New sites for inspiration!

I've come across a few new sites for design inspiration... take a look!!

Niice
It's still in beta but basically their pitching themselves as a search enginge for creative inspiration.. instead of let's say using Google to search for creative inspiration. Their eventually going to add a feature that will allow you to create moodboards.

  http://www.niice.co/


MatBoard
Another take on pinterest.. but targeted for the creative world! You can even follow videos - animation, documentaries, short films, etc.

  http://thematboard.com/

Spelling Bee champ goes nuts

What's on your hot dog?

Hot Dog & the City from uji films on Vimeo.

Flickr Avatar Animation

I recently noticed Flickr had redesigned their website, which I love. Along with this redesign came some nifty new avatar images which were created by designer Charis Tsevis. My eye was immediately drawn to these colorful, neo-futurist designs and I thought, these would be perfect for animation. So I went online and contacted Charis and he gave me the go ahead to play with his designs. He originally created about 12 designs, but for my own sanity I chose my favorite 6. I also chose the 6 designs that seemed to create the widest variety of camera, and show some progression over time. I rounded off the animation with some light and playful music from Podington Bear. Enjoy.

I'm a Little Tea Kettle Short and Stout, and a Nazi

My NYC Trip

My girlfriend and I waited in line on a New York City sidewalk for 36 hours for standby tickets for the season finale of SNL. After receiving the Live show tickets at 7 AM on Saturday we had the entire day to explore The Big Apple. There was no guarantee we would get to see the show because they only let in a limited number of standby ticket holders. We got to NBC studios in Rockefeller Plaza to see if we would be let into that elevator to take us up to studio 8H. After a round of heart attacks stemming from non-ticket holders being let in front of us by NBC staff, we were finally escorted to the elevator and led into the studio. What a great show!

Here is my video postcard:

Here is the Saturday Night Live episode I went to see:

A band called Death

Check this out! I can't believe they were making sounds like this a year before the Dead Boys, which I'd always thought were the first punk band.

Finish What We Started - Miles Fisher

I always enjoy Miles Fisher's music videos.  Even though hes a ruggedly handsome man he tends to create some quirky and funny stuff that appeals to the 90's kid in me.

Elders React to Dubstep

It's not Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra.

Barcade

The Pink Door in downtown Sylvania just closed its pink door... I want a bar like this in a bad way. That or a movie theater.

Emporium Arcade Bar 8-Bit Promos from OPTIMUS DESIGN on Vimeo.

Porking Mandy

This time last summer I was Production Designer for a film called Porking Mandy. The trailer was released a little less than a week ago. It was probably one of the most ridiculous things I've ever worked on but pretty fun nonetheless. Check it out, if you wanna.

The Onion's Future News From The Year 2137

Pepsico - Laboratories

Continuing the trend of posting work from other creatives that have had the same clients as we've worked with...

Pepsi "Laboratories" from Nathan Love on Vimeo.

Amy's Baking Company

An example of customer service at it's worst.

The Art of the Metaphor - Jane Hirshfield

I watched this and immediately afterwards all I could think was, "Dear God...."  And probably not for the reasons you think.  It was more from a feeling of being joyfully overwhelmed.  This piece had so much going for it that my brain couldn't seem to handle it.  First off it's about metaphors;  something I deal with on a daily basis in my personal and professional work.  The way Jane talks about them is almost poetic.  In their very nature metaphors conjure emotion, but when Jane explains it that feeling is magnified.  That plus perfectly subtle animation makes for a metaphor overload.  I also love the art style they chose for this piece because it's vague enough to take on almost any shape and soft enough that it marries perfectly with Jane's voice.  Even though the design is simple, the animators at POCKO did a number of clever and fun things throughout the piece.  But I'll let you discover those on your own.

Teaser Tailer

Wonderfilled - Oreo

Two great pieces for Oreo, each a little different.  Great characters, great style, just great.

 

Oreo Wonderfilled Anthem :90 from Martin Allais on Vimeo.

Oreo Wonderfilled from Royale on Vimeo.

This is a Real Man

Real-Life Space Oddity

I don't know why they didn't think of this before. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield singing Space Oddity on the ISS. Those gosh darn Canadians... 

Meredith as a Young Lady

Girl Walk // All Day from Wild Combination on Vimeo.

