Aaron Stewart: VH1 Classic “Jingle Bells”

Ex-Hornet friends Mixtape Club and director Aaron Stewart teamed up to create this twisted take on “Jingle Bells” for Vh1 Classic.

Credits

Special Guest/Aaron Duffy: McDonald’s “Wake Up”

Special Guest’s Aaron Duffy directs this lively bean-centric spot for McDonald’s and Leo Burnett

Looking Thru the B-Sides

Looking Thru the B-Sides is a stop-action trip down the rabbit hole that is Golden Lucky’s collective brain. Just watching this short film feels like a mind-altering experience that’s probably illegal in at least 37 states.

What starts as a simple keystone cops premise quickly spins into a tripped out odyssey through colorful landscapes and multiple animation techniques. Despite the visual twists and turns, Looking Thru the B-Sides holds its narrative arc firmly in tact—and that’s what keeps this charmer rolling right along.

The short’s conclusion is as unexpected as the rest of the film and functions as a brilliant neon cherry on top of this electric kool-aid sundae.

Looking Thru the B-Sides was created for Fuel TV, who gave Saiman Chow and the rest of the Golden Lucky crew a wide open brief. Kudos to them for supporting such a fun project.

Head over to the Golden Lucky site for some nice process imagery.

Credits

Hayley Morris for Joker’s Daughter

Lovely hand-made visuals in this music video for Joker’s Daughter from Curious Pictures’ Hayley Morris

Santa Maria: Ronald McDonald House

Hornet Inc.’s Santa Maria built a mixed media playground for the Ronald McDonald House and agency Leo Burnett in this 2’38″ spot.

2D, 3D, stop-action, claymation, practical, digital—there’s just about everything in here. My favorite moments are the bursts of cheerful, hand-hewn type.

I’m fairly certain folks will be divided over this one: half feeling that it’s a happy ensemble of imagery, the other half feeling it goes a bit too far. Personally, I like it, and I think it works. It’s as if an entire morning of Saturday cartoons from my childhood has been condensed into an elaborate nugget. It’s warm, earnest and pure.

Watch the making-of video

Valerie Pirson : Coca-Cola “Two Guys”

Partizan’s Valerie Pirson (commercial reel) put her analogue sensibilities to good use in this chuckle-worthy spot for Coca-Cola and agency Weiden+Kennedy Portland. Using a grab-bag of stop-action techniques, Valerie pumped personality into the spot’s lo-fi aesthetics.

Stimmung’s Skeleton Suit enchanced the tongue-in-cheek melodrama with some great sound design, and Brand New School’s graphics are the tasteful cherry on top.

Pazit Harnoy-Cohen: “Thoughts”

For Pazit Harnoy-Cohen’s final project at the Holon Institute of Technology in Israel, she created “Thoughts,” a stream-of-consciousness daydream worked out in mixed media.

Reminiscent of Johnny Kelly’s “Procrastination” or some of Michel Gondry’s stop-action animation, “Thoughts” looks at the world through a child’s eyes, a world where objects take on lives of their own, ponderings meander pleasantly, and vegetables engage in civil war.

The film is cut into three distinct parts, and while I like the semi-narrative structure of the middle, I think Harnoy-Cohen’s at her most charming when she’s stop-action animating, as in the first and third parts of the film. It’ll be fun to keep our eye on her as she builds her career. Good luck, Pazit!