ILOVEDUST Launches

News of  a Motion Design studio launch are always exciting, more so when the studio has already possessed a considerable repertoire and strong reputation in Graphic Design.

Originally a Graphic Design / Illustration studio with a clientele ranging from Pepsi to Microsoft and Sony, ilovedust had been flirting with Motion Design for a while, but it wasn’t until recently  that they finally decided to launch a Motion department.

With four new projects for clients such as Nike and Mtv , ilovedust showcases their range of styles and technique, from traditional animation to 3D, as well as some great storytelling skills, particularly in the “Nike Chase” project – done in collaboration with Curious Pictures and Director Ro Rao.

We were fortunate enough to get a first glance at the new ilovedust site – which launches today, by the way – and catch up with CD Ingi Erlingsson for an exclusive and very interesting interview.

Make sure to spend some time on their new site and check out the work, motion or static, bombastic stuff!

Looks like they are here to stay. Welcome!

  • How did ilovedust come to be and when did you first become a part of the team?
    ilovedust was started back in 2003 by Mark Graham and Ben Beach. They were both working for a fashion label and decided their time would be better spent on their own ventures. They set up shop in a dusty studio space in Southsea, UK and went to work building a portfolio of initially local clients, but were soon working for some of the biggest companies in the world like coke, Bloomingdales and T-mobile. I joined them in early 2006 after graduating and a short stint in New York working for a motion design company called Surround.

  • Originally a Illustration / Graphic Design shop, what made ilovedust wander into Motion Design?
    Back when I joined the major bulk of work was made up of illustration, with the occasional web site or logo thrown into the mix. Because of my animation background we were always experimenting and playing around with animation work and one day we were working on a print campaign for Pepsi and the opportunity to direct and produce a TV ad came up. We jumped on it head first and the next day we were on a plane headed for New York to cast and shoot the ad. At the time we didn’t have too much of a clue about what we were getting ourselves into, but we surrounded ourselves with some great, talented people that helped guide us through it all. Being in at the deep end has always been a big part of our ethos, we feel we learn the most when we bite off just a little more than we can chew. After that we gathered momentum and started to pick up more and more motion work, which led us to the decision to start up a dedicated department.Illustration and design are still a big part of what we do, but I feel we’ve found a great partner in motion design and animation. Our designers find inspiration in the animation work and the animators get the same from the designers. It helps us evolve and keeps things exciting and interesting, so it’s a great combination for us.

  • Was there any specific challenges involving the setup of the department, and how do you balance things during the setup of the London branch?
    We recognised early on in the process that in order to make the most of our opportunities it would be essential to be situated in London. Here we have access to some of the best freelancers, facilities and creative minds around, so it was a no brainer to set up here. So in early 2009 we started off by renting a small space (which we soon outgrew), hiring a few key people and then went to work. We’re lucky enough to have found and hired some incredibly talented people who have helped us develop a style and approach and also fit right into the family.

    It was important to us to get the motion work up to the same standard as our print and illustration work so it took a lot of trial, error, swearing and experimenting. We were lucky enough to be able to balance the personal, experimental work with enough paid work to keep us afloat until we were ready to show what we could do.

  • Regarding the Nike project: how did the project first begin? Can you take us through the main evolution stages/process of the project? For example: did ilovedust pitch on this directorially?Was there a specific element that the agency was looking for which would determine who won the pitch? I.e. was it the character design mainly, or other things?
    Initially when the project started AKQA asked us to pitch treatments and style frames. I think we pitched about 10 ideas to them, all of which we felt pretty strongly about, which I think helped us win the pitch. The final script turned out a little different to our treatments as we’d based them on the lead character being a runner, but in the end she was a dancer. The main stages of the project played out pretty quickly after the script was signed off, we built our characters, designed the environments, shot the motion capture and then got to work putting all the pieces together. The last piece of the puzzle was the sound design which was done by our friend Wevie in Brighton. The director’s cut version we decided to put on the site is a lot closer to our original direction, mixed with a bit of angry robot and mayhem.

  • How did you guys end up collaborating with Curious Pictures and Ro Rao as live action director?
    Ro and the guys at Curious were already working with AKQA on the campaign, producing and directing the other 4 spots of the 5 spot campaign. They shot the footage in LA under the watchful eye of the AKQA creative team, with us keeping tabs on the progress remotely from the UK. It was great to work with Ro and the guys on the live action as it came out really great and helped all 5 spots work as a series.

