Toolfarm Inspirations

Modest Mouse "Whale Song" by Nando Costa

4/02/2010 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

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.

"Whale Song" for Modest Mouse from Nando Costa on Vimeo.

Nando Costa Reel 2010 from Nando Costa on Vimeo.

Labels: 2D, 3D, Bizarre, Demo Reel, Film Short, Stop Motion

Posted by Alicia VanHeulen

Vincent- an Early Stop-Motion by Tim Burton

12/17/2009 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Created in 1982, this is one of his first stop-motion films- interesting to see themes and styles have not changed much!

Labels: Bizarre, Character Animation, Experimental, Film Short, Retro, Stop Motion, Tim Burton

Posted by Alicia VanHeulen

"The Seed" by Johnny Kelly

9/30/2009 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

The Seed from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.

"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."

Making of video:

Making of 'The Seed' from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.

Full credit list available on Vimeo.

Labels: 2D, 3D, Bizarre, Character Animation, Experimental, Film Short, Music Video, Retro, Stop Motion

Posted by Alicia VanHeulen

Moby: "Mistake" Interview at Wired.com

9/16/2009 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

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

Read the full interview at Wired.

Labels: 2D, 3D, Bizarre, Character Animation, Experimental, Film Short, Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Alicia VanHeulen

Electric Car- They Might Be Giants

9/11/2009 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Making of Video:

Directed/created by the crew at Tiny Inventions.

Labels: 2D, 3D, Bizarre, Experimental, Film Short, Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Alicia VanHeulen

Fantastic Mr. Fox Trailer

7/31/2009 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Based on the Roald Dahl story and directed by Wes Anderson, Fantastic Mr. Fox looks like a fun ride! It's done in a very old school stop motion style like Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, which I adored as a kid.

I can definitely tell that is George Clooney doing the voice. Also featuring the voice of Jason Schwartzman, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray as the skunk and Owen Wilson.

Labels: Movie Trailer, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

SOUR - Hibi no neiro (Everyday Sounds) and Omokage no saki (Beyond your memory)

7/10/2009 • Permalink • 1 Comments •

Hibi no neiro means 'everyday sounds'. One of the perks of living in a Japanese household is that I always have a translator! This video is amazing. The timing of the webcams is impressive. Very creative work! Directors: Masashi Kawamura, Hal Kirkland, Magico Nakamura and Masayoshi Nakamura.

Here's another from the band that uses Stop Motion and animated headphone cables. I am very intrigued by the originality in their videos.(

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Ranger 3 - Sense of Direction

6/25/2009 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Claymation animals shot outdoors, directed by the award-winning Eric Power. This is a very cool video and all but is the stop motion overdone these days? What do you think?

Ranger 3 - Sense of Direction from Eric Power on Vimeo.

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Fleet Foxes: Mykonos

6/23/2009 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Stop motion paper animation by director and animator Sean Pecknold along with artist/illustrator Jesse Brown for Fleet Foxes. After Effects was used to finish the final sequences.

Making of video:

"Our last 4 weeks stitched together. Mainly timelapse of setting up each shot."

Labels: 2D, Experimental, Film Short, Music Video, Retro, Stop Motion

Posted by Alicia VanHeulen

Deadline - Senior Project from Savanah College of Art and Design

6/11/2009 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

A very cool stop motion-based senior project at Savannah College of Art and Design.

The planning on this would've been insane, and it was, so they made the Making of... I wondered how they decided how it moved. They first put it together in Flash, then made animatics.

Labels: Stop Motion, Student Work

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

IKEA - An Ocean of Possibilities

6/07/2009 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Tomer Bahat sent me this fun new stop motion IKEA bedrooms commercial that he directed, which was shot on location in Rishon Lezion, Israel. Shot on Canon 5D mk. II, PreViz on 3DS Max, Composited in Adobe After Effects.

Ikea Stop Motion Commercial-Bedrooms-"An Ocean of Possibilities" from Tomer Bahat on Vimeo.

Labels: Commercial, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

A Conversation with Garcia Freundt

6/01/2009 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

On the side I run a music blog and I was contacted about the band Modernage. The music is fantastic, with sort of a Joy Division feel, but with much more warmth and melody. What really struck me, though, was the cool video. I had recently been complaining about how videos nowadays just seem like a way to market a band and there's a lack of art in a lot of music videos. The music video for the song Creatures uses stop motion with wired up stuffed toys. What is also great about Creatures is that the video was created by a band member. I talk with the multi-talented Garcia Freundt of Modernage, musician and visual effects artist.

