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.
Comprised of London VFX veterans Mario Ucci and Rick Thiele, Blacknail Pictures created this stunning piece for Breast Cancer awareness for IBCC via Ogilvy, São Paulo. The simple concept: excuses let Breast Cancer grow.
This visual metaphor could have stopped as a simple typographic solution. However, it ended as visceral and cinematic experience. The beauty of the fluid movement, renders and lighting captivate, allowing for the message to seep into your subconscious.
This labor of love was pulled off by just the two of them (with the support of Passion Pictures) while busy in their day jobs on feature films.
In the latter-day tradition of epic video-game cinematics, we present DJ Hero. Reared with love by Framestore and directed by Marco Puig, DJ Hero is a knock down, drag out grind in CG overdrive. There’s a lot going on, which—depending on your taste—can work for, or against it.
Through a medley of quick cuts and steely beats, Hero has all the trappings of an action movie—gushing with testosterone, and unabashedly fetishizing explosions and getaway tractor-trailers. The whole shebang kicks off like a DJ set—mix-matching and beat-juggling through an evolving cast of rogue characters and sticky situations.
The look is industrial, borrowed from the classic fusion of sci-fi and grit—popularized by films like Blade Runner. Through a loose narrative and several character face-offs, the piece crescendos with a throng of break-dancers, as the DJ—our master of ceremonies and resident “Hero”—spins a record or two in a celebratory close.
Shot on a Phantom, you ask? Nope. With just a little over 2 weeks from concept to delivery, Onesize had to think outside the 7000 fps box. Enter photographer Jasper Faber and two flashlights.
That’s right, it’s all photography camera mapped in 3D. To deal with the tight turnaround, Onesize brought in production company Revolver, to help produce the shoot, while Onesize stayed focused on the heavy post efforts. The 3D was executed using mainly Cinema 4D and 3D Studio Max.
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.
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.
Anthony F. Schepperd’s “Wail To God” is a subversion of conventional animation. Suffused with an unorthodox style reminiscent of Bill Plympton, viewers are jolted by constant shifts in perspective, while the uncanny non-narrative plays out with a graceful continuity.
In “Wail To God,” there are none of the usual clichés. The darting changes in scale, color, and motion are freakishly cool, while the loose and frenetic line-work—moving with the ferocity of brush-fire—add another layer of unpolished appeal.
The style—or experimental risks—in “Wail To God” may not be for everybody, but in my opinion, they’re highly refreshing.
DirecTV’s Design Space partnered with VFX company Iron Claw (Sean Koriakin and Greg Talmage), director Ben Mor from RSA Films and DP Dariusz Wolski (Pirates of the Carribean, Alice in Wonderland) to create this foreboding promo for DirecTV’s exclusive broadcast of Friday Night Lights.
Everything was shot on green screen, with the only practical elements in the entire piece being the actors, house facade and pickup truck. The simplicity of the concept allows for the subtle details and beautiful lighting to take center stage and really pack in the emotion and anticipation.
A hip short created by another crop of brilliant students at Gobelins by the names of Rémi Bastie, Jean-Baptiste Cumont, Clément Desnos, Jonathan Djob Nkondo and Nicolas Pegon. A cute idea that is carried along by energetic Flash animation, which seems to be a focus that is growing in popularity at Gobelins. Maybe we can look forward to a rise in flash animation quality for film and television in the coming years if this trend continues.
Not to mention that this is another short produced entirely at Wizz Design who helped produce another short, Flying V: Virgile, earlier this year.
This one’s got a bit of the old ultra-violence, so be fore-warned. It’s all in a good bit of fun, though. No-one truly gets hurt. Videogioco, which means videogame in Italian, combines 2D drawings and flipbook-style action with a stop-motion filming process for a really unique, new take on a cartoon, action fighting sequence. The character (well, really just a part of him) moves across the paper getting stabbed, cut, hit, swallowed and kicked through the air only to be finally re-united with his body for a closing punch. The ending loops back to the beginning scene, starting the whole process, and cycle of violence, over again. Brilliant! Kudos to the makers of this amazing short.
Animation and Concept by Donato Sansone
Sound Design by Enrico Ascoli
Laika: A dynamic font. Watch here and test here. Cool! Made for their Bachelor Thesis by Michael Flückiger and Nicolas Kunz, Hochschule der Künste Bern 2009.
