June 30, 2017

June 21, 2017

Le Grand Mechant Renard

The film is out today!!!

Ninja of Die Antwoord tells epic story animated by Julien JDM from Bounty Banana



Ninja tells of a day spent playing basketball with Kanye West and Drake while the atmosphere was very tense between the Canadian rapper and Die Antwoord on a previous tour... And while Ninja believes to make a simple friendly match, he realizes that he is actually invited to the Kanye vs. Drake clash.

Production: Vast Be Mess
Animation by Julien Jourdain de Muizon
Animation Producers: Sebastien Guitton, Samson Briand and Steven Briand
Animation assistant: Steven Briand
Storyboard, Layout, VFX and Compositing: Studio Kippik
Action Animator: Etienne Guignard
2D Animator: Dorian-Niels Leclair
After Effects: Hugo Louiset

The Golden Apple



The Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-golden-apple-animated-series-pilot-episode- fantasy-animation#/


The Golden Apple Facebook page: https://www.fb.com/goldenappleseries/

Official website of the series: http://goldenappleseries.com/

The team behind The Golden Apple animated series is inviting their fans to peek behind the scenes of the production. Its creator and art director Dimitar Petrov is sharing secrets from Studio Zmei in a 10-minute video blog. He demonstrates all the different stages of the project – from the character design to developing special software to create Kuker magic based on traditional Bulgarian embroidery. This way, animation fans can get to know what an idea goes through before it becomes an animated film:



The video is aimed at all fans who are following the project, as well as at everyone interested in animation. Anyone who directly supports the crowdfunding campaign for a pilot episode will get access to more of these monthly vlogs documenting the stages that The Golden Apple goes through before reaching the screen.
“The goal is to show our accountability to the people who have helped us make the episode,” says Petrov. The idea is to get the project’s followers as involved as possible in the creative process. The Golden Apple team is also trying to show their supporters why it takes so many people, so much time and resources to create a quality animation production.
The vlog demonstrates in detail the stages that each character and background design development goes through, the planning of each frame, colour treatment and music. Fans will also learn what is the role of the Lead designer and the Art director, why is a storyboard needed, what the terms ‘layout’ and ‘animatic’ mean, and how teams of dozens of animators are able to draw the characters and backgrounds in the same style.
The Golden Apple pilot episode is necessary in order to finalise negotiations with partners and investors for a full season. Studio Zmei will finance its creation with the ongoing crowdfunding campaign. The Bulgarian National Television is a co-producer for the episode and helps with 20% of its budget.
About Studio Zmei and The Golden Apple
The Golden Apple is a project for an animated series inspired by Bulgarian myths, legends and folklore. The story takes place in a fantasy world that is entirely based on Bulgarian folklore, and the narrative takes the spirit and lessons from our favourite legends and folk tales.
Studio Zmei was founded in 2015 and its current team includes over 28 professionals in five different countries, specialised in animation, illustration and folklore.

Storytelling With Sound

June 14, 2017

Renters | 20”



The new 20" TVC, which starts to air this week, once again brings together the talents of director Layla Atkinson and illustrator Anna Kövecses. Homebrew, Rightmove's agency, commissioned the duo once again, to create a spot to promote the property companies' massive rental portfolio. With the previous success of the Rightmove 'School checker' campaign, it was always a possibility that they would get the same team back together, and as chance had it, the stars once more aligned.

Working closely with Homebrew, Layla and the team at Trunk helped develop the script and storyboard, in which we follow a young couple as they go house hunting. They visit a wide range of properties, only to find that they’re too high, too low, or too windy! Before finally finding the perfect rental that they both love. Obviously!

Anna, who grew up in Hungary, was challenged to create a very typical British urban environment. Layla notes, 'Along the way we developed mews courtyards, Tudor cottages and Georgian terraces, before settling on our final selection.' The narrative plays out amongst high rises, narrow boats and back to backs, whilst being punctuated by incidental details like the Austin allegro, a celebration of Layla's child hood, cats in windows, and doves on rooftops.

Layla and the animators well-observed attention to detail brings a sense of warmth and humour to the couple's adventure. Subtle and nuanced details such as the woman's shoe falling into the canal, and the guy bumping his head, all help with the playful nature that Rightmove were aiming for, perfectly capturing the sense and meaning of home.

