April 30, 2015

Frank Oz

Full interview with Legendary puppeteer and director Frank Oz.
Discusses his life with Jim Henson, being Yoda, directing movies, and the Muppets.

Hundred Waters: Innocent by Jeremy Clapin

April 29, 2015

The Etch-a-Sketch Animator (1987-1989)

The peak of digital animation technology...



"Averse" by Julien Piau

'The Champ' by Rosemary Travale

Avengers & Old Man

Saving Joule

This is the trailer for a 12 minute short film following a robot's quest to power his ship and re-join his lost fleet. Shown exclusively at Mishkat Centre for Renewable Energy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from Spring 2015.
Animation / Compositing - Pete Mellor, Chris Sayer, Jason Arber
Illustration / Art Direction - Luke Best, Spencer Wilson, Miles Donovan / Peepshow Collective
Director - Pete Mellor / Peepshow Collective
Producer - Miles Donovan
Music Editing / Sound Design - Simon Keep / Holkham Sound
Client - The Edge Picture Company / KCA

April 28, 2015

A Survivor's Guide to Life Inside an Animation Studio

For any Animation Students out there wanting a bit of insight on what to expect in the studio environment.


Download the PDF version here.
Feel free to use for any educational purposes.

April 27, 2015

Akira Kurosawa - Composing Movement

Can movement tell a story? Sure, if you’re as gifted as Akira Kurosawa. More than any other filmmaker, he had an innate understanding of movement and how to capture it onscreen. Animators study movement in film in unique ways, because they themselves are a unique sort of filmmaker; carefully crafting each frame, examining the art of motion for the purposes of recreating it in meticulous frame-by-frame fashion.

Watch this essay on studying the master, possibly the greatest composer of motion in film history.

Batman: Arkham Knight - "All Who Follow You" Trailer

April 23, 2015

Titmouse Screens Their 5 Second Films







The creative act of listening to a talking frog

Megalizer II



Music by: "edIT"
Animated by:
Vic CHHUN - [00'05"]
William LABORIE - [00'25"]
David MAINGAULT - [00'40"]
Leyla KADDOURA - [00'55"]
Faouzi HAMMADI - [01'10"]
Anne-Lou ERAMBERT - [01'25"]
Raphaël CHABASSOL - [01'40"]
Abdel Raouf ZAIDI - [01'55"]
Yvon JARDEL - [02'10"]
Thierno BAH - [02'25"]
Viviane KARPP - [02'40"]
Jeremy PIRES - [02'55"]
Delphine DUSSOUBS - [03'10"]
Jonathan Djob NKONDO - [03'25"]
Mehdi TEBBAKH - [03'40"]
Mohamed FADERA - [03'55"]
Organised by: Vic CHHUN & Mohamed FADERA
Compositing by Vic CHHUN & Pierre MORIN


Its predecessor:



Animated by:
Marion DELPECH, Faouzi HAMMADI, Thierno BAH, Vic CHHUN, Leyla KADDOURA, Mehdi TEBBAKH, Nicolas UGHEN, Benjamin CULOT, Yannis BOULTADAKIS, Mohamed FADERA, Viviane KARPP, Abdel Raouf ZAIDI et Rony HOTIN.

'The Car' by Chris O'Hara

'Playground' by James Jarvis & Richard Kenworthy

April 18, 2015

"Celles et Ceux des Cimes et Cieux" student short film by Gwenn Germain

ODD



Producer: Anna Széles
Account Manager: Andi Grósz
Director: Árpád Hermán
Art Director: Roland Budai
CG Supervisor: Igor Bóka
Modeling: Zoltán Bogdán
Lighting / Shading: Miklós Polgár
3D Animation: Bea Ujj
Sound Design: Studio H

April 17, 2015

'Selfportrait' by Joost Jansen

How Do Dogs 'See' With Their Noses?

Spike Jonze: The Aesthetics of Whimsy

Despite the fact that the look of his films often takes a back seat to bizarre stories and quirky characters, Spike Jonze has crafted a uniquely whimsical visual style over the course of his four feature films. Making the most out of simple elements such as lens flares, floating camera movement, centered framing, and wide-angle close-ups, Jonze creates an atmosphere that appears to be lifted straight from the pages of a fairytale storybook. His camera is fascinated with the mundane; intently exploring fabrics and materials, finding beauty and significance in the obscure and unnoticed. Dust particles floating in a beam of sunlight become hypnotic. The delicate plaster of marionettes feels as lifelike as human flesh. The matted fur wrapped around a child strikes us with an overwhelming sense of marvel and nostalgia.



