Although some of his work may be perceived as a bit derivative and/or experimental, I think there is a pretty good exploration of a broad range of skills from shooting, editing, VFX, stop-motion, etc. Another note, which separated his work, is that he seems to have made the compromising decision to put himself in front of the camera as well behind it.
As the Webby Awards’ Officical Film Production Partner, they spent April and May producing these pieces. They opened up the project to all of their studios (New York, LA, Seattle and Chicago) as well as many of their regular, talented collaborators. They also starred in many of them.
I’m on a bit of a posting spree today, but this charming Monster advert conceived by BBDO NY is a wonderful change of pace from our usual postings. It’s a few months old, but it totally slipped by my radar.
Directed by Daniel Kleinman for Rattling Stick with CG from Framestore, “Stork” really feels much more like a short film than a :60 spot. It’s packed with nuance and lush details, but thanks to the pacing and sweeping visuals, it never feels rushed.
The spot’s denouement—the stork encounter—is beautifully realized, thanks in large part to Framestore’s amazing job on the feathered hero. Somehow they managed to pack a human intelligence into his small, dark eyes. As a result, the connection between the protagonist and the bird crackles with potential.
EDIT: The original Vimeo version was replaced with a link to Framestore’s site.
Maybe this is a super-Quickie. Maybe not. All I know is that these four promos for Cuatro’s coverage of the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament from Barcelona-based KOTOC are loads of fun.
Yes, they’re riding the coattails of Iron Man and Transformers, but they successfully capture the energy of those feature films and condense it into power-packed 15-second blasts. And for broadcast promos, these go way above and beyond the call of duty. It’s obvious the KOTOC crew made a personal investment in this project, and I find that level of commitment inspiring.
We don’t usually post industry news like this, but it’s a good excuse for everyone to check out the inspiring and diverse body of work from French directing collective UFO, who recently joined The Ebeling Group’s roster of talent for international representation.
UFO includes some powerhouse directors, like The Holograms, Arthur and Wu Yue, to name only a few. Here’s a menu of selected cuts to get you started:
The final spot in Psyop’s four spot run for the Adidas “Impossible is Nothing” campaign centers on the Chinese Volleyball Association. It rounds out the series nicely, sustaining the level of detail and craftsmanship demanded by the campaign, which was produced via Stink for TBWA\China.
While this spot doesn’t have any surprises up its sleeve, I think it’s a fitting end to an incredibly ambitious run. Psyop managed to consistently bring their designs to life without cutting corners. The result is a series of breathtaking projects that’s as epic as it is intimate.
EDIT: By the way, for those of you attending next week’s Promax/BDA conference here in NYC, be sure to check out Brett Ashy’s session with Psyop on Wednesday, June 19th at 9:00am. I’ll be doing State of Design on Thursday at 2pm, so maybe I’ll see you there.
Sebastian Haslauer and Sebastian Koch lovingly crafted this new music video for phon°noir’s “My Paperhouse On Fire.” The Dada-esque collage style is punctuated throughout by some great typographic moments and a few self-contained vignettes. (The house/child/mother/fire sequence in particular is a nice mini-narrative.)
This intro video for The Girl Effect shows just how powerful concise writing and simple animation can be. It was created for agency W&K Portland and Nike by manvsmagnet (a.k.a. Matt Smithson) of Curious Pictures, whose background in painting, design and motion graphics are all at subtle work here. The variation in framing and layout, the pacing, the slightly mottled shades of white and gray, the decision to animate only a very few elements (but in clever ways)—all speak of a maturity and restraint that I find refreshing.
This is a study in visual perception and cognition as much as it is a study of design. I love that many words are on screen for only a fraction of a second, and yet they are entirely readable. Watching this feels like an internal monologue is being beamed into my head. It’s a pretty compelling experience.
EDIT: I omitted a sentence in the first paragraph after realizing it was unnecessary.
