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"An exploration through a mysterious underwater world inspired by the forms and movement of sea life and micro organisms. Hybrid organic and synthetic creatures undulate and wander through heavy waters in concert with the cinematic soundtrack."
"With over 2,026,435 views of the official film on Dailymotion in the six days since its release, Pixels has really spread far and wide very quickly. We wanted to find out more about the film and had a chance to ask the creator Patrick Jean a few questions. Now working as a 2D and 3D artist at One More Production, where this film was made, Patrick is a 2002 graduate of Supinfocom and has also previously worked at the French VFX powerhouse BUF. Patrick's original storyboards for the film are also below. Take a look!"
Dark and surreal mixed with stop motion, kinda reminds me a bit of Jan Svankmajer's work with some serious mograph underpinnings! Check out Nando's 2010 reel as well, some very nice pieces.
Great Roundup at aetuts+ on several visual effects treats, many of which we have posted to our inspirations page in the past, by Topher Welsh.
"A subject we haven't touched on for a couple months is the wonder of visual effects and compositing breakdowns. Take a look at the largest roundup of this genre to date!"
It's a bit dark, I'd highly recommend you watch it full screen. Truly amazing- RealFlow used for fluid simulation? "Nokta (Dot) is an abstract film project which is an improvisation of organic pieces while considering themes like power, chance and luck. I also wanted a perspective that can be subjectified by viewers."
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.
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.
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!
I've really been enjoying this series of funky, stylistic commercials for the Honda Accord Crosstour. Here's the full lineup so far! See more of Elastic's work at http://www.elastic.tv/
A FULL-CG animated piece that tries to illustrate architecture art across a photographic point of view where main subjects are already-built spaces. Sometimes in an abstract way. Sometimes surreal.
Credits:
CG
|Modelling - Texturing - Illumination - Rendering| Alex Roman
POST
|Postproduction & Editing| Alex Roman
MUSIC
Sequenced, Orchestrated & Mixed by Alex Roman (Sonar & EWQLSO Gold Pro XP)
Sound Design by Alex Roman
Based on original scores by:
.Michael Laurence Edward Nyman. (The Departure) .Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns. (Le Carnaval des animaux)
Directed by Alex Roman
Done with 3dsmax, Vray, AfterEffects and Premiere.
It has been a while since I've been totally blown away by something but this piece is amazing! Waldemar Borth sent me some links from his work and this one absolutely knocked my socks off. It was done before Waldemar joined the company, but it looks like he's joined an amazing company.
The story reminds me a bit of Coraline. Stylized but with plenty of little details- well done, creepy! First independent short film directed by Rodrigo Blass, a Pixar animator originally from Spain.
Written and Directed by: Rodrigo Blaas Character Design: Bolhem Bouchiba, Carlos Grangel, Sergio Pablos, Santi Agusti Animation: Daniel Peixe, ManueBover, Remi Hueso
Dazzling as usual, the team behind the Final Fantasy series does not disappoint with lucky #13.... aside from the US version not available until April or so! It already has sold over 1.5 million units in Japan within the first four days of its release last week.
Guess it's time for me to bite the bullet and finally purchase a PS3.
Giant robots invades Montevideo! A short movie directed and animated by Fede Alvarez on a shoestring budget of only several hundred dollars. (Probably not factoring in his actual time to make this...) Hollywood quickly took notice and offered him a bigger budget.
"Alvarez ended up signing with CAA, Anonymous Content and attorney Karl Austen the week before Thanksgiving and entered immediate talks with Ghost House after bonding with its principals, which include director Sam Raimi."
A new music video from the N.A.S.A project: "Spacious Thoughts," featuring a most-interesting combination of Tom Waits and Kool Keith, directed by Fluorescent Hill. Excellent animation.
Topher Welch has recently compiled a list of 41 compelling demo reels for your viewing pleasure. Some older, some newer, but all very attractive. "Wow... it took forever, but I'm here to bring you more demo reels then ever before! Maybe you are hurting for some graphics ideas, or just need to whet your inspiration palate? There's no better way to throw away an afternoon. Enjoy!"
