Director Lea Esmaili Joins Blinkink for UK Representation
November 21, 2024
Outsider directors Dom & Nic re-team with MPC for more fun with CG fauna (a frill-necked lizard and his tarsier housemate) in this follow up to last year’s brilliant “Platypus” spot for UK bank first direct. [Watch]
Zena Barakat‘s talent for commissioning touching, thoughtful, low key motion work based on the urban relationship narratives found in The New York Times’ Modern Love column continues uninterrupted with the release of this insightful three-minute piece by director/animator Scott Wenner, aka the CD at motion504 in Minneapolis.
Scott Wenner: “The challenges were the aggressive schedule (approx. 4 weeks total) and finding unexpected ways of complimenting the VO instead of just illustrating it. The biggest challenge was the daunting task of having complete creative freedom: which you always think you want, until someone gives it to you.
“With the days ticking down and panic setting in, I went down multiple roads and had many false starts before finally landing on a look and feel. I even spent some significant time on a photorealistic route until the final cut-down of the audio interview made it clear that it was the wrong direction.” [Watch]
Issue 107 adds another 1.5 hours of inspiration and insight to the Stash Permanent Collection of over 4,000 outstanding animation, VFX and motion design projects including behind the scenes features and exclusive interviews with the talent behind the brilliance. [Watch]
Director Genndy Tartakovsky‘s animation test for Sony’s upcoming Popeye feature pushes the physical comedy he brought to Samurai Jack, Dexter’s Laboratory and Hotel Transylvania to a crazy new level with some of the snappiest timing and extreme exaggeration since Tex Avery.
Tartakovsky’s revealing intro and the BTS scenes of him cracking up his team as he narrates animatics are also well worth your time. [Watch]
More of a pre-lobbying volley for hydrogen-powered vehicles than a proper automotive spot, this all-CG work for the new Toyota FCV (the world’s first production car to run on a hydrogen fuel cell) was directed by ATYP in Brighton with post and animation handled by London’s current go-to shop, Analog.
ATYP: “The brief called for simplicity, elegance, and sophistication whilst ensuring a palpable sense of a human hand in the visual storytelling. This felt like an incredibly refreshing and inventive way of marketing a new car.
“Our response was to craft a rich visual journey that breathes life into the film’s dialogue in a variety of visual ways, whilst maintaing a seamless flow and coherent aesthetic.
“The line was used as a repeat motif and the visual element that leads us through the film. Beginning with the carbon line representing our current use of archaic fossil fuels, through the crumbling carbon city until it is finally reborn as the blue ‘hydrogen paved highway’; Toyota’s vision for the future of car propulsion.”
This vibrant and frenetic animated short from Mill+ thru Brothers and Sisters agency gently reveals the good-for-all corporate values of children’s eco-fashion brand The Fableists. Narrated by UK comedy goddess Jennifer Saunders
Mill+ animation director Ivo Sous: “We gathered as much inspirational material as possible. This was followed by a real hands on approach creating character designs, mood boards, style frames, storyboards and animatics.
“Style frames were drawn up in Photoshop, the character animation was drawn frame by frame in Flash, with other elements being completed in Cinema 4D before the whole piece was composited together in AFX and Premiere.” [Watch]
Reset TV claims their “Letris” formatted TV product “combines the intensity and strategy of Scrabble and the excitement and quick pace of Tetris.” Hmm, not sure I’ll be watching anytime soon but the frenetic CG title sequence by Physalia ranks as possibly the coolest game show open ever. [Watch]
Feel-good self-promo from the “audacious gathering of artists, animators, scientists, writers, designers, producers, and marketers” who formed Brazen Animation in Dallas in 2013 to work on commercials while they develop their own feature projects.
The fluid, monochrome, one-minute romp follows the character-hopping exploits of studio mascot Ignatius. [Watch]
Rimantas Lukavicius and the KORB crew spin their pristine and often startling brand of CG in two very different directions for Gucci and Nike.
GUCCI (above): “Inspired by journeys to exotic lands, the new Gucci Oud fragrance features an inventive blend of traditional Eastern ingredients. Natural oud is tempered with pear, raspberry and saffron along with other evocative essences for a sensual and modern fragrance, for him as well as for her.”
NIKE: “After 27 years the new Lunar1 continues it’s tradition to bring performance and design in a perfect combo. Supported by the ever-changing patterns of 2400 fluorescent lights, the new design is revealed in the rocky desert.”
SoCal hyper-visualist Strangeloop whips original artwork by Japanese guro manga legend Shintaro Kago into a crazed “shamanic pilgrimage into the psychedelic unknown of the infinite afterlife” in this promo for Flying Lotus’ upcoming Warp release, a jazzified concoction featuring Herbie Hancock, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Thundercat, etc.
EPILEPTIC WARNING. [Watch]
Buenos Aires motion studio Lumbre just finished their first project for FOX Sports USA: This hardcore launch spot and toolkit for the 20th season of “The Ultimate Fighter” featuring 16 female fighters all shot on location in Vegas. [Watch]
Elastic director Andy Hall helps mark today’s anniversary of 9/11 with this understated CG treatment of a children’s poem developed by BBDO and narrated by Whoopi Goldberg for the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. [Watch]
Interactive music video’s are a polarizing lot and no doubt this one for Ty Segall’s new “Manipulator” track, directed by Matt Yoka and designed/coded by Simon Wiscombe, will add fuel the debate. Is it “fucking brilliant” as one online reviewer calls it? Or is it just a chaotic mashup of random imagery held together by weak art direction?
Decide for yourself, play with the interactive version here: [Watch]
The all-Brooklyn duo of Joe Donaldson and Jay Quercia take inspiration from the Magnus typeface for their stab at Animography’s monthly animation project.
“We didn’t have any preconceived notions of doing a film noir style short. Typically, the Animography monthlies are very short visual-based explorations primarily using typography.
“From the beginning we knew we wanted to shape our story around the Magnus typeface but at the same time we didn’t want to make it just about the type itself. Early on in the development stage we observed that the way the type animates on is similar to the movement of opening and closing blinds so windows and blinds became the root of our idea.
“Soon after we landed on the noir genre and consequently built the story around the theme of high contrast lighting, corruption and a tortured detective. Overall, it was a great experience in focusing on style while also reaching further into the realm of storytelling.” [Watch]
