Mark Webster

Mark Webster's Posts

Pretty, Dead

Jeff Scher’s latest film, “Pretty, Dead”, a faux noir faux feature in that it’s got a feature’s worth of action in the fraction of a feature’s time. Great score from Shay Lynch, one of Scher’s favorites. >>> watch here.

Monday, December 20th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

More TED

More of TED with Trollbäck+Company’s titles for 2010.Watch Here.

Thursday, February 25th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity. A little old but obviously not watched enough times, Sir Ken Robinson’s truly inspiring, intelligent and entertaining talk at TED.

Thursday, February 25th, 2010 | Comments Off

The Little Drummer Boy

Jeff Scher makes a music video for Bob Dylan’s Christmas Album: “The Little Drummer Boy”. All profits from the album go to charity. Bob Dylan & Feeding America.

Thursday, December 10th, 2009 | Comments Off

Nomint joins Strange Beast

Nomint Motion Design sign up with Strange Beast of Passion Pictures

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 | Comments Off

Living Climate Change

Living Climate Change is a devoted space for the most defining design challenge of our time. It’s also a place to support fresh thinking and share provocative ideas about the future.

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Andy Awards

Make your choice for next years jury at the Andy Awards. Vote here

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 | Comments Off

The Animated Life & Work of Jeff Scher

Jeff Scher: I Got My Job Through the NY Times. Short Documentary by Reid Rosefelt.

Jeffery Noyes Scher was born in 1954 and graduated from Bard College in 1976. He has since then made well over one hundred films, mixing both painting, typography, graphic elements and film to create beautifully vibrant and emotionally charged works. Scher draws inspiration from everyday life, he is a poetic observer, a modern day Baudelaire enjoying the limitless boundaries of experimentation. To watch his films, is to engage in a moment of pure emotion and a visual spectacle that has you eager to repeat.

I personally was introduced to his work back in 2007, at the outset of his project for The New York Times. At that time, Scher had been asked to do a series of works in which he was to create one film every month for the TimeSelect column. His first piece, ‘L’Eau Life’ is a colourful display of the pleasures of water, full of joy and utterly playful. Each frame is a painting in itself, 2,141 in all make up the short film.

Twenty four films on, the collection is testament to his untiring ability to express beauty and emotion through the medium of motion. For the release of his latest work, ‘The Shadow’s Dream’, I decided to catch up with him and ask a few questions about the project, his process and his love for early experimental film.

Read the interview here

Friday, October 16th, 2009 | 2 Comments »

The Hyde Tube Festival

The Hyde Tube Festival : All You Need Are Eyes. For anyone in the Paris region next week, The Hyde Tube presents their first festival full of wonder & amazement. Watch the special festival opener dedicated to the jury and find further info here.

Saturday, October 10th, 2009 | Comments Off

Tronic for Comcast

Tronic spot for Comcast

Monday, October 5th, 2009 | 2 Comments »

Imago’s typographic promo for The New York Times

Imago’s typographic promo for The New York Times

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 | 3 Comments »

When Graphic Plays Beyond Narrative

About a week ago, we posted the trailer for “Logorama” by H5. As it spread across the globe, it’s been gaining steam and hitting the festival circuit in a major way.

On that note, we’re delighted to bring you a in-depth review of this piece by Mark Webster (journalist, writer and occasional sound designer). He’s a very knowledgeable and all-around stand-up fellow and we’red please to have this guest contribution from him. Thanks Mark!

There’s been a lot of talk recently about the new animated film, Logorama created and directed by the French design collective, H5. Its particularity, as we all know by now, is that not only does it star the evil killer Ronald McDonald, who is pursued by a bunch of fat Michelin Men cops, it is indeed a film created entirely from logos.

Backgrounds, characters and props are all an incarnation of the pervasive commercial sign, the untouchable symbols of the industrial and financial powers. The film has already been well received by the select few, picking up an award this year at Cannes, screened at onedotzero in London recently and set for a number of international tours in the cultural sector. The particularity of Logorama is of course its road to possible success. It’s fresh, provocative and for some, utterly daring. But the burning question remains. Why the hell did they make a 15 minute animated film using only logos?

(more…)

Thursday, September 24th, 2009 | 2 Comments »