Joost Karngald Reel
Tony Hudson 2009 Reel
The Mill 2009 Reel
Mathieu Gerard
Thanks to Topher for scouring the interwebs and putting this together! These were just a couple that jumped out at me, but you can browse the whole list at Aetuts+.
An interesting juxtaposition of different styles and concepts/content! "Duelity is a split-screen animation that tells both sides of the story of Earths origins in a dizzying and provocative journey through the history and language that marks human thought." Visit Duelity.net for more information.
At the Adobe MAX 2009 conference in LA, California (Oct 4), Jon Landau, Producer of James Cameron's Titanic and the upcoming stereoscopic 3D film AVATAR, was invited to give an introduction and brief pitch on how Adobe products were used to realize the world of Pandora, for AVATAR.
Here Jon spends about 5-6 minutes explaining how Adobe products helped his team fulfill them. This came before a short demo screening of the film where audiences wore Real-D stereoscopic 3D glasses.
Director: Alasdair Brotherston and Jock Mooney Producer: Richard Barnett Production company:Trunk Animation Compositing: Andy Hague, Alasdair Brotherston Animation: 2D: Anna Benner, Timothy McCourt, Alasdair Brotherston 3D: Patrick Krafft
I wasn't sure whether to put this one up because it contains a lot of foul language and F-Bombs. Does that blue robot kiss his mother(board) with that mouth?! I think you'll get a kick out of it. "My 8 year old nephew designed our logo in Microsoft Word." Haha. I am sure you all can relate to some portion of this!
And here's "Make my website for free" (NSFW)
There are a lot more from this artist on YouTube if you're finding it funny.
"A two-minute animated voyage through nature's life cycle, following the trials and tribulations of a humble apple seed.
The film was kindly funded by Adobe, made using their CS4 range of software. It was produced at Nexus Productions and features a soundtrack by Jape. It was made using a mixture of stop motion papercraft and 2D drawn animation."
Via Wired Magazine: "One of the nice things about the demise of the music business,” says Moby, sipping tea at a sidewalk cafe in downtown Manhattan, "is that a big production doesn't matter any more. Like in 1998, it seemed the criteria for determining the worth of a music video was how big the production was. Now the only thing that matters is the idea." -Moby
According to the description on Vimeo, this group from Mexico City used Nuke, After Affects, 3dmax and Photoshop and created this cool piece in only 2 weeks. The agency: BBDO Mexico Producer Company: Lemon Films
"Antonia is a 12 year old girl. She often has daydreams, in which she wanders of in to a magical far away forest, were she hides from the problems of the real world. One day, however, her father takes drastic measures and she has to face a decision."
A new trailer for James Cameron's Avatar coming out in December 2009. Looks like a video game to me, but cool, none the less. Do yourself a favor and check out the high res version in iTunes.
Every frame of this animation looks as though it could stand on its own as a work of art. Nice mixture of two and three dimensional elements, textures and gorgeous colors in this French animation by director Michel Ocelot. Will be coming to the US this fall/early winter.
An animated short directed by Jan Chen of DUCK in Los Angeles. I wouldn't exactly say this is NSFW, but it could be. I mean, the film is full of animated condoms! Well executed and very cute, each character has its own personality.
3 Spots for the Dairy Farmers of Canada that were all done with stereoscopic 3D, by Toronto's Headgear Animation and Due North Communications. Read an article about their process at BoardsMag.
Exploit yourself is a Spec commercial inspired by NIKE, directed by Carl Erik Rinsch. The commercial was produced in Big Lazy Robot Visual Effects Studio from February to May. Rinsch wanted to "show off the nerve and spark and freshness of the city with the strength and power of modern sport competition, all in a whole 3d environment."
