Fivestone Studios

Catch Traylor in Savannah at SCAD's CoMotion

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:16:04 -0400

What does it take to become a great designer/artist? Talent alone? NO! There are many skills needed to make it in the day to day business world of design that are not related to art at all. Do you work well with others? Know how to finish a project on time? Can you communicate with clients who don’t understand graphic design?

Fivestone founder Traylor Woodall will be heading up a panel on Saturday, April 14th at Savannah College of Art and Design’s CoMotion Conference. The panel will cover one of Traylor’s pet causes, The Intangibles.

If you’re near Savannah, come join him to find out how to take your design career all the way to the top.

Fivestone Named Among Local Addy Winners

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:16:03 -0500

We are excited and honored to have been awarded another round of Addys this year. Two of our personal projects were chosen; the Fivestone ID, Viking, which is the brainchild of Creative Director Kyle Jones and our 2011 video Christmas card, Dubstep Santa.

An Addy also went to Lifeway for a video we did for their Girls Ministry this past summer

The awards will be handed out by the AAF Nashville at a dinner on February 23rd. If we are awarded a gold level, then it’s off to Regionals for us.

Look What We Found...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:21:00 -0500

…right across the street from our studio, a little pub tucked away in historic Printer’s Alley. We used the occasion of producer Katie Rauh’s birthday to venture out one snowy afternoon and check it out. The beef & pudding, soup, and curry all got rave reviews but naturally the fish & chips were the fave. We also managed to play darts without anyone incurring any major injuries. (The darts themselves, however, did not fare so well.)

Check out the Fleet Street Pub here. After a return trip, Carson highly recommends the Charing Cross Crisps.

Some behind the scenes from our puppet and party shoot!

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:12:47 -0500

Some behind the scenes from our puppet and party shoot!

Fivestone Open House

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:50:00 -0500

Last weekend Fivestone opened its doors to friends and family. There was food, drink, and fun. Thanks to all of those who stopped by to celebrate the season with us!

Proof that intern Hunter survived the party preparations. Hm, where’s intern Andy?

New team member Brian Altman chats with Jeff Fox

Brian and Whitney chill with Traylor

Eric Stars stopped by for a while

Carson’s presence is always felt

Is that a high five or L for loser?

Peter King relaxes while Erin shares a laugh

Chocolate covered strawberries injected with liquors. Yum!

Things winding down for the evening

Here’s a short animation test of some creatures we did for...

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:23:16 -0500

Here’s a short animation test of some creatures we did for another project. Enjoy!

Check out Carson's new blog

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:04:00 -0500

Check out Carson's new blog:

After subjecting us to his rants and ravings about his various pop food finds, Senior Animator Carson Carr has taken our suggestion that he write down his junk food findings and share them. His new blog, The Flavor Explosionist is the result.

Fivestone wins at the Case Awards

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:17:00 -0400

Last month, Fivestone Studios was presented with several Case Awards for our design and graphic motion work. We won Best of Category in the Broadcast/Film category for our spot for the Red Cross International.

Bob Isherwood and the folks at I.E. Healthcare brought us the concept for this powerful ad which was broadcast around the world in multiple languages. You can check out the award-winning spot here.

We also won several Merit Awards for:

The Case Awards are given out by the AIGA for creative excellence in creative professions.

Thanks, everyone!

Kyle Jones named New Creative Director

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:10:00 -0400

We’re pleased to announce that after two years of juggling, ping pong playing and occasionally working, Kyle Jones has been promoted to our Creative Director. Congratulations, Kyle!

Here are Kyle’s thoughts on the matter:

What are your qualifications?

I’ve been arting (pardon me) my whole life- constantly drawing and making things. I got in trouble several times for turning in homework wrought with doodles. Officially though, I am a graduate of MTSU with a major in graphic design and minor in interactive design. I interned/freelanced throughout school at a webdesign studio in Nashville and spent a summer in the On-Air Graphics department of CMT and worked for several months at Eyeball in NYC before coming down and joining Fivestone full time.

Why Fivestone?

I love the people at Fivestone, which I find as equally important as the work we do. I love the challenge of finding solutions for our wide range of clients. I’m excited to see how our workflow is evolving, integrating more 3D and live action work. Also being in the heart of Downtown Nashville is a blast; there is a lot of energy here!

Why do you do what you do?

I’ve been obsessed with animation for as long as I can remember. On a family trip to Disney World (back when there was an animation dept. there) I got to see the animators working on Pocahontas, flipping pages back and forth. Thus began a long line of flip books, Macromedia Flash, 3D software, and After Effects. Motion graphics is great because the potential seems limitless. Everyday I’m seeing something new that inspires and pushes the boundaries. It incorporates art in it’s purest sense with music, graphic design, cinematography, and storytelling. It is a culmination of everything I love wrapped up into one.

So who the heck are you?

I’m one of those people who likes to pick up lots of random skills, mostly useless. Over the years this has included: juggling, unicycling, swing dancing, playing guitar, piano, learning several programming languages, and other impossibly nerdy things. I also always have a few personal projects going on outside of work… from font designing, to writing and illustrating children’s books, to directing short films. I’ve never properly recorded my music, but I love improvising on the piano. I’m also an avid podcast listener, exhausting the archives to This American Life, Radiolab, Stuff You Should Know, the Moth, and various comedy podcasts.

