McBess Wood [NSFW]

Superstar Illustrator McBess teamed up with Simon, their mates and the Mill to churn out this gorgeous music video for their own band, The Dead Pirates.

The characters featured are drawn in his signature style and animated flawlessly. They might remind you a bit of the Gorillaz Feel Good Inc. video, which I must say is about the best company to be in. The whole piece is visually beautiful in its reduced colour palette and soft shadows, and at the same time it tells a cool story that ties in with the music perfectly.

Editor’s note: Bits at the end of this video might be deemed not safe for work.

Soy Tu Aire

This used to be a quickie, but I feel it touches on something that is important for this industry. One of the biggest talking points for many of the presenters at F5 this year was that the future of this business lies in interactivity.

With technology now opening up new arenas for motion design to be utilized, we are in the beginning steps of branching out from the television and into everyday space. Granted this piece is still built around the internet, but it is an amazing example of how much more powerful our work becomes when a viewer can actually interact with it.

The elements to play with are very simple, yet this is an incredibly engaging piece that keeps the viewer fixed for the entire song. And in a time when 15-second viral videos barely retain our attention, that’s pretty remarkable. Regardless of what you think about the aesthetics of this piece, I think it reflects the exciting prospects of where our industry is headed.

Watch “Soy Tu Aire”

Conception and Direction: HerraizSoto & Co.
Programming: badabing!
Animation: Jossie Malis

Related articles about interactivity and motion design:

• The New Lingua Franca
• Infinite Oz “Tin Man”
• Two More Envelope Pushers

Buck Dews it Again

Buck is back again with another installment for their Mountain Dew campaign. This one brings us through a brief history of the product as we follow a Dew man journey through time. Although the concept has become a bit used and abused, Buck dusts it off with their own personal style.

Utilizing cel animation on top of live action and 3d models for reference, Buck brought in Brooklyn based animation house Augenblick Studios to help out with the extensive cel work that needed to be done.

Here is what Orion Tait, CD at Buck NYC had to say about the process:

Footage was used as an animation guide for the main character. Augenblick studios animated the main character,
and our team did the rest (as a hybrid of 2d cel and 3d animation). For the character, we shot Thomas on a treadmill and constructed an edit. We then illustrated style-frames based on stills from that edit (which you can see up on the site).

The edit and style frames then went to Aaron and his team for cel animation. They are very traditional in their approach, which you can really see from their work on superjail. They used the footage as reference to layout key frames, and then started closing the gap with in-betweens, until they got to a fluid 30fps animation. This allowed them to nail the timing and loose look of the illustration and introduce the morphing animation, all while maintaining nice fluid, stylish animation that most rotoscoping lacks.

With every new project Buck releases, they establish themselves as the masters of the pop illustration domain as well as a studio with a knack for high quality production.

Credits

Psyop: HP / Garnett

Psyop follows up their HP Maestro work with another cinematic, refined look from their LA shop starring Kevin Garnett. Though visually much simpler, this piece introduces some of the narrative that GSP classically brought to their run of work with Motion Theory. These scripts pushed that one step further by breaking into “multiple-locations” versus the floating-hands approach of the past.

It’s a shame KG didn’t made it far enough to have this one trail an Eastern-Conference Finals appearance. Sorry Boston.

Credits

Mr. Hide Merges Man, Machine & Nature for Prius

Mr. Hide and The Sweet Shop have created a fantastical human-scape in this recent spot for Prius via Saatchi & Saatch, LA. For his first spot outside of the Japanese market, Hide brings a strong sense of humanity and visually arresting nuance.

This ambitious testament to the detail-oriented Director is supported by an Art Department and Production team who enlisted 200 extras in 269 costumes to build this cleverly choreographed world. This one is meant to be watched more than once.

On a side note, Mr. Hide’s feature, Donju is set to premier at Cannes.

Credits

Supinfocom: Cafe Serre

School’s out at Supinfocom, and the end of year projects keep rolling in. Everything we’ve seen so far is astounding, and “Café Serré” only adds to the school’s already imposing reputation.

Created by Vincent E Sousa, Bertrand Avril, Yann de Préval and Denis Bouyer, the film ticks along with a series of brilliant sight gags that fit together like a finely crafted puzzle—all with just two characters and a single set.

I love the lighting in the establishing shots. Drink in the architectural details of the interior and the soft interplay of light on its various surfaces. Lovely.

The camera work, while mostly stationary, moves the story forward with confidence, using simple two-shots, close-ups and some subtle rack-focus to keep the action tight in the frame.

“Café Serré” was made for the Canal J Contest, created five years ago. Its participants are all from French Animation Schools, so you know the competition is stiff. This year, 7 schools participated, contributing 54 different short films. You can see the other competitors here.

Want more? Check out this selection of work from other Supinfocom students:

• Machu Picchu Post
• From the Hoop
• Gary
• Yankeegal

Buck: Coke “Unbelievable Song”

If Jack Black did a modern rendition of the Yogi Bear cartoons I watched as a kid, it might come out something like Buck’s hugely ambitous “Unbelievable Song” for Coke Zero and Wieden+Kennedy.

The spot was actually completed well over a year ago, but it was shelved until recently, when it was allowed to air in Brazil.

Don’t miss the beautiful (and frequently hilarious) concept art on Buck’s project page.