Jayson Whitmore has re-launched his site with some new work. Jayson’s worked on a wide variety of projects over the years, and I’ve been a fan for quite a while. Very solid stuff.
Happy New Year, Mr. Whitmore!
January 2: Edited to account for my ignorance.
Check out this beautiful holiday piece created by Adam Gault and Stefanie Augustine. It’s brimming with holiday warmth and general gemütlich.
Incidentally, Adam has worked on some excellent spots with EyeballNYC, loyalkaspar and others. Check out his site for some inspiring vids. (I love the CMT IDs.)
Very clean Film and Motion Graphics work by Cassidy Gearhart. Haven’t seen many reels out there cut to some upbeat jazz… have you? Cool idea.
Well, the title almost works. Anyway, on with the show:
Qube Konstrukt: Noise Interstitial
Qube follow up their earlier effort for noise with this great 10 second spot for Channel V here in Australia. Qube have such distinct grading and animation style which always hit the mark with me. There is also a series of spots that are being broadcast here for Toyota at the moment which I love, but I guess you will all have to wait for them to update the site to see them.
Logan updates: Benjamin Moore & Rogers ‘Dance’
Logan always blows me away. Rogers ‘Dance’ doesn’t have a smidge of the classic Logan brand motion graphic madness – its all live action, black and white. What really makes it work (aside from good direction, editing and great dance moves) is the audio track – or lack thereof. There is not hip-hop track or voiceover, just what you would get if you removed any sound that wasn’t made by a person in motion; hands and feet hitting the ground, keys and chains jingling, cloth rustling. Awesome.
The Benjamin Moore piece is more recognizable Logan, beuatiful movement and transitions, subtle colour and audio all building to an explosive finale. I can’t do it justice by rambling on about it, just go watch it.
Hornet: PSP
I’m not sure if I like these spots or not. I quite like the greyscale, hand-drawnish animation, but I just don’t know if the dialouge and taglines work for me. Anyway, decide for yourself
Okay, so let’s say you’re poor. Maybe you’re a student (like I will be soon). Maybe you’re just bad with money (like I am now). Whatever the reason, you’re down to about $35 in your pathetic little checking account, and you’re trying to decide whether you should invest that money in the latest issue of Stash magazine or whether you should blow it on a 12-pack of Red Stripe and a couple large pizzas, temporarily winning your friends’ adoration (until you puke on their shoes later in the evening).
As much as I love Jamaican beer (hooray, beer!) and pizza pie, I must strongly—perhaps violently—encourage you to opt for Stash.
Seriously, all hyperbolic claims aside, this is the best issue of Stash I have ever seen. It starts out strong with a series of auto ads (including a couple from Honda’s latest artsy campaign for the Civic) and just keeps building steam through all 29 chapters. I haven’t felt this inspired in a very long time, and I will doubtlessly be popping this DVD into my player over and over again in the upcoming months, when my homework assignments have me doubting my future.
I’m not going to waste my breath (or your time) running down the list of studios and films on the DVD (Stash has already done that), but I do want to say that the Behind the Scenes features on this DVD are very interesting, especially the montage put together by the creators of the astoundingly awesome student film, "Le Building," which is sure to win all manner of awards and honors at festivals in the coming months. Check out the Stash 15 trailer for a sneak peek at the rest of the DVD.
Honestly though, shelling out $35 for Stash 15 is kind of dumb. If you do the math, you see that at the educational subscription rate, a single issue of Stash is about $17, leaving you with plenty of money for a six-pack, a burger and some Pepto-Bismal.
It occurred to me that maybe I’m preaching to the choir here: I’m curious, how many of you (or the studios you work for) already have subscriptions to Stash?
Since you’ve been so kind and stuck with me through this evangelical posting, here’s what I’m gonna do: The first reader to send me his/her mailing address (US only, no PO boxes) will get a free (as in beer) unopened copy of Stash 15. I can’t guarantee it’ll arrive in time for Christmas, but it’ll make a nice New Year’s gift at the very least.