Traylor Woodall named finalist for NEXT Awards

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:02:00 -0400

Our own Traylor Woodall has been named a finalist for the inaugural NEXT Awards. The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Entrepreneur Center jointly present these awards to recognize the accomplishments of companies and individual entrepreneurs in five areas of business especially important to the Nashville economy: health care; technology; digital media and entertainment; sustainability and alternative energy; and social enterprise. (Guess which category Traylor is nominated for.) Individual awards for successful youth, minority, female, startup and legacy entrepreneurs will also be given, in addition to an Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Traylor’s thoughts on being nominated? “It’s fabulous for us, but more importantly I’m excited about what it says about Nashville as a creative center. Our success means that there are firms just like us, right here in Music City, competing and thriving on a larger stage. National brands don’t have to go to LA or NYC to get top shelf creative- there’s a great community right here!”

Here, here!

Traylor will receive recognition as a NEXT Awards finalist at the award dinner on Tuesday, October 18th at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel.

For the second year in a row, Fivestone’s Art Director...

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 13:55:00 -0400

For the second year in a row, Fivestone’s Art Director Kyle Jones headed up a team in the Nashville edition of the 48 Hour Film Project. Kyle led a crew, including fellow Fivestoners Eric Dies and Kevin Harkness, in writing, filming, and editing a short film in just 48 hours. Fivestone offered support in a variety of ways including donating our facilities for post production.

The genre assigned to them was comedy and each year there are three required elements to be included in all entries. This year’s elements were:

1. Line of Dialogue: “Tell me how you really feel.”

2. Character: Paul or Pearl Duncan, a driver

3. Prop: Flowers

Shrink Wrapped was awarded the SuperDuperSpecial prize of Best Sasquatch, which was created by a combination of on camera and CG effects (done by our own Kevin Harkness).

You can check out some behind the scenes footage here.

MoType Please

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 16:19:00 -0400

With tighter budgets and timelines, the request for moving type spots and videos is on the rise. Understandably, there is a cost savings since using just type eliminates live action shoots, high end 3D animation, and other sophisticated techniques. The downside is that your spot will be competing with a vast hoard of poorly executed hopefuls since “anyone can do it” with After Effects , Comic Sans or some other “hip” font. If you want your Motype spot to stand out, here are some things to consider:

Design- All the normal design requirements do not ‘go out the window’ just because it’s a type spot. Just making type move isn’t enough. Font choice, color palette, brand requirements, layout and design skills are table stakes as you plan out your production.

Voice Over- Don’t skimp on a voice track if you plan on doing the speak-a-long style of animation. If there is a voice over for your audience to follow it allows you more freedom to pick and choose what words to emphasize and you don’t have to show every single word in your message.

Audience- MoType spots need to be carefully designed to the audience. The faster the pace, and the more words you barrage the viewer with, the younger your audience will need to be to keep up.

And of course, if you need a MoType spot or video, we think we’ve got what it takes to help you stand out from the crowd. Here’s a MoType portfolio for your viewing pleasure…

Video

Wed, 11 May 2011 17:00:37 -0400

We’re pleased to welcome Eric Dies to the Fivestone...

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:31:00 -0400

We’re pleased to welcome Eric Dies to the Fivestone family. Eric originally hails from Texas and is currently a grad student at Savannah College of Art & Design. You can check out his work here. Eric will arrive June 13th to begin a 3 month internship. And yes, his name is a sentence.

A hybrid of animation techniques and some throwback beats shows...

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 12:07:00 -0400

A hybrid of animation techniques and some throwback beats shows Fivestone can kick it old school.

This studio ID comes from Tom Oakerson, who just ended a 6 month freelance tour of duty with us. He takes with him his title of Kick-ass Animator but leaves behind the title of Ping Pong Champion of Doom.

F-volution is a stylized motion info-graphic visualizing the...

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 10:01:07 -0400

F-volution is a stylized motion info-graphic visualizing the lifespan of stars and embraces the theory that when they die, a diamond of unimaginable size is left behind. In 2004 astronomers discovered the burned out corpse of a star named BPM 37093 and nicknamed it “Lucy”. This white dwarf is a chunk of crystallized carbon which weighs 5 million trillion trillion pounds. That would equal a diamond of 10 billion trillion trillion carats…Bling, Bling!

Our next studio ID was birthed in the brain of Carson Carr, Animator, Musician, and Astronomer/Philosopher.

In a world lost to time, our hero must conquer the greatest...

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 17:18:00 -0400

In a world lost to time, our hero must conquer the greatest force in Nature known to the Vikings… Dragons! Will he slay the terrible beast? Will he make the journey home to his beloved family? What does this have to do with Fivestone Studios? Sit back, relax, tense up, relax again, and enjoy.

In honor of our brand new brand (ya see what I did there) each of our animators created a studio ID from whatever inspiration their little hearts’ desired. This first epic piece is from Kyle Jones, Juggler Extraordinaire & Ping Pong Champion Wanna-Be.

Our lofty El Presidente speaks!

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:10:00 -0400

You are invited to the Nashville Chamber of Commerce Walkabout180. Our illustrious leader, Traylor Woodall, will be speaking on Using Motion Design to Strengthen Your Brand. He will be speaking during the 9-10am slot.

The event takes place on Lipscomb campus and there will be lots of opportunities to meet new companies. There will also be a variety of topics presented.

Hope to see you there!

A fresh reel for a new year with over 80% new stuff from last...

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 17:16:26 -0500

A fresh reel for a new year with over 80% new stuff from last year! Beck came along for the ride, so sit back relax and enjoy.

Check out our newest work! A show package for GAC’s Top 20...

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 12:18:00 -0500

Check out our newest work! A show package for GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown, now airing nationwide!