Bavaria Beer “Drop”

Amsterdam-based agency Selmore selected Matthijs van Heijningen (Bonkers) to direct this epic tale of a water drop’s lifelong mission to join his breathren as a pint of Bavaria Beer. While the denouement in chuckle-worthy and nicely paced, the real replay value comes from the lush CG work from Eight VFX. Each scene is fully realized and full of nearly tangible depth.

As an aside: the concept reminds me of a bit of a photo-realistic retelling of the oft-admired Guinness “Dot” spot from Psyop and agency IIBBDO Dublin.
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Review: Gangpol & Mit “Faits Divers”

My first introduction to French duo Gangpol & Mit (Guillaume Castagne and Sylvain Quément) was through their music. It wasn’t until recently that I learned they are as involved in the creation of animation as they are in concocting their unique blend of electronica.

Their latest DVD, Faits Divers (Pictoplasma Publishing), is a collection of 18 audio-visual offspring from Gangpol & Mit’s collaborative relationship. According to Pictoplasma, “Guillaume emails some graphics to Sylvain, who then composes a melody and sends it back – or Sylvain coughs up a tune and has Guillaume translate it into animated worlds.”

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N.A.S.A: Tom Waits and Kool Keith “Spacious Thoughts”

BoingBoing Video brings the N.A.S.A. goods again, this time featuring Tom Waits and Cool Keith, with visuals by Montreal-based Fluorescent Hill (previously featured on Motionographer for their 2008 New Pornographers promo). SCAD professor Jacques Khouri also lent a hand modeling and rigging the 3D star of the project.

Read the interview on BoingBoing.

Nokia N900: “Focus Group”

Channeling the same rebel spirit as the recent Verizon adverts for the Motorola Droid, this viral for the Nokia N900 injects the nucleus of a narrative into what could be a fun campaign.

The turn to grittier aesthetics makes sense. Attempts to unseat the incumbent iPhone using the same glossy look as Apple only confuses customers; the trick is to differentiate the brands somehow. Trouble is, Nokia and Motorola have struck the same chord at more or less the same time.

The recently posted Droid “Stealth” spot directed by Rupert Sanders aims at creating the same sense of epic mystery as the Nokia N900 campaign, albeit with a much slicker production value. It’s the J.J. Abrams school of advertising, with phones instead of “mystery boxes.”

Who will win? At this point, it’s hard to say: but it seems that they’ll still be fighting for second place.

“Focus group” was directed by Jack Masters and conceived by agency Jack Morton. The Mill’s Bif (Fabrice Le Nezet, Jules Janaud and Francois Roisin) helmed the post-production efforts.

Thanks to Harm for the tip.

F5 RE:PLAY Films + Stash Short Films Vol. 1

F5 RE:PLAY Films on Stash 60

Since F5 last April, I’ve received a slew of emails asking how people can get their hands on a DVD of the F5 RE:PLAY films. Never fear: Stash has swooped in to save the day.

Stash 60 is a special two-disc set that includes 14 films created for the F5 RE:PLAY Film Festival.

As a reminder, the RE:PLAY festival invited filmmakers from around the world to create original short projects for the F5 festival last April in New York City. The result was an astounding array of innovative, memorable work that has helped keep the flame of F5 burning strong.

Pick up Stash 60 here.

Review: Stash Short Films Vol. 1

While we’re on the topic of Stash, we received a review copy of Short Films Vol. 1, and it’s definitely worth discussing.

Focusing on non-commercial, mostly narrative works, this DVD signals an extension of Stash’s influence to a wider, more general audience.

The 30 films (with a cumulative runtime of 2:32) include work from some Motionographer favorites, including Neill Blomkamp (of District 9 fame), Roman Coppola, Gaelle Denis, Johny Kelly, Shilo, Three Legged Legs and Run Wrake. There’s also a healthy smattering of student work—all of which rivals the quality of the professional work. The majority of the collection is based in animation, but there are enough live-action and hybrid works to keep you guessing.

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RIOT Atlanta: Branding From Scratch

Network branding doesn’t get a lot of attention here on Motionographer. We tend to favor the quick-cut, visual slam-dances of advertising and music videos over the comparatively conservative design systems that attempt to express a television network’s ethos.

It’s easy to forget that TV’s largest advertisers are the networks themselves. Combine IDs, graphics, promos and all the other elements of a traditional network package, and you’re staring up at a staggering mountain of deliverables—and that’s leaving out the demands of multi-platform efforts for the web, mobile devices and emerging media.

To make matters trickier still, all the elements must cohere to one another while allowing for the network to evolve, to grow.

For the first in a series of features looking at the design processes behind network branding, we enlisted the help of Dominique Elliott, Professor of Motion Media Design at SCAD. This summer, Dominique was embedded in the offices of RIOT Atlanta as they worked on launching a new integrated web/TV network called Halogen, going live today in the United States and online. She talked to creative director Jeff Doud about their process and shared her findings with us.

Read the interview here.

Cut&Paste 2009 Global Championships

Photo by Jason Lewis

We’re two days away from the first-ever Cut&Paste Global Championship, taking place this Friday, October 16th, 2009 at The Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC.

The Global Championship will present the same three competition formats that Digital Design Tournament 2009 has featured throughout the 16 cities of its global tour: 2D, 3D, and motion design.

Bent’s Nando Costa Sings a “Whale Song” for Modest Mouse

Nando Costa’s colorful career recently took another interesting turn when he joined Bent Image Lab as a director/partner. The fruit of that union can be tasted in his first project with Bent, a music video for Modest Mouse’s “Whale Song.”

Nando took time to fill us in with loads of juicy behind-the-scenes details, as well as bringing us up to speed on life after Nervo.

Read the feature here.