  • How do you see yourself in comparison to other studios in the industry, both locally in the UK/Europe and internationally? Do you see a certain advantage or disadvantage having grown from an illustration and graphic design company?
    I think we have a definite advantage having evolved out of a design and illustration environment. The more animation we do the less we need to worry about the technical challenges which allows us to really let our design experience take the lead. We also have a team of 12 full time designers/illustrators so when it comes to pitches and work we have a huge resource to pull ideas and design from. We have the advantage of being able to do full campaigns in-house, from the print ads to the tv ads and websites.

    In terms of our positioning in comparison to other studios I’d say we were somewhere in between the small 3-4 person shops and the big production companies. We’re still young and fresh to the game, but there are over 20 of us in all across two studios so we have a lot of aggregated experience behind us.

  • What lies in the future for the ilovedust motion department ? And for the company as a whole?
    For the motion department it’s all about growth. We’re looking to take on a few new key people and expand and build on our expertise to really take our work to the next level, along with continuing build new relationships with designers, animators sound designers and creative types around the world that we can collaborate with. We’re also constantly working on self initiated studio work so there will be plenty more of that coming from us in the next year. In terms of things we haven’t done yet, we’d love to do some music videos. For the company as a whole I think it’s a similar goal. We want to build on our previous experience and use it to do bigger and better work. We have some great existing clients like Nike, Sony, Microsoft and Dunkin Donuts that we will be continuing to build our relationship with, as well as making new relationships in the future.

Posted on Motionographer

Against All Odds/XYZ Studios for Victorian Government


UPDATE: Full Credit List available after the jump.

Hooray for Melbourne! Thumbs up for the Victorian Government for commissioning this lovely animated spot–such a welcome change from their usually live-action based pieces. This one is directed by Against All Odds via XYZ studios for Grey Melbourne. My favourite bit is the facial expressions these characters have (especially the lady). The claymation look and tilt-shift treatment may not be new, but it’s delightful nevertheless.

I sincerely hope this is a sign that the Australian clients and public are sharing their love more equally between all-things-animated and all-things-live-action….

TITLE OF WORK
Homework
CLIENT
Consumer Affairs Victoria
PRODUCT
Building & Renovation Advice

FIRST AIR DATE
18.03.2010
MEDIA OUTLET
TV
DURATION
30 seconds

AGENCY
Grey Melbourne
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Ant Shannon
DEPUTY CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Brendon Guthrie
HEAD OF ART
Tim Holmes
PRODUCER
Jess Smith
BUSINESS DIRECTOR
David Dumas
SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER
Tim Clark

PRODUCTION COMPANY
XYZ Studios & againstallodds
DIRECTOR
againstallodds

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Hamish Macdonald (XYZ)
Josh Thorne (AAO)

CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Derek Picken
PRODUCER
Fritte Coliander

3D & POST SERVICES
Milford
PRODUCER
Johan Gustavsson
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Måns Björklund
VFX SUPERVISOR
Robert Krupa
LOOK DEVELOPMENT
Robert Krupa

3D TEAM
Sebastian Ekman
Jonas Laurell
Dan Faxe
Calle Halldin
Laurent Clermont (aao)
Hannes Drossel
Daniel Holmgren
Daniel Bystedt
Gustav Tell
Kenneth Nyman
Kristian Mårtensson
Patrik Hålén
Pär Andersson

2D TEAM
Fredrik Pihl
Sofie Ljunggren
John Wallin
Kevin Grady (AAO)

MUSIC HOUSE
Nylon Studios

Posted on Motionographer

Peppermelon Fresh Projects

Peppermelon updates! My favourite in this batch is the MTV ‘Los Premios 3009′ (MTV Awards 2009). It features eye-popping futuristic imagining of the 3 main cities: Bogota (top section), Mexico City (middle), and Buenos Aires (bottom). I recommend playing the HD teaser for the most satisfying viewing experience. Also, don’t miss the design rationale here.

Two other favourites of mine : Fox’s Retro Classifica (left, below) and Zilveren Kruis (right, below). Both features very well-considered character and environment designs, yet each is very different from the other.

