Friday, March 29, 2013

Beeeeeeer.

You beer guys need one of these Handmade Ceramic Growlers

Plazzo.tv Refresh

There is a LOT of great work on this site. One I want to call out is the Bank of America - Feeding America piece. Chris, this is what we were talking about when we were talking about different and better ways to illustrate a simple data/numbers story.

Take a look for yourselves. Plazzo.tv

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Motorville

Don't know if you guys have seen this but it's a clever animation.  I love the use of the Google Maps elements throughout (the refresh rate and scaling, swimming through the ocean, etc.)

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

The History (and Future) of Rotoscoping in After Effects

God I love the time we live in. Seriously cool things coming for rotoscoping Adobe After Effects. You NAB guys are gonna have to check this out and let me know if it's as cool as it looks.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Wire Tap


Chad's Larry King post inspired me to post this animation from one of my favorite radio programs...

Django Django - "WOR" (Official Video)

I've heard a few tracks from Django Django recently and I like what I'm hearing. They're music reminds me of a modern day Spaghetti Western. The band is apparently obsessed with the infamous Indian Well of Death riders in Allahabad. So, naturally, they asked Noisey if they'd be up for travelling over to India and standing right in the middle of large lumps of precariously speeding metal for a day, to film a video for their track "Wor".

This video reminds me a lot of a photography book , which is probably why I'm drawn to it.  For example, I'm crazy about the portrait shots that intro the riders. Great photography direction in this one.

Brew Day

Some photos from the Brew day that Dave and I attended. We learned a whole lot about brewing and even saw some emus.
Fresh hops grown in someone's backyard.
Malt after grinding.
General brewing area.
Giant cooker made from an old keg.
Drill powered malt grinder.
Emu...




Larry King on getting seduced - Blank on Blank

This illustrates the power of a good story and how simple animation can help bring it to life - think RSA, the good ones. BUT, if your story is crap no amount of animation can save it - think RSA, the bad ones. It's also a fun story.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

120 BPM

Jean Brochefort created this for the Vimeo Weekend Challenge "One to One hundred", but really it's just another one of those simple and effective ideas that I wish I had thought of first.  I love how our brains only need a second of audio to recognize a song, and how all the songs put together almost create a new song.

World's Fastest Snail

I've sort of lost track of Animade's Full Secs project, but every once in a while I catch one on Vimeo that I really enjoy. This is one of them from Erika Bernetich.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Food Fight


More fun with stop-motion food. It's an oldie but a goodie. The mayhem really comes across in certain scenes.

Method Virgin - We're All in this Together


Whilst looking for inspiration I was reminded (Chad also reminded me of it the other day) of this piece. Dave, you've been on a pretty big simple song kick lately so you might dig this.

Here's also a link to a detailed behind the scenes...

Method Virgin "We're All in this Together" from Three Legged Legs on Vimeo.

Nicole Floyd's Car

Riding with Nicole was like stepping into a mobile party store. Pretty rad.




















Saturday, March 16, 2013

Another data-driven piece

This is a piece about wealth inequality in America. They did a pretty good job of showing huge proportion differences, which is difficult in 16:9. I also like how they re-framed the data to bring the scale down something that would be more relatable to viewers.


Friday, March 15, 2013

Oedipus with Vegatables

Josh, Chris and I were discussing stop motion and were reminded of this classic, weird, and expertly crafted tale. To quote Chris, "This is neat-o and Dave totally Rules"

Oedipus *WARNING: contains scenes of vegetable sensuality* (2004) short film from jason wishnow on Vimeo.

L'ESPACE CHANTIER

Really enjoy the color and design of this piece from KAIROS. I like how they handled the stats up front, as well as the introduction of the 3D map.

M83 vs Men at Work - City Down Under

Awesome music video for the M83/Men at Work mashup by Mighty Mike.  I'm not super familiar with M83 but I fucking love Men at Work.  Needless to say I wasn't disappointed by the music or video.  Well done!

Chevy Volt - 'Relaunch - Patrick'

Love the animation and compositing in these ads Gentleman Scholar created for Chevy Volt.  I've yet to be able to get on a project like this but would love the opportunity. It's actually a little surprising to me we haven't done something, at least to this degree, yet.  Such a great way making a traditional interview more powerful.  They could have just filled it with b-roll footage but I think the animation ads so much more versatility and personality.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Philipp Igumnov

I normally don't post this many examples, but as I scrolled through Philipp Igumnov's Flickr page I couldn't help but pull out more and more works, and yet there is still so much to see. I love his combination of vintage design and humor. Sometimes his work is very blunt and funny while other times it's more subdued and provocative. Any way you slice it this is some entertaining work.