From MAXON: "With almost 500 visual effect shots, "Spion van Oranje" is the most spectacular visual effects motion picture produced in the Netherlands to date. Being a James Bond spoof, this movie involved a lot of over-the-top action sequences and impossible scenes, which were all realized with CINEMA 4D and the modules Advanced Render, MoGraph, MOCCA, Thinking Particles, NET Render and Sketch and Toon." Visual Effects by PLANET FX.
Want to give Maxon Cinema 4D a spin for free? Download a free trial here!
We also have a sale running if you’re interested in upgrading to Maxon from another 3D app. Save 50% on competitive upgrades through July 31st, 2009!
Video installation art created by Crush with artist/director Marco Brambilla for the elevators Standard Hotel in NYC. Reminds me of a Bosch painting! Made up of over 400 video clips, it takes visitors either up to heaven or down to hell depending on which way they are going in the elevator. Pictures and Q&A with Brambilla and Crush.
Note: Not Safe For Work (NSFW): Language, nudity, violence (of course, it's all animated and in Spanish!) This is some seriously cool animation. Pretty freakin' amazing work.
Video by Logan, who are most well-known for its work on the Apple iPod Silhouettes campaign. Art by The Date Farmers, aka Armando Lerma and Carlos Ramirez.
I love this quote: "Ingenious beats + more guest stars than 'Love Boat' + Martian booty dancers = the party album of the year" - SPIN Magazine
For the first time, the Cannes Film Festival will be opening tonight with a 3-D animation; Disney/Pixar’s "Up" has been chosen this year. While several animated films have been chosen in the past, Up is the first one to have the honor of opening night. View the full theatrical trailer.
I know it's been out for awhile, but I saw this a few nights ago and was really impressed- just gorgeous CG work by 1stAveMachine. Their site is worth a look, the homepage features an interesting folded cardboard and cell animation "Unbox the Box" for Audi.
Evan Sussman's film short, Escape, is a fantastic voyage into a freedom from the stresses of modern life. It is a contender for a $30,000 prize from The Doorpost Film Project. If you like the film, please vote for it!
Evan, can you give a quick synopsis of your new film short, Escape?
Sure, Escape is the story of a couple that has reached their limit to the violence and hatred in our world. We follow them through several seasons and one big idea that just might get them back their freedom. I worked on that synopsis for awhile with my wife. It's ingrained in my head now.
You're the writer, producer, director on the project. How did the idea come to you?
Like all ideas, I'm not sure where it came from exactly, but I do know it was inspired by my wife. At the time she was my girlfriend (we just got married in September of last year). I think I came home from work late one night and I walked in to find her very upset, and crying about what was on the news. It wasn't one story in particular, but the whole picture: floods here, wars there, killings here... If you sit down and take in a whole news broadcast, it can be extremely depressing.
Oh, I completely agree. Totally depressing. I don't watch the news much anymore either. After 9-11, the newscasts changed. So, do you avoid TV now?
It's funny, I do avoid it, even though it's through television that I make most of my living. Actually, I've talked with a lot of people in the "industry" (sorry, I hate that word) who feel the same way. If I'm watching anything, it's most likely going to be a movie. I've especially fallen in love with documentaries lately. HBO On-Demand is a great place for that, but Netflix is the best invention ever, especially if you have an XBOX.
I love Netflix, too!
The reason I avoid watching television, specifically American news programs, is because they are so sensationalized nowadays. I remember watching Tom Brokaw with my mom while getting ready for dinner when I was growing up. She is still in love with him, by the way, but the reporting wasn't as bad as it is now. Fox, MSNBC, all of them... it's more News-tainment, if that's a word, than anything. Switch over to the BBCA and you'll see the difference between American reporting and reporting in other countries.
The worst part, and most saddening, is that there are terrible things happening all around the world. I think what has the potential to make someone so upset is that, from the outside, it all can seem so silly. In Iraq, in Palestine, in everywhere, the majority of people just want to live their lives. They want to work, try to be successful, have a family and take care of them. The bigger violent issues, they can't help but be wrapped up in, are always controlled by few, but end up effecting so many. It's crazy to me that so much of your life is determined by the lottery of where you are born. We are very fortunate here in America that a lot of the terrible things aren't happening in our backyard. That doesn't mean it takes away from our empathy for the people stuck in it though.
