May
15
Sep
02
onedotzero: just one week away
Posted in: events, Experimental, Festivals, General, onedotzero, uk
onedotzero_adventures in motion returns to London’s BFI Southbank from September 9th to 13th, presenting international moving image work from an international lineup of pioneers and innovators.
Highlights include new work by Johnny Hardstaff; a retrospective of work by French collective H5 (which also includes an exclusive preview of their much anticipated film), Logorama; production company Partizan showcases its new talents; exclusive preview of the break-dancing documentary film Turn It Loose; breathtaking shorts by Keith Loutit and Reza Dolatabadi, whose animated film Khoda consists of over 6,000 individual paintings that were painstakingly produced during two years to create a five minute masterpiece and work from directing collective, Zeitguised.
More info and tickets on the onedotzero site.
NOTE: The onedotzero trailer (above) is part of the festival branding efforts from Weiden+Kennedy UK, created with the help of computational designer Karsten Schmidt. Schmidt authored a generative engine for producing random visual systems, which were recorded for use in the trailer and festival posters. You can also check out the interactive component that was presented at the NFT here.
Client: onedotzero
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy, London
Motion Director: Eze Blaine
Creative: Eze Blaine, David Bruno, Tom Seymour
Computational Designer: Karsten Schmidt
Sound: Tokyolab
Producer: Sermad Buni
May
28
London: See No Evil June 4th at Bodhi
Posted in: David Wilson, events, General, london, screening
Attention Londoners: See No Evil’s next meeting will be meeting on June 4th, 7pm at Bodhi. David Wilson will be on hand to discuss his “We Got Time” for Moray McLaren, followed by an Open Screen Night. There will also be free Stash DVDs being handed out like highly addictive substances worthy of their namesake.
Wish I could be there! Fellow Motionographer James Wignall will be in attendance, though. Get there early. Space is limited.
May
16
May/June Events Roundup
Posted in: calendar, community, events, General
Photo by Victoria Peckham
There’s a lot going over the next month. I’ll try to round up a few of the relevant events here. Stay tuned for a full-fledged calendar feature soon.
May 20th: Forget The Film, Watch The Titles! (Los Angeles)
Coming up this Wednesday the 20th at the Billy Wilder Theater in LA, Flux and Forget The Film, Watch The Titles! have organized a fantastic lineup of title designers: Jamie Caliri of Duck, Danny Yount of Prologue, Karin Fong of Imaginary Forces, Garson Yu of yU+co, and Kyle Cooper of Prologue. Wow.
May & June: Cut & Paste Asia
Cut & Paste is currently on its Asian tour. Hong Kong was last week; coming up are Shanghai (05/23/09), Tokyo (05/30/09) and Sydney (06/06/09). Also make sure to put the Global Championships on June 20th in NYC on your calendar.
May 21st-30th: LOOP (Barcelona)
LOOP is a multi-day event that includes a festival, a fair and a conference within the field of video art. And it takes place in one of my favorite cities, Barcelona. Sounds like a great way to spend a few days.
June 16th-18th: Promax|BDA North America (NYC)
This is a must-attend event for many of you, and this year looks really strong. Confirmed speakers include Robert Redford, Bob Saget, John Maeda and Ralph Steadman, among many others. (Little ol’ me will be doing State of Design on June 17th in Grand Ballroom, if you want to stop by and say hi.)
June 18-19th: Sonar (Barcelona)
Sonar is “Barcelona’s International Festival of Advanced Music and Multimedia Art” from June 18-19. This year’s lineup is a tour de force of musicians and DJ’s accompanied by visuals and installations from around the world.
Know of more events?
Send ‘em my way! I’m working on a calendar feature for the site, and I’d love to start harvesting stuff now.
Now get out there and mingle!
May
15
Prologue: OFFF 2009 Titles
Posted in: events, General, offf, portugal, title sequence
Prologue’s Ilya Abulhanov designed and directed this title sequence for the 2009 OFFF festival in Oeiras, Portugal.
Starring a mysterious cast clad in para-military gear, the sequence feels like the pre-amble to a guerrilla warfare strike in the not-so-distant future. The quirky costumes and desolate landscapes are the real focus here, mixing elements of Half-Life, Star Wars and the Mujahideen. Ilya does a nice job balancing the sparse cinematographic compositions with solid type and understated graphics.
