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[Ident] E4 College Ident Project

By Jack Watling 7th April 2017 10th April 2017 Blog, Road to Relaunch

Week 4 of the Road to Relaunch is another video I did back in college. The brief was to create an Ident that would be suitable for the channel E4. An Ident is like a short advert that shows a viewer your brand in a nutshell. It’s something that is aimed to make you memorable to an audience and also inform you this enjoyable content is on this channel, so come back again for more. All the major UK TV networks have them. The BBC had a variety of globes, 2’s that were fly-traps and bikes that went around a roundabout.

My Ident, meant for E4, was a simple concept. The characters world is black, white and bored at the lack of good TV. He loses his temper and everything turns purple and he discovers E4. The purple was to go with the branding of E4 as well as denote that the channel itself brings colour to an otherwise black and white world.

This wasn’t my original idea however. The original idea was to use a Rock ’em Sock ’em Robot set to and have them do an 8 bit video game inspired boxing match which would end with a giant E4 logo coming out of their heads. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a set for cheap enough or at all in my home town. Needless to say this was a rush job. But I was really happy with the end result and was introduced to the power of After Effects.

I love Idents. They are a brilliant tool for any company and are so much fun to create.

[Blog] Road to Relaunch #1 – DevBlog, Tweaks and Overhaul

By Jack Watling 17th March 2017 17th March 2017 Road to Relaunch

Welcome to the new Blog that will document the journey to the relaunch of the Mutt!

The idea of this Blog is similar to a DevBlog which are more commonly associated with Video Games but the purpose is perfect for what I want to do. A DevBlog gives users an update of what the Developers have done, what their planning to do next and any issues they may come across/been made aware of. So with that cleared up, here’s how it works for this site.

Every week or so, I’ll drop a quick post saying what’s been done, what’s still to do and what issues maybe about (such as fat fingers braking the site). It’ll be done in a bullet point style list which basically has the thing followed by a brief description. With that, here is the first instalment:

Changes Made

Major Website Overhaul: The site has had all its stock images (Headers, title cards, logos etc.) re-designed. The logo itself (Buster) has stayed the same but all the colours and back drops have been changed to make it stand out a little better, look brighter and cleaner.
Content Removal: The Services page has now been removed. This was done as the page needed too much work at this time in the form of redesign, rewording etc. and its redundant while the relaunch is happening. The Contact page is also gone for the moment. This got ditched due to the sheer amount of spam I was receiving from it. From bride proposals to generic “I remember when we…” to links saying they want to work with you but really its a YouTube video. At present, I think a page with an email address etc. will be placed on the site. When I get round to it I will have to find a contact form that can stop spammers or look it other plug-ins that do this. Until then contact me via social media outlets (Facebook & Twitter). The University Projects has been removed in conjunction with new weekly content releases. I felt individual posts under the video section would do them more justice and also give me a chance to write a little about them too. This change will also aid in streamlining the site.
About Page: the About Page has now been updated. It’s a lot more insightful now and it also has links to the other divisions of Scruffy Mutt.
New Content: As part of the relaunch a new series of content has been put into motion. Each week a new post with a new (old) video will be posted. I’ve already done a post on this so I’m not going to go into too much detail about it. Essentially I will be posting a video a week of my college and Uni Projects. I intend to do this every Monday and if possible I’m going to schedule the releases so they post automatically.
Facebook: The site has now been connected to the Facebook Page so it should automatically post their. The Facebook page has had the redesigned logos added too.
Monetization: The YouTube channel has now been approved for Monetization. This means I can now get ad revenue from the videos that are watched. I do hate having adverts on the videos, but the potential funding would help improve a lot of things. As it stands at the moment, I am NOT having the ads that pop up on the videos. The main purpose for the Mutt is to make and show films. Not adverts. I don’t mind pre-roll ads and ads at the side of the video but I draw the line at having ads that pop up half way through or are shown over the top of the video. We have principles damn it.
Menus: The menu bar has been changed to represent the changes in content.

