries' with short Instagram stories. While I was producing the motion graphics, Emma Yuille (VICE Exec producer) asked me to create a custom font (VFS-Tactile) that represented the hand-painted tags that were used on film shoots/equipment — to use across the presentations. The next project I worked on, was again with the excellent, Emma Yuille. Evian, the mineral water company, had pledged to become 'completely circular by 2025'. To highlight the importance of this, VICE Impact were going to follow their journey as they overcome the hurdles to make this a reality. The 'Circularity: Life without waste' film (a VICE+ & VICE Impact Production, in partnership with evian®), which featured Stella McCartney, as with most of VICE projects, was produced in several languages for release across Europe. Over the next few years, I worked on 'branded content' projects, with the VICE team (led by producer, Polly Williams), for: Desperados, Visit Britain, Absolut vodka, Levi's, Dr Martens, Napapijri, Renaissance Hotels, Sky TV, Jameson, Grant's, and - erm, BlackRock. For a season, it felt like every brand in the world, wanted to work with VICE. Each week brought with it a new interesting team to collaborate with. We also worked on many events for brands, Levi's Music Project, Field Day Festival and Cult.ure Party were great projects that I recall.

Please note: When I edit these showreel examples I obviously highlight my own art direction, animation and motion design contributions but that certainly doesn't mean that I am entirely responsible for every visual shown. I have been fortunate to collaborate with many exceptionally talented colleagues — those that I can recall at the time of writing are listed below:

VICE x Grant's

VICE collaborated with Grant’s Whisky to create a content project aimed at 'groups of friends which will help them tackle real-life problems with advice, tips and hard-hitting stories from informed experts'.

I worked with designer, Ben Voisey-Walker, to bring these to life across a multitude of formats and all the main European languages.

VICE x Jameson - Behind the Sofa

Online 'knowledge share' stories for VICE x Jameson 'Behind the Sofa'.
Client: Jameson / Sofar Sounds 
Agency: VICE

VICE x Samsung

Instagram stories for VICE x Samsung.

VICE x Sky

Titles and background pallettes for VICE x Sky TV.

VICE x Renaissance Hotels

Client: Renaissance Hotels
Agency: VICE
Director: Adam Lewis

Click here to view the project online

Field Day Festival - Vice x Dr Martens

Dynamic ads for Dr.Martens sponsorship of Field Day festival.

Levi's Music Party x Vice

 

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but not everything good and music-related has to happen in London. Sure, it’s the birthplace of UK drill and I’m pretty sure Frank Ocean lives here, but other than that, the drinks are expensive and most venues close at 1AM. Which is why, this weekend, we’re co-hosting a party in one of our other fave cities: Liverpool. After six months of the Levi’s Music Project over there, VICE have teamed up with Levi's to throw a huge blow-out celebrating some of the city’s homegrown talent.

- Noisey UK Staff
 

Cornershop Cocktails - Vice x Absolut

Cornershop Cocktails, ident, titles & MGFX for Vice-x-Absolut.
Produced for VICE (UK).
Directed by Jak O'Hare.
Visit: Vice.Munchies

Microgapping - Vice x Visit Britain

'Microgapping' is an excellent example of the kind of 'branded content' project that I worked on for VICE.

What is a gap year? Well, imagine a gap year without the "year" part – a getaway lasting a few days and the client, Visit Britain, wanted to encourage viewers to do that right here, in the UK.

For this short film, I was paired to support director Murat Gökmen, to create an exciting advert for 'switching off' and 'reconnecting with the physical world'. Murat put together the great footage and I looked after the motion graphics.

VICE always wanted to me to 'push the boundaries' and I loved this approach/attitude.

Brand Reel MGFX - Vice x Desperados

Motion graphic overlays for Vice x Desperado brand reel film.

VFS Titles - Vice

Titles for Vice Film School series 'Work in progress'. Summer 2018.

Circularity - Vice x Evian

Circularity film, ident, titles & MGFX for Vice-x-Evian - Stella McCartney film.

Vice Film School - Ident

Animated ident for Vice Film School.
Client: Vice UK
 

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