Cream O’ the Crop Criteria

The Cream O’ the Crop is Motionographer’s opinion of the best of the best studios and individuals in the fields of motion graphics, visual effects and sound design/music composition. Because there are tens of thousands of studios and individuals creating great work around the world, we have to employ some fairly restrictive criteria to come up with the final list.

The most important thing to understand is that this a highly subjective process. There’s no formula or black-and-white matrix of criteria we can use.

Having said that, some of the questions we ask ourselves include:

  • Do they have a website?
  • Has their site been updated recently?
  • Is work easy to find and presented in high quality?
  • Is their online portfolio large and diverse?
  • Does their work show envelope-pushing innovation?
  • Does their portfolio show an array of animation approaches (e.g. 3D, 2D, stop-action, etc.)
  • Have they worked for a diverse array of well-known clients?
  • Does their work show a blend of technical mastery and artistic vision?
  • Have they been in business for at least three years?
  • Has Motionographer posted their work frequently and recently?

There are a few special questions we ask ourselves for the Sound Design & Music Composition category:

  • Do they work regularly with motion graphics and vfx aritsts?
  • Do they present accompanying videos for the work in their portfolio?

Deciding on the Cream O’ the Crop is easily the most challenging aspect of running Motionographer. While you may disagree with a certain studio not being present, we feel that everyone on the list is truly extraordinary and at the top of their field.

The Cream is regularly updated and pruned. Stay tuned to Motionographer for news about these revisions.

About the author

Justin Cone

/ justincone.com
Together with Carlos El Asmar, Justin co-founded Motionographer, F5 and The Motion Awards. He currently lives in Austin, Texas with is wife, son and fluffball of a dog. Before taking on Motionographer full-time, Justin worked in various capacities at Psyop, NBC-Universal, Apple, Adobe and SCAD.