Reel of the Month Club (Dec. 2024): Coat of Arms
December 21, 2024
The third in a series of brilliant prologue-promos for Ridley Scott’s “The Martian,” finds Neil deGrasse Tyson hosting a segment of his StarTalk series as it might appear in 2035 with humans poised to return to Mars – with VFX work from up and coming Polish post house Juice, MPC, The Mill and Framestore. [Watch]
If you need a kick in butt to start animating again or just want to fall back in love with the craft, Glenn Keane is your guy. After four-decades of character work on animated Disney features, Keane’s passion and excitement remains infectious and then becomes outright visceral as he explores 3D drawing in virtual reality with the HTC Vive headset paired with 3D painting app Tilt Brush. [Watch]
It’s been far too long (for my liking) since we last heard from UK director Ben Hibon but the wait was worth it as he re-teams with Axis Animation to push his singular brand of stylized/atmospheric 3D and surgical timing to new levels for Riot Games’ League of Legends: Project Overdrive. [Watch]
Letting Joseph Kosinski walk in the front door of Digital Domain is like rolling a grenade into a fireworks warehouse: you can bet whatever happens next will be visually spectacular. [Watch]
Beakus animation director Sophie Koko Gate created her short film “Half Wet” during her studies at the Royal College of Art in London after discovering the water level in the human body decreases as we age, “meaning in a way we evaporate very slowly over time.” [Watch]
Blinkink director Elliot Dear (who moved a nation to tears with “The Bear and the Hare”) unites the talents of 37 animators, artists and designers to create a similar effect in this monumental hand-animated call to action for English Rugby Team sponsor O2 in advance of the 2015 Rugby World Cup. [Watch]
The character masters at Ronda in Buenos Aires strike again. Their new animated mini-film “CMYK,” populated by three eccentric and translucent men feels like a kids’ primer in color mixing and a handy refresher for those of us trapped in the world of RGB. [Watch]
Veteran racing game fans will appreciate this sleek and immersive two-minute blast through 40 years of digital automotive entertainment from Arts & Sciences director Michael Spiccia, the VFX crew at a52, and twofifteenmccann prepping fans for the Sept 15 launch of Microsoft’s Forza 6. [Watch]
Actress, comic book author, film producer, and screenwriter Rashida Jones (Parks and Recreation, Boston Public, The Office) is the latest CA-born celeb to undergo the “California Inspires Me” treatment in the this airy charmer from Jack Cunningham, a director/designer at Nexus in London. [Watch]
London animator Russ Etheridge turns his bathroom into an arachnid skatepark in this fun new studio film from Animade called “Bathroom Boarder.” [Watch]
A kinetic and emotional animated take on the power of fear as a motivator, this :60 from director Dom Bartolo and the crew at Flutter (the motion arm of international talent reps The Jacky Winter Group), swirls through singer/songwriter Megan Washington’s feelings of shame, distress, pride and triumph. [Watch]
Freed from the burden of carrying their upper halves, legs unleash their inner footloose in this feel-good promo for Detroit’s indie duo JR JR (formerly Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.) from Little Minx directors Los Pérez (aka Adrian Perez and Tania Verduzco) with the bodily bisection VFX handled by Madrid post house Exit. [Watch]
Frame director Anders Schroder’s love of still photography informs the look and feel for eight intricate and ambitious new IDs for Abu Dhabi Media’s AD Sports channel created in collaboration with Obeida Sidani, CD at Les Folies Design Haus in Dubai. [Watch]
In stark contrast to last year’s darkly elegant vibe, the Elastic crew opened the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards this evening with this crazed poke-in-the-eye packed with glitchy, irreverent, ultra-GIF-able chaos plus a bonus Donald cameo. [Watch]