I think that's the main idea of the film. I believe that the majority of people stuck in the middle of bad situations would go somewhere else if they knew they could be happy, keep their family safe, and leave all this fighting and waring to someone else.
Can you talk a bit about the workflow on the film? You mentioned that the backgrounds were created in Flash and composited and animated in AE.
Sure, my first studio job was as a part-time assistant editor at Soup2Nuts animation studio. They're a Flash-animation based studio in Watertown, MA. When I started work there, my background was entirely in live-action and I knew a little bit of After Effects. They didn't use After Effects at all when I started! So I told myself, "I'm going to make myself a position here by introducing AE." I did, with a lot of reluctance from some of the producers at the time, but now After Effects is a part of every production's budget and has become a terrific creative tool for the directors and animators. It was through my 4-5 years of working at Soup, eventually becoming the head of post-production, that I gained the experience of utilizing Flash and After Effects together. Now that Adobe owns them both, there are some amazing things you can accomplish.
When I first started to build the scenes for ESCAPE, I was determined to export all the BGs and elements from Flash as .SWF files, retaining the vector information. Where that does work much of the time, once you start creating complicated 3D scenes with vector art, After Effects gets confused and crashes a lot. It was a very frustrating learning experience. What finally worked was to just export the Flash images as large PNGs with alpha information and then build everything out of those. The vector stability is something that Adobe still needs to work out.
We're all of your elements hand drawn? That must have taken forever!
First of all, I want to say that the amazing backgrounds and props were created by Steven Young. He's an incredible talent not only at design but his own writing and ideas. We met and discussed how I pictured everything, then he went and created these ridiculous backgrounds. When I saw the rocket all put together for the first time I just started laughing, I thought it was so cool looking. His art direction really helped to make ESCAPE look so special.
There are a few reasons I choose to do the backgrounds in Flash. One of them being because of where the film takes you. It would have been impossible for me to pull that off on my shoe-string budget otherwise. And I was able to accomplish camera moves I never would have been able to without a crane or something. Plus, I knew it would look cool and give them film a unique tone. My favorite films are the ones where directors have made strong visual decisions. The look of a film is so important in creating the mood and tone. And that's why we watch movies isn't it? To experience an emotion or be taken somewhere new? I get so frustrated when I see a movie that is shot in a boring way. You have all the choices in the world on how to shoot a scene, make it something interesting.
Another reason why I used drawn backgrounds was to make the locations and age of things unspecific. It's the same reason I choose to go without dialogue and make the clips on TV vague. I was considering using shots of President Bush, Katrina, Al Queda kidnappers with masks on etc... But the moment I looked at footage like that, I decided against it. I didn't want to make a propaganda film. And I think the idea I was trying to convey could be applied to any era.
You make some serious use of 3D layers. I especially love the big pullout at the end. Will you share your technique?
A lot of experimentation. That shot took me about a week or so of playing around. Getting the camera speed right was very time consuming. Also, when the camera goes from the landscape to seeing the moon etc, that's when it switches from 3D to 2D. There are a few times in the film I had to do that - especially in the apartment. Sometimes when Joe would walk in, his feet would go through the floor, so those scenes have the keyed footage of him and his girlfriend in the film in 2D. Just about every other time we see them though, they are in 3D and therefore casting shadows and effected by lights. It helps so much in terms of making them feel a part of the scene.
The use of light, shadows and reflections also gives it an organic feel. Really nice.
Thank you! That has always been a goal of mine in After Effects, especially in terms of using After Effects with animation. A show I worked on a long time ago at Soup2Nuts was the first season of an Adult Swim series called Assy McGee. It was about a hard-boiled cop who was just a butt with legs - very high brow stuff. The style was very much like a comic book - detailed and realistic, but stylized. It was with that show that I felt the freedom to play with lighting, coloring, etc because it matched the theme. I wouldn't have felt the same freedom with a Saturday morning, educational cartoon. You have to match the feel of the show.
