SL Co cut it for Nova

Another Nova spot here, this time from the French animation house SL Co. I love the mixture of hand made inky textures and 3D. The spot is dark and bizarre and it took several repeat viewings to grasp everything that’s going on, which is no bad thing in my book. As far as i can gather, the end type translates to ‘Folk music, how to dissect the human with just a micorphone’. If i got this wrong can any French readers please post the correct translation in ‘comments’. Merci bien.

Cassiano Prado ‘in Berlin’

New director Cassiano Prado has directed this stunning video for the band Electralane, for their track ‘In Berlin’.

The promo is an emotional tour de force, mixing live action and cg sequences to create a piece which is quite unlike anything I’ve seen before.

I’m not sure, but it seems to me that Cassiano is playing with visual metaphors for loss, death and finality. The melting ice, shattering glass and tortured animated figure seem to allude to a mind tormented by dark memories and relationships past. There’s actually something quite gothic-romantic about this, reflected in the lighting, grade and slow live-action camera tracks.

It seems to me that Cassiano hasn’t felt pressured to be too ‘clever clever’ with this promo. Sequences just move simply one into another in a relaxed un-apologetic way. This kind of frees the moving image up and allows the emotion in the track to rise to the surface.

I can’t wait to see what Cassiano does next…

Credits:

Electrelane – In Berlin – 4’05″
Label: Too Pure / Beggars
Production Company: emenes GmbH / Nois.tv

Director: Cassiano Prado (www.cassiano.tv)
Assistant Director: Andrezza Valentin, Alfredo Hisa
Producer: Tupaq Felber, Alex Carvalho, Marko Zawadzki, Nick Grgic
Art Director: Andrezza Valentin
Designer: Mario de Toledo-Sader
Editor: Cem Kaya
DoP: Alex Carvalho, Liz Smith
Sound fx: Paulo Beto

3D Supervisor: Jerome Haupert
3D Modeling, Render, Lightning: Jerome Haupert
3D Character animation: Alfredo Takashi Hisa
Particles Generating: Shaun Yue
Compositing: Cassiano Prado

Making Of: Gün Aydemir
Stylist: Zoe Holborough
Stylist Assistant: Fernanda Forlani
Set Designer: Cara Brower
Make-Up: Alma-Kori Felber
Hair: Nicky Rea
Set Assistants: Fernando Giantaglia, Pedro
Location: Electrewerks
Props (Mirrors): Bad Lambs

Lobo for Zune

Now I know this isn’t the first Zune related post we’ve made here at Motionographer towers, far from it. But before you groan, close your browser and go and do some work (God forbid) this is a Zune project with a difference…

Zune have charged Brazil based mograph impresarios Lobo with the task of creating this film which will be pre-loaded and live on every new Zune purchased, from here on in.
“The goal of the animation was to express the experience of sharing through innovative design and irreverence. When you give, it will eventually come back to you”, so stated by Lobo’s press release.

When i first saw this, i wondered whether it missed some of the eclecticism and anarchism i tend to associate with Lobo’s work. In short, i never know what to expect from them. And i love this about them. But then it struck me: Here’s a piece that has to speak to all consumers, in all markets, transcend all language barriers and communicate the essence of what Zune stands for. Now that’s a huge ask, and i think Lobo have pulled it off in fine style.

On my first viewing I ‘got’ radio, music, sharing and connectivity. And i think this pretty much sums it up (Please anyone let me know if I’ve missed any finer points of the intended messaging).

I think this project and the whole Zune venture sums up the huge leaps of faith (and cash) Microsoft have been willing to motion graphics and its ability as a medium to communicate their message. And that’s good news for all of us…

Thanks to Armando for the tip!

Cut & Paste ’07 wraps in Sydney this Saturday

Interactive design tournament ‘Cut & Paste’ wraps this year in Australia, with the final bout taking place at The Metro Theatre in Sydney this Saturday, 17th November. For those not in the know, Cut & Paste pits designer against designer over three, fifteen minute rounds. Competitors are given themes a week in advance and are allowed to bring ‘approved objects’ with them to the fight (Has anyone ever thought of bringing pepper spray to blind their opponents?). Designers then basically dump their creative load into their laptops until the clock strikes 15 and the judges vote on who’s da best (Helped by screams from a well lubricated audience presumably).

