Fort Mountain

Winnebago Man

I just watched this film and really loved it - Mary actually cried. Not only is film bitingly funny but also raises some very poignant questions about the nature of viral videos and their consequences on the people they feature. Winnebago Man spotlights a complex person behind a very simple and hilarious viral video.

NOWNESS: Double Feature

If you need another website to suck up your time, here's NOWNESS. And I found two really cool things; one just today and the other I found a while ago.

First, a short stop-motion film by Spike Jonze.

And secondly, for the Buckminster Fuller fans.

Your mom threw away your best porno mag.

In 2011, Adam Yauch directed and wrote a surreal comedic short film entitled Fight for Your Right Revisited to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original video's release. The video serves as a short film for the single "Make Some Noise" from Hot Sauce Committee Part Two. Most of the non-sequitor dialogue between characters were a result of improvisation by the cast.
'Revisited' acts as a sequel to the events that took place in the original music video and features Mike D, Ad-Rock and MCA (played by Seth Rogen, Elijah Wood, and Danny McBride, respectively) as they get into more drunken antics, before being challenged to a dance battle by the future Mike D, Ad-Rock and MCA (John C. Reilly, Will Ferrell, and Jack Black, respectively), coming out of a DeLorean.
The short also features a wide number of cameo appearances, including Stanley Tucci, Susan Sarandon, Steve Buscemi, Alicia Silverstone, Laura Dern, Shannyn Sossamon, Kirsten Dunst, Ted Danson, Rashida Jones, Jason Schwartzman, Rainn Wilson, Amy Poehler, Mary Steenburgen, Will Arnett, Adam Scott, Chloe Sevigny, Maya Rudolph, David Cross, Orlando Bloom, Martin Starr, and the actual Mike D, Ad-Rock & MCA. Many of the listed appearances only appear for a few seconds.

If you need a refresher, here is the original.



We now present the feature presentation...

The Watchmaker

Nothing ground-breaking here. Just a cool story about a watchmaker. It is sort of the quintessential "DSLR-shot-mini-documentary", but I like that it's about a guy who's making something by hand.

Non Clickable Item

I dig this Tumblr feed. It's full of pretty stuff that is inspiration for color-grading/mood-setting.

Self driving car user #0000000001

A short advert-mentory about google's driverless cars.

Trek Pak

This is sort of cool. A kickstarter project that does velcro free camera bags. You resize and set the dividers by using a hook and pin system. Not that we rearrange our bags often enough for it to matter, it's just pretty cool.

http://gizmodo.com/5896748/better-camera-bag-padding-eliminates-annoying-velcro

J. Todd Anderson & The Coen Brothers

J. Todd Anderson is an Ohio native that has been behind a lot of the Coen brothers' storyboard since Fargo. Chris' post about the creative director of Buck and his statement about the importance of story boarding made me think of this article.

Interview: Orion Tait, creative director Buck

A little insight into the awesomeness that is Buck.

Nikon - WHY

Whilst trying to find some bitchin' examples of extreme mountain biking for an upcoming shoot I found this little gem featuring the Nikon D4. I really like these camera demos because they are simply justified and unabashed eye candy. There's also an obligatory behind-the-scenes article.

BUNRAKU - opening sequence

BUNRAKU | Opening Sequence from Guilherme Marcondes on Vimeo.

A History of the Title Sequence

An "oldie", but a goodie. This popped back up and I had to post it.

A History Of The Title Sequence from jurjen versteeg on Vimeo.

do bem™ - Açaí Juice 100% fruit (Tic Tic Tac Wafer's Keyboard)

This made me smile. Classic example of banking on PES-like techniques; down to the food related objects.

Happy Happy Yay Yay

I need things like this on a Friday morning.

Frame of Mind

Really surprised we haven't done something like this yet, but it's always good to have a solid example to show when the opportunity comes up. Change those rectangles to hexagons, bam! I think I just sold something to Hampton.

HUMANS!

Meetings in Memphis

Hell is Empty Because These Roam the Earth...

Ok, I think robots are cool and all, but while I marvel at clips boasting about their advancement in efficiency, there is some part of me that feels downright horrified at their potential to swiftly kill the entire human populace. Sure, they are cool. Some even have cute (others would say creepy) faces. But imagine this flying homicide brigade lurking outside of your bedroom window armed with syringes of super bird flu.


Have fun sleeping tonight.

Without Words

Lately I've been thinking about story telling without words. Perhaps it's the ADA compliance, the recognition The Artist is getting or just because I found these two great examples.

The first example is the title sequence for a film called Herbst. German for fall, it's a really nice piece that not only works without words but without live action as well.

The second clip, The Imposters, is probably a little more akin to what you might imagine when you think of silent film, slap stick and everything.

Steady Cam

Mini Bridge Construction

Look at those little guys go!

Greetings from Port Hope

So yesterday, because of some nasty fog, Chris and I found ourselves in the lovely town of Port Hope with nothing to do. So instead of sitting around moping we attempted to find everything that Port Hope had to offer, and I think we did a damn good job.