I ended up creating one technique, if you want to call it that, which I thought brought a cool feeling to the show. I made sure every location had a different overall color tone. So at night, the outside was blue, during the day a washed out yellow. If they were inside a place with florescent lights, I would tint things slightly greenish, and if inside a more natural setting, I would go with brown. Take an adjustment layer and apply the hue/saturation effect. Set it to "colorize" and go crazy with the color and saturation. Go over the top with what you think would work. Then if you bring the opacity of that layer down to somewhere between 15% to 30%, you get a nice overall color to the scene. It's an easy, quick way to change the mood of a shot. I used a lot of tricks like that which I'd learned in my years as an animation effect-artist. I feel almost embarrassed saying it. It's not like it's some big trick or something, just an easy thing...
A lot of people probably don't know about those type of little tricks though, so it's nice of you to share it. I also love the organic movements of your elements, such as the junk in the trailer and the movement of the gears. How did you get your elements to move so naturally? Expressions?
The junk was expressions, yes. Actually, a lot of little things were expressions, like the tree leaves. The wiggle expression is so huge. I wish I was the kind of person who could program and understand how to write expressions more, but I mostly stick with wiggle, creating simple expressions sliders and loopOutDuration. I think, more than anything, I use that expression. It's so great for setting up a few keyframes and setting it to an endless loop. It's especially great for looping videos, like those from ArtBeats or something. The other expression I used was something I found online. It was for making the car's tires roll with the movement of the car. These people who post their amazing expressions online for the rest of us - they are so incredible. The kind of people you find on your site or Creative Cow. I think so many of us owe so much to them for making our work better, at least I do. So, for any of them reading this, THANK YOU!
Let's talk a bit about plug-ins. Ok.
Your keys look incredible. Did you use Keylight or another plug-in?
Just Keylight. How amazing is that plug-in? The fact that it comes bundled with AE Pro is so great. We shot everything on a Panasonic HVX. The weird aspect ratio adds another element of difficulty.
What sort of particle generator did you use for the smoke and snow?
I don't think too many people will be surprised to know that I used Particular from Trapcode. I think that bundle of effects is really essential for a serious After Effects graphics artist. The way it interacts with the 3D camera is amazing. You can make some truly beautiful stuff with it. Actually, speaking of which, there was a shot I cut from the film where the camera pushes in from the exterior through the window, all the while passing this beautiful falling snow. It was SO hard to let that go, but I had to for the pacing of the film. Making a movie from scratch is a lot of killing your own babies. It can be really tough to let go.
How about the film effect?
That effect I made from scratch, no pun intended. I would be happy to share the project file. There are a bunch of wiggle expressions going on there. One of the inspirations for ESCAPE was the movie "Voyage to the Moon" by George Melies, which was made in 1902. That was the reason for the film effect, as a little homage.
I totally feel the homage to Voyage to the Moon. I was thinking that in the back of my mind.
It also acts as another one of those era-less things. People keep asking me which plug-in I used for that. I guess I did a good job! My advice to anyone starting in this field: always try to make your own "plug-ins" first. You'll save money and learn a lot in the process - not to mention have it to use any time you need it.
Did you learn any good tricks during the production? How long did the whole film take to create?
Oh man, of course. You should always learn something, otherwise you're not pushing yourself. When I was the head of post and receiving resumes from young applicants, I would always get the one that said "after-effects guru" or something. You know what? No, you're not. I promise. I've been working with After Effects for I don't know, 10 years now. I wouldn't claim to be a guru or master. I love it, I can do amazing things with it, but there are so many people out there who know this program inside and out. I'm not sure if one person can really know everything After Effects can do. It's so powerful. Like Photoshop - you know it to the extent that you need to use it. Someone could show you a new use for it that you would have never guessed. It's that kind of a program.
