tween

just watched the new trailer. they sure do show a lot in this one and it looks freakin’ amazing (of course)!

ooh yeah… some pretty hot work coming from the heat creative down under, although a few vfx shots from their Blindspott music video remind me of the vfx on pluto (bjork tour projections), created by another all time favorite of mine… lynn fox. i also thought the heat creative title treatment in the showreel felt a little like the one in the recent black day to freedom piece by the ronin.

All right, this isn’t pre-processed PR stuff. This is me getting excited, genuinely excited, about motion graphics again.

The culprit? National Television.

They’ve been mentioned before on Tween, but they recently released their Summer 2005 reel and holy smokes, it’s hot. These guys are the masters of clever, mind-bending transitions, taking 2D elements and warping them into entirely new 3D scenarios, taking 3D into 2D, 1D into 4D, double D into big D.

They’re also the masters of beautiful comps. Check out the Nike “Nature” piece under Work. Press the pause button at random and chances are you’ll be staring at a gorgeous, lush composition oozing color and twinkling light.

I’d also like to mention at this point that National Television deserves massif props for adding a download link to their projects. They’re actually encouraging visitors to save, remember and cherish their work. Imagine that!

While we’re on the site, I’ll go ahead and shower them with a little more praise. Check out the copy accompanying their projects and in the Directors area. I don’t know if these guys write their own copy or not, but this shit is sharp. This is copy the way it’s supposed to be: concise, clear, appropriately humorous and occasionally hyperbolic. These guys take themselves seriously, but never too seriously.

Back to their work: it’s incredibly diverse. Start exploring in the Client area and you’ll find straight-up animation (Channel 1 and Fox); subtle touch-ups (DNA, Inc. (good lord, I think Gwen Stefani is hot)); mograph du jour (CMT); whimsical, immersive 3D (Nickelodeon); and paradoxically non-retro retro graphics (Stone Yamashita Partners).

These guys are all over the friggin’ place, but everything is deliciously clean and oh so clever.

Bravo, National. Next round’s on me.

So Transistor Studios launched their new site recently, but no thanks to my slow-moving ass, you’ve probably already seen/heard about it on other sites. The site was built by Matt Pyke’s Universal Everything, and the projects area of both UE’s site and Transistor Studios’ sites kinda echo each other.

I really dig the sorting function, something I’m sure UE labored over for a few hours. The whole thing has a paradoxical mix of low- and high-tech that feels tweaky, a little over-caffeinated. Like me.

By the way, have you noticed the Google Ad under the search box to the right? That’s just a little experiment. I was curious what kind of ads Google would associate with Tween. I’ve never heard of any of the firms displayed there, have you? I’m not going to say any more at this point, but I probably won’t keep the ad there for long. I’m just playing around.

i know you’ve probably already seen this link on every other board, but i thought it deserved a post here as well. this guy has some cool motion work, especially the black day to freedom piece. the smooth flash work on the site by taobot and sound design by dosc make it even better.

Creative Bubble: Auto Maniac
Take one big, burly professional wrestler, add a smorgasbord of cars and a dash of flames, cook over an open Flame, and you might get something like Creative Bubble’s show open for Auto Maniac, a new series airing on the History Channel featuring former pro-wrestler Bill Goldberg as host.

Creative Bubble, who I don’t think has ever been featured on Tween before, had quite a few constraints in making this spot come to life. The biggest one was a lack of custom footage; all the shots of Goldberg and the cars had to be painstakingly rotoscoped from found footage. Definitely a marvelous pain in the ass, but they pulled it off.

Trollback: Chevy
Trollback + Company recently polished off a couple :30 spots for Chevy. The simple, bold type is refreshing in a field replete with distressed, 3D, glowing, vibrating, pulsing, burning copy trying to fry your brains every other frame.

Shilo: New Work
Shilo has updated with some hot new work. Honestly, I’m not sure what’s new and what’s old, but it’s all hot as hell. I could watch those AMC ids all damn day.

Mindflood and Bukwild: California
Two kick-ass interactive studios, Mindflood and Bukwild, joined forces to create a smoove :15 spot for Southwest Airlines and the California Travel and Tourism Commission. Check it out here.

A Clip Collection

I hate to do this, but there’s simply too little time for me to give each tidbit of news the care and attention it deserves. I’m pretty backed up, so I’m just gonna open the floodgates and let it all come gushing out.

My apologies to anyone who feels snubbed by this post. Please know that I value each and every bit of news, but I still haven’t figured exactly how to dedicate as much time as I’d like to Tween.

Playtex
Alan Bibby and Warner Barnes directed this music video for Playtex, producing what might be the most complete homage to every fighting game that ever existed.

Gerald Mark Soto
Don’t miss Gerald Mark Soto’s bumping montage. Solid shizzle there.

(Thanks for the tip, Stubzilla.)

