INTERVIEW - Amber
Larkin, President/CEO & Creative Director
- Nth Degree Design & Visual fx, INC
Q. Give us a background of your company.
Nth Degree Design and Visual fx, Inc. is an
“on the cutting edge” design, graphics,
animation and special effects studio that specializes
in uniquely styled, high-end animation, stereoscopic
3D, DVD Design and motion picture effects. Created
in 2000 by Amber Larkin, Nth Degree has become
a collection of “traditional artists”
who have all transitioned into the digital medium.
Q. What is your
approach to developing interactive media solutions?
We don’t believe in creating “art
for art’s sake”. Every design must
be imaginative, unique and serve a purpose.
We think before we design. That’s not
just our approach to interactive media solutions,
though, that’s how we start every project.
Q. What was
the creative inspiration for your winning project?
Disney came to us with a broad scope of what
they wanted, but they really gave us a lot of
freedom and encouraged us to bring our ideas
to the table and lead the creative direction.
Our only bounds were that it must promote Disney’s
2007 campaign, “Year of a Million Dreams.”
With that in mind, we turned to film, television,
trade publications and DVD menus to begin our
research. And then, we turned to the heavens…
the clouds, that is. Dreams and clouds go hand
in hand, and staring off into the sky, whether
from the side of a highway or out the window
of an airplane, we were truly inspired by them.
Q. What technologies were involved with making
the project?
It is the job of our DVD studio to keep up
with the ever-changing digital formats, and
to make sure our clients have what they need.
We are often given the task of testing hardware
and finding solutions that work best for any
given application. In creating the Disney Parks
Vacation Planning DVD for 2007 we did our best
to create menus that were truly engaging, entertaining,
and in some cases informative, in and of themselves.
That was achieved by using Final Cut Pro, Maya
3D, DVD Studio Pro 4, Optibase Realtime MPEG
Encoder, 5.1 Dolby Digital & Dolby DTS Surround
Sound, DVD 9 Dual Layered Burner, After Effects,
Photoshop, Flash MX, and Avid.
Q. What were the
biggest challenges to making the project and
how did you overcome them?
Despite having almost total creative freedom,
there were constant revisions due to legal and
strategic changes. Halfway through the project,
the style guide for the font changed and we
had to revise the font throughout the DVD. We
overcome the hurdle of constant change by coming
to expect it as part of the process. It’s
always easier to hit the curveball when you
see it coming.
Q. Did the
project achieve its goals?
Although Disney does not release financial
results, over 1 million DVD’s were shipped
and the Parks and Resorts business was up 6%
year to date.
Q. Where do you
/ your team turn for creative inspiration?
Truly, we look everywhere. Off the bat, there
are all the typical sources – television,
film, trade publications, video games and the
Web – and then we pound the pavement.
There’s inspiration to be had everywhere
– shopping at the mall, scouring art &
craft stores, eating dinner at a new restaurant,
talking with friends.
Q. What trends
do you see in interactive media production today?
On the DVD side, the rise of Java Scripting
in Blu-Ray will make menus much more interactive
and fun to use. Watching a movie will be more
like playing a video game.
Q. What are some
of your favorite websites?
Istockphoto.com, veer.com/ideas, aintitcool.com,
commarts.com, trapcode.com, cartoonnetwork.com,
youtube.com, ign.com
Q. What projects
are you working on now?
We’re currently in the initial stages
of a project for PBS, art directing and creating
the graphics for a documentary;
Q. What is your
overall feeling about the Horizon Interactive
Awards?
With nearly 1000 entries from 24 countries
around the world, the Horizon Awards have great
prestige. With world class judges from all sectors
of interactive media, not just the web, they
truly encompass the convergence of media.
Q. What does
it mean to win the Horizon Award?
It means you’ve risen above the rest
of the industry on a worldwide basis and the
phone is ringing off the hook with new business.