In his first two films, Being John Malkovich (1999) and Adaptation (2002), Jonze used a much more subdued sense of whimsy to express the playfully dark atmospheres. His two most recent works, Where the Wild Things Are (2009) and Her (2013), are saturated with the whimsy aesthetic, mirroring the wonderment and childlike fascinations associated with the films. Jonze utilizes the aesthetic in order to stitch together worlds suitable for his equally whimsical characters.

MUSIC: "Igloo" and "The Moon Song" by Karen O
Films used:
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Adaptation (2002)
Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
Her (2013)
Originally featured at: blogs.indiewire.com/pressplay/watch-spike-jonzes-aesthetics-of-whimsy-a-video-essay-20150306

April 16, 2015

ALB: THE ROAD - Music Video Directed by JULIEN LASSORT

'Story of Genki' by David O'Reilly

This is the story of Professor Genki and was a part of Tim and Eric's "Professor Genki's Super Ethical Reality Climax".

Trailers for upcoming animated short films

"After the End" by Sam Southward:



"Papa" by Natalie Labarre:



"Deep Space" Bruno Tondeur:



"Bulb" Niels De Vries:



"The Seven Red Hoods" by Leo Verrier:



"Limbo-Limbo Travel" by Zsuzsanna Kreif & Bori Zétényi:

April 14, 2015

Adult Swim - Idents

'Rainbow Coaster' by Ivan Dixon




'Protein Power' by Greg Sharp




'Muscles vs Skinny' by Ivan Dixon




'Gravy' by Greg Sharp




'Player Hater' by Ivan Dixon




'King Of The Jungle' by Greg Sharp




'Having a Laugh' by Ivan Dixon

April 09, 2015

'Milkshakes' by Frederik Storm



Music by: Simon Jonas Larsen (soundcloud.com/simon-jonas-larsen)
Director, animator, and stuff maker: Frederik Storm (frederikstorm.com)
Co-Editor and stuff maker: Sophie Refshauge (woolypolygon.com)
Horse Clap animator: Frederik Troels-Smith (frederiktroelssmith.tumblr.com)
"What started as a fun animation experiment ended up as a full fleshed 3:50 minutes music video, based on a track by Simon Jonas Larsen. Being more of an abstract piece, the running theme throughout is the hard working horse who has a mental meltdown at work, which results in some rather strange hallucinations.
The looks which draws from the work of animator David O’reilly made it possible to create a lot of content in a very short time, while still having something that felt interesting and fresh.
The project was directed by Frederik Storm, who also edited, designed, animated and build the assets. He had help from Sophie Refshauge Møller, who was co-editor and also created and came up with ideas for shots. Finally Frederik Troels-Smith, did the horse clap animation in the end."

April 08, 2015

The 12 Principles of Animation

The 12 Principles of Animation as described by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston in their book “The Illusion of Life”. Since it can be hard for starting animators to find resources, and the resources that are out there don’t go very in depth, Alan Becker decided to start a video series dedicated to each of the 12 Principles of Animation!

1. Squash & Stretch 

2. Anticipation 

3. Staging 

4. Straight Ahead & Pose to Pose 

5. Follow Through & Overlapping Action 

6. Slow In & Slow Out 

7. Arcs 

8. Secondary Action 

9. Timing 

10. Exaggeration 

11. Solid Drawing 

12. Appeal 

Angry Birds Transformers: Cinematic Trailer

Humanités



Creative and Production by MOVEMENT™ • Art & Animation Direction by Célia Rivière • Illustration by Théo Guignard • Music by Sacha Galperine

"Way to Go" (Jusqu'ici) a new interactive experience by Vincent Morisset - produced by NFB

April 07, 2015

THE ART OF MURDER - a Storyboard to Old-Time Radio

Storyboards by Peter Huggan
Soundtrack in public domain at archive.org



A nice exercise for any storyboard artist to practice with; find an old radio play, and storyboard it! What a great idea.

Royal Blood - Out of Black

Vandroid - Graphic Novel Trailer



Written by Nic Nicola and Golden Wolf
Directed and Produced by Golden Wolf
Creative director: Ingi Erlingsson
Art director: Ewen Stenhouse
Producer: Ant Baena
Design: Ewen Stenhouse, Pedro Vergani, Marie Ecarlat, Max Englehart, Bjørn-Erik Aschim
Animation: Peter Dodd, Tim Whiting, Christoffer Elsborg Kramme, Thomas Purrington, Henry Purrington, Max Englehart, Justine Waldie, Sim Marriott
Compositing: Alex Fernandez, Mike Tyler
Music by Ed Banger Records
Additional Sound Design by Echoic

'One Last Try' by Hugues Opter & Vincent Tsui