Reel of the Month Club (Dec. 2024): Coat of Arms
December 21, 2024
Director Martin Stirling of Unit 9 and London agency Don’t Panic nail the tone, pacing, imagery and music in this Greenpeace spot calling for the end of the partnership between Lego and petro-behemoth Shell who sells Lego toys at gas stations in 26 countries. [Watch]
Director Darren Dubicki and the Aardman crew show off their non-Wallace & Gromit side projecting impressionist illustrations onto 3D geometry to create this :90 centerpiece of the multi-platform campaign to promote the Imperial War Museum London and commemorate the First World War Centenary in the UK. [Watch]
Toronto motion veteran Matt Greenwood recently published his personal homage to design, “because even though I have been working as a designer for many years, I still love the process.”
STASH: After carefully laying out the elements of design you end with the advice to “just move things around until they feel right.” Was this intentionally contradictory or cheeky?
Matt Greenwood: The line “Just move things around until it feels right” (with a subtle emphasis on “feels”) was intended to suggest that learning the rules is important, but for me at least, using intuition is essential. I also wanted to hint at breaking these rules shouldn’t be off the table.
It may come across as dismissive, but it was intended to be more of a encouragement to not get caught up worrying if the established formula is correct, because I think visual aesthetics can be subjective. [Watch]
By the looks of the trailer, typography fans and design nerds alike should find lots to love in the new “Sign Painters” doc directed by Faythe Levine and Sam Macon “showcasing the past, present and future of the hand painted sign in the USA.”
The film looks into the process and personalities of both industry legends and rising stars including Keith Knecht, Bob Dewhurst, Ira Coyne, Gary Martin and NY’s Colossal Media and is now available for rental/purchase online or community-driven screenings.
Enter discount code “typography” to take $1 off any version of the film purchased. [Watch]
London animation collective Plastic Horse just dropped the first of four videos for Italian DJ/producer Francesco “Phra” Barbaglia’s Crookers project, a weird and wonderful dream-like adventure driven by the simple brief “to create a set of videos that were fucked-up”. Plastic Horse: “Our main creative challenge [Watch]
London designer/artist/filmmaker Fabrice Le Nezet, whose work explores the intersection of architecture, fashion and toy design, describes his enigmatic new animated CG short “Mother” as a “poetic journey through a surreal world – a small tribute to modern architecture, isometric video games and sci-fi [Watch]
Designing with chalk, black cardboard, pencils and white crayons then animating in Photoshop, co-directors Kris Merc and Benjy Brooke craft an angular, shadow-filled world in this personal labor-of-love video for The Peach Kings track “Mojo Thunder.” Kris Merc: “I wanted to explore self destructive behaviors [Watch]
Back in January we posted about the Kickstarter for “Auroras,” LA director Niles Heckman‘s seven-minute sci-fi short film about “love, separation, and having to say goodbye.” The campaign raised $12,656 (surpassing the $10K goal) to complete the film’s audio and feature-level VFX set pieces. [Watch]
The 13th episode of The Creative Influence, Sandbox Studios‘ series of interviews with “creative professionals on the edge of their field” features New York graphic designer and Pentagram partner Michael Bierut. [Watch]
The annual AICP ad orgy in NY is a classy, multi-day affair inducting exceptional TV spots and other branded motion work into MOMA’s permanent collection.
The 2014 Next Awards Show open (above) created by Trollbäck + Company and the AICP Sponsor Reel (below) by Venice VFX studio The Mission both reflect the upscale and creative nature of the audience while taking very divergent approaches to tone and technique:
T+Co’s open included seven screens, generative coding, live-action and traditional 2D/3D animation complemented by five LED cubes and an LED curtain surrounding the main projection screen. The mission on the other hand takes a straight up CG approach, crafting a surreal, elegant and minimalist piece from Maya, Mudbox, Zbrush, Flame, Adobe CC and V-Ray.
Supply & Demand director/DP David Holm (an alumnus of Superfad, Digital Kitchen and Brand New School) jolts Tesla out of green into growling with this intense fusion of neck-snapping editing by Ben Jordan at Work Post, NYC and surgical sound design by Joe Mount @ Wave Studios in London. David Holm: “My [Watch]
MPC won the only VFX Film Craft Gold Lion handed out at Cannes this year for this complex and ambitious :90 Assassins Creed, Black Flag: “Defy” spot directed by Adam Berg at Stink thru the Sid Lee agency in Paris. Have a look at how MPC’s VFX team, led by Franck Lambertz and Fabian Frank pulled it off, then watch the finished spot below.
Alex Topaller and Dan Shapiro (aka NY directing duo Aggressive) light up this beautiful music video for the Cris Cab track “Loves Me Not” with a clever and mesmerizing ceiling of photo-real CG light bulbs. Extra bonus points for the elegant/minimalist set, muted palette and seamless integration that keep the intriguing lighting device from slipping into gimmickry. [Watch]
The second teaser/trailer for PostPanic co-founder Mischa Rozema’s feature film debut ‘SUNDAYS’ deepens the air of dystopian sci-fi mystery with more glimpses of the ambitious VFX all held together by a VO from lead actor Brian Petsos.
The film, which “promises to challenge the viewer with philosophical questions about the future of humanity” was shot in Mexico city, is now in post and will release in the second half of 2014.
Here’s the first teaser/trailer in case you missed it:
