Nevermind the fact that this has been mah song (what-what) for under a year now. The accompanying video, just released, is a fun paper cut-out stop-motion animation. And, it’s also a gentle reminder of how even just a little craft can go a long way. Es cute. mykonos video
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has decided to publicize 12,000 Canadian short films from the past … ever. All on their website for your own free and private viewing. Of course this includes auteur animation and drama, full length documentaries, releases new and old, fiction and non, etc. These archives opened up only a week ago and proves that public money can be well spent. Here’s a few to get you started:
Walking Ryan Larkin, 1968 5 min 6 sec
Happy Inauguration Day!
I celebrate with laughter. Motion seems an obvious evolution to the standard political cartoon, so much so one has to wonder, why didn’t I think of that!? In the past few months, I’ve become quite a fan of Joe Fournier of Fournier Studios just outside Chicago, Illinois. His relentless cartoonish shorts on anything political leaves us big city midwesterners a little something to be proud of (even as our current governor continues to humiliate). Nothing is sacred to Joe as he continues to produce hilarious interpretations of our fearless leaders in the funniest of situations, from the “outnauguration” of former President Bush, to the appalling language of Gov. Blagojevich, to the comic but lovable character that defines Mayor Daley, an endless goldmine of entertainment in his attempts to bring the 2016 Olympics home. Watch a few animations, but only if you think your laugh muscles are up to it. As a Cubs fan, my personal favorite, the seventh inning stretch.
Where The Wild Things Are
Was reading one of my new favorite morning breakfast in my boxers reads and saw this. The more images I see of this, the more I get excited. I’m really not sure what to expect. The Scout tells us that Spike Jonze’ (is that grammatically correct to stick an apostrophe there? As in it makes sense if you spelled it the other way) Girl Skateboards has put out a series with some stills from the new movie. The excitements builds and builds and builds.
AixSponza
Let’s take a second to nerd out with 3D software. Motion masters from München (Munich, Germany) AixSponza use Cinema4D and a variety of plugins to create stunning motion pieces, mostly involving vehicles. The Red Bull F1 Singapore feature is particularly jaw-dropping, putting the VRay plugin to awesome use. It boggles the mind how long this took to model, animate and render. Their laboratory section also has interesting studies. Pretty rad stuff.
Irma Boom in motion, well, kind of.
Irma Boom Books Just randomly stumbled upon this today. It appears to be a post by Irma Booms office on YouTube. There is no audio. And well, it is what it is. But it is an interesting way to get the 5 second flip through of a number of her books. I guess, I can liken it to french fries and a drive through window. You get it in a hurry. If you have some time to spare, it could be an interesting scrub through. Especially if you are a fan of her work!
Have a happy friday everybody. See some of you tomorrow!
Masakatsu Takagi
A young visual artist Masakatsu Takagi. Great colors and music. You have probably seen this on Apple Pro profiles.
Autofuss
Formerly known as The Action Cats, or Goodby, Silverstein & Partner’s team of in house designers and animators, Autofuss have split off from the big agency and set up a nice new studio 7000 ft² in Potrero Hill, over half of which is dedicated just for shooting. Although they just launched, they have made themselves known on several occasions and have been indirectly involved in several other interesting projects. Their entry for Adobe’s “See What’s Possible” Challenge was definitely a head turner. They also concepted for an Adobe mural installation eventually carried out by Brand New School. It’ll be exciting to see what these talented guys churn out in the coming future.
Maurice Binder: 007 Magic
I was watching a James Bond film earlier today called “Thunderball” and had forgotten how wonderful the old title sequences are for the James Bond films. I haven’t seen the new James Bond film yet, but am excited to see it soon and in the meantime have to share my excitement. Many of James Bond title sequences were done by Maurice Binder. These are a few of my favorite ones that he did for the series. Many people are unaware that he also did other title sequences for films that weren’t James Bond films, such as this one I just discovered earlier today entitled “Charade”. I love how “bright” and vivid the colors are and how simple and elegant the motion is. I hope you enjoy watching them as much as I do. Enjoy.
NextSeason – Evan Owen Dennis
Many a year ago, I think I worked with this guy on a very obscure and forgettable project. Well, atleast I think this is the same guy. Regardless, I stumbled into this today after having not seen it for many a year. It is nice to see that he has basically been rocking it. Some pretty amazing boards and motion work. Very worth a look on a tuesday like today. Check out NextSeason.