Tonight at HP ZED London: how to start a second studio

HP ZED, a 'pop up shop' for creatives in London's Soho (7pm - 10pm), features two weeks of exclusive events for CG artists, including talks, workshops and contests. But tickets are going fast - so make sure you register today and be sure of a seat for the sessions you're most interested in.

In the meantime, here's a sneak peak of what's going down at ZED today and tomorrow...

Tonight's talk

Things really heat up tonight (Wed 1 Oct) with not one, not two but three speakers from Jellyfish Pictures, an independent VFX, animation and motion graphics studio based in Noho, Central London (that's not a typo, by the way, it's what they're calling the area north of Soho these days).

In July 2014 Jellyfish Pictures opened its second studio in South London’s Brixton Village. CTO Jeremy Smith will reveal how they had to hit the ground running on its first project, a preschool TV series combining photo-real CGI with live action.

You'll also hear from Dave Cook, Joint Head of 3D, on how they made a global hit for Samsung. He'll take us to Vancouver where it was shot and explain the mysteries behind the making of a viral ad that got 15 million views within a week.

The whole commercial was conceived, filmed and made in little over six weeks from start to finish, an amazing achievement given Christmas got in the way!

Finally, Tom Brass, Art Director/Creative Lead, will look at how Jellyfish put particular emphasis on art direction and conceptualizing of ideas.

Brass will offer a revealing behind the scenes look at a number of projects, from concept work and storyboards through to finished images.

In short, this session promises to offer an exclusive look behind the workings of a top studio, something no CG artist can afford to miss. Register for your free ticket here!

Tomorrow at HP ZED

Thursday 2 October at HP ZED will be the most packed day yet, with four amazing sessions for CG artists.

Things kick off in style at noon with Should you work for a big studio or boutique agency? (12pm - 2pm). In this special lunchtime session, Gavin Graham, Head of 3D for Double Negative, and Phil Hurrell, Founder and Owner of Coffee & TV, examine whether a large or small studio is the best place to advance your career.

Is it better to be a big fish in a small pond, where you'll get to take on more responsibility and learn a wider range of skills? Or are you better off specialising early on, at a bigger firm where you'll get to work on more prestigious TV shows and movies?

It's a big decision to make, so make sure you get the expert advice on offer at HP ZED: register now!

Flame, Framestore and more

And that's just the start of the day. Join Velvet Flame operator Robert Coulin from 4.30-6pm as he walks us through his work on a stunning and technically challenging commercial for Mattoni. You'll see how Flame 2015 provides an end-to-end toolset that enables the best artists to do the best work in this special session - register here.

At 6-6.30pm production tools developer Alex Jackson gives us an insight into his use of Shotgun as a production management tool across the full gamut of Framestore's Commercial and Film projects. He'll show how Shotgun has helped the teams that worked on Guardians of the Galaxy, Gravity, and Activision’s DJ Hero. Register here.

Finally, from 6:30pm - 10pm, join Flame Autodesk specialists Joe Billington & Stuart Holloway along with Framestore's Ollie Bersey in a discussion about the value that Flame 2015 brings to Framestore, titled Flame 2015 Extension 2: More tools. More flexibility.

Bersey will give us a behind-the-scenes look at his work on a stunning ident for EastEnders and talking about how Flame helped him tackle the creative challenges it threw up. Register here.

HP ZED London 2014

This content has been brought to you in association with HP ZED, a 'pop up shop' for creatives in London's Soho from 29 September – 10 October 2014.

With talks, tutorials and creativity sessions brought to you by top experts from leading studios like Double Negative, MPC, Milk and The Mill, as well as HP, Intel and Nvidia, it's going to be a must-attend event for anyone working in motion graphics, animation or 3D. Find out more here!