A couple of tips: only Firefox works with Popcorn. Don’t try for too fine timing and placement of the annotations.
the annotated smithereens
Creative
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Mar 262013
into smithereens
Creative
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Mar 142013
Into smithereens is an experiment in animated concrete poetry. It’s inspiration is a series of nursery rhymes, which seemed to call for a surreal approach. In keeping with the nursery theme, the artwork is niave.
marketing you want to watch
graphic art
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Dec 302012
I guess it’s pretty easy when you’ve got a strong, established brand? Still, the strong and sympathetic visual design and the humour make this ad for Penguin really work.
suffering from boring hometown syndrome?
graphic art
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Dec 182012
What you need is a new perspective. Melbhattan, an animation written, directed & drawn by Oslo Davis does the job. Great clarinet, too.
[still from Melbhattan]
from the archive: a surreal cartoon
graphic art, Reviews
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Oct 082012
The Tell-Tale Heart (1953) is Ted Parmelee’s adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s story of the same name. Wonderfully expressive noir x surreal x expressionistic imagery make for one of the most moody and evocative cartoons I’ve ever seen. Narrated rather than lip-synced, James Mason reads the originally with just the right mix of tension and horror. The images are actually mainly stills, panned and faded in and out, but it doesn’t seem to matter.
In the mood for more classic cartoons? Courtesy of Flavorwire, who list their favorites, here’s my cull:
Red Hot Riding Hood (1943) by Tex Avery
Bambi Meets Godzilla (1969) by Marv Newland
Minnie the Moocher (1932) by Max Fliescher and starring Cab Calloway.
Gerald McBoing-Boing (1951) a United Productions of America and director Robert Cannon version of Dr. Seuss’s story.
The Skeleton Dance (1929) by Disney’s Silly Symphony
Yeah, so I like ‘em a little dark.
Inner Steppe
graphic art, Reviews
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Mar 042012
Beautiful 3D stop motion animation by Alex Schultz, based on a Herman Hesse story. Pared back aesthetics, mysterious plot and beautiful models.
Inner Steppe from Alex Schulz on Vimeo.
digital vertigo
This working life
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Dec 062011
layers and layers and layers
Oh, my stop motion animation is nearly finished [I wonder how long I'm going to be saying that for?]
And I’ve been thinking about the relationship between iterative work practices and layers, ie the production technique. Both are tied inextricably to digitality.
Let me explain. My stills are produced in Photoshop, based on imported photographs of the artwork (another story). once there, I get to work on each individual still. Talk about labour of love! But as the production work evolves, the idea revolves, and then its more production work, and then more work…
Don’t worry, I think I’m nearly out of ideas.
And each idea means another layer in Photoshop. And each layer, another idea… So iteration is to layers what the linear production process is to traditional analogue videotape production. The technologies dictate the developmental process.
But more complex than that. A truly iterative process means a back and forth. The layer creates the idea, as the tape, as a medium, created the need for a linear production process.
Which came first, the layer or the idea? Well, there was an initial idea, now way obscured behind so many layers.
animation reviews
Reviews
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Oct 242011
DYE “Fantasy” Official Video by Jérémie Périn
This is the new video for DyE’s new single, Fantasy directed by Jérémie Périn. I think the main problem here is the editing – it seems to not be well synched to the music. When the scene goes horror, things move very fast and are not particularly well framed.
2 stars.
Gawper from A Large Evil Corporation on Vimeo.
The Gawper by A large evil corporation is a pastiche of stock horror effects lovingly achieved. Not long enough to amount to a significant work.
2.5 stars
BOUT (2011 – HD) from Malcolm Sutherland on Vimeo.
On the other hand, I can’t fault Bout by Malcolm Sutherland. Wonderful aesthetic sensibility, beautifully timed. It plays as a ‘one-shot’, so it lacks editing issues. The audio is perfect. Thematically its a strong piece, although perhaps it could have pushed the theme a little more.
4.5 stars
animation reviews
Reviews
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Sep 262011
Animation Created by Diagram Design for the Goth Trad song “Cut end”
I love the animated take on traditional Japanese imagery (wood cuts, I assume?), but they should have worked harder at their plot.
three stars
Asking for narrative from these ‘Insanely Twisted Shadow Puppets Animations’ interstitials by Michael Gagne is too much … but the point remains. So much beauty, so little content?
three stars
Danger Planet from Justin Burks on Vimeo.
On the other hand, Danger Planet by Justin Burks, no only features beautiful 3D, appropriate foley, and makes references to a recogniseable tradition, it has a worked-through plot. OK, its a rather trite and predictable plot, aimed, I guess, at 13-year-olds, but it holds its own as a narrative.
three point five stars.
Little Boat from nelson boles on Vimeo.
Little Boat by Nelson Boles, however, revels in an unconventional plot, plus cute animation. Limited but appropriate foley does no harm.
four stars, yey!
Oh, was I meant to list the best one first?
cute stop-motion animation
Reviews
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Aug 052011
They’re calling it the ‘world’s biggest’:
Gulp. The world’s largest stop-motion animation shot on a Nokia N8. from Nokia HD on Vimeo.
Shot on a Nokia.
Oh yeah, Nokia. I used to do Nokia.