Without a doubt, Peppermelon has sealed their reputation as one of the best and most versatile studios in the industry.

Posted on Motionographer

Kitteh Kitteh!!

UPDATE: 2 more items are added to the Q&A section, the result of a few readers’ additional query which I followed up with Sam.

Sorry for the delay, folks. Everyone at HQ graciously waited for me to post this one, since I’m such a kitty-freak. So without further ado, I present, the Kitteh Kitteh series, made by the stupendously awesome London-based Tokyoplastic. It’s an insight into what happens in a kitten’s headspace, during those innocent kitten-naps.

There are two in the series, ‘Catzilla‘ and ‘Tail Gunner’, and don’t miss a ‘quick’ video they did to pay tribute to Scatman John and to promote www.kittehkitteh.com. Also available on Vimeo, here.

Those of you who want more, and who are as curious as I was as to how did this delightful project come about, read my interview with Sam from Tokyoplastic, below.


1. How did you guys get the idea for Kitteh Kitteh? Tell us a bit on how the project started…including why you decided to shun the commercial world and hunker down to do this for six months.

We designed and modeled the Kitteh while we were doing the Little Fella a few years ago with a vague idea that we’d use it for some kind of micro series along with the Little Fella. Its so easy to start personal projects, its infinitely harder to finish them and sometimes I think the most terrifying thing about doing ones own work is being faced with a blank canvas; the potential and the freedom can be quite confounding. I think that by placing or by having constraints placed upon your work it forces you to be a lot more creative.

So the Kitteh just sat there along with all the other little projects that we’ve never finished, slowly gathering dust, while the quality of commercial scripts and the budgets to produce them gradually slumped to an all time low. We want to be involved in creative, exciting and challenging projects that fully exploit our talent as directors and enable us to grow (as I am sure all directors do) and given the absence of those we decided it was high time we went back to working on our own stuff.

We knew that we wanted to make entertaining shorts in which we could do a lot of the things we enjoy; character driven animations that combine the cute, grotesque, monstrous and maniacal, that make people laugh and would enable us to do a whole bunch of stuff we’ve never tried. We came up with a list of constraints: they had to be short (which costs less and you can do them quickly… allegedly), have only one character (so far) and they would all be film genre pastiches. Since then we’ve been turning down a lot of work, it feels like a big risk, but then at the same time I look forward to coming into the studio, I have a spring in my step and we’re having fun.

2. I noticed the Scatman tribute is not yet up on the Kitteh Kitteh site…was that a separate piece that was completed after the first 2 videos (Catzilla and Tail Gunner)?

The Scatman John tribute was a little additional thing that we did with the character; it doesn’t really fit in with the concept of the Mini Epic film pastiches which forms the basis of the Kitteh Kitteh series. It is relatively easy to produce something like that so it was released more as a promotional piece for the site and series.

3. How many people worked on this? can you give us a complete crew breakdown?

Since the project goes a long way back a lot of people have worked on it over the last few years. So here’s a brief and probably not exhaustive list:

Direction / sound – tokyoplastic
Kitty Design – Damian Johnson
Kitty Modeling – Matthias Bjurstrom
Rigging – Rodi Kaya
Fur Texture – James Kirkham
Animation – Ben Crowe, Anders Freij
Rendering / Comping – Antoine Perez, Andy Hague

4. What’s the production pipeline like?

Since only a few people work on this at a time its reasonably easy controlling whats going on. Its the kind of pipeline you wish you could employ in commercials. I do the storyboards and animatic, any additional modeling that is needed gets done, the render gets set up while the animation is being done and then everything is rendered and comped. Easy… give or take the months of late nights and screaming at computers.

5. What are some of the most unexpected technical/creative difficulties (if any) that you encountered during the process?

Because the kitty was modeled real scale, none of the particle / physics sims we used worked properly. However creatively it was all pretty straightforward once the original concept was nailed. The absolute joy of working on ones own projects.

6. What next in the Kitteh Kitteh series? When can we expect another film?

Ah… well… money permitting we would like to do another two this year… but they are quite expensive for us and take up a lot of time, always in fact more than we think. They are also going to be screened at a few quite major film festivals, as soon as the programs are announced we’ll post the information on the site, and we have to hold back on releasing the new ones till then.

