Brendan Cook is an award winning Motion Designer and Animation Director from Sydney Australia.
With 20+ years experience in the visual communications industry, his work spans film and television content, branding campaigns, music video and experiential environments such as exhibition and live performance visuals.
Brendan has a multi disciplinary approach to visual communication through moving images, employing a combination of traditional live action, stop frame photography, 2d, 3d and hand drawn animation techniques. He is equally at home on set directing live action or in the studio collaborating with teams of designers and animators. The ability to move between and combine a number of visual mediums allows him to develop a solution that most successfully communicates the essence of an idea.
Brendan has collaborated with an impressive range of Australian and international clients including Nickelodeon, MTV, ABC, Playschool, IWM (Imperial War Museums), iEC, Nelson Mandela Foundation, Artists in Motion, History Channel, National Geographic, Disney, A&E, Flickferfest, GPY&R, the University of Sydney and the Sydney Opera House.
His motion design work has won numerous awards including two BDA World Gold Awards.
Brendan has recently created live visual experiences for the SYDNYE 2020/21/22 Harbour Bridge fireworks, James Taylor’s US tour, the WW1 Centenary exhibition for the Imperial War Museum of London, the Mandela My Life Exhibition at Melbourne Museum and Muriel’s Wedding the Musical.
He ha been commisioned to create large scale foyer video installations at 1 Denison St and Eight Chifly in Sydney.
His recent feature film projects include directing animations for the Feature Documentary 35 Letters (winner Sydney Film Festival), Zach’s Ceremony (winner Sydney Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival) and Knowing the Score.
Brendan has created music video content for artists including Gotye, James Taylor, The Temper Trap, Bill Callaghan (Smog), Husky, Clare Bowditch and The Potbelleez.
Brendan’s music video, and film projects have screened in festivals throughout the world including Annecy Film Festival, Ottawa International Animation Festival, LA Film Festival and Edinburgh International Film Festival.
Projects
- Mandela My Life - ExhibitionMANDELA My Life : The Official Exhibition, is a new world class exhibition on Nelson Mandela’s extraordinary life, curated from the extensive collections of the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg. pictureDRIFT was invited by iEC Exhibitions to create two animated films for the exhibition. This film occupies a twelve metre floor to ceiling screen in the second room of the exhibition. Narrated by Mandela himself, the animated film explores the stories of Mandela's early years growing up in
- 1 Denison 'Growth' - Digital Placemaking1 Denison is a new commercial precinct and North Sydney’s largest office tower. Designed by Bates Smart and developed by Winten Property Group, the building is managed by CBRE and home to visionary organisations such as Microsoft, SAP and Nine. PictureDRIFT collaborated with Hundredweight to create an animated film, activating two large media walls within the expansive foyer. The short film celebrates 1 Denison’s new business community by representing growth, development and new beginnings. Abs
- Eight ChifleypictureDRIFT collaborated with property branding and placemaking experts THERE to create a digital installation that activates the new foyer space and extends the architecture by creating a window onto a virtual world of urban greenery. Designed as an ambient extension of the unique ‘structureless’ glass lobby box and interior garden design, plants slowly grow into recognisable elements of the building, with flowers blooming in the colour of the buildings iconic red structure, refracted and ref
Work history
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Creative DirectorpictureDRIFT
Sydney, AustraliaFull Time
Founder and Creative Director of Sydney motion design studio pictureDRIFT
Skills
- Graphic Design
- 3D Animation
- 2D Animation
- Motion Graphics
- Creative Direction
- Animation Direction
- Compositing
Education
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Bachelor of DesignUNSW Art and Design (COFA)
- Sydney, Australia