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Smith & Foulkes for PLATFORM
One of my favorite animation/direction duos, Smith & Foulkes (of Nexus Productions), has decided to jump on the stop-motion bandwagon in this title sequence for the first PLATFORM International Animaiton Festival.
I guess the reason I love Smith & Foulkes so much is because regardless of what medium they work in—stop-action, CG or cel animation—they manage to inject a healthy dose of fun into everything they do. I mean, this title sequence is essentially about following a box as it traverses the world, but in the hands of S&F it turns into a kooky series of unexpected happenings. The matryoshka effect was also a great way to add a little visual interest to what would have otherwise been one lonely little white box.
Some semi-technical details:
“Smith & Foulkes used a Canon Digital SLR camera linked up to a laptop allowing them to capture frames and play them back checking the shots as they went along. By shooting digitally Smith & Foulkes ended up with a much larger image size to work with when compared with the normal 35mm motion picture frame. These frames were then taken into After Effects and Photoshop for a clean-up where people and rigs from shots were removed. A final grade was then added in Flame.”
Smith & Foulkes will be talking about their work and influences at the festival this Saturday, June 30 from 11:30 am – 1pm in the Winningstad Theatre, Portland, Oregon. More about the PLATFORM International Animation Festival here.
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Aren’t they a little too late to jump on the stopmotion bandwagon?
I thought that trend was already over.
When done right, I could watch stop motion all-day. This was nice, especially the delivery truck part.
Stop motions dead? So your saying I should hold off on my feature length, stop motion Play-Dough/LEGOs project?
How can you call stop motion a trend?
I thought this piece was fantastic.
Great work guys.
this concept rocks, wonderful timing and music to top it off.
Because for a second i thought this was done by PEZ or Peter Sluszka or
S&F not necessarily known for this type of work. But i dont mind, its cool. Altough i like their animation work better. After all psyops coke happiness factory seemed to be inspired by S&F’s cool Honda “Grrrr” spot.
Keep in mind Platform is an animation festival which includes sessions by PEZ, aardman, laika, ffake, bent image lab, and many more stop motion animators. I’m sure smith and foulkes kept the audience in mind as they designed their opening. i think its telling that their work stands out regardless of what style they are using.
a superior piece…loved every frame…but in this “lack-of-seams”-critical world these days, you cant muff your lighting setup for the logo reveal like this…the shadow goes from due north to due south on the final cut… obviously the piece still works beautifully, but they should know better…
Went to the Smith&Foulkes presentation at Platform this weekend. Very exceptional free thinking work… hardly ones to jump on a bandwagon for the sake of it. Lots of great work to be seen from these guys and many others who presented and without all the crap that comes along with the motion-graphics industry.