Motion Design Love -

So, tell us a little about yourself, who you are, where you work now and how long you’ve been in the industry?

I’m Scott Gordon, a motion graphics designer living in Los Angeles. I work in my garage, which is awesome – I’ve always wanted to work at home, and now I get to. I rarely put on pants, though I did to answer these questions. I’m just old fashioned that way. I’ve been doing this for about…12 years? The last seven years have been fully self employed. Before that I was working at Sony doing DVD menus. And before that I was a photographer.

What made you go into motion graphics or how did working in Motion graphics come about?

I got my degree in photography the session before the school started teaching Photoshop. So I was doing traditional photography for little while. The second I got my hands on Photoshop I was totally hooked. And then at this place I was working this guy had a copy of After Effects. He showed me how you could spin a word around on the y axis and my mind was blown. I got hired as a low man on the totem pole at an entertainment advertising company that was doing dvd menus, this was like late 90’s. I started teaching myself After Effects and talked my way into the DVD Menu design department.

What do you enjoy most about working in motion graphics?

I love that I can support my family through something creative. And I’ve been especially lucky to work with great people on really great projects that lots of people see. It’s really exciting to design menus for something like Mad Men or Weeds rather than some of the more mundane motion graphics projects that are out there. I’m also really enjoying designing for the new technologies – Bluray and now iTunes.

What do you enjoy least about working in motion graphics?

Sitting down all day! I want to make a station where I can stand and work at the same time.

What has been you biggest highlight in motion graphics.

Working on menus for movies that I love – I got to do the menus for the 15th Anniversary edition of Reservoir Dogs, that was a big highlight.

What skill do you think a Motionographer needs?

Patience! The really great work is not done by applying an effect. You have to get in there and do the tedious work.

Is there any advice you’d give to an aspiring Motion graphics artist?

Try and make each project your own. There are a lot of really good tutorials out there right now, and they can teach you alot. But if a potential employer sees something in your reel that is recognizably from one of them, you are out. I think Video Copilot is an essential source of information and ideas…but take those techniques and use them to build your own stuff. And, of course, try and educate yourself in traditional design principals. It’s not enough to just know the software.

What are your future plans in Motion Graphics?

I’m excited about the iTunes LP and iTunes Extras formats…lots of people were predicting that when DVD and Bluray is overcome by downloadable content that menu designers would be out of a job. Good to know that people will still need menus to navigate the downloadable content.

So, After Effects is your main software of choice, what do you like about it?

It’s so powerful! I’ve been using it for ten years and I’m still finding new features that I can use. And there are endless scripts and expressions to try out. AEScripts.com is a great resource.

Is there a particular motion graphic piece you would reccomend to someone else?

I love clicking around on imaginaryforces.com – the work they do is amazing….artofthetitle.com is great to look at as well.

Check out more of scotts’ work at the following links.

Mad Men – http://www.vimeo.com/10636396

Reservoir Dogs – http://www.vimeo.com/10637042

Scott’s Reel – http://www.vimeo.com/10637149

Or if you’d like to get in touch with Scott then email him at ocd11@mac.com

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