Hello! Creative Design/Multimedia Guy | Welcome Center | Forum

Hello everyone,

First, I'll start off by saying that math and physics were never my strong suits in school.  I still have a great appreciation for the sciences, I just never had an easy time with comprehension/application.  I've always been into creating things; I'm constantly striving to further develop my skills in graphic design, film/video production and music composition.

When trying to promote something this big, it's nice to have some quality designers and creative types to make cool posters and promotional films, right?

I have a few ideas in mind, and I'm always open to collaboration with other creative people.  As the organization grows and gains more recognition, there will be an even greater demand for quality promotional materials.

Some general ideas:

GRAPHIC DESIGN – There should always be a need for things like:

Poster/Merchandise Design
Brochures 
Press Kits - Folder with brochures, documents, etc. used to promote the organization at various events, such as conferences.
Web Graphics – Banners, Buttons, Advertisements 

FILM/VIDEO – As CSTART begins to get closer to production stages, there will be great opportunities for filmmaking.  Documenting the early production stages will be invaluable for promoting further awareness of the organization.  Some people have to see to believe, so I think giving them something tangible really increases the credibility of the cause, and would no doubt attract more investors.  

There are some cool things we can do now even without original footage.  Creating some nice film packages that detail the organization's mission, as well as videos showing the current progress would help raise awareness.  We need to use the internet to it's full potential, as we all know — it's quite a broad audience.

Web Videos/Commercials: Before we start filming anything, short web videos can be made with a good script, some nice design (+After Effects), audio production and editing. When producing any creative materials for the organization, we must always maintain a high quality standard.  Anything produced should reflect the image we're trying to portray.

Eventually putting commercials on cable (or even network) television will be a big step in broadening our audience.  While there are plenty of people on the internet, TV is still a huge market that we should definitely start planning to utilize.  

Documentary Film: Create an archive of footage that can be easily accessed in a timeline format.  This footage would be used for nearly all film/video productions.  Examples of things to film:

- Early Design Meetings
- Rocket/Craft Construction Process
- Test Flights
- Interviews with Directors, Engineers, Designers, Astronauts… anyone involved in the project.
- The list goes on and on… 

Audio/Music: Half the battle of film production — creating great sound and music to enhance the final product.  Many styles of music are applicable, but my primary focus is orchestral scoring (something similar to the music of BBC's Planet Earth).  As we'll need other genres, hopefully there will be a few other musicians out there to help out.

I'd also like to say that the current website is very clean (nice job).  The branding is pretty slick, as well — with a nice font selection.

So! Let me know if my assistance is needed, as I'd be happy to help.  I work a full-time job currently, but have some time during the week to work on various projects.  Anyway, I love what you guys are doing here — keep up the good work!

Very cool, creative people from the design corner, are very important. A strong focus on quality is vital! Please feel free to comment on anything and contribute wherever you see a need! :)

If you have any questions on anything, don't hesitate to ask.

Post edited 1:51 pm – March 5, 2010 by tnylund

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Unfortunately I haven't spent too much time with 3D modelling or animation, but it's definitely something I'm interested in learning more about.  Realistic animation is a fairly difficult and a very time consuming process; someone with experience will undoubtedly produce better results than I presently can.  While I have done a little texturing in the past, there are definitely some amazing artists out there who could better fill this role.  Utilizing 3D is a great idea for promoting the organization and its objectives, and will be a great tool to enhance the vision of the film promos.

My initial thought when learning of CSTART was the idea of creating something similar to Al Reinert's "For All Mankind" — a documentary film that should be REQUIRED VIEWING for everyone involved in the project.  It's a compilation of archived footage from many of the Apollo missions, with interviews/commentary by the astronauts involved.  It really gives some great insight into the challenges they faced — both technological and psychological. 

This is a powerful film that I cannot recommend highly enough, and it is very pertient to the organization.  Please make time to watch it if you haven't already.  It's available on Blu-ray and DVD from Criterion, and it's amazing to see in high-definition.  The set also contains a pretty solid collection of extras, as well. 

Creating something similar to this documentary would be a nice goal to shoot for.  We could focus more on the challenges of forming a startup NPO space agency, as well as the steps taken to secure financial support through corporate/private investors (something that wasn't as applicable to a government funded space program such as NASA).  While we don't have to start planning this particular idea right away, the sooner we start filming, the happier we will be knowing that we will have an archive of footage at our disposal.  The OHKLA construction and subsequent launch seems like the most logical starting point, and I'd be happy to make myself available for these types of events.

Besides that, there are plenty of short film packages we can produce in the meantime that will help generate some buzz for the organization, and set the standard for what is to come.  I agree that we should look into finding some nice 3D talent to help illustrate that which we cannot film yet.  This is the kind of thing that will be a great selling point when it comes time to look for large grants/donations.