TF: You did an amazing stop motion video for your band Modernage for the song Creatures. Do you have a background in photography and video?

GF: I've been working on tv and film for about 12 years. I've never been into photography, just took a couple of classes in college, but I'm thinking of buying a still camera but mainly to work more on stop motion.

TF: Have you done much stop motion work? This looks like a huge undertaking.

GF: This is my second project with stop motion. I've always liked stop motion because it is a unique medium. I fell in love with the textures of the environment and the not-so-perfect movements. My opportunity to explore this medium for the first time was last year, when I was asked to develop some Halloween IDs for a TV cable network. I instantly knew that it would be a great opportunity to create a bizarre world... the short length of the pieces - 10 to 12 seconds - was perfect for a first timer using this technique.

Another reason I like stop motion is the fact that you don't have to work with a lot of people. It's kinda like sculpting and painting, it's very different that normal filmmaking. Roberto Vasconcelos, a great DP I love to work with, worked with me on all the shots with the yellow background, but that's the only person I had to work with.

TF: One shot in the beginning that grabbed me was the change of focus from the rocker to the marble. There's a lot narrow depth of field shifts thought the video, actually. Was that type of effect something you pulled off in camera or in post?

GF: That change of focus was done just with the camera. I was using an HVX200. For the stop motion, I just used the feature in which the camera takes only 2 frames each time you press the record button. In that rack focus I was rolling at 24fpsand with one hand out of the frame I was moving the rocking chair and with the other one I was turning the focus wheel. In general, I've always loved a narrow depth of field and using mainly close-ups to tell stories, and it's easier to get a narrow depth of field when using tight close ups.. so it just works for me.

TF:I'm guessing you took large images and did your pans and zooms in a program like After Effects. Can you talk a bit about your post production process?

GF: Almost all the pans and zooms were done with the camera rolling at 24fps. I tried to stay away from moving the puppets while doing camera moves...maybe for the next project.

TF: What type of plug-ins do you like to use? For the film effect for example, did you use a plugin on that or use some other method to achieve the old film look?

GF: For the film look I just put a vignette (to give it a more fairy tale look) and just added some grain to reduce the sharpness of the video.

MY: Nice particles too!It looks like you shot a portion of it over greenscreen too. You really have a lot of different techniques in a single video!

GF: The only 3 sequences with post effects where done with Motion; the first one is the ball going up and turning into a "planet". The second was the pink puppet going up to the planet (the puppet was on a green screen). The last one was a composite the grey puppet looking at the pink one who is in the planet. The star field is a Motion particle.

TF: I love Motion particles. They're so easy to use and so fast. I'll admit, I've only done stop motion work once and it was in college. It didn't turn out too well. I know stop motion can be tedious work... everything must be so precise. Do you have any methods that you use to time things out?

GF: It really didn't take me a lot of time to do the filming, maybe 20 to 25 hours. The post didn't take me that much either, just working on the three composites I described earlier. With stop motion you don't do much editing, because you don't do any coverage - its very time consuming; you just plan every scene and know in you head how it's going to cut. However, the pre-production part was the longest one but to me the most fun - it took me 5 months, working whenever I had a chance; this involved designing and sewing the puppets and building and painting the set. I guess I didn't want it to end because I love doing stuff with my hands.

TF: So, the dolls... did you put wires inside to get them to pose or did you have another technique?

Yes, I used wires. Now I'm actually learning how to make proper dolls with armatures. The dolls I made were very rudimentary, and I had a lot of problems making them stand right or to have controlled movements...it was a bit of a nightmare, but a learning experience.

TF: How long did it take to make the video? Did you learn any good tricks?

GF: Over a period of seven months, working on it whenever I felt like it. If I had worked on it not taking breaks, maybe 20 days for pre-pro, 6 days for filming and 5 days for post. I started working on it long before the song was recorded. For me, like everything I do, it is just a stepping stone: don't make the same mistakes and build on the good things. I learn by doing.

TF: The opening scene reminds me of something by The Brothers Quay? Do you have any influences in your work? That moving potato is very creepy! The "eyes" look like tentacles.

