funky stop motion...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep8XqLaavas

Dead Leaves...

This is the trippiest film i have ever seen in my entire life. Despite being undoubtedly sober when first watching it, by the end, i actually started questioning whether i had taken some form of narcotics because it just made no fucking sense. I cannot fully express how awesome it actually is. I never thought there would be a human being on this planet that could conjure up such farcical, west things like a dude with a drill as a dick, crazy robot pregnancy-inducing sex, mixed with a shit load of guns, gore and big fucking explosions, and actually managing to pull it off. Surprising how i actually get my ha-has out of this kind of thing. I recommend seeing it for yourself...

oh yeah, and it's got one sick soundtrack...

The Society of Illustrators pt.1...

When in New York, we all set out for a little visit to the Society of Illustrators gallery. Unfortunately at the time, i didn't have my camera on me to document the excursion, instead making do with my notepad, i jotted anything down that held my attention. It was a fantastic little place and a gorgeously constructed exhibition, sublimely displayed. 

The first thing I'd like to mention is this new Nokia Vine application. I didn't manage to catch who it was done by exactly but there was this smooth little video showcasing the application's many benefits. 

I find it quite surreal how far advanced this kind of technology has expanded so quickly and efficiently. Although, personally, i hold no major reliance upon this kind of thing and generally hate the type of convenience it encourages. I find it simply a money marketing scheme. Saying that, i do hypocritically comply with the people behind these kinds of ideas, only to the degree of attaining such an ability to nurture the aesthetics of appeal and public interest in the interest of broadcasting inventions that invite a positive change. 

this is a nice lil' video...

thought this would be worth a mention...
i love the feel of the animation...
i have no idea who it's done by...
despite it being so basic...
i think it's just pretty...

Lord Bunn...

This is some pretty funky shiz. The band is 65daysofstatic, song Drove Through Ghosts to Get Here. I have loved them for quite some time but i wanted to allocate this video with some special merit as since I've loomed over animation briefly this video is quite an admirable piece of gorgeousness. The drawings are done by Lord Bunn (http://www.lordbunn.com), who's pretty simplistically decent, and the incorporation of movement is done by Tza and Medlo (http://www.medlo.com). 

Disney Pixars UP...

Last night for the first time in years, i decided to actually do something to fill my night with joy and went to the local cinema. UP was the only majorly appealing movie that was screening. 

In comparison to Pixars past animated feature-lengths that i have seen, UP was quite an impeccable triumph. It was unbelievably wholesome and uplifting but also carried a mature feel of childish ingenuousness that was warming to the heart. There was a deep connection with each personality of the characters. The sense of adventure progressed beautifully. I found it unorthodox of Pixar as the story proceeded so quickly, there were so many turning points and changeovers, it was incredulously enveloping. As soon as one thing happened i couldn't wait to see the next. Without a doubt the animation was undeniably top-notch as always and really complemented the purity of the film. At times i was actually in stitches, Pixar has definitely up-ped (pardon the pun) the scale of infantile comedy, the humour was simple yet just perfectly convivial. I am contemplating a second watch and i would most definitely recommend anyone else to come with me.

a.n.i.m.a.t.i.o.n

carolina melis:

now this is the kind of thing that got me shaking in my pants when learning about AfterEffects. After receiving a wicked induction of a very nice chap named Ian, we were shown this `dead good` example pretty much summing up the true mastery of two dimensional movement. After delving slightly into the workings of AfterEffects and just looming over the actual essence of these animations, how the hell did she fuckin do it?! She's an absolute genius...fair play to her...fair play!  

mi animacion...

...and here we are.

after dealing with the problematic ways of AfterEffects i had 48hrs to come up with some form of moving imagery. Fortunately after having some past experience with iStopMotion, i was quite comfortable with the process and therefore had a faint idea of what to undertake. Applying my two original characters from my previous project, and making a few slight changes to make them easier to incorporate, i cut each ligament out seperately to be able to manipulate. My initial idea was to set out a small story with each full character, having them approach each other from either side of the background then somehow merging in the centre. After playing around for quite sometime experimenting, i found the eccentricity of the movement too fun to keep to a basic storyline and therefore went a bit senseless. Utilising my original backdrop from AfterEffects, my tutor suggested integrating the essence of charcoal, perhaps outlining smoke from the chimneys of the houses. I then used pencil to keep the detail quite crisp and clear for the movement of the smoke only because my backdrop was sketched out in fineliner and i thought charcoal may have been too heavy to mix with. Overall, i am pleased with the result, however i think i could have added more features such as sound effects or difference in lighting and combined these in some editing software.

some of the greatest motion stoppers around...

these guys most definitely deserve a medal.
their mastery of time and motion is beyond comprehendable.

BLU: 

he practically creates moving graffiti.



William Kentridge:

he practically creates moving charcoal.

TEKKONKINKREET

i cannot even express through any form of communication how much i BUM this movie. i could go on for hours repeating myself over and over and it'd never lose meaning. everything from the animation, the concepts, the characters, the backgrounds, the imagery, the storytelling, the atmosphere, the feeling, the emotion, the morals, the soundtrack and that's to name a few! it is not but a film...but an experience! 

i thoroughly recommend to anyone of any age to give it a try. 

I have always been an obsessive fanatic of Japanese anime's and after purchasing the Manga of TEKKONKINKREET and to only find out that it was being produced into a full feature length, i was over the moon! It was more than enough as a comic. However, as a film i think it works more toward the heart. The storytelling is utterly stupendous; the film carries a warm blanket of youth and naivety that is enveloped through such emotional fervour, it is disturbingly evocative and tearfully clutches the heart-strings. 

the main reason why i decided to blog it up is in reference to what is currently going on with my own work. At the minute i'm studying the working's of some tasty animation software; Adobe AfterEffects and iStopMotion. We have been given the task to become as cultivated as possible with whichever of these programs in a two week timeframe and create a 30second animation based around the element of the figure and incorporating a specific descriptive word of our choice. 

Through quite a struggle of unforeseen mishaps, i have postponed my study of AfterEffects for the time being and moved to utilising iStopMotion for my animation. I will update this as it progresses if all goes to plan.  

le francais...

now this is the kind of thing that makes me want to be French (there i said it)...they're just so fucking good!


this little shortie was created by five french students from
the animation school known as the Gobelins. after 
reading up on it and checking out all of the "making of" 
treats on the website (http://www.le-building.com/index.htm#)
it's quite incredible how just five dudes have managed just
so much in only the space of four and a half months, 
including all the storyboards, screenplay, designs etc. one word
in my eyes...WOWZA! the reason for it's creation was to
open the event of the Annecy 2005 international animation 
festival. the wonder of it is they combined the use of
traditional two-dimensional animation along with Flash
and also Maya...i presume.



this beautiful tale was made by Adrien Toupet, Clement
Delatre and Looky, directed at Georges Melies School. 
as far as i can tell, they have only used Maya for each
characters movement, the backgrounds may have been
hand-drawn but i think have had a digital finish to mix 
with the rest of the animation. 


http://www.lamaindesmaitres.com/




this is an epic story directed by Cedric Babouche. 
i find this to be just one of a kind, it just holds magic 
in it's grasp. unfortunately i wasn't able to discover 
anything around the creation of this animation...it is 
simply born to exist!