Call For Submissions: onedotzero

This is just a friendly reminder to get your submissions to onedotzero before Friday, May 29th. Do it!

Christopher Hendryx: Oxygen

If my chemistry classes had been as exciting and entertaining as this short by Christopher Hendryx, I’d probably be in a different profession today.

“Oxygen,” created as Christopher’s thesis for the Computer Animation program at the Ringling College of Art & Design, tells the adventures (and frustrations) of little Oxygen trying to make friends at Element-ary school. It’s a lovely piece of storytelling, taking a dry and otherwise uninteresting subject and turning it into a funny and engaging narrative.

I’m loving the hilarious voice over. The animation is filled with little details (my favorite are the little electrons floating outside the characters), and the subtle sound design really gives the feeling of being back to school.

Who knew Oxygen could be such an outcast?

Newport Beach Film Festival Titles

Elastic/A52 presents the opening titles for the 10th Annual Newport Beach Film Festival. If not for its wonderful design and execution alone, this referential journey should have a special place for those of you who grew up geeking out on animated logo sequences, even before the titles.

As an homage, Elastic cleverly deconstructs some of the most classic, animated studio preludes and flips them on their heads. This thing is firing on ALL cylinders.

Credits

Gravity: Pelephone “Canons”

As a follow up to their previous spot for Israeli telecom company Pelephone, Gravity teamed up with director Eli Sverdlov on another spot full of charm and cheer for agency Adler Chomski & Warshavsky/Grey Israel.

Like “Other World,” “Canons” is reminiscent of director Rupert Sanders‘ penchant for magical realism, but with a decidedly campy twist. The saturated visuals and grin-worthy denouement suggest an alternate reality of storybook proportions, the kind of place that could just as easily fit in a snow globe as it could in your imagination.

I like that level of approachability for something so surreal. It’s a difficult thing to master in 60 seconds of airtime.

Google’s Chrome Shorts

Google has just launched a YouTube page with 11 short films to promote the launch of their new web browser, Chrome. Similar to BNS’s ‘Feature Films’ for VW back in ‘05, these quirky, non-literal films highlight some of the browser’s best features. Google also managed to curate quite a diverse group of films and creators for this project.

Here is a full list of the contributors and their films:
Steve Mottershead: Defenders in Tights
Christoph Nieman: You and Your Browser
Open: Features List
Motion Theory: Google Chrome
Go Robot: Dr. Squirrel’s Lab
Lifelong Friendship Society: Caged Rage 3: Binary Budokan
Hunter Gatherer: Door
Pantograph: The Evolution of Simple
Superfad: Chromance
Jeff & Paul: Collaborate with the Whole Wide World
Default Office: 9-5 8.5×11

To echo a constantly recurring theme in my recent posts; this is yet another example of web-based content allowing director’s play. As the range of creative broadens online, let’s just hope the budgets start to catch up with those of it’s terrestrial siblings.

I’ll update this post as more info comes in…

Takeuchi Taijin: Wolf and Pig

This wildly entertaining stop-motion project speaks for itself. It’s a testament to the potent combo of narrative and hard work.

Big ups to Stephan Dube for the tip!

Dvein: F5 Titles

Dvein has consistently blown my mind with their diverse and staggeringly awesome body of work. When they agreed to create the title sequence for F5, I actually felt bad for them. I thought, “This is too much pressure. The expectations are too high.”

But that didn’t deter them. Not one bit.

I recommend going full screen for the optimal experience. QuickTime version here.

Dvein were intent on creating a title sequence that reflected F5’s speakers, something that captured some hidden aspect of each person. They explain their approach:

When we were invited to make the F5 titles, we wanted them match the eclectic spirit of the conference. The idea was to get the soul of the speakers into the titles in some way.

We asked each speaker to name five objects that inspire them or has something to do with their work. We received all kinds of answers—really interesting objects that gave us a great starting point: wind turbines, microscopes, lights, smoke, lamb rib cage, French bulldog…

The speakers didn’t know what their answers would be used for, but they were the seed for our story. In this way, all the speakers added their bit. There is not a unique authorship but rather a multiple collaboration.

I know I sound like a broken record, but I have to send my deepest gratitude to the entire Dvein team for creating such a wonderful title sequence. Again, there was zero budget. They did this because they love challenging themselves, and they believed in the vision of F5.

Antfood deserves big props for providing the music and sound design. Like the visuals, the soundtrack is a brilliant blend of analog and digital.