EDIT: Holy crap, that must be a new record! A mere 20 minutes after I made my post, six of you wonderful readers sent me an email. Alas, I only have one DVD, and Aaron Knapp will be the lucky recipient.
Thanks to everyone else for reading Tween. No more email, please. Unless you just want to tell me what a sexy blogger I am. In that case, bring it on.
I’m exhausted tonight, so I apologize in advance for the brevity of the following items. Maybe it’ll be a nice change for me to cut short my commentary and just post some straight up news.
Tronic Updates
First up, Tronic has updated their site with all of their 2005 work. Carve out a few minutes of your day to spend some quality time with this stuff. It’s worth it. The General Electric spot is pretty damned amazing. It’s epic, thoughtful and has the trademark Tronic sophistication that gives all their work a touch of class.
Sehsucht: Auto Trophy
German studio Sehsucht has posted a beautifully mesmerizing opener for the Auto Trophy automobile awards show (hosted by Bauer Verlag). The film is part of an entire show package Sehsucht created for the event. You can find the spot on Sehsucht’s home page. (It will also soon be in the News area under December.)
Sehsucht has done some really fantastic work, so if you’ve never visited them before, make sure to check out the Filmfest Hamburg opener in News/August and the award-winning "Sound of Summer" spot for Mercedes Benz in News/May.
Engine
Australian studio Engine has some nice work. Don’t miss the Workshop ID and the trippy but elegant Epicenter Installation film (I especially like the editing in that one).
Thanks to Sean Wood for the tip.
Blur Updates
In Blur’s Motion Graphics section, you’ll find some new work for the Kids’ WB Saturday morning cartoon block, the Teen Choice Awards, and The Emmy Awards.
You can find additional Kids’ WB spots on Adam Swaab’s interim site. Blur did a really good job on these, no? Great pacing, solid design and I dig those electric palettes.
Director Joseph Kosinski (formerly of KDLAB) has posted two new breathtaking spots on his site, “Mezzo Race” and “Mezzo Leap.” (To view them, go to his site and check the Work area.)
Like Kosinski’s acclaimed “Les Jumelles,” the only thing not CG in these spots are the actors. The modeling, animation and rendering are simply astounding. SWAY Studio handled the vfx, which consisted mostly of former Digital Domain employees, with a couple KDLAB alumni thrown in for good measure.
Check the site of vfx supervisor Rob Nederhorst for full credits. Designer and modeler Oliver Zeller will be posting images on his site in January.
KDLAB was always one of my favorite studios, and I’m very glad to see that Mr. Kosinski is continuing to make outstanding work on his own. He’s a true inspiration.
(There is something a little funny about these spots: Mezzo makes, of all things, cigarettes. Here we have beautiful people leaping around athletically in ethereal environments without the slightest hint that smoking is or will ever be involved. I guess that’s what you call “building a brand.”)
I don’t often post vfx studios, mainly because vfx is a mammoth, intimidating industry that I know even less about than motion graphics (hard to believe, I’m sure), but I think A52 deserves a little attention.
For those of you like me who have been living in a cave, A52 works with some seriously high-powered agencies and directors on high-profile (and high-budget) projects. Take, for instance, the incredibly intricate “Spectacular Reveal,” which features a Toyota Tundra being assembled from the ground up as it speeds across a desert landscape. (Nice color correction in that one, too.)
I also like the simple though elegantly well-executed “Destiny” spot created for Miller. Instead of trying to suggest complexity or embedded systems, “Destiny” uses layers to create a narrative. Very clever.
And I shouldn’t forget to mention the widely celebrated “Kid Tiger” spot created for Nike. It speaks for itself.
There are many other examples of top-notch work on A52’s site. Much of it—like good vfx work in general—is transparent and/or incredibly subtle. Browse the 140 exemplary projects in the “Classics” area, and you’ll see what I mean. In the meantime, I’m adding them to the Cream O’ the Crop. (By the way, the Cream O’ the Crop will eventually be more segmented, with vfx studios in their own category.)
