Virgilio Villoresi: John Mayer “Walt Grace’s Submarine Test, January 1967″
Milan-based Virgilio Villoresi uses the pre-cinema technique, ombro cinema, to animate the drawings made by Virginia Mori. Everything was filmed in live-action, no post production effects were employed. Make sure to check out the rest of Virgilio’s charming portfolio.
Spectacle: The Music Video is the first museum exhibition to celebrate the art and history of the music video. This groundbreaking exhibition, curated by Jonathan Wells and Meg Grey Wells of Flux (and RES Magazine fame), explores music video as an important and influential art form in contemporary culture.
The exhibit is a treat for any animator, filmmaker, music lover, or pop culture geek. There’s Michel Gondry’s White Stripes legos, the original drawings from A-ha’s Take On Me, This Too Shall Pass OK GO jump suits, Gangnam Style sans music, and over 300 videos to enjoy on loop. The beautiful exhibit design is by Logan.
After its inaugural run at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati last year, it has landed in New York and will be on view for one more week at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. The Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, check out their hours here.
Here’s hoping Spectacle can tour many more cities and this amazing collection of videos will find a home online.
The music video is one of our favorite mediums at Motionographer. What sets it apart from tv, feature films, musicals, or short films? One significant characteristic is the high percentage of writer-directors. A music video director often writes the treatment himself and leaves a strong, tangible mark on the final product. If film is a symphony, and a television episode is a chamber piece, then a music video is a solo.
The second notable characteristic is the “music” in “music video”. A music video inherently has a relationship with another piece of art and another artist. Sometimes this means you’re getting a hybrid idea that’s the result of a collaboration between the director and the musician. Other times the director is solely responsible for the concept, but the song itself provides a jumping off point. As opposed to short film, where you start with a blank page, a music video starts with a running time, a mood, and lyrics as constraints from which creativity and innovation occur.
Michael Patterson, who created the iconic animation of A-ha’s Take On Me music video shared the following thoughts with us:
Music videos allow artists their individual voices. In the film and entertainment industry, it’s one of the few places where there’s a need for true invention without too much interference. In my experience, music companies and music artists would hope for something new and inspiring when commissioning a video. That expectation was a fantastic motivator for us as directors.
When animating “Take On Me”, we were asked to bring our unique talents to the project. It was a chance for our careers to catch fire and get work out to millions of people. Whether it’s a video, an installation or an interactive experience. People love experiencing original work and a unique vision. This is why this medium will keep growing and developing.
The #VFX conversation continues with the Collider 2013 VFX Town Hall. In-room and live streaming audience members can join us and vote on key issues at 6:00 PM EST, Monday, June 10th.
Montreal-based Renaud Hallée creates music-centered short films and interactive projects. We’ve previously featured Combustion, Gravity and Sonar. In Renaud’s new film, The Clockmakers, trampolinists trigger mesmerizing musical sequences with their acrobatics.
Stunning stop-motion from Chris Randall and Second Home Studios to celebrate the birthday of Pilsner Urquell. It’s exciting to see the work of paper artist Su Blackwell translated into motion.
Nathan Love: Kellogg’s Froot Loops “Carl the King Crab”
3D kings Nathan Love take a fifty-year old Toucan Sam and make him look like a spry young ‘un in their 3D reboot of the Froot Loops brand. The texture and rendering have a fantastic hand-made feel – the deep felty blues in the nephews coats and, wow, that king crab! Credits
The Rube Goldberg machine is a reoccurring gimmick in advertising, but before anyone complains about having “seen it before”, take a look at 1st Ave Machine‘s approach for Panera. The circular loop marries conceptually with the daily bakery cycle. There’s beautiful design and craftsmanship throughout the varied kinetic elements. The camera cuts close on details and back wide again rather than restricting itself to the typical “all-in-one-take” approach. They make a very complicated process look effortless.
4/26/13: Join a one hour round table discussion from the VFX facilities’ points of view. Streaming online here at 1pm Pacific/4pm Eastern/9pm London/9am New Zealand.
Friday, April 26th, 2013 | Comments Off
The Fox And King: 11Eleven
Melbourne-based The Fox And King (aka Glenn Thomas) created these short scenes for the 11Eleven Project. Like some of the projects cited in our recent How To Make Sure You Can Show Work In Your Portfolio feature, the film’s creative eventually went in a different direction. Though they weren’t used in the final documentary, Glenn does have some lovely portfolio pieces to show off his illustration and animation skills.
Ewan Jones Morris creates an animated sci-fi collage of vintage picture books, retro magazines and old science journals for I Chi by Danish psychedelic band Pinkunoizu. Each frame is printed out on a slightly unreliable inkjet printer to accentuate a stop-motion quality.
Also fun is Morris’s collaboration with Casey Raymond for DJ Shadow’s Scale It Back.
Tonight’s the big night, See No Evil’s June event! Join us for an evening of inspiration with VFX aficionado’s, Analog Studio.
Free entry, prizes & good times!
The #VFX conversation continues with the Collider 2013 VFX Town Hall. In-room and live streaming audience members can join us and vote on key issues at 6:00 PM EST, Monday, June 10th.
June 4th is almost upon us which means it’s nearly time for See No Evil’s! This time we are joined by VFX aficionado’s Analog Studio.
Free entry, prizes & good times!
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May 13, 2013
Promotive.tv is focused on showcasing outstanding television marketing and promotions work. Looks interesting.
Pulsing organic forms set against a cosmic backdrop star in the Sci-Fi London Titles directed by Jordi Pages. Music by Combustion.
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The speaker lineup and master classes for Collider look pretty interesting. Who’s going? UPDATE: Motionographer’s Michelle Higa Fox will be on the VFX panel. Use promo code COLLMotion for 10% off.