GF: Yes, among my favorites are the Quay Brothers, Henry Selick and the works of czech animators like Jirí Trnka and Jan Svankmajer. I included the potato cause I always like the "eyes" that grow on them. It gives the potato character...

TF: What do you do in the band?

GF: Keyboards, guitars...and the videos.

TF: When you do a video like this for your band, does everyone have input or do you just do what you envision?

GF: I enjoy doing videos for Modernage mainly because I love the music. I love Mario's lyrics because he has a great sense of storytelling. When I heard the track I felt that it would be good for stop motion. I do most of my creative thinking in bed, right before going to sleep, when my mind is in that weird half-sleep state. I developed the main story line in my head and on the next band rehearsal I showed Mario, the singer, the IDs I had done using this technique, to see his reaction and propose to do a stop motion video for "Creatures", since he was the one who wrote the song. After I showed him the IDs, before I proposed anything, he said: "that's exactly what we should do with Creatures!".. and with that I started working on it.

TF: Have you done other videos as well?

Creatures" is the fourth video I've done for Modernage. I've also done one for a band called "Santos Renuentes" and another one for "Union Cell".

The other 3 Modernage videos are here if you wanna take a look:

7/9/12 video for Modernage's 7/9/12 from the EP Sirhan Sirhan.
Bella - The second video-single off of Modernage's debut EP Receiver.
Four Eleven - The first hit video off of Modernage's 'Receiver' EP.

TF: Thanks so much for the interview. Best of luck with your music and music video careers! I really love your video work. You have a lot of variety in your style and you're so talented in both fields.

GF: Thanks again!

Labels: Interview, Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

"Sorry I'm Late" Stop Motion Animation

5/21/2009 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Fun stop-motion animation assembled on a gym floor. Visit the film's site to view the making of, complete with set and animation tests. Created by Blink Productions.

Labels: 2D, Experimental, Film Short, Stop Motion

Posted by Alicia VanHeulen

In Case Of Fire - Enemies

4/28/2009 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

A very cool artsy stop motion music video for the band In Case of Fire. Director Jesse Ewles posted the comment "An interesting fact about 'Enemies' (and the rest of my videos) we took great care to use reclaimed or recycled materials for the props and costumes in order to keep the carbon footprint of the project as low as possible. Also the digital animations that make up the video were assembled on computers powered by wind energy."

In Case Of Fire 'Enemies' OFFICIAL VIDEO from RadarMusicVideos on Vimeo.

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

How to Make a Baby

4/27/2009 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

A fun stop motion with unique editing. I can show this to my 6 year old instead of explaining the "real" method! (via Twitter)

Labels: Experimental, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Her Morning Elegance - Oren Lavie

1/28/2009 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

A couple of my Facebook friends who don't know each other shared this video and it's a cool piece of stop motion directed by Israeli artists Oren Lavie, Yuval & Merav Nathan.

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Western Spaghetti

12/26/2008 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Very clever and cool stop motion from Adam Pesapane aka Pes.

Western Spaghetti from TutoxNet on Vimeo.

Labels: Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Bowerbirds - In Our Talons

12/13/2008 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Check out this gorgeous stop motion video from Bowerbirds, In Our Talons, directed by Alan Poon. The last 5 seconds are amazing. This is seriously one of the coolest videos I've seen in a long time.

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Flashback Friday: Clash of the Titans (1981)

11/21/2008 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

I loved Clash of the Titans as a kid. I love the non-CGI Pegasus, the mechanical owl, and the Kraken monster. Harry Hamlin was looking pretty good as Perseus too (his eyebrows hadn't come in all the way yet, I guess!)

As the final work of effects legend Ray Harryhausen, the Medusa head is especially fantastic, with it's intricate clay snakes and glowing eyes in this clip. The full film is on YouTube and I consider it a must-see film. I hear that there's a remake in the works. Not surprised. I'm sure they'll make the film with Attack of the Clones style CGI.

Labels: Flashback Friday, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

L'homme 100 têtes - 3ème prix Panasonic'Art 2008

10/30/2008 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

For the contest "Transformation : Live-React", Julien Lassort and Matthieu Burlot explored the human face, the most exposed and personal part of the human body. Their dynamic portrayal of "1000 and one faces" is a mosaic of portraits and emotions that plays off of the power of faces seen close up. Julien Fargo composed the melody that encapsulates the film.