Trollback: Brookly Academy of Music
Trollback delivers an engaging, subtle spot for the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Infopresse
I don’t know much about this spot for Infopresse Peugeot, but it has some pretty rad animation/rotoscoping.

Suspect: Bass Ale
Nice job on this spot for Bass Ale by Suspect, who breathed 3D life into the original concept dreamed up by agency McCann-Erickson/TAG. Make sure to check out the rest of Suspect’s work on their site.

(Welcome to the Cream O’ the Crop, Suspect!)

Mirrormask
The buzz is building for Mirrormask, the upcoming movie written by Neil Gaiman from The Jim Henson Company (who brought us the unforgettable Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal).

Tweenster Jeremy Schulz has come through with a bevy of informative links for those of you who’d like to learn more:

Trailer:
http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/mirrormask.html

Official site (which Jeremy calls “weak,” and I wholeheartedly agree):
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/mirrormask/index.html

Much more info here:
http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/journal.asp

Books here:
MirrorMask : The Illustrated Film Script
The Alchemy of MirrorMask

Bangbang Studio
Wicked slick work at Bangbang Studio. Check it out.

Olympus
Have you guys seen these twisted spots from Olympus? Great direction, and I love the creepy soundtracks. Also don’t miss the spookiest one, which Olympus pulled from the campaign (a surefire way to ignite any viral marketing campaign).

Buck: 2005
Buck’s new reel is up. These guys are blazing hot.

Universal Everything: AE Geniuses Needed
Universal Everything is seeking some supremely talented After Effects / 3D animation freelancers for some major upcoming projects. UK / US / Europe based.

Mograph Interview: Saline Project
Mograph has posted another kick-ass interview with another kick-ass studio, Saline Project. Read it here.

All right, that’s it for now, folks. I’ve got more up my sleeve, but that helps us get caught up. Now off to bed with me!

PostPanic sent me a very nice package full of goodies regarding a wild spot they recently created for Sportlife, a big chewing gum brand in the Netherlands.

This was a pretty interesting project. Sportlife already had an existing campaign featuring Sportlife-sponsored “broadcasts” of fictitious extreme sports. The first two ads in the campaign were filmed in live action, but the third one, the one that landed in PostPanic’s inbox, was all CG.

After about four months of hard work, PostPanic produced “Deep,” a strangely ethereal, deliberately disorienting, action-packed slice of a “Reverse Running” match from the fictitious Arctic Games.

The first time I watched this spot, I thought, “What the hell…?” (But in a very good way, mind you.) When the characters broke through the ice, it started to all make sense. The second time around, I was able to focus more on the lush visuals and just enjoy the ride. I really dig the camera work, pacing and atmospherics in this piece (big ups to director Mischa Rozema).

Great job, PostPanic!

I hate to sound like a broken record, but the latest issue of Stash is packed full of super hot stuff. I think this might be my favorite issue to date.

Some of the highlights (for me):

• Gatorade “Shattered” – Wow. Gatorade has refreshed themselves once again. First the “Is It In You?” campaign, then the kick-ass Propel campaign, and now “Shattered.” Really effective stuff, thanks in large part to powerhouse VFX from Digital Domain.
• Gizmodo “Bumblebee” – This one’s already creating a lot of buzz (no pun intended) and boosting the international reputation of a previously unknown studio (in the States at least): Visual Art Production. Although they’re based in Sweden, VSA is looking for work in the UK and US. Something tells me they won’t have too much trouble finding it.
• Direct TV “No Ball” – Deceptively simple and oddly hilarious, these spots required VFX house Charlex to put tons of time and energy into making agency BBDO’s concept a reality. Excellent job all around.
• Scion “What Moves You TC” – Attik and The Embassy combined forces to pump out some really kick ass direction in this spot. The pacing is incredible and the visuals are dead sexy.

Damn, I have to stop myself here. At this rate, I’ll be telling you about every one of the 29 features on the DVD. I wish I could be more judicious and narrow my list down to a handful of “winners,” but I can’t. They’re all damn good.

The great thing about most of these pieces is that they aren’t just excellent examples of VFX, design and/or animation; they are exceptionally well-done spots from start to finish. Compelling concept, solid writing, strong direction, and flawless execution.

You young designers/filmmakers out there, the ones that I’m going to be writing about in a year or two, please note the importance of each link in this creative chain. Too often, I see eye candy with no concept or solid writing with piss-poor execution. While that kind of work can be interesting (as in, “Hmmm… very interesting”), it can also be incredibly unmemorable and utterly ineffective.

Remember these two questions and you can’t go wrong:

1. Who’s your audience?
2. What’s your purpose?

If you let the honest answers to those questions guide every step of the creative process, then you’ll eventually end up with work on Stash and the accompanying rock-star status you’ve always dreamed of.

(The rock-star status thing also requires that you have good hair and wear expensive designer jeans. Nice shoes aren’t a bad idea either.)