I Live in the Woods!

Max Winston seems to be a lover of the natural world – of all things serene and beautiful and heavenly – but he’s also unafraid to destroy that beauty and reveal the bloody carnage and weird behavior that lies within.  Spectacular.

As we can see in this animation test for a Nickelodeon pilot, “The Woods”, Max is a gifted artist in many arenas – direction, design, animation, comedy, dramatic pauses – but unfortunately, for some odd reason, you won’t see this on air.  And while I cut off my access to cable TV, I would definitely revive it long enough to catch episodes of Max’s show (sidled with a revived Mr. Meaty) if available.

“The Woods” obviously isn’t student work, but some of the storyline was pulled from his exceptional CalArts grad short, “I Live in the Woods!”, which was never posted here – until now.  After an extremely long and successful run on the festival circuit, this masterpiece finally made it online last year for all to see.  Let’s revisit it:

(Warning: Gore and gratuitous violence in all its splendid glory.)

Also see:

• A process video + trailer for “I Live in the Woods!”

• Max’s personal notes on “I Live in the Woods” + development art for “The Woods” at the Magical Mountain of Mush!

• An interview with Winston at Short of the Week.

Swelter

Just in time for summer, CalArts’ Jacob Streilein brings us this richly painted short, Swelter.

Credits

Direction, design, animation: Jacob Streinlein
Music: Michael Paul Kennedy

Where Things Come From

Hardy Seiler explores “Where Things Come From” in this trailer for a fictional TV series, nowadays.tv, on knowledge-seeking in the digital age.  Synopsis: Ask questions. Stay curious.

Note: This post has been upgraded from recent Quickie to Student Full.

Credits

Graphic and Realization: Hardy Seiler
Text: Hardy Seiler & Daniel Nauck
Motion Design: Jascha Müller & Jonathan Winkler
Sound Design: Torsten Strer
VO: Peter Bennett
Kindly supported by: Stefan Heijnk

Will by Eusong Lee

Will: A poignant film of love and loss from CalArt’s Eusong Lee.  See process work at Eusong’s portfolio and blog.

Credits

Direction, Visual Development, Story & Animation: Eusong Lee
Music: Julian Kleiss
VO: Dario Barrera
Sound Design: Paul Fraser

[Interview] John Kassab: “Childhood of a Circle”, et al.

As I was being transported back to my youth watching Childhood of a Circle, I noticed a thread lining several recent posts here…

Melbourne-based audio designer & deep sea diver John Kassab has been making a subtle but sound statement through a handful of featured Motionographer articles, notably: Callum Cooper’s Full Circle, Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing (exerpt + interview), and of course, Kadavre Exquis’ recently released piece above (among others).

As the sculptors of all things aurally beautiful, sound designers are not often given their proper due, so be sure to lend an ear to John & all the other artists here who routinely tickle our cochlea.

Additionally, Exquis’ fine work showcased above definitely deserves a hand – specifically, the backgrounds are just killer.  View landscape set 1 / set 2 + check out more behind-the-scenes work in his Secret Files. Kadavre is also a musician, and you can pick up the retro-inspired Childhood of a Circle original soundtrack here.

UPDATE: John Kassab provided us a discussion in which he extends some great insight into his processes, perceptions of the field, finishing work in the digital age, and the beauty of the imperfect.  Read more after the jump.

Interview + Credits

HEAD ON

Lior Ben Horin produces a stellar graduation film, HEAD ON, for Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Art and Design.

From Lior:

This film is a dialogue between sound and motion, drawing the viewer into a high speed journey. A fantasy of color and contemporary images of success, power and progression, through which the viewer will pass irrespectively, running over everything on the way to his goal. During the exciting ride the observer loses control and comes to understand that what’s done is done, and realization is unavoidable.

Check out the corresponding HEAD ON site where you can explore extensive behind-the-scenes info, including references, compositing breakdown & other artwork:

Credits

Direction / Animation: Lior Ben Horin
Sound Design / Music: Nadav Ravid

Meet Dr. Brock

Vanessa Tam meets a difficult lifestyle choice through a nagging metaphorical subconscious, Dr. Brock, in her Senior Year Thesis at Sheridan College.  Also, check out some of the great layouts she made for the film.

Additionally, Ontario’s Sheridan College really seems to be churning out some great student work.  Here’s a sampling.

Credits

Direction: Vanessa Tam
Sound Design: John Diemer

“My Family And The Wolf” teaser

More beautiful styling from Headless Productions in their latest masterpiece, My Family and the Wolf.  Now let’s just hope this thing gets picked up. (Updated with the full film when available.)

ᔥ Vimeo | ↬ Cartoon Brew
Credits

W+K Shanghai Creativity Test

With the help of Shotopop, Weiden + Kennedy Shanghai entices suitors to take an online creativity test and potentially marry with the team.

Credits

Psyop heads back to the MiO Watering Hole with “Nose Job”

Continuing the MiO Watering Hole campaign, Psyop once again proves their prowess in character sculpture and non-mocap animation with the piece, “Nose Job“.

From Psyop:

Avoiding the mechanical output that often comes with traditional motion capture techniques, Psyop instead interpreted the live action performances, translating them into the world of the spot. This gave Psyop’s animators creative freedom to sculpt performances and massage comedic timing.

The spot’s lush look is the result of a novel approach to production that effectively dissolves the line between live action and animation.

“Approaching a full CG spot with a live action mentality led us to an entirely new place,” said Creative Director Eben Mears of Psyop.

Instead of shooting live action video plates on set, Psyop shot high resolution stills. These still images were then projected onto 3D geometry, creating a virtual set into which the 3D characters were later composited.

“There was a huge time savings in doing things this way,” explains Jon Saunders, Creative Director at Psyop.  “We didn’t have to worry about tracking live action plates and getting our 3D cameras to match that movement. We just did all our camera moves in 3D and relied on our team of lighters and compositors to sell the look—which they did with flying colors.”

Additionally, expertly modeled anthropomorphism, rhinoplasty, and hump augmentation, should make this spot a particular favorite of those Motionographer readers who trade in plastic surgery.

Read more at the MiO Facebook page.

Related: MiO “Cheetah” (includes extensive process info)

Credits