"L'homme 100 têtes" 3ème prix Panasonic'Art 2008 from Julien Lassort on Vimeo.

Labels: Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

StartCooking.com Videos

10/06/2008 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

I absolutely love to make gourmet food and am a pretty experienced cook but this site called StartCooking.com, geared toward beginners in the kitchen, really caught my attention. It has cool videos that show you how to prepare food - all done very stylishly in stop motion.

Labels: Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Blu: MUTO- a wall-painted animation

5/30/2008 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

This amazing video is a time lapse of painted graffiti on walls in Buenos Aires. Talk about transforming the landscape! More amazing work and sketches are to be found at the artist's website, blublu.org.

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Labels: 2D, Experimental, Stop Motion, Website

Posted by Alicia VanHeulen

Ballet: SNAP!

5/25/2008 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Very cool stop motion piece by Evan Rosenberg for the Anaheim Ballet.

Labels: Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Pjotr Sapegin - Aria

5/19/2008 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

A beautiful stop motion animation telling the story of Madame Butterfly. This is mindblowingly cool.

Warning: May not be safe for work - gratuitous doll sex!

Thanks Thom Birks for the link!

Labels: Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Liam Finn - Second Chance and Gather to the Chapel

5/05/2008 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Excuse me if I gush, but I *LOVE* Liam Finn. Liam is a Kiwi and son to the beloved singer/songwriter Neil Finn, and nephew to Tim Finn. The boy has some musical genius flowing through his veins. (I warned you I would gush).

Liam's video for Second Chance, easily my favorite Liam Finn song, is directed by Angus Sutherland. The video looks as if it was filmed on 8mm and the projected video was video taped, cut up and effected. There are lots of interesting stop motion effects and the video works extremely well for the song, as it crescendos near the end and the speed of the video picks up. I'm very glad to see that the video is as original as the song.

'Gather to the Chapel' video is one continuous shot. This video has gorgeous camera control. Either Liam can run really fast behind the camera and get himself set up for the next shot, or they've really done a great job of matching shots. I'm sure this was programmed camera control, but it's so well done. It's seamless, not like they've made a quick cut on the back of a guys suit as they did in Hitchcock's rope. (Oddly - 'Everyone Gather to the Chapel' and no one is there.)

I had no luck finding any information on the director of this video.

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Madonna Barbie Animation by Rowena True

4/29/2008 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Based on Madonna's ever changing look in the 80s, filmmaker/painter Rowena True uses stop motion, an old TV and Madonna videos to create a piece of art/fun. I'd love to see this a bit longer with the Madonna of the past 20 years also. Definitely need some 90s cone boobs and slicked back pony tail... wouldn't that be hilarious on a Barbie!? Okay, maybe it's just me.

Labels: Bizarre, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

The One AM Radio - A Brittle Filament

2/18/2008 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

I first heard this band a week or two ago at TheSixtyOne and I really like 'em. This is an interesting video because Hrishikesh Hirway, the director, made it with a Mac with the iSight and Photo Booth. Talk about low budget! This was probably cheaper to make than Van Halen's 'Jump', which was said to be made for $600 (and probably most of that was spent on Jack Daniels).

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Stab the Matador - Low Rider & Doctor

2/17/2008 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Here are two videos by the band Stab the Matador. The first is a professional video for the song Low Rider. It has interesting pulsating video effects and an awesome guitar sound. They had to use some sort of 'convert audio to keyframes' tool. YouTube quality though. Meh. (MyToolfarm quality is much higher, and made for motion graphics/vfx artists to share their work. It has just been launched. Try it out!)

Here's another Stab the Matador video for the song 'Doctor'. This one is by high school student Abby Wheeler of Harrisburg, Pa. The tear effects are really cool. Abby did a lot of the editing 'in-camera' and used FCP to finish it. Very cool, Abby. You have a future in this.

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

She is the New Thing - The Horrors

2/17/2008 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

This is one freakin' disturbing video. About two minutes in it gets really gory, but still really cool. Looks to me like a combination of hand drawn art, stop motion and video effects. It was directed by Corin Hardy. What I've seen of Corin Hardy's work is nothing short of impressive. He has a film called Butterfly, that I'm trying to find a high quality clip to post here. It's stop-motion claymation style. It's on Corin's site Mysterious Cat. The site has cool content but is AWFUL. It looks like it was designed in 1999. Frames, tiny white text, tiny video. Did I mention frames? Ugh. Sad because his work is amazingly good.