This is the End

I declare this day "Apocalyptic Ending Movie Trailer Friday". The characters are fictitious versions of themselves (like our Big Fish story), and they include the actors that frequent in eachother's movies. I think it's cool a studio let them do this.

The Worlds End

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are back.

Hobbies

Do you have a bad habit of starting things and never following through? Me too...

Regrets: Hobbies from Coudal Partners on Vimeo.

Zachary Quinto vs. Leonard Nimoy: "The Challenge"

Art of the Title - Ironman III

Take a look at this article for a peak into the process of making the title sequence of Ironman III.  I like the energy of the final, but also really love some of the concept art.

My Girlfriend's Bike

I just completed my girlfriend's girly bike. As you can see... I will not be riding this. Ever. I'm glad that she has a bike of her own that she can actually brag about. The bike looked like complete sh*t when she bought it. I repaired the fairings. I painted it matte white with metallic mid-coat, painted the outter rims pink, lowered it 2.5", new performance exhaust, and decals.

Before

After

West of the Moon

While the concept of adapting the words of children is nothing new, I feel this piece executes it in a really original and classy way. The story is loosely based on the dreams of several hundred children.

West of the Moon from Brent Bonacorso on Vimeo.

Low Poly Environment Sample

Because deep down I know Chad still wants to do something like this

Dinosaur Office

I was checking out some other work from the people responsible for Micro Mayhem in Chris' last post (great post by the way)...

I'm having trouble putting why I like this so much into words...

Micro Mayhem!

Probably one of the best stop motion pieces I have seen and this one comes from Stoopid Buddy Stoodios.  I love how inventive they were in the process.  The dust kick ups, the sparks flying, the cop car that hangs in the air for just a few extra moments.  Kept me entertained the whole way through, and I'm sure you'll love the process shots at the end.

Canon Cinema EOS - Branded Entertainment

There are a bunch of these branded entertainment films on Canon's site but here are the few that were showcased at the content theater at NAB. Each film highlights a specific Cinema EOS camera (C100, C300, C500 and the 1DC). I'm also including the Behind the scenes for each film. I think one idea is that could take a similar approach and talk about our experiences with each camera in addition to filming something...

C100

C300

C500

1DC

BGSU Fine Arts Center 2012 ArtsX Carnivale

Last winter I was tasked with getting some footage of Bowling Green State University's ArtsX event. This is an event the Fine Arts Center puts on every year where students can display and sell their art, various artists perform music, dance and theatre, and the community can see what the students have been up to. It wasn't until this past week that I was tasked with putting something together. Although it was sort of last minute and slapped together I'm pretty happy with how the footage came out, and it's always fun to work with your alma mater. Music by YACHT.

Holy shit there's a guy at the subway

For a little more context. The larger blonde chick is gone, she moved up. So we only have this new guy and the two meaner chicks now.

STOOPID TALL 14.5-foot Bike

As a cinematographer in Los Angeles, it’s rare for Richie to make it out to bike rides. Two weeks ago, his calendar clear, he rode on The Safari Bike Ride where he met up with friend and fellow bike builder, Rick Hill. Richie tells me that “Rick makes the most awesome bikes.” 

 Richie challenged Rick to the tallest bike in LA – two weeks later, STOOPID TALL would be constructed. Richie was building it for Saturday night’s bike ride, C.R.A.N.K. MOB, to take it to the next level. It took him twelve hours to build, the final eight hours on the day of the bike ride.With only one Huffy beach cruiser frame, crank, handle bars, seat post and the fork as the rest of the bike is made by round and square steel tubing. The curves in the the round tubing were created from an upside down shopping cart and log on top. The chain alone is six and a half bicycle chains, that’s thirty-two and a half feet. With no real tools or a flush surface, Richie used c-stands (usually seen being used on film sets), levels and small wedges, built by eye-ing it in his back yard. “I was skeptical it would even ride at all.”

 

PBS: The Movie

What happens when PBS meets The Avengers?  This isn't the most technically amazing piece, but the content hits me close to home so I had to post it.  There are some really great lines.

 

Philip Bloom - On the Topic of Everything

This is a podcast interview with Philip Bloom. There's a very insightful dialogue around 27:00 where Philip talks about the obsession with technology that can ultimately distract filmakers from the other important components of cinematography. He also talks about the concept of having the right tools for the right job.

Very cool thirty minutes.