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS:

7. What’s your view on the current commercial directing climate? I seem to pick up a general slump in the air. Do you see the light at the end of the tunnel coming soon?

In brief: I don’t know.
It would be too easy to have a big whinge about everything I personally perceive as being wrong with the commercial world and the frustrations that we have had to deal with while working within it. However I don’t honestly think there would be any point, everybody who works in the commercial world has the same gripes and I am fairly certain that those things aren’t going to change anytime soon; that is the industry we choose to work in. While undeniably there are still people out there making amazing stuff you say you have picked up a general negativity in the air and so have I (specifically toward creative work within the commercial industry) and I believe that this is all the more reason to pursue ones own work. I know this is easier said than done and I am hugely thankful that we are in the position to be able to do it. There is a massive amount of fantastic personal work being done out there and it is my hope that this will feed back into the commercial world. Ultimately we, like so many others, are devoted to making the best commercial work that we can; its great to do what one loves but getting paid for it too is just awesome.
P.S. Somebody is going to have to tell somebody else soon that if you want to have great creative then you’re going to have to pay good money for it too!

8. What was Picasso Pictures’ role in this?

Picasso Pictures provided the office space, machines and software and didn’t baulk at us taking time off commercial projects. Their support has been invaluable and is very much appreciated.

9. Finally a couple of cat-specific questions (me being a cat obsessive and all)—-The purring is extremely realistic…was that a real kitty’s purr? or was it a person mimicking the purrs? And is that a scottish fold breed kitten you’ve picked?

The purring is for real :)
And the kitty was loosely based upon a British Blue.

Thanks Sam, for taking the time to share this info with our readers! We wish you all the best, on behalf of everyone here at Motionographer, and will look forward to the next installments, when ever that may be!


Posted on Motionographer

Review: Gangpol Mit “Faits Divers”

My first introduction to French duo Gangpol & Mit (Guillaume Castagne and Sylvain Quément) was through their music. It wasn’t until recently that I learned they are as involved in the creation of animation as they are in concocting their unique blend of electronica.

Their latest DVD, Faits Divers (Pictoplasma Publishing), is a collection of 18 audio-visual offspring from Gangpol & Mit’s collaborative relationship. According to Pictoplasma, “Guillaume emails some graphics to Sylvain, who then composes a melody and sends it back – or Sylvain coughs up a tune and has Guillaume translate it into animated worlds.”

The introductory essay for Faits Divers from Peter Thaler and Lars Denicke builds an interesting context for the DVD, albeit in the affected language of an art exhibition. The thrust is this: “Eat technology before technology eats you.” This cultural wariness underscores much of the DVD’s contents: Gangpol & Mit are clearly in command of the technology they use to create their audio-visual works, and yet they seem to hold it at arm’s length, choosing to exercise only a certain level of sophistication, never more. in this, they remind of the Amish, who have decided that wheelbarrows and ovens are acceptable technologies, while everything else is regarded with suspicion.

As with all of Gangpol & Mit’s music, the soundtrack is a precise melange of meticulously crafted electronic hooks that mixes a staggering array of retro-flavored synths with Baroque fugues and campy musical devices. Melodies run and jump like Super Mario himself, and warm analogue pads wrap around your head with nostalgic charm.

The visuals, while equally controlled, are comprised of rudimentary vector shapes and gradients, animated in simple, mostly linear movements. If 8-bit Nintendo characters could reproduce and evolve, they might have grown into something like the cast of Faits Divers. In terms of its intentionally sophomoric execution and its left-field content, the animation reminds me of cut-scenes from the Katamari Damacy franchise. Colorful, simple and weird.

Gangpol & Mit juxtapose cultural ephemera like well-traveled DJs, mashing up new and old, familiar and obscure, high and low. Aztec warriors hurl cell phones at each other in a video game brawl, a James Bond-esque hero ingests a psychoactive plant, and a man riding a flying armchair considers cutting off his own arm to rid himself of an evil hand-puppet. Every moment of seemingly cheery sentiment is undercut by a quiet violence, a disturbance of some sort.