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

The Adventures of Mark Twain (1985)

10/12/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Okay, this is just disturbing. This is for children! The creators are very talented and creative, but man, this is creepy.

(Via Axiomsun

Labels: Bizarre, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

The Insect's Christmas

10/06/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

This is an old Russian stop motion film from 1913. It's really amazing and also creepy! Those dancing bugs are something out of a nightmare.

Labels: Film Short, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

MTN: Stickies

8/13/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

This is one of the coolest stop-motion animations I've seen in a while. I can't imagine the planning that went into this! This is for South African telecom company MTN. Cape Town's Wicked Pixels did the commercial.

Labels: Commercial, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Process Enacted by Jordan C Greenhalgh

8/13/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

A cool stop-motion and effects piece with lots and lots of Polaroids.

Labels: Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Múm - They Made Frogs Smoke 'Til They Exploded

8/09/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

REally strange and interesting video directed by Ingibjorg Birgisdottir. I'm guessing that is Icelandic.

(Via: Antville)

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Punk da Junk: A Journey of Epic Nutrition

8/07/2007 • Permalink • 1 Comments •

I've been posting info here and there about Get Outta My Face - a non-profit org that teaches kids to eat well and to block out the corporate junk food ads and messages that we are bombarded with daily. GOMF is taking videos by students about nutrition and healthy lifestyles and putting them into this massive collection of videos. It's to raise awareness for what we all know is a huge problem in the US and elsewhere. They're still taking videos so if you're young enough to participate, please do! Or, help your kids make a video.

Winner of Best of Show and Best 72 hour shootout at BendFilm's Future Filmaker's Festival.

This video took 31 hours to make: 20.5 to film and 10.5 to edit.

They've done a lot of really cool hand drawn animations and some stop motion at the end. It's a great video.

Labels: Stop Motion, Student Work

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Country Trouble by Axel and Ellen

7/30/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Axel Rossler and his girlfriend, Ellen, are really into country music and they're both from Frankfurt, Germany... not exactly the hotbed of country music that one might think of... maybe Frankfort, Kentucky! When I think of music in Germany (okay, I know I'm totally dating myself here), I think of the Scorpions' power ballad Wind of Change or Madchen by Lucilectric, which was sooo popular when I was in Dusseldorf in 1992. Or, worse, David Hasselhoff! Ahhh, what do I know about music in Germany... not much at all, obviously. I'm so sad.

Okay, back to the reason for this post. Country Trouble is an incredible stop motion piece, created with hundreds of photos and 3D layers in After Effects. They took lots of photos at Axel's house. Axel said, "There must have been 400 layers or so, haha.. but I like the fact that After Effects still works great, even with tons of layers."

After finishing the house, they took photos of themselves in front of a green screen. Axel adds "organizing the horse was a little bit complicated over here". They took the green screen photos into AE, keyed them and made them 3D layers. They used the AE camera with some wiggle added to it and finished with some color correction.

So, yeah, it's all stills! I really thought the dance scene was video and they used a posterize time effect to give it the look. That dance sequence, what can I say? Wow! It's wunderbar.

Labels: 2D, 3D, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Stash, the Monthly DVD

6/18/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Stash Media Stash 33 trailer came out earlier this month. Man, this is some seriously cool work. I'm too lazy to re-write the description:

Fun, in all its shades and guises, is the operative word for Stash 33.

For instance: we open the main program with complete bunny-mad chaos from Pleix and MacGuff for Groove Armada, and then trample on through Psyop’s hip-rebel-comedy for Fanta, HSI’s deadpan take on Reyka Vodka, manic pirate/bovine/bicyclist stop motion for Cravendale from Nexus, crazed MTV Asia work from JL Design in Taiwan, Wilfrid Brimo going berserk for V Energy drink, Han Huggebrooge’s unhinged vignettes for Dutch TV, Make’s extremely flammable chipmunks, very curious characters from Curious Pictures for Crunch and we cap it all with a surreal and utterly original bit of action-lunacy about courage, show business and inter-media love created at Supinfocom by Corentin Laplatte, Samuel Deroubaix and Jerome Dernoncourt,,, you get the idea – check below for the full list of contributors.