And now for a little rambling tangent: This past weekend, I was at a hotel in Dallas. After a long day, I filled the tub with hot water, eased myself down and started reading my first issue of ‘boards magazine. It was a thoroughly intimidating experience. I stumbled through page after page profiling projects and processes that seemed so foreign, so laden with complexity, so intense, that I wondered how in the world anyone ever “broke into” the industry in the first place.
I started to think that if you weren’t born and raised as a director or a producer you would be relegated to a life of mind-numbing mediocrity, the high point of which might be when you finally get to shoot an ad for the local used car dealership. (Well, that’s my own personal nightmare.)
It all just seems so… big. I feel like a kindergartner standing in the hallway of a high school, awestruck by the giant students as they thunder effortlessly from class to class. Everything they study is at a level I cannot comprehend. What I know of biology is what I’ve learned from the toads in the bayou near my house. Physics is what happens when I take a ride on a merry-go-round. And the cool, confident conversations these titans have near their lockers is made mysteriously powerful by its heavy use of slang and inside jokes.
I suppose I grew up once. I can do it again. I’ve simply forgotten how it feels to be so small, so uninitiated.
I got a couple emails today alerting me to the new Exopolis site, so I thought I’d give them a shout out tonight.
Exopolis is of special interest to me, since they divide their time between motion graphics and interactive design—something I hope some day to do half as well as they do it. Take a look at their Interactive reel in the Reels section to see a beautiful union of mograph and online action. Notice that the reel lingers a bit on the Saturn Sky site, and rightfully so: it’s beautifully done and very clever. (The interactive 360 scene, for instance, selects its default position based on the actual time of day that you’re accessing the site.)
Also of note on the new site is the excellent redesign they did for Nicktoons Network. Make sure to click the subtle links below the QuickTime to see both Nicktoons montages. (Much of this work was completed with the able assistance of Jayson Whitmore and a slew of other wickedly talented folks under the masterful art direction of Exopolis’ Brien Holman. Check the full credits here.)
As for the site itself, I dig the cut-to-the-chase approach and the moody header graphic (which is artfully referenced in each of Exopolis’ reels). I only wish the site didn’t rely so heavily on pop-ups. I will say, however, that the pop-ups are well done. They’re consistently positioned and styled, so you have a pretty good idea what to expect (in terms of user interface) before you click a link. The low-contrast typography employed throughout the site also effectively guides the eyes to links and work samples without causing undo eyestrain.
Exopolis is exactly the kind of company I’m going to keep my eye on while I’m in school. They understand the interplay between motion graphics and interactive design, and their work reflects some innovative thinking along those lines. Hmmm… maybe I should arrange an interview with them… that’d be pretty sweet…
(Thanks to Shaun Collings and Babe Baker for the tips.)
This is probably old news to most of you, but I just discovered director Neill Blomkamp. Neill directed what I believe was the first Transformer-themed car commercials with this Citroën spot.
[CORRECTION: It has come to my attention that Zoic Studios produced this Transformer-inspired spot for Mini Cooper before Blomkamp's Citroën spot.]
More impressive, though, are his two near-future sci-fi documentaries. The first was “Tetra Vaal” (click on the “tetra.mov” link on the right side of the page), which features a robotic police force roaming the streets of what looks like Johannesburg.
Blomkamp’s most recent fictitious documentary is entitled “Alive in Joburg.” The acting and camera work (not to mention the stunning compositing) had me really hooked. I found myself getting a little confused, wondering if maybe Blomkamp had taken interviews out of context, capturing people’s thoughts on apartheid and then splicing them with his futuristic rumination on coexisting with a greedy alien race. Of course, that’s not what Blomkamp did, but I think he pulled off the documentary style exceedingly well.
There are a couple versions of “Alive in Joburg” on the web. Blomkamp has licensed the film with a Creative Commons license and let the Internet Archive host a high-bandwidth (81 mb) version of it. You can also see a leaner version in the ‘boards screening room.