This is such a great idea! “We know how much love and sweat you put into pitching and how most of those phenomenal visuals die an ugly death at the hands of unappreciative clients, says Stash. “Good news. Revenge is at hand.” The Stash crew invites you to submit your most outstanding style frames […]
E’ uscito il nuovo singolo, “Heart of Stone”, dei The Raveonettes e subito è scattata la polemica sul fatto che la melodia ricorda molto il brano “Dark Night” dei The Blasters. Ma a noi interessa il lato visivo e il video musicale, realizzato al computer, diretto da Chris Do per la canzone del duo danese ci ricorda molto i capolavori di Henry Selick.
Production: Blind
Post: Blind
Director: Chris Do
Articolo redatto da Sergio Damele
“Heart of Stone” marks the second collaboration between Blind Director/Owner Chris Do and Danish rock duo The Raveonettes. To refresh your memory, their first music video with the indie rockers came in the form of “Black / White” just over two years ago. Watch that one here.
With the latest, Blind visualized a tragic tale in which one man’s sadness has transformed to apathy. His heart becomes stone.
The visually stunning video takes place in 2 separate worlds. One being the world of our hero, a world that is grim and desolate. The second is the world within his mind where we see his inner character struggling to keep his body functioning. All is set in a mix of Steampunk and Surrealism.
Don’t forget to check out the storyboards and concept art on Blind’s site to see how it all evolved.
Motionographer caught up with Chris Do to ask him a bit more about the project.
Di seguito un articolo tratto dal blog del nostro utente Elia Gardella:
Se avete visto il recente film “Nel paese delle creature selvagge” di Spike Jonze, vi sarete chiesti se quelle bestie siano o no dei 3D; il confine tra 3D e realtà è sempre più indefinito, ho scoperto comunque che quelle bestiacce sono in realtà degli animatronics e cioè degli scheletri metallici, migliaia di ingranaggi, pistoncini e fili elettrici, probabilmente indossati poi da persone e mossi sul set.
Ho trovato chi fa queste cose che, a mio parere, sono incredibili, meglio del 3D: sono dei 3D REALI, progettati da ingegneri incredibili penso; ad ogni modo, bando alle ciance, godetevi il reel di John Nolan e sbalorditevi!
Clicca qui per vedere il video incorporato.
Clicca qui per vedere il video incorporato.
Articolo redatto da Elia Gardella
Don’t you just love motion pieces that make you stare at them endlessly, yet you still can’t work out if it’s all real paper/clay/wood and so on, or if it’s…CG?
Javier Leon is Hornet’s CG Art Director, responsible for those deceptively ‘real’ planets in British Gas spots directed by Guilherme Marcondes. Those spots, along with National’s ‘claymation’ Amex piece, are some of the most stunning examples that blur the line between ‘real’ and… well, ‘not’.
I find Javier’s passion for pushing the limits of his craft intriguing. In essence, it’s no different than that of the ‘old masters’, like Bernini perhaps, who made marble look like soft flesh or delicate fabric. Javier, for his part, made this living room set so convincingly ‘real’ you can almost reach in, pick up that porcelain doll and sell it for 55p at the charity shop!
Here is a short Q&A with Javier:
Can you tell us the scope of your responsibilities at Hornet? Does your role vary from one project to another?
I started working with Director Guilherme Marcondes on the British Gas campaign and then also worked with Director Peter Sluszka con AEP Gridsmart. My responsibilities at Hornet are Supervising and Art Directing the CGI on the spots. It also might include modeling/texturing and lighting or visual development, depending on the project. I try to focus on how the CG looks, more so than on pipeline stuff.
I must say this is a remarkable piece of work. Creating this miniature look which is unbelievably realistic, entirely in CG—-what brought you to this point in your craft? Why this specific aesthetic / technical pursuit? Did this piece have a specific commercial purpose, or was this a purely experimental outcome?
Thank you!. This piece really is what I have always wanted to do, being a big fan of traditional stop motion movies, especially of Wallace and Gromit, Corpse Bride and Coraline. I wanted to pursue similar results using CGI. It didn’t have any commercial purpose, it was just a test. Molinare Madrid helped me with rendering support and also compositing, but i did 100% of the design, modeling, texturing and lighting myself.