Labels: 2D, 3D, Bizarre, Demo Reel, Experimental, Film Short, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

CSS - Alcohol (Plus Director Interview)

6/14/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Directed by Jared Eberhardt, the new CSS video is super cute with stop-motion bunnies getting wasted and passing out. It's got an organic feel and is very clever. I give it 5 stars.

Read the interview with Eberhardt at Vidology

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

They Might Be Giants - With the Dark

6/08/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Freakin' awesome stop motion from the always entertaining They Might Be Giants.

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Polyphonic Spree - Running Away

6/05/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

70,000 still images. No, I didn't count ;-)

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Architecture in Helsinki - Fumble (Unofficial)

6/01/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

A pretty impressive piece from Gill Biddle and Ross Phillips, second year animation students. They used After Effects and Flash, with stop motion and live action footage.

Via Antville

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion, Student Work

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Uncut - Darkhorse

5/30/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

A very cool stop motion piece by the band Uncut and director by Kris Lefcoe. They have a very creative description for the video.

Pitchfork:

On the Kris Lefcoe-directed clip, the barely concealed likes of Ronald McDonald, Tony the Tiger, and the Care Bears appear to have taken Worang's advice. Some cute anarchists try to party in a forest that's about to become an Enormart, but meanwhile your corporate-sponsored childhood memories are taking firing practice, running obstacle courses, and of course hacking up the damn hippies with chainsaws. 'Cause you fucking know, Ronald don't play that.

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Slow Hand Motem - Fake Spirit Egg

5/18/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Stop motion music video. Loads O' Fun. The glasses are awesome.

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Digitalism - Pogo

5/12/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Fujiya & Miyagi - Ankle Injuries

5/11/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Ankle Injuries is a song that I've loved for a long time. It's just so catchy when they chant "Fujiya Miyagi" over and over. I had a feeling that the band wasn't Japanese and this video confirms my suspicions.

Director Wade Shotter does this great stop motion effect with dice, reminiscent of one of my all time favorite videos, the White Stripes Fell in Love with a Girl (directed by Michel Gondry). I love the part with the kids going down the twirly slide and on the swing. You know a video is going to be great when they feature Space Invaders.

<

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Circle Circle Dot Dot - Jamie Kennedy and Stu Stone

4/11/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

This one is a couple of months old, but my assistant, Chris, kept singing about a cootie shot. Now I know what he's talking about. Again, stop motion. Stop motion is everywhere. Some people has such steady hands. Apparently they do not drink as much coffee as I do. The stop motion is really well done, especially the dance moves.

*Explicit lyrics

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

The Maccabees - Precious Time

4/11/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Precious Time is from British band, the Maccabees. I can't say I like the song, but the video, directed by Sam Brady, is fun.

Is stop motion hotter than habeneros lately or what!? Seems like it's popping up everywhere. This one has some clever tracking and animated cutouts too.

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Guster - One Man Wrecking Machine

4/11/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

One Man Wrecking Machine has cute stuffed animal characters.The cotton cloud effects are pretty neat.

It was directed by Drew Lightfoot at Revolver Film Company, made the stop-motion video with literally no help from the band. Drew Lightfood was Tim Burton's righthand man on Corpse Bride, according to Brian Rosenworcel, Guster's drummer.

There's an artist comentary at Roxwell.com and they talk a bit about the making of the video.

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Floris: Metalosis Maligna by Microbia

4/10/2007 • Permalink • 1 Comments •

Floris: Metalosis Maligna, which came out last year, is a scary documentary slash short film about medical implants gone crazy. There's lots of cool 3D and some stellar compositing and tracking work. The man with the metalosis maligna, with his body being replaced by "metal tissue" and the stop motion portions are really impressive. Wow. I'm blown away.

The Dutch duo called Microbia, Floris Kaayk and Sil van der Woerd, produced this amazing piece.

Labels: 3D, Documentary, Experimental, Film Short, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Sneaux - Human Skateboard

4/02/2007 • Permalink • 1 Comments •

You've probably caught Sneaux Human Skateboard on the tube. Such incredible stop motion. That had to hurt.

Directed by PES, Cinematography by Ivan Abel, Animated by PES and Ivan Abel.

Labels: Commercial, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

The Knife - Marble House

3/19/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Official video for Marble House, directed by Chris Hopewell. Some awesome stop motion work. Man, I just wouldn't have the patience to do such intense stop motion work. Cute rodents. This one has been out for about six months, but I seem to have missed it. I do love the Knife's music.

