onedotzero_adventures in motion 2011

This year’s onedotzero_adventures in motion looks like it’s going to be an event to remember. Confirmed artists so far include Michel Gondry, Edouard Salier, Daniels, Yoann Lemoine, Takahiro Yasuda and more.

onedotzero_adventures in motion kicks off at BFI Southbank, London on November 23–27, followed by an international tour. Full details on the onedotzero site.

Mikey Please: TV on the Radio’s “Second Song”

This one came out back in April as part of TV on the Radio’s feature film for Nine Types of Light, but I’m still loving the character design and in-camera practical effects. Mikey Please takes his papercrafting wizardry and shows he can smartly (and beautifully) integrate other styles in his music video for TV on the Radio’s “Second Song”. (Hat tip to @tinyinventions.)

Credits

AICP Southwest 2011 Sponsor Reel

Dallas-based Element X Creative garners a trainload of nostalgia for the AICP Southwest Awards Show with their 2011 Sponsor Reel.

Through a mixture of blood, sweat, miniatures and CG, the Element X team “came together to write, storyboard, model, texture, shoot, rig, animate, composite and edit the final [5-minute] product” in short order. Four weeks, to be exact.

Of course, the storyline echoes several other time-rigging plots in popular science fiction media (e.g., two Back to the Future Easter eggs), but in this rendition, hitching a ride through Element X’s innocent world of special relativity makes sitting through a usually long drawn-out list of sponsor logos feel like it’s passing at the speed of light.

Element X was kind enough to elaborate on the development from beginning to end — nuts, bolts, and tools. Check out the process in their own words after the jump.

Process + Credits

Saam Farahmand: Soulwax: Machine Trailer NSFW

Saam is back with “Machine” for Belgian electronic pioneers Soulwax, creating a truly unique interpretation of the ethos behind the audio-visual-obsessional-onslaught that is the Radio Soulwax App. This is a definite NSFW.

Definitely very sexy, and extraordinarily well executed. It’s admirable to see a director that’s pushing the personal work and promos harder and harder. Whether the full “journey” of the melted vinyl is taking the limits of taste a bit too far is really down to personal discretion, but when artists jump on projects like this, and work without boundaries, it’s great to see someone bold enough to create films at this level that test the limits.

Credits

Evelyn Evelyn “Have You Seen My Sister Evelyn”

This playful promo for Evelyn Evelyn’s “Have You Seen My Sister Evelyn” directed by Hoku Uchiyama is a great way to kick off (or cap off, for those in more advanced timezones) your Friday.

Thanks to Raleigh Stewart for the tip.

Credits

Work/Life: PandaPanther on parenting, work and creating amazing spit

We’ve come to know NYC-based PandaPanther for their playful, character-driven work. Since 2006, Jonathan Garin and Naomi Nishimura have directed casts of colorful creatures on battlefields, dance floors and ethereal dreamscapes. Their latest effort, a game promo for Activision’s Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure (see above), continues their tradition of fashioning fantastical flights of fancy that brim with delightful details.

But instead of going behind the scenes for that production, we wanted to go behind the scenes of their personal lives. Jonathan and Naomi aren’t just business partners, they’re parents. They’ve created a lifestyle that attempts to integrate raising a kid with growing a studio.

Jonathan was kind enough to pull back the curtain, so to speak, and get real about work/life.

How did you and Naomi meet?

We had mutual friends and officially met when we worked together as freelancers back in 2003. We hit it off during the Pictoplasma festival in Berlin in 2004. Been together ever since.

How did the decision to start PandaPanther come about, and how was it when you were just starting out? Can you share a few key moments in those early years?

Initially, we just needed a name or identity we could use when we worked on projects together, as we were starting out with personal projects. We wanted to be able to get totally immersed in an identity bigger than just a literal name or place, so PandaPanther came about because it represented both of us together in a different dimension.

