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Wow, this video is mesmerizing in a creepy way. "The films were created during 5 days in February 2010 with students at The Animation Workshop in Viborg, Denmark." Directed by Max Hattler.
OK so no visual effects here (if there were it would ruin the whole effect!), but this is too fun not to post to inspirations. This insanely huge and complicated Rube Goldberg-esque device was built by the band over the course of several months. One camera take! I wonder how many times they had to go through this to get it to work flawlessly.
I just find this sort of data really interesting. I'm a bit of a data geek. Also, this makes me feel completely insignificant. I am one of 1.7 billion, and so are you.
Gorillaz have gone full CG and continue to break ground on new video "Stylo"- a compositing and vfx masterpiece. New album "Plastic Beach" will be out March 8/9th US.
Yes, I was a big fan of HoJo in the early-mid 80s. He was my second concert, after Corey Hart! This video has some pretty stellar video effects for the age. The song was on the Better Off Dead soundtrack, when they're fixing the Camaro. Oh, I love that movie!
A slightly disgruntled dog gives his take on the "blue hippy cats" in Avatar.
Nicely done, apparently the CG artist has yet to reveal themselves. Rumored to be created with XSI and Lightwave with motion capture. One word- aaawesome!
Do you remember these? I do! CGTalk just featured these a couple of weeks ago and it seemed a perfect topic for the Flashback Friday feature, which we haven't done in a while. I think you will find this to be very interesting. Thanks to Thom Birks for the link.
Toolfarm: Can you tell us a little about WeWereMonkeys? What is your history, your backgrounds?
WeWereMonkeys: Davide Di Saro holds a Master's Degree in Fine Arts and Design from The Dutch Art Institute and has exhibited his art works internationally in China, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. One of his works was awarded honorable mention by UNESCO in 2003. Davide has worked as a professional photographer in Italy, and as an Interactive Designer at the Banff Centre.
Mihai Wilson has travelled extensively, picking up inspiration from around the world. He worked as an Animator and Designer for Adbusters Magazine from 2002-2004, developing provocative animations that have had worldwide exposure. In 2004, he co-founded Biro Creative. He has created animations and interactive works for organization such as The United Nations Foundation, Greenpeace and The World Wildlife Fund.
WeWereMonkeys began in 2007 when Mihai and Davide created an insane stream of consciousness stop-motion animation for Malajube's Le Crab, which was nominated for the 2007 MTV People's Choice Video Award. They successfully followed this with the production of a second video for Malajube's Ton Plat Favori, which was featured in the 2008 Independent Music Video Festival. In 2009, WWM's video for Land of Talk's It's Okay was featured in Stash 63 and was chosen as one of The 5 Best Videos of 2009 by TIME Magazine.
(WeWereMonkeys Directors Davide Di Saro and Mihai Wilson in their New York studio 2009)
TF: How did you begin this particular project- were you approached by Land of Talk with this idea, or is it something you came up with collectively?
WWM: WeWereMonkeys was asked to write a treatment for Land of Talk through Toronto-based production company, The Field. WWM's Producer, Marcella Moser, came up with the idea of Queen Antiope, and then together we developed and wrote the treatment. The video is about Queen Antiope, the last warrior of the legendary Amazon tribe.
TF: Do you typically storyboard your projects out?
WWM: We definitely storyboard, but we're spontaneous and don't like locked storyboards. While producing "It's Okay" we needed a solid plan and an organized shot list because of limited time each day with the horse and rider.
TF: What camera did you shoot with? Knowing that everything would be in slow motion, were there any special considerations or challenges with each shot?
WWM: To fit with the dark mood of the song we wanted to capture the live footage in slow motion. We shot the entire video with a RED at 100fps 2K 16:9 using Nikon lenses. From the open door of a speeding minivan, we shot the horse and rider galloping along side of an airstrip. Davide flew in an ultra-light to capture the aerial shot. To keep the lighting consistent, we shot the horse and rider at 6am every day. The main challenge was avoiding hazy shots due to seasonal forest fires.
(Director Davide Di Saro filming actress Ines Stone and Desi from an ultra-light with pilot Randy Rauck from Raven Aviation)
TF: What software do you use for the compositing and effects? Any 3rd party plugins used for the particle and hair effects?
TF: How were the background and environmental elements created?
WWM: The background was matte painted in Photoshop, and the anti-gravity debris was animated by hand in After Effects.
TF: It looks like the main character is the only live footage, with most of the background/ textural elements all being shot or created separately. How did this affect how everything was brought together?
WWM: We shot, edited and rotoscoped the live footage first, and then built the environment around the horse and rider.
TF: You seem to have a great deal of variety in style from your demo reel. Is this due to each member of your team having a design niche of sorts, or based on the needs of each project?
WWM: Variety is key to WWM's work. We love experimenting with multiple mediums; it leads us to new ideas and unique visual outcomes. We are very hands-on; from creative direction, set construction, costume design, photography, illustration, rendering and VFX, we do it all.
(Left: Directors Davide Di Saro and Mihai Wilson on location with DP, Dominic Schaefer Right: Mihai Wilson and Davide Di Saro getting actress Ines Stone ready for the shoot)
TF: Any current or on-the-horizon projects you're working on?
A really beautiful example of style/melding of textures with vector art using Flash and After Effects. Animated in Flash, composited in After Effects, and edited in Premiere. Love the soundtrack and audio fx too!
It's rare that I'd want to watch a commercial a few times over but this is funny ad with some nice visual trickery. That's some pretty smooth matching. I'm on a horse. Hahahaha.
GPSchnyder at
7:37 AM
1925 aka Hell