Watch a quicktime of the Director's cut of Marble House here.

Labels: Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Contribute to Toolfarm Inspirations

3/09/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

We're looking for a few good animators, editors, students or even just fans of visual effects to contribute to this blog. Not HTML skills necessary, but a good eye for the most ground-breaking and rule-breaking techniques and styles out there. We want eye candy! Yes, we do.

Interested? Drop me an email and tell me why you should be considered. You would be expected to make one post per week, but you can post more, as long as they're quality videos. You're welcome to add your thoughts and opinions about the video, too.

Labels: 2D, 3D, Bizarre, Commercial, Demo Reel, Documentary, Experimental, Film Short, Interview, Movie Trailer, Music Video, Podcast, Stop Motion, Student Work, Television, Titles

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Thése Sur la Typographie by Julien Vallée

3/05/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Thése Sur la Typographie. Another nice typography project, this one is by Julien Vallée, an artist from Montréal, Québec. I love how it the audio and video mesh so perfectly. I can't imagine how long it took to put together all of this stop motion footage.

"Reflexion based on the famously proclaimed Kurt Schwitters 'Thesis on Typography'. A stop-motion project inspired of the Dada mouvement, demonstrating that the over-used of graphical elements in a typographical composition may cause unreadability of the content."

Labels: Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Heck No! (I'll Never Listen To Techno)

2/11/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Stop motion animation made with Lite Brite. Very cool and creative and the song, of course, is an earworm.

Labels: Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Mort - Student Animation

2/09/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

This piece comes from Dean Denell at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. I envy students. At hand is a daily task to create for the sake of creating without borders, rules or clients. Especially here, where you'll see a mix of traditional animation, stop motion, clay, and motion graphics. Easily caught up in my "branding" and "image" projects, sometimes I lose focus on the 'fun' part. That's what I see here. I think Dean had fun with this.

Click here to watch the movie.

Labels: 2D, Stop Motion, Student Work

Posted by Harry

Zion I "So Tall"

2/08/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Nice compositing, 3D, great editing, stop motion. I like the song as well.

Labels: 3D, Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Hadouken! - That Boy That Girl Promo Video

2/05/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

This band totally sounds like Dizzee Rascall, but the tune is catchy as hell (and maybe a bit too vulgar for the kids and the pure of heart) and it will blow your speakers. I'm digging the video. Directed by Bob Harlow and co-created by Tim Cubbitt. Cut out band members over top of graphic backgrounds, lots of depth of field and 3D layering. I have to say that it is a bit reminicent of the Eskimo Disco 'Picture Perfect' video but I like the Hadouken! video a bit more. Hey, I'm a rock 'n roll girl at heart.

Labels: 2D, Music Video, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Hotwheels

2/02/2007 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

RoadRace

A short video made with hotwheels cars.

Labels: Film Short, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

HunterGatherer - AMP

2/01/2007 • Permalink • 1 Comments •

Word on the street is that HunterGatherer infused photographed paper and wood textures with After Effects to create this fun, stop-motion style commercials for AMP Energy Drink. The look is organic, with the textures and cutout style of characters, reminicent of early South Park, but much slicker and loaded with clever details. I love the cool color palette and the use of cameras and depth of field. Amazing work, indeed.

AMP reminds me of Slurm. "It's highly addictive!"

[via | Video (Pops)]

Labels: 2D, Commercial, Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Tony vs. Paul

12/05/2006 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

This one came from our good pal Dan Warvi. It's a freakin' cool stop motion piece. I really wonder how they did the part with Tony and Paul flying through the air.

Labels: Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Grocery Store Wars

5/16/2005 • Permalink • 0 Comments •

Grocery Store Wars | Join the Organic Rebellion. Chewbroccoli, Cuke Skywalker and Obiwan Cannoli. That's no planet! That's a melon! Very funny stop motion with vegetables.

Labels: Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki

Richard Coldicott - I woz ere

11/20/2004 • Permalink • 2 Comments •

Richard Coldicott - I woz ere is a ultra-cool piece of stop-motion animation using paint and lots of it. It takes place in a basement, not unlike the one I am standing in right now. Great soundtrack too (DJ Shadow).

Labels: Stop Motion

Posted by Michele Yamazaki