Reel of the Month Club (Dec. 2024): Coat of Arms
December 21, 2024
US VFX shop Ingenuity Studios bring the supporting animation, CG, and compositing to Joseph Kahn’s stylish rush of contortionist aliens and replicant Imagine Dragons in “Thunder.” [Watch]
The idea that rising temperatures are bad for business as well as the planet may prove to be one of the most powerful factors revealed by research into climate change – as it directly threatens the financial health of corporations and governments. [Watch]
Los Angeles freelance art director and designer CJ Cook reveals the design and motion process behind “Totems,” his personal experiment with “colors, camera moves, and different kinds of animation.” [Watch]
Hot on the heels of his nightmarish opening for Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods” on Starz, Patrick Clair kicks open the doors on Marvel’s “Iron Fist” for Netlflix with this energized and inky mocap spectacle. [Watch]
Jumping confidently between animation techniques including stop-motion, UPA-influenced 2D, and golden age black and white, 2nd year CalArts student Mathieu Libman ruminates on life, love, and small blessings in disguise with “Pinky Toe.” [Watch]
You may be surprised to discover just how McGarryBowen London went about putting the monster back in Monster.com for this massive new multi-national campaign. [Watch]
If you caught Kibwe Tavares’ short film “Jonah”, you know his talent for story craft enhanced with magic realism VFX work is second to none. [Watch]
American feature film directing icon John Carpenter takes us back to a log cabin in Kentucky and unfolds a formative childhood memory in this wonderful film by Barcelona’s Device for the Primavera Sound festival. [Watch]
Cartoon Network’s Gumball and Darwin Watterson face nonstop peril and pandemonium in this skateboard sequence courtesy of London animator Simon Landrein (aka half of Passion directing duo McBess and Simon). [Watch]
Take a four-minute tour of the feature-quality work MPC put into Heineken “The Trailblazers,” probably the most ambitious 90 seconds of VFX-driven advertising you’ll see this year. [Watch]
An entertainment tradition for almost 900 years in Spain and Southern France, corridas or bullfighting now finds itself under increasing pressure to stop slaughtering 1,200-pound animals for sport. [Watch]
South Korean animator/illustrator Seoro Oh takes the head-nodding battle against ill-timed drowsiness we all know well to it’s logical extreme in his 2D graduation film “Afternoon Class” [Watch]
Regardless of their physical stature (or current political relevance), few characters in history provide the rich comedic potential of frustrated narcissist dictators. [Watch]
Moonbot directors Limbert Fabian and Brandon Oldenburg combine CG and a 30 x 40-foot practical model to create “Escape,” a five-minute animated brand film for Dolby “about the world-changing power of invention.” [Watch]