High 5

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Back to the Future Bloopers (Chocolate Milk)

I always wanted to know if George McFly actually caught the chocolate milk in one take ... I mean nawww he couldn't have. Question ... meet Answer!

Dad Hacks Donkey Kong for Daughter

UPDATED: I saw this news article and I thought it was about Micah. And it was! Well...Mike Mika. Read the short article how a dad hacked the classic game so that the damsel in distress is Jumpman and the hero is Pauline.

Funny and Incredible Machines

These are just Japanese and hilarious and awesome.

I like this because it uses things that are Panera-centric instead of just random objects. Think about Hampton possibilities. Maybe some waffles flying up? Do they do waffles? Well you get the point.


Here is the making of, which is more about the storytelling than the making of which is kinda cool.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Nick Ballon - The Virtue of Wrestling

The poetic photography of Nick Ballon in his latest series The Virtue of Wrestling harkens back to a simpler time when wrestlers were viewed more like superheroes and less like 'roided out pre-madonnas.      Through amazing attention to detail, color, and composition, Ballon puts a delicate painter's touch to this otherwise brutal sport. My only problem is I want about triple the amount of photos he has in this project.






Frosting or Cookie?

From the opening graphics, to the Josh/Dave hybrid cookie-monster-guy, to the delivery of the story... this wins in my book.

Get Well Soon Mr. Sawyer!

someecards.com - Wishing you a speedy recovery from your imaginary illness

Legends of the Hidden Temple, as remembered by a former contestant

Hilarious little article from one of my favorite childhood shows.

 

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

No Tricks

Spotify Premium - By Brent L. Howard

Ira Glass explains the building blocks of storytelling

Given all of the energy around the story arc these days, I was reminded of a great explanation Ira had about the building blocks of compelling stories. The moment of reflection (what we got at the Popeyes shoot in Milwaukee?), and the anecdote (what we went to New Orleans for?).


Buck - Blue Cross Blue Shield

It's not often that I get to compare my work with artists I look up to, but today I got lucky. Buck has done some work with Blue Cross of North Carolina to create a series of animations similar to the ones we did for the Michigan location. In classic Buck fashion their style is sick and the animation is top notch. Where my hands were tied to a cleaner style they went with a more graphical, muted tone look that I really dig. Some of our content overlapped so it was also enlightening to see what sort of transitions and icons they used to convey these sometimes broad medical terms. I've only found these 2 examples, so I'm not sure how many they actually created, but another point for comparison is that I solely created 5 animations averaging about 2 minutes in length each while they had a team of animators create these two.



Monday, March 4, 2013

This Guy Has Big Balls, Big Sore Balls

Beast!

I logged hundreds and hundreds of hours playing this on my Grandpa's IBM computer, circa 1985. Awesome game for the Awesome Stew.


'Fight For Everyone' Music Promo

Awesome music video for The Leisure Society created by the wonderful animators at Persistent Peril. This animation got better and better as time went on. The progression is slow but I believe that makes for a greater payoff in the end when you get to see all the different elements interacting with each other.

Ben Geier

Ben Geier has some amazing work on his site, but I really enjoy his ongoing side project of re-imagining record label logos in a retro style. I love his use of text, texture, color, light and shadow. His style really makes the logos appear as if they are jumping off the page at you.





Chad's take on Dubstep

Illustration inspiration

I ran across an illustrator whom I thought would be inspirational, especially for Chris. I like the sense of balance in his figures. They seem alive, even when standing still. I also enjoy his sense of proportion, like in the car and trees in the image I posted.

Enjoy Mike Yamada

http://mikeyamada.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1





Friday, March 1, 2013

Imagine the Possibilities


Can't get afford a new camera? I'm no David Ayling either. Never fear, you just haven't pushed your current gear to the limit!

While thinking about the cinematography related possibilities of our, soon to be film festival winning, film I was looking at what other people are doing with their AF-100's.

Below are just some examples. One may look familiar. Imagine the possibilities...

Pacifica from Marlon Torres on Vimeo.

The Politics of Competitive Board Gaming Amongst Friends from Jay Cheel on Vimeo.

"A Verse Before Dying" from Proof, Inc. on Vimeo.

Toyota - To the Moon

Nice mix of stuff here. Good story & choice of narrator, fun animation, great sound design, and who didn't love the 80's, besides all of you who weren't born yet...

TOYOTA / TO THE MOON from TENDRIL on Vimeo.

Paper Cutouts

I have been diggin on paper cutouts. This colorful and high precision paper work by Yulia Brodskaya



And this film by 18bis


The Me Bird from 18bis on Vimeo.