A big moment was leaving freelance and deciding not to take any more bookings. Around that time Naomi and I were at the bank setting up an account for PandaPanther when her phone rang. It was a producer inquiring about her availability, but she turned it down and when asked why, she told them she actually had started a new company and was no longer taking freelance bookings.

Read on →

Passion Pictures: Red Bull Music Academy World Tour

If you’ve got a month-long tour of events spanning from Berlin to Toronto, from Melbourne to Detroit, how do you visually convey the magnitude of the event? How about hiring a whole team of artists to collaborate on a mixed-media hommage that moves from city to city, hopping from style to style, to reflect the range of locations and music they’re celebrating, while Sammy Bananas seamlessly provides the soundtrack?

For the 2011 Red Bull Music Academy World Tour, Mother New York and Passion Pictures created a short tribute for each of the 10 cities. Led by Pete Candeland, the talented team of directors blended 2D, 3D, stop-motion, photography, illustration and CG. I’m most impressed with the many co-directors and art directors that got credited and the creative freedom to run with their respective sections.

An interesting model for sure, and it sounds like they had a lot of fun as well. Read on for some insight into the process.

Antoine Bardou Jacquet + The Mill: Müller “Wünderful Stuff”

Partizan’s Antoine Bardou Jacquet directed “Wünderful Stuff,” a comically epic spot for yogurt brand Müller and agency TBWA\London. The Mill slam-dunked the VFX work, making me wish I’d been one of those lucky pedestrians caught in the hail of magical yogurt.

From The Mill’s blog:

The biggest challenge faced by our VFX team was the integration of the cartoon characters into each scene, especially the “splat” sequence. Richard continues, “Each character had to still feel cartoon and graphic-like, whilst actually be part of the shot. The splat shots consisted of a live action plate, real fruit shot at high speed against blue screen and of course, the 2D cell animation. The animators, after taking our timings and position of each character, created a very clever morph which literally unfolded each figure into the shot. This helped us create a seamless transition from bureaucrat to Mr Man.”

Thanks to Josh Spool for the nudge.

Motion Plus Design: “What is Motion Design?”

I’m pretty sure my mom still doesn’t know exactly what I do. Mom, if you’re reading this, please watch the video above (French version here). It gives a nice overview of motion design with a healthy dose of history thrown in for context.

But that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Paola Boileau and Kook Ewo, who edited the video, are using it to raise awareness for a project they’re leading in Paris. I picked Kook’s brain for some more details, and here’s what he had to say.

Even though this information is on the Motion Plus Design website, can you tell me in a couple sentences what you are trying to achieve? What’s the goal of your project?

Our main goal is to open the world of motion design to the public. The little film you watched is the first step: We tried to define what motion design is and we tried to say it in a very clear way.

The second step is to create a center dedicated to the motion design world, a place where people can discover, meet and learn. The entry will be free and we will set up monthly exhibitions dedicated to an artist, a studio or a theme. We would also keep a section for exhibiting other artists (photographers, graphic designers, typographers, small editors … ) so people from different worlds would cross in the center.

We want to do that in Paris right now, but we would also LOVE to help that happen in other countries/cities …

Why do you feel this project is important?

We think motion design is not considered at its right level now. This art form is creatively exploding. It is very important for us to consider that right now and not wait until all these brilliant artists are dead to be exhibited.

We want these artists to share their knowledge, their reflections, their analogies with other arts; we want these artists to meet people who love their work, and we want to try to define more and more what motion design is. Also, it can be very encouraging for young people to have a place to build and share their passion.

Are you asking for donations?

No, we won’t ask for any personal donations. Money will come from public or private sponsorship. One or another will be fine with us as long as long as we are 100% free to exhibit who we want.

Who will curate and manage the museum space?

Paola and I will curate the center. We’ll also need at least four people to organize sessions, keep the place open and do artist interviews.

Good luck to you guys!

Mikey Please: Seven Legs

Dragonframe software updates to 3.0 with Seven Legs, a stunning new promo from Mikey Please. A welcome treat while we’re waiting for The Eagleman Stag to make its online debut.