Can you share with us some of the unique technical aspects/challenges involved in creating this piece? What were some of the most unexpected hiccups in the process? What were the most important things to get right in order to create this miniature look convincingly?
The main challenge for me was to get away from a CG look, I think the look I had in mind really needed a realistic render.
As a way of inspiration I watched all the stop motion movies i had many many times, and after a lot of observation and talking to stop motion animators it was evident that the most important thing was scale. The objects that we can build with our hands and also the scale of the materials that we´re using are the keys to achieve a similar result. Also a similar procedure about how we would paint an scale model was implemented on the texturing pipeline. I must say DOF is also very important.
In our image-making industry, there are people who wholeheartedly believe in doing as much as they can, in-camera. So when it comes to creating something like this, they would’ve made an entire set, cowboy porcelain figurine and all, and then film it.
Do you have a specific opinion regarding that methodology? What do you think are some of the most unexpected advantages to taking the full-CG path?
For me this kind of look is clearly not a substitute for real sets, it´s just another tool. Depending on the kind of production it can be interesting and it can have some advantages like:
Could you share with us a little bit of your craft/career history: When and how did you first get your start in the industry? What were some of the most important artistic/technical/ milestones in your professional life?
I started 15 years ago, working for Cadiz University, we used to make multimedia software. Then moved to the games industry where I worked on games like Commandos, Galleon and the Worms franchise. I started to work on the advertising industry at Furia Digital in Barcelona, with clients like RSA. Also worked on the film industry as Lead CG Artist on His Majesty Minor from Jean Jaques Annaud, worked also on Camino, from Javier Fesser and Agora from Alejandro Amenabar, that just won the Goya 2010 for the Best Visual Effects.
Looking to the future, what are you aiming for? Specific career goals? Specific aspects of your craft that you intend to pursue? Do you see yourself pushing this miniature technique even further? If so, how?
I think this test is a good starting point but I should be looking into making things to appear more handmade in some areas, especially modeling wise. We´re already working at Hornet on a next step that will also include CG characters that look like real puppets.
Thank you Javier, we’re looking forward to seeing the next project from you/Hornet!
An anonymous LA-area freelancer has posted a cautionary tale that will prove valuable to anyone who works for hire.
One extremely helpful bit of advice is to require confirmation via deal memos before agreeing to work for someone. In this freelancer’s case, that practice ultimately helped him win a court case.
Also take note of the even-handed way in which his blog posts are written. Put in a similar situation, most people would be livid, writing hate mail to Motionographer and trying to smear the name of everyone at the studio in question.
Not so for this freelancer. I believe him when he writes:
I don’t write this to intentionally bash the company, but more to make other artists aware of what their legal rights are and what you can do when a company attempts to do you wrong.
And then later:
I have the utmost respect for all of the artists, and especially the director that I was working with there. This whole thing is the fault of faulty production and management, and has nothing to do with any of the artists. They are all very skilled and creative and I would enjoy working with all of them again.
Whoever you are, we salute you for sharing this information. Read the story here.
Photo by ToniVC
Individuals and companies often create spec spots to showcase their talents and capabilities. Though without the support of a paying client (and a media buy) these works often fall flat and rocket straight into obscurity despite their inspiration and effort. Not so with this exceptional spec spot for Audi from director Aladino Debert and Radium.
“I wanted to treat it as photographically as possible,” says Debert, “and to design the lighting and choreography to mimic what we could have done in live action if resources had been available. If the reaction is ‘what a cool CG spot’ I would feel that we failed.”
Then I’ll say it: this is so not just a cool CG spot. And one I’d like to see more of. On air.
Nick Cave, is a multi-talented artist who dabbles with textiles that make a ruckus. Soundsuits, born at the collision of twigs and a sewing machine are ornate costumes made of materials ranging from human hair, sisal, plastic buttons, feathers and sequins that bring to life a new sound when shakin’ and groovin’ is added to the mix. To be worn or gawked at in a gallery, these music makers are suh-weet. You can check them out in person, at the “Meet Me at the Center of the Earth” exhibit at the Fowler Museum in Los Angeles, now until May 30th.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A. during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