Although I’m slightly weary of turning design into a competition, (I think I’d probably submit a blank screen as some sort of half-assed protest…and lose) the tournament gives punters the unique opportunity to see the workings, rubbings-out and re-workings of first-rate digital practitioners live on screen. To check-out assembled talent for the Sydney, visit their website. And hopefully Saturday night will prove once and for all that when it comes to a design duel, the ‘Wacom’ pen is mightier than the sword (That was awful)…

Orie Weeks enchanting promo for Blitzen Trapper

Ladies and Gentlemen, take your seats and pray silence, please, for the new promo by director Orie Weeks for Blitzen Trapper and their blinding new single, ‘Wild Mountain Nation’.

Orie, formerly a gigging drummer, met the band Blitzen Trapper on the circuit in Portland Oregon. Although Orie’s fortunes took him off to the Art Institute of Portland, he remained good friends with the band.

Always a fan of Blitzen Trapper’s music, Orie decided to bring his new moving image skills back to the gig venues and started to film the band live. An interest in camera work soon saw Orie getting his teeth into editing and ‘image manipulation’, the results of which can be seen in this video. Orie sights Terry Gilliam as a huge influence, professing to having fallen in love with the surreal animation sections Gilliam realised during his Monty Python years. And this influence is abundantly obvious throughout this promo. Rye visual puns like the anvils with wings or members of the band playing on Saturn’s rings take me right back to my student days watching Python in a smoky West-Midlands living room.

Firstly, the track is an absolute belter. It really reminds me of Tom Petty and particularly his stint with The Travelling Wilburys. It’s infectious right from the first listen. Secondly, I’m absolutely enchanted by Orie’s work. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s something so relaxed and yet so confident about this promo. His animations are naïve, which is a real breath of fresh air in this era of ‘Whizz-bang’. But his compositions are beautifully put together and take me from one place to the next in a totally un-forced way. You kind of come to the end of this promo feeling relaxed and happy, not like you’ve been dragged at light speed through someone’s entire bag of tricks. And I think that’s just it, it doesn’t feel like Orie is trying to impress us, he’s just inviting us along for the ride.

Sehsucht inject music into the blood

Hamburg based motion house Sehsucht have created the mesmerising spot ‘Symphony in Red’ for Konzerthaus Dortmund through the agency Jung von Matt. There isn’t a direct link to a QT, but click here to go through to their site and a link to the flash movie appears on the front page. Or you can download a rather large zip file they’ve supplied here.

Jung von Matt approached Sehsucht with the brief, ‘Liquid Blood’ and as luck would have it their director Niko Tziopanos had just spent a semester with his design students experimenting with ‘Ink as medium and form for animation’. From the outset the decision was made to film liquid in water as opposed to using Realflow or similar software, as the team felt most inspiration from working with the natural medium.

The shoot took place in the less than opulent surroundings of the vestibule in the WC at the Sehsucht studio. A small aquarium was set up and the team spent a good deal of R&D team testing oils, inks and playing with the water consistency by introducing washing-up liquid.

Now, I know the approach is not a new one and many film students / motion houses have created some work using similar techniques. But the results Sehsucht have come up with are in an altogether different class to anything I’ve seen created in this way before. What struck me first was the bind between the music by Fazil Say and the pace and movement Sehsucht achieve. There is a definite evolution to the piece that is based upon the three acts of ‘exposition, confrontation and epilogue’ that Sehsucht drew from Fazil’s music. I find the in-camera results, particularly the lighting in the liquid to be absolutely exquisite. The liquid formation and dissolution of the typography is again, straight out of the top drawer. As you’ll see, the team do introduce CG elements into the piece such as the human form appearing near the end, but they fit so seemlessly into the spot that it’s almost impossible to tell them apart from the in-camera work.

Director: Niko Tziopanos
Art Direction: Alexander Heyer and Martin Hess
Camera: Bea Wellenbrock , Alex Heyer and Valentin Heun
2D Compositing (AE): Niko Tziopanos , Alex Heyer and Martin Hess
3D: Niko Tziopanos
Rotoscoping: Bea Wellenbrock
Producer: Andereas Coutsoumbelis
Executive Producer: Martin Woelke

Celyn for Ben & Jerry’s

Nexus Productions director Celyn has created this enchanting 30 second TVC for Ben & Jerry’s through Paris based agency, Leg. Production time was around 5 weeks and the creative was very much a collaboration between Celyn and the agency. Leg came to Celyn with an initial storyboard and animatic, which he developed further. He then set about character design in his inimitable fashion before beginning production.

Celyn was very hands-on during the production process, animating elements such as the van, photographers and crowd. He and his small team have succeeded in creating a charming spot which, in the final shot, superbly manages to depict crowd chaos without seeming messy or cluttered. I put this down to a really clever use of colour palette and composition. I particularly like the two chefs running with their massive spoon. There’s something very Python-esque about the way they hop.