I shot the original greenscreen footage in September of '07 - so over a year? That was with a lot of breaks for paying work. It's hard to find time to do your own thing. But if you love it, you'll make time. It also helps to have someone pushing you, in my case my wife Avril.
The soundtrack is fantastic. Was it custom created for your film?
I'm so glad you asked this question. It was original, it's amazing, and it is all the work of Daniel Koren, an Israeli composer living in New York. We met on an earlier project of mine where he composed a completely different kind of song. I knew that without a doubt he was the guy for this project. But 6.5 minutes is a lot of composing to ask of someone on the cheap, so we decided to barter. I came down to NY and shot a short video for his band at Julliard, in exchange for him creating the beautiful score. His group is called "The Koren Ansamble" and will be hitting the world by storm very soon!
The other music in the piece, "Let's Pretend There's A Moon", is performed by Fats Waller and licensed from Warner Brothers, EMI, and a man named Arthur Hamilton. I knew this song had to be in the film no matter what, but I didn't know where until it was all edited together. Playing over the credit's ended up being a really nice way to end the film. The scratchy recording, the piano - it just fit. And through it I've started a friendship with Arthur, who actually turns out to be the son of two of the song's writers, so it was extra special to me that the idea of the film was inspired by my wife and it was Arthur's parents who wrote the song. It just makes me feel good every time I think about it.
Can you talk a bit about the Doorpost Film Project?
I think the Doorpost Film Project is amazing. Any group that is willing to invest in young directors is okay in my book. This is my first time entering their contest, but so far I'm very impressed with the quality of the site, the integrity of their voting process, and the quality of the work they attract. To get the chance to show what you could do with a real budget would be so incredible. There are some very cool movies in this competition. It's daunting, but I'm just happy to be a part of it.
You look very young in your picture on the Doorpost Film Project page, but you have a really extensive portfolio. What is your secret for staying so young? ;-) Seriously, though, can you give us a quick rundown of some of the work you've done in the past?
Well, thank you! My secret is my goofy boxer, Rufus. He's like living with a little funny old man who makes me laugh everyday. I wish I was able to work him into the movie somehow, but I don't think he would have had fun on set for 10-12 hours.
I have always been told I look young. I'm 28. That picture was taken kind of far away, my wife points out that I'm getting grey hairs everyday.
My first job out of school, aside from driving people around in a wheelchair van, was creating web content for Boston Children's Hospital. I then moved on to Soup2Nuts where I was able to work on some amazing programming. Soup was a great learning experience for me and small enough that I was able to try out a bunch of different things outside of post production. I wrote and created some shorts for PBS's Between the Lions, directed some commercials for Legal Sea Foods (a regional family seafood chain) and created logos and visual styles for shows on PBS and Cartoon Network. It was terrific. Since leaving last summer, I've been out on my own freelancing. I've made commercials for the Discovery Channel at Element Productions, created the look for a new show coming up on Animal Planet and many effects for Discovery channel programming at Powderhouse Productions. I've also been working on a bunch of outside projects, including a promo video for a charitable company out in California called Give Something Back. Freelancing is a tough gig with long hours and a lot of self-promotion looking for that next gig. But right now, I'm loving the freedom of it.
Anything new in the pipeline?
Right now I've got a few things going on, but I'm mostly trying to get a show idea off the ground. It's a nutritional show for children that my friend and business-partner Dave Schlafman co-created. We're very close to an investment, but I doubt I should say anything about it until we know for sure. I'll keep you posted!
Thanks so much and best of luck with the contest. Hopefully we can give you the "Toolfarm Bump".
Disney Pixar's next animated film is called Up. It looks fantastic... very funny! It will be in theatres May 29, 2009.
That sounds like Ed Asner doing the voice of the old man, Mr. Fredrickson. I'd love one of those dog collars for my cat!
Below is a leaked Scene, which I don't believe was actually leaked because I saw the scene on an official Disney Pixar page on Facebook, but it wasn't embeddable.
