Reel of the Month Club (Dec. 2024): Coat of Arms
December 21, 2024
Toronto-based Canadian animator/illustrator Howie Shia’s riveting and visceral adaptation of the myth of Hercules tells the story of “a young boxer struggling to negotiate between his shy, bookish nature and a divinely violent temper.” [Watch]
LA studio STATE Design celebrates its third year with a new space, new website and this animated self-promo piece showcasing the company’s diverse range of talents and extolling their boutique values. Have a look at some of the development art as well as the finished piece. [Watch]
The team at Giant Ant in Vancouver take their latest open brief from Slack deep into bright-and-happy land via this bouncy 3D mini-opus, with post-production from The Sequence Group, and music/sound design from Antfood. [Watch]
Gabriela Badillo and Enrique Sañudo at design and animation studio COMBO, conjure a welcome mix of graphic elegance and vibrant joy in this pitch to Mexican Channel TV Claro Sports for a broadcast ID promoting the broadcaster’s coverage of the 2016 Olympics in Rio. [Watch]
What’s the secret to punching out of the Rio Olympics ad barrage? Start with a killer script from W+K Portland calling for A-list sports celebs, hire Prettybird directing duo DANIELS to shoot it, hand the footage to editor Angus Wall at Rock Paper Scissors, then let The Mill handle VFX and grade. [Watch]
In direct contrast to his last Honda spot – the massively complex table-top adventure called “Paper” – Oscar-nominated stop motion maven Adam Pesapane (aka PES) invades the Esther Williams Stage at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City constructing five life-size sets in this new 60-second opus for the 2017 Honda Ridgeline. [Watch]
Two sweet pieces of absurdist eye candy animated by London’s Golden Wolf driving the “sensory overload” behind The Barbarian Group’s new campaign for international beverage brand Mirinda, produced through Blacklist in New York. [Watch]
Inspirational copy over footage of fearless young athletes is not new. Neither are photo-real CG snails. But this rousing spot for Samsung from Park Pictures director AG Rojas with VFX and grade from MPC LA combines both elements (plus original music from Barking Owl) into something fresh and invigorating. [Watch]
Like the best cult graphic novels, Gerhard Human’s personal spec music video for “Last Train Home” by Raffertie (aka London composer/producer Benjamin Stefanski) uses haunted characters to reveal it’s sinister and enigmatic narrative. [Watch]
Animation director Lucy Izzard, the Aardman crew and Adelphoi Music channel the style and tone of a bouncy pre-school video to get parents talking to their 4-8 year-olds about sexual abuse in this work for UK charity NSPCC. [Watch]
Take a peek at the stunner Style Frames and process reel behind the centerpiece spot of the new retail launch package for Nike’s Air Max 1 Ultra Flyknit shoe created by multi-talented Munich motion house Aixsponza. [Watch]
Looking to make some noise at SIGGRAPH about their Cinema 4D Release 18, Maxon commissions ManvsMachine to rip the doors off the software and the results are spectacular. A fully CG film, VERSUS is jammed with startling, beautifully lit frames plus an armadillo moment I did not see coming. [Watch]
London motion masters Art&Graft blend 3D character animation with a warm illustrative style for both an intimate and sweeping showcase of how sales of lottery tickets in the UK support the 1,300 athletes of Team GB and their quest for victory at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. [Watch]
Ready for visual overload? Then you’re gonna love Stash 118 as it jams yet another 31 video projects into the Stash Permanent Collection – the planet’s largest online archive of design, animation and VFX, plus behind-the-scenes features and exclusive interviews. [Watch]
