Bronte: by Ari & Jason for Gotye

Bronte (official film clip) from Gotye on Vimeo.

One of my favorite musicians, Wally de Backer (more commonly known as Gotye), recently released a fantastic new album Making Mirrors, and along with it, a bunch of great music videos by a number of Australian animators-filmmakers. I’m thrilled to find out that Ari Gibson and Jason Pamment (whom I got to know about through their “Sometimes the Stars” video for another Australian band, The Audreys, and Ari’s co-directed film, The Cat Piano) made one of those. Wally/Gotye is well known for his passion in supporting other Australian artists by collaborating with them. (You might remember Picture Drift’s work for his first hit single, “Heart’s A Mess.”)

The song “Bronte” is about a family saying goodbye to their old dog. Ari and Jason once again created a lush, beautiful backdrop for the story to unfold, as alive and whimsical as the characters that inhabit it. In contrast to “Sometimes the Stars,” the atmosphere is a less stark, but it is just as moving.

Read interview and behind-the-scenes work here…

Posted on Motionographer

Cocoe : Fondo Del Agua (Water Fund)

What’s not to like about this? To me, anyway, this is another one of those ‘tick-all-the-right-boxes’ kind of spot. Cocoe, the Madrid-based multidisciplinary design studio, was commissioned by Shackleton, to create this spot for the Spanish government, which promotes:

“Fondo de cooperación para agua y saneamiento”- a public institution dealing with water supply and sanitation tasks- is a project that meets one of the “millennium goals”: reduce the proportion of  people without sustainable access to safe water and basic sanitation by 2015.’

It supports a humanitarian cause, carries a social message. (tick). Stylistically, it’s adorable, friendly and very accessible. (tick). Technically, it’s well executed, the animation of the characters, especially the little girl and her dog, simply delightful. (tick).

Just like the Story of Kakenya which was posted last week, pieces like this gives me hope, that as animators and designers, we can use our skills for the greater good! Keep ‘em coming, I’d say!


Posted on Motionographer

The Black Dog’s Progress


Deliciously dark is how I’d describe Director Stephen Irwin’s latest offering.

A tragic, darkly animated and powerful journey through the life of one dog as he travels from abusive home to even worse.

On the audio side Sorenious Bonk did an amazing job scoring the soundtrack, creating a truly haunting atmosphere of unease.

Warning: because of the subject matter some folk might deem this as NSFW.

Posted on Motionographer