Creative Director and partner of Ranger & Fox has been producing outstanding motion design work competing with the top studios globally. Blair dives into Brett’s creative process specifically for the Pause 2016 motion response. The conversation also looks into the many benefits of presenting at festivals and conventions.

Show Notes: Compiled by Matt Lloyd

01.20 - Node presentation

03.10 - Fatherhood and running a studio

03.20 - School Of Motion interview with Brett

03.40 - Flexible lifestyle: Brett's decision to set up his own studio was driven by his desire to have more freedom to spend time with his new-born.

04.40 - The burden of running a studio. The bigger the studio, the bigger the burden: Brett and Stephen are currently keeping Ranger and Fox small, so they can best balance it with family life.

05.50 - Freelance vs small studio comparison

06.40 - The downside of freelancing

06.55 - How owning a studio can help you build a brand and deepen your relationships with your clients (see Chris Do on this subject on the Motion Hatch podcast)

07.30 - How does a studio get work? How one big client enabled them to build the "foundation" of Ranger and Fox

08.30 - The business foundations of Ranger and Fox: business structure, lawyer, bookkeeper are now in place, in 2018 the focus will be on winning new clients.

09.00 - The necessity of creating internal projects (eg the Pausefest piece they made) in order to push themselves technically and creatively.

10.15 - Blair: "A big part of being a motion designer is understanding, looking for work, connecting, knowing what great work is out there, but you [also] need to [learn how to] connect with clients"

10.45 - Pausefest: Ranger & Fox "always aspired to be better designers than we were. The way you do that is to throw yourself into a project that scares the living s##t out of you. (For a broader take on this topic see K. Anders Ericsson’s book)

11.20 - Confidential Awards show package

12.55 - The problem with open briefs

13.25 - Mysticism book by a group called "Movement"

14.05 - Ranger & Fox’s creative process for the Pausefest piece

16.00 - Colour script

16.37 - Brett's sources of inspiration: from outside the world of motion design.

18.20 - Music videos as sources of inspiration

20.30 - Personal projects as an "almost essential" means of taking big steps forward in finding your style/voice

21.08 - “It takes a long time for you to understand the syntax of the art/medium.” First learn the skills, then express yourself.

23.10 - Blair: "Creativity is an exploration of mistakes to find what you like and what you're going to pull together"

23.40 - Blair on advising young students: "You don't know what you don't know yet" ..."You've just got to dive in"

24.20 - "If you stay hungry [as a motion designer], you've got lifelong creative challenges ahead of you, that not many industries offer"

27.30 - Maxon Cineversity Ident piece by Ranger & Fox.

27.50 - "Restraints are liberating"

28.40 - Node ident competition

30.00 - Node entry by