This week’s creative we’re learning more about is JR Canest aka Jorge R. Canedo Estrada (http://wooshii.com/Jrcanest). Originally from Bolivia, JR is now based in Canada and is mostly a motion designer,having had a video made for Google gone viral a few weeks ago. More on that later. Let’s get things started then.

How did you get started with creative things? I think we all have this capacity to “create” things, although it would me more like “produce” with the resources and talents we have, some people are creative in their way of writing, some in the way they talk, home made postcards, decorating a cake or a bedroom, drawings in their math notebook… for me to create things was something i needed and still need to do constantly, i think this started when i was a kid when i used to ask just for legos for christmas to build something new or to destroy my remote control cars to take the “engine” out and do something new with it… i always wondered the “why” and “how” of things and this curiosity made me want to “create” things and it’s something that i love doing.

What’s the video you created that you’re most proud of? In terms of design wise and hard work, I would say my title sequence “Crazy Enough”… but in terms of the video that pretty much changed my life, even though i didn’t know anything abut design it’s the one that i made for the scholarship “VFS – What Matters To You/Me”, all the things that happened because of that video is just something that i would undoubtedly describe as blessing.

What video you wish you had made? LOTS, I love to see the best of the best to really humble myself and realize how far i am from the big ones, it’s really weird the day i don’t see a video that takes my breath away… i don’t really think “I wish i made that”… i refer to think “Can’t wait to do something like that”

What’s your creative process? Hardest question always… it’s always different, I mean, the “classic” method is always there, brief, concept, research, storyboards, look frames, animation and so on… but really the ideas always comes from different places, it’s a different process every time.

What is your dream project? A project that more than selling something it’s trying to make people act, one that pushes yourself to create the most amazing thing ever to solve a problem that will help people. in a team that is passionate about their work and willing to give their best no matter what.

What’s your favourite software or hardware for your work? I enjoy After Effects so much although i want to explore more the analog world, let the computer rest for a bit.

Which software or hardware doesn’t exist, but you wish it would? I think most of motion designers will agree with me in this, a software that render times are insanely fast and doesn’t crash so much.

Tips for making good pitches (and winning them)? Ii actually need advice on this but i think is very important to show that you really love what you’re doing and you’ll take the next project as the best project you ever had.

Tips for getting views? be part of the community, don’t expect to receive if you don’t give anything to it.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Geographically, i have no idea, but i would really like to be involved in a high leve design company (if not my own) doing what i love and at the same time helping out some kind of NGO. Ok, great answers. But now, let’s delve deeper into the Google Voice video (now with 150.000 views), IF you can actually talk about it! Let’s take a look at the video first

Viral Marketing powered by Wooshii.com

How was the process? Was it a pitch-like competition or were you approached by Google directly? It was quite unexpected, one day i just got an email from Google asking me if i was to make a video for them… just like that. Just a side note: on a link Jorge sent me of another interview of him and Kasey Lum, the other creative behind the Google voice, they say this one video they made was what made Google call them. Take a look:

Was there a very precise brief or you had freedom to do what you wanted?The concept was already established and a rough script as well, we pretty much started from there developing the whole feeling of it and the visuals, I was working with my friend Kasey Lum in this video, he is Canada and I am in Mexico right now so it was all via webcam and all that, we had various “meetings” to see how the process was going on and to have some brainstorms.

How long did it take to make? The first part, just the storyboards took like 2 1/2 weeks, after that all the animation in total was like 3 1/2 weeks.

What were the most dificult aspects to make/shoot? There were no really hard parts of it, we knew it was going to be quite simple and we worked like that, maybe the last days with a lot of render problems was the hardest part, bad projection of render times. most of it was animated inside After Effects and Cinema 4D so we had a lot of control of it, a lot of it was also animated frame by frame and some green screen footage but nothing too complex.

Were you aware many google videos had gone viral before and were you expecting this one too? It’s Google, everything they do is viral and we had a small idea of what this video would bring but i think we had more projection than expected.

–

Alright, that’s it. Like always, I’d like to thank Jorge for the time to answer these. You can check out his Wooshii profile at http://wooshii.com/Jrcanest and his blog at http://jrcanest.tumblr.com/