Swishcation 2012

The comprehensive video from my vacation. Warning you now it's long, so I won't feel bad if you don't watch any or all of it.

Moritz

Moritz from Oscar Gonzalez on Vimeo.

The art of “lens whacking”

Graham Coxon "What'll It Take"

Crowd sourcing and its possibilities continue to facinate me.

The piece is made up of video clips sent in by 85 fans from 22 countries.
Directed by Ninian Doff

The Chase - Phillipe Gamer

The Chase from Philippe Gamer on Vimeo.

Art of the Title & Les Bleus De Ramville

Art of the Title is a site that I've been visiting for a while now and every once in while they showcase a title sequence that also has a lot of the pre-work posted as well. This is one of those. We often find final products on the web, sometimes we find a "making of" video or production photos but we don't dig up treatments, process boards or other sources of inspiration for those polished pieces...

On the page, they highlight the original pitch. Although they admit that it's a pretty streamlined treatment because they had an existing relationship with the client. They also show some boards that illustrate what kind of shots they'd be getting and even the color treatment.

Ira Glass on making good work

Watched Josh's post and saw that Nick Campbell referenced a video where Ira Glass talks about making good work because of great taste. I found that video. Great message - crappy quality

Nick Campbell - The Creative Gap: Becoming Better Than Most

Nick Campbell - The Creative Gap: Becoming Better Than Most from Nick Campbell on Vimeo.

Jim Rohman Photography

Back in college I interned at this photography studio for a couple of months. This was back when DSLRs were just starting to become popular for filming. I would talk to them about video and codecs while they would teach me about lenses and exposure and stuff. I just recently hung out with one of the dudes that still works there and they are increasingly interested in doing more video work.

TED ed

So we all know TED, but now they are starting a movement of capturing some of the best teachers and combining them with animators to create Lessons. 

As an animator you can submit a reel and actually get a chance to work with them.

Opening Shot of Touch of Evil

Chad had discussed how Hitchcock professed on how "the bomb should never go off". Just reminded me of this scene and how masterfully done it was. Josh shared it recently so it was fresh in mind.

Mill Showreel

The Mill Showreel 2012 from The Mill Visual Effects Studio on Vimeo.

Video postcard 2011

Here's an idea. We always talk about documenting travel but ultimately, at the end of the day, we're just looking forward to switching off. But if we could just capture 30 seconds on the road, we could stitch something together that's really cool.

Awesome People list

In no particular order:

Mies Van Der Rohe

Laszlo Molohy-Nagy

Alfred Hitchcock

John Huston

Charley Harper

Terrence Malick

Buckminster Fuller

Larry Keeley

Charles and Ray Eames

Frank Capra

Madison Smartt Bell

Neil Simon

Tom Robbins

Joe Strummer

Hank Williams

Django Reinhardt

Josh Keyes

I remember seeing this artist, Josh Keyes, a while ago. The platforms kind of remind me of the bases that D&D minis have.

Tales from the Road Intro Music

Kind of random but I heard this song on the radio a while ago and started cracking up thinking of how perfect it is for the intro to Tales from the Road (if we want to take it down a PBS sort of route). Now I'm not talking about the whole song, just the intro instrumental. Imagine shots of Josh in his sweater and cutting from different shots (i.e. running through a field, driving down the highway, opening doors). Regardless, enjoy the smooth sounds of Steve Winwood.

REBIRTH of GAEA - Flowing Meditation from Jesse Michael Newman on Vimeo.

An incredible, magical, portable doorbell that knows where you are and who to ring. When you arrive at your friends house, just press the doorbell and it will text or call your friend. No need look them up and tap out ‘hey, i’m here, can you let me in?’ View in iTunes

John Dyer Baizley

Illustrations that approach hard rock imagery by way of art nouveau.
In addition, JDB is the vocals/guitarist for the band Baroness

Second Shift

Check out what these guys in Cleveland are doing with their "spare" time.

OTM - 2nd Shift from Go Media on Vimeo.

Phoebe Wahl

Phoebe's Blog

EAT

Rick Mereki has a bunch of fun travel videos but this one was stylistically cool. Inspires me to do something on the road with a little bit time and a smidgen of preplanning.

Belief Design - Chain Reaction

Belief Design - Chain Reaction from Alex Fuerst on Vimeo.

Dan Cassaro

Wanted to introduce you to the Young Jerk that is Dan Cassaro. His work is awesome so I'm throwing it in the stew.

Daniel Danger

Check out his gallery

Kony 2012

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

IDEE visual search

I'm a fan of IDEE's visual search labs. Especially their multicolr lab. All of the images that show up in Multicolr fall under Creative Commons licensing.

Todd Baxter's Owl Scouts

Check out Todd Baxter's Owl Scouts

These Owl Scouts go on exciting missions to earn Scout badges.

Sometimes there are mishaps.

Sometimes these mishaps end poorly.

Check out some shots of Todd's process.

making guts

sketches of the Scout badges

storyboards