London-based directing collective, Mini Vegas, not only works on animation projects; they also do computer programming and run their own art gallery. To bring all this together, they took the programming experience they gained from working on experimental projects, such as advanced beauty, combined it with their design and animation skills and forged it into a real-time virtual version of a physical gallery space.
In this installation-like piece, the user can interact with sound driven sculptures of several forms. There are old friends like metaballs, particle systems, simulations and more. Those generative 3D elements make up the nice, rainbow-coloured, neo-futuristic shapes we all love so much.
This is all based on a custom made software architecture with quite some nice technical specs such as 60fps playback, dualcore, GPU based, OpenGL and FFT to drive the graphics from the audio — all the nerdy acronyms you want.
With computer hardware becoming increasingly faster, the final conclusion would be to completely scrap the traditional workflow of rendering in passes and just do everything in real time. Computer games already go that route, with impressing results. It will be very interesting to see this technology merging into the animation sector.
Dublin-based directing team, D.A.D.D.Y., has once again laid there quirky hand on an unlikely brand. In association with Mother, London and Blink Ink, they’ve created four fake, animated PSAs for the “British Biscuit Advisory Board” (Rocky Biscuits) to promote safe biscuit-eating practices.
Different is a gorgeous new film by Alchemy in Toronto for the Girl Guides of Canada and agency john st.. It features stop-motion animation of paper-cut out characters with terrific lighting and inventive transitions from scene-to-scene. I found it a real joy to watch. The ultra-cute character design and illustrations are by noted illustrators Nathan Jurevicius and Andrea Kang via Lunch.
Explore by Hayley Morris is another film for Girl Guides that combines stop-motion, paper animation and cel-animation into a sweet, personal narrative that encourages girls to get outside, and to interact with each other and turn off their televisions. The playful, craft-filled world is both tactile and charming. Nicely done!
Keith Schofield continues to battle it out with structure in his latest video for Lenny Kravitz & J.U.S.T.I.C.E, “Let Love Rule” via El Nino Productions. When a film ends, Keith’s is just beginning. The end-credit sequence becomes the bed for a tale in which the scrolling text becomes the main character’s antagonist.
Minneapolis broadcast design & animation studio Motion504 coined the main titles for the AICP Show, The Art & Technique of the American Commercial, by paying a visit to a dark and unassuming steampunk-style type foundry. In the manner of Victorian craftsmanship, the title sequence introduces each reception sponsor through the invented art of “moving type” by the means of various 19th century widgets.
Opening at the storefront of the fictional Verne Bros. Kinetic Type Company, the title ushers in a cinematic tone, as inside, we meet the elderly protagonist. At the crack of dawn, working fervently, the man opens the shop for business. While the operations of the shop remain a mystery, kinetic type gadgets curiously come to life. Jingling and rattling, the inconceivable gizmos introduce the names of each AICP reception sponsor, one by one.
MTV has found a good thing, and they’re sticking to it. For the third year in a row, they’ve tapped LA-based Prologue to create the graphics package for their colossal Video Music Awards show.
Directed by Ilya Abulhanov, the condensed sans-serif type and annotated landscapes of the VMA 2009 package build upon the look Ilya established for the OFFF 2009 titles. In the VMA 2009 package, though, the landscape is alive, modifying itself in subtle but surreal ways.
Gigantic telescoping streetlights and strings of gondolas adorn the familiar skyline of New York City, creating a panoply of mechanical transformations that seem to be a literalization of Rem Koolhaus’ vision of a “delirious New York.” Ilya’s split-screen moments create dizzying multiplications of the city, piling density upon density.
I’m reminded a little of Rob Chiu and Chris Hewitt’s titles for Offf New York. Ben “HECQ” Lukas Boysen did a masterful job sound designing both projects, creating a wild mix of tension and wonder that is driven as much by pockets of poignant silence as it is by the tightly controlled cacophony of the city.
Not so long back, commercials for seats of higher learning were composed of shots of the less scruffy bits of a campus, where clean-cut bright young things sat cross-legged on the grass sipping lattes and trading opinions on Nietzche and nebulas. Or maybe there’d be a chemistry lab shot of eager lab coated nerds heating up bubbling potions in test tubes. Either way, higher education commercials have never offered mographers the chance to flex their Wacom honed muscles, until now…
Blackfish, charged by Ogilvy & Mather have created a storming romp through a bizzarist’s take on life after graduation from HEC (Apparently Europe’s no.1 business school). From first person perspective we watch as our hero burns a trail through the job market, vanquishing all that stands in his way, all within a blown-up musical-esque stagescape.
I love this spot because it essentially pokes a lot of fun at the very thing it’s advertising without denigrating it in any way. We arrive at the end of the spot having sold malls to martians, proving that for HEC graduates the sky is no limit! The film also assumes that aspiring business students must have a cracking sense of humour, which is something I was thus far un-aware of…
From Vinicius: “For this spot I decided to represent high definition in a different way using light, contrast and colors.” No doubt! As with his other work, there’s endless playful, loving details lighting up the environment around them – hopping notes on the turntable, the mixing board faders amidst the vinyl records, the sonic mountains, the dimensionality of the other worlds through the Zune window, to name a few.
Dominoes by Wyld Stallyons is great new short film for the World Wildlife Fund that aims to encourage people to become activists for environmental change. The simple premise is well told through the metaphor of a domino that individual characters use to send their message. Great illustration, character design and animation and a lovely soundtrack top it off.
Yann Benedi and Céline Desrumaux animated and directed the film for Wyld Stallyons in just over three weeks. Céline was one of the film-makers who made Yankee Gal at Supinfocom in 2008, and Yann Benedi made Gary there in the same year. Both films are worth checking out if you haven’t yet seen them.
Built atop the repertoire of his work with Passion Pictures for the Gorillaz, director Pete Candeland’s buzz reached a fever pitch with the indelible Rock Band cinematic for The Beatles.
In “Happy Kingdom” for Coke Zero, Candeland delivers the goods again and lines the court with a rich cast of characters plucked straight from medieval times. Chock-full of pizazz, “Happy Kingdom” is a spectacle— a dazzling array of eye-candy that embodies the directors flair for extravagance and lavish aesthetics into an eclectic parody of fairy-tale clichés.
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.
Schoolmates Björn Simonsen, Sebastian Metz and Dennis Weil wrapped up their studies and simultaneously launched We Can Dance studio with this magical spot for Vividbeans.