I've had this one in one of my tabs, holding until I got it posted. Everytime I open Firefox it as been opening up. I am really liking the music!
This gorgeous piece is the Opening Sequence to the Slamdance 15 Festival, the 15 being the 15th anniversary of the festival. They sum it up pretty nicely on their site: "In this handcrafted prologue we see that in this world, much like our own, anything can and will be used to make the film."
I saw Fanboy and Chum Chum, fighting a frozen super villan, at the MGChicago Screening. It was some of the most entertaining stuff I've seen in a while. I love cartoons and when they're entertaining for adults and children, even better. I didn't see any video online yet, but the show was just greenlighted for Nickelodeon, so it will be on your tv screens before you know it. Below are some photos, renderings, sketches and storyboards of the upcoming series.
Another Natsuki suggestion. En Tus Brazos (pops) is stylish, gorgeous 3D film short with beautiful reflections and a film noir style use of shadows. The textures and lighting are just fantastic. It's really something special.
My daughter and I had some fun tracking Santa's location around the globe and learning a bit about geography. I was surprised at the 3D news reports of his progress too. Very cute idea. To see the full map, http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.html.
Also, if you haven't caught our 12 Days of Freebies at Toolfarm, download some freebies here. There's a NORAD Santa radar that you can download for free which was made with Cycore FX's new CFX Path Tools and After Effects CS4. It will be going up later today. We had a fancy Flash card but we were hit with a lot of traffic, hence, just the plain page. We're still adding to it and there will be 12 in total.
By the way, did you know the 12 days of Christmas actually starts the day after Christmas? Most of the freebies are not specifically "Christmas" so if you don't celebrate the holiday, we didn't leave you out ;-)
King and Country directed and animated this self-promotional short; "”The Ride”; loosely follows the journey of an idea from it’s rough beginnings, through a perilous course, until it finally takes off into the world."
The Music Video for "Like I Do" by Minipop. Directed by Andrew Huang. Not too keen on the band itself, but I'm liking the animation style, and thought it was worth a mention. Andrew Huang's portfolio has some nice VFX, installation and traditional art work.
This video is a bit hard to look at depending on your state of mind, but it's a crazy awesome technique by OneInThree- a phenomenon known as the "Droste Effect"; based on the math behind a lithograph created by M.C. Escher.
A music video for My Morning Jacket created by Mixtape Club. "Mixtape Club drew from an array of inspirations such as the BBC's "Planet Earth", foliage plucked from the streets of New York City, and the work of Russian animator Yuri Norstein. The jungle world was built entirely from elements painted digitally. The finished product is a haunting, seemingly hand-painted, lonely story with a touch of fairy tale sweetness." More of Mixtape Club's work along with higher resolution previews are available on their website.
"Sea Orchestra" is a whimsical, Hieronymus Bosch-styled commercial for United. The elements were produced by Shy the Sun, a South Africa-based directing team; using hand-drawn textures, computer animation characters and photographs of water, reefs and skies. The elements were then finished by Lung Animation, who did the 3D modeling and final animations.
This one starts out a bit slow but at about 3 minutes in, the effects are amazing. Vince Ream is the director:
I used After Effects for all the animation and compositing. I used Adobe Premiere for all the editing. The most important part was time, and making sure everything I did was what I wanted before moving on.
There's a section with hologram CD covers that rotate around this girl and she touches them and they play. The album and paper effects remind me of the HP ads that were out about a year ago. The giant head effect is trippy too. The tracking and compositing are so well done in this video. Wow. That's all I can say.... wow. So much eye candy, I'm on overload.
A little gory, but just wait until about 2:20 into the video. Gnarls Barkley hasn't made a boring video yet. Nice tracking and 3D. Directed by Chris Milk.
GPSchnyder at
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I've had this one in one of my tabs, holding until I got it posted. Everytime I open Firefox it as been opening up. I am really liking the music!