The contents of the DVD are grouped into loose categories: Clips/Stories, Activities, Art with Heart and Archives. Clips/Stories are loosely narrative sequences focusing on the misadventures of a motley cast of characters. Activities are stand-alone vignettes that often combine spoken word and music. Art with Heart is a series of three “interviews” with fictional artist characters, each of whom suffers from a unique form of narcissism. Archives contains three animations from the back-catalog of Gangpol & Mit: “Chinese Slavery,” “A Few Elements of Vocabulary” and “How to Play Ping-Pong.”

The accompanying 32-page booklet is handsomely produced and re-presents some of the DVD’s films as sequential art, complete with typographic annotations that shed a little light on the sometimes elusive narratives.

My only complaint: I wish the audio was available separately, either as an optional download or on a separate disc. While I appreciate the visuals, I want to listen to Gangpol & Mit so I can create my own stories to accompany their delightfully twisted tunes.

Note: Faits Divers is a PAL DVD. For more information and to purchase, visit Pictoplasma.

Our rating: 3.5/5

Posted on Motionographer

Elastic / A52: Honda Accord “Instruments”

elastic_honda

Design and VFX team Elastic/A52 rock out for Honda Accord in this highly colorful CG jazz spot, as they show off how much hidden space the new Accord Crosstour really offers.

Appealing to a younger, musically-minded target market, its aesthetic and general concept hits a home run. Design-wise, the palette is alive with energy and pop and the beautifully animated characters have a unique look that works an interesting transitional device.

Posted on Motionographer

(Geek Alert!) The Esquire AR Issue

EsquireARWhile many other motion studios try to find their way to the interactive future, Psyop teamed up with the digital aces at The Barbarian Group and went there.

The Esquire Augmented Reality issue hit US newsstands Tuesday with a raft of interactive vignettes that employ augmented reality (AR) to bring classic Psyopian illustrations up from the printed page.

The Barbarian Group conceived of the project and it’s their custom nerd voodoo that powers the Psyop-made content featuring cover boy Robert Downey Jr., actor Jeremy Renner and hottie Gillian Jacobs.

Do you read, view or play with the issue? All of the above. It’s like print, motion and interactive media got a little loose together and – bow chicka wow wow! – birthed this futuristic love child.

The experience requires a download from the Esquire site and a physical copy of the December 2009 issue. Or does it? Some clever Googling may get you to at least some of the AR markers.

Posted on Motionographer

Smilefaucet Screening/Release Party

exit
If you’re in NYC next week, check out the DVD release party and screening for the 9th edition of Smilefaucet. There will be only one more ever so don’t miss it!

Fontana’s @ 105 Eldridge St. Between Broome & Grand
Wednesday, November 18th @ 7pm — Screenings @ 8:30pm & 10:00pm
$2 @ door

RSVP: info@smilefaucet.com

Posted on Motionographer

Fumiko no Kokuhaku


Hailing from the land of the rising sun, this quirky independent short film is about the confession of Fumiko. It’s a simple plot but, extremely well executed and will be sure to raise a smile. I’m not entirely sure on what the girl says at the end, but if you are able to understand Japanese then we’d be super grateful for the translation.
The dialog at the beggining and at the end is the same. The girl asks “Would you like to go out with me ?” The boy answers “Sorry, I have to focus on baseball training …”

For more information and staff translation check out Catsuka.

Be sure to check out their amazing Making of to see all the storyboards, character development and research.


Credits:
Animation / Artwork / CG / Audio: Hiroyasu Ishida
Artwork / CG textures: Yuko Iwase, Kazuhiro Murakami
Anim: Tatsuro Kawano
CG Modeling: Yusaku Nagata

Posted on Motionographer

We Were Monkey’s Land of Talk

its-okay
UPDATED with process imagery and making-of details.

It warms my heart to bring you even more darkness for the main page as we near Halloween. Directing duo, WeWereMonkeys (Mihai Wilson and Davide Di Saro), construct a dreamlike landscape inhabited by Amazonian Queen, Antiope, for Land of Talk’s “It’s Okay.”

Abstract, yet immersive; this piece evokes. It’s refreshing to see this trend of subtlety and nuance permeating animation/mixed-media work. We’ve got all the tools, but let’s worry about telling the story first. Well done Monkeys.

Posted on Motionographer