Changes to Implement

Social Media : Apart from Facebook, all the Social Media Outlets need to be updated with the new branding.
Online Distribution Outlets re-branding: This is a fancy way of saying I still need to update all the branding for YouTube.
Vimeo Account: Considering starting a Vimeo account. Vimeo is essentially a site like YouTube except its considered more professional. It also costs to upload more than so much a month/week however so I may put this on hold for now.
Daily Motion Account: Yet another online streaming service. It’s not as big as either YouTube or Vimeo but it is a good service none the less and I’d like the Scruffy Mutt Brand represented on their.
Patreon: Patreon is a service that allows fans to contribute to YouTube channels. It works on a reward basis. Basically, I say if you pay X you’ll get something in return (like a Behind the Scenes exclusive video). I have registered the account, I just need to set it up.
Content Migration: Some of the content such as the tutorial articles are going to be moved to the Alchemy Site. This is because they are more in keeping with the theme of that site and as more content goes up, these article will look out-of-place on Scruffy Mutt.
New Contact Page: A new content page is going to be created that has basic contact details on it. This will replace the old Contact page.

Known Issues

Slightly Darker Header Image: I am aware that the header image is a little darker than the rest. This is because of my lack of understanding the finer details of Photoshop FX settings. It’s a satin affect applied to the rest of the branding but the bigger the image the bigger the shadow area. I’ll possibly fix this soon but I kinda like it the way it is.

I’ll leave you all with that,

Boss Mutt.

2017 Relaunch

By Jack Watling 7th March 2017 7th March 2017 Blog

Today I logged in to give a little update and something hit me…It’s been over a year since I last updated this site! No excuses, that’s a massive faux pas on my behalf. I had intended to post something in September basically saying that due to my final year studies I’d not be able to post much until M ay time. Due to the busy schedule both with my studies and with working on various films time has just ticked on by.

With that out of the way, lets talk about the current state of affairs.

Throughout 2016 and even up until this date I’ve mainly been working as a Lighting Technician and Gaffer on a variety of different films. With that, I’ve been focusing on building contacts in that area so when I finally graduate I have a semi-sustainable income with any luck. Sadly, that meant the dreams of making films on a regular basis kind of got pushed to the side. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking about it.

As I get closer to my final assignments being handed in, its time that I put the house back into order so to speak.

2017 will see two things from the Mutt. The first is a relaunch. The branding, logos and what not will stay the same but new projects will go into production and old ones will be finished. The second is the launching of a new company (a division of Scruffy Mutt) that focuses solely on lighting and set/prop design. As I get work doing these things, it seems daft not to try and capitalise on that. The grand idea is to get money from the lighting company that I can then put into the production of films that will be published under Scruffy Mutt Productions.

This can mean nothing but good things for Scruffy Mutt Productions.

When I’m in a position to reveal more, I will do. As it stands at the moment I’m hoping to post an update at least once a month. The main focus at the moment is to update the YouTube channel and get the films I’ve made between Jan 2016 to now published (Especially Broken, my stop motion film). I’m also considering posting my entire back catalogue of Uni films, mainly to show how much I’ve grown as a filmmaker over the years.

As ever, thanks for reading.

Boss Mutt

Road Trip Part Un! [Video]

By Jack Watling 21st January 2016 21st January 2016 Video

It’s finally completed! Part one of my European Road Trip.

It’s taken a fair while to complete due to other projects I’ve been working on for University but the first part is finished and uploaded. I’ve also made a start on part 2 which with any look will be done in a week or so.

Enjoy, Boss Mutt

Meet Buster

By Jack Watling 26th May 2015 26th May 2015 Blog

Hey all,

I’d like to introduce you to Scruffy Mutt Productions mascot Buster.

He was created by my girlfriend and he’ll serve as the poster pup for all of the merchandise that’s going to be made and on the logo’s etc. Its really great to see things finally coming together and I’m always humbled by the fact I surrounded by people who not only support my crazy ideas but actively help me with them too.