With two beautiful projects in the bag for Rightmove, Layla notes, "It was great to work with Anna again. She's such an amazing illustrator and I love her style so much. The temptation to just ask her to draw things for fun was always tugging at my moral compass! Would definitely love to work together again in the future!" Watch this space.

To see the advert follow this link: https://vimeo.com/219858589
To see the previous one follow this: https://vimeo.com/208675773

-- Credits --
Client: Rightmove
Agency: Homebrew
Production: Trunk Animation
Director: Layla Atkinson
Producer: Richard Barnett
Illustrator: Anna Kovecses @Handsom Frank
Animation: Roland Edwards, Alex Potts, Leslie Dart, Layla Atkinson
Compositing: Rok Predin
Sound Design and Mix: Chris Swain @ Fonic

'Cat City' by Victoria Vincent

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'Mutafukaz’ Trailer

June 13, 2017

Red Rainbow

Here's a great combination of sight and sound, this film sees the first track off John Kaada and Mike Patton’s recent collaboration Kaada/Patton set to visuals taken from director Rune Spaans and artist Dave Cooper’s short film, “The Absence Of Eddy.”

The Wolf - Workflow Process



“The Wolf” is an animated Music Video for the Argentinian band SIAMES. Produced independently by the Buenos Aires based studio Rudo Company, every frame has been handcrafted in traditional 2D animation with great effort and love. From initial rough to final clean up, each take has been animated by a single person to maintain the mood, style and vision of that artist. Inspired by Japanese animation, we tried to follow a technique commonly known as “Sakuga”, in which the quality of the animation improves drastically to match the dramatic intensity of the moment.

This video highlights the evolution from idea to the finished work. See the film here.

'Totems' by CJ Cook

June 06, 2017

Joshs’ Story



A true story of homelessness and redemption.
SGCH offers housing and opportunities to people like Josh. We worked with them again to create a film showing the true story of another of their tenants.
Credits:
Director: Stefan Wernik twitter.com/StefanWernik
Producer: Guy Jamieson twitter.com/GuyItchy
Writer: Jason J. Cohn twitter.com/JasonJCohn
Production Company: The Magnificent Itch
Designers: Jason Pamment & Alexander Watson
Animators: Darragh White & Arthur Collie
2D FX Animator: Quentin Cordonnier
Character modelling: Tristan Lock
Additional Background Art: Deanna Hewitt
Comping: Jason Morice
Composer: Stephen Frost
Voice Actor: Natasha Beaumont

Her - Needs & Desires

June 05, 2017

Newgrounds - The Foundation of the Future of Animation

A look at the groundbreaking site that gave young animators an outlet for expression.

UNHCR Adut's Journey



Every year children fleeing conflict are separated from their parents. This is the story of one of them. A film made for Australia for UNHCR a charity that helps fund the UN's efforts to alleviate refugee's suffering.
Credits
Direction:Stefan Wernik
Co-Direction and Design:Alexander Watson
Animation:Arthur Collie
2D FX Animation: Quentin Cordonnier

June 04, 2017

Elton John - Rocket Man



In his own interpretation of Elton’s iconic hit, Iranian filmmaker and refugee Majid Adin reimagines “Rocket Man” to tell a whole new story of adventure, loneliness and hope. The Cut, proudly supported by YouTube, invited filmmakers to create the first official music videos for three of Elton John’s most famous songs: http://eltonjohn.com/thecut

'The Lighthouse' Simon Scheiber



A lighthouse keeper’s surprising discovery pulls him out of his monotonous, daily routine and takes him onto a journey into uncharted territory. Made up of over 14,000 photographs, The Lighthouse is a black and white stop motion short crafted by filmmaker Simon Scheiber over the course of 7 years.

June 03, 2017

Blade Runner - The End of Humanity

Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki



In 2013, Oscar-winning film director and animator, Hayao Miyazaki, suddenly announced his retirement at the age of 72. But after an encounter with young CGI artists, the director of Spirited Away decided to embark on a new artistic endeavour. This candid documentary follows Miyazaki as he crafts his first CGI film in an intimate behind-the-scenes portrait filmed over two years.