As always, HECQ delivered an outstanding soundtrack that extends the ambience of the visuals and builds tension throughout the project.
May
04
Call For Submissions: onedotzero
Posted in: arts, call for entries, events, General, london, StudentsThis is just a friendly reminder to get your submissions to onedotzero before Friday, May 29th. Do it!
Posted on Motionographer
Apr
29
Dvein: F5 Titles
Posted in: events, f5, General, Spain, title sequenceDvein has consistently blown my mind with their diverse and staggeringly awesome body of work. When they agreed to create the title sequence for F5, I actually felt bad for them. I thought, “This is too much pressure. The expectations are too high.”
But that didn’t deter them. Not one bit.
I recommend going full screen for the optimal experience. QuickTime version here.
Dvein were intent on creating a title sequence that reflected F5’s speakers, something that captured some hidden aspect of each person. They explain their approach:
When we were invited to make the F5 titles, we wanted them match the eclectic spirit of the conference. The idea was to get the soul of the speakers into the titles in some way.
We asked each speaker to name five objects that inspire them or has something to do with their work. We received all kinds of answers—really interesting objects that gave us a great starting point: wind turbines, microscopes, lights, smoke, lamb rib cage, French bulldog…
The speakers didn’t know what their answers would be used for, but they were the seed for our story. In this way, all the speakers added their bit. There is not a unique authorship but rather a multiple collaboration.
I know I sound like a broken record, but I have to send my deepest gratitude to the entire Dvein team for creating such a wonderful title sequence. Again, there was zero budget. They did this because they love challenging themselves, and they believed in the vision of F5.
Antfood deserves big props for providing the music and sound design. Like the visuals, the soundtrack is a brilliant blend of analog and digital.
Posted on Motionographer
Apr
26
It’s been a week since F5, and our heads are still spinning. By all accounts, it was a smashing success. It’s hard for us to see it from the outside, but I can tell you that we were deeply moved by the entire experience.
From 10am on Thursday, when the line outside Roseland Ballroom wrapped around the block, to the final screening of the titles from Dvein, we were blown away by the positive energy and inspiring enthusiasm from the attendees.
It was infectious. Everywhere we turned, people were smiling and laughing, connecting with old friends, making new friends, listening to speakers, taking notes, cheering, jeering, debating, thinking, rethinking, dreaming.
It was, in short, everything we wanted it to be. And we owe that to you.
From the entire F5 team, thank you all very much to those of who you made it to the event. You traveled from every corner of the globe to be there, and we want you to know how deeply we appreciate your involvement.
While we may have created F5, you made it. Thank you.
Stay tuned for the F5 RE:PLAY films, as well as video coverage of the talks.
Posted on Motionographer
Mar
18
David O’Reilly: When You’re Smiling
Posted in: character design, Commentary, events, General, openingPictoplasma, the global clearing house for contemporary character design and art, commissioned director David O’Reilly to create the show open for Pictopia, the Pictoplasma exhibition taking place in Berlin this week.
Set to a hollow yet pleasing rendition of “When You’re Smiling,” O’Reilly tells the story of a skeleton looking for character parts in a warehouse-like digital space. Once the pieces are chosen, he replaces himself with the bits to create a generic but adorable little guy who walks through a mirror onto a stage.
WYS sparked some discussion at Motionographer headquarters. Although it seems innocent enough on the surface, O’Reilly’s film is subtly subversive: The central figure transforms itself from a human form into a clichéd icon, one assembled from samples of Japanese pop culture—a tendency that’s obvious in much of the character work at exhibitions like Pictopia.
In broader terms, “When You’re Smiling sets up a debate about the nature of animation and character design as triggers for empathy,” said Motionographer’s Justin Cone. Do characters—especially simplified, cuddly critters—act as psychological mirrors for audiences? If so, what sort of relationship is that? What kind of stories does that encourage/discourage? Are some stories being left behind?
As the opening for a gathering about character design, O’Reilly’s film couldn’t be more appropriate. It once again shows his penchant for intelligent iconoclasm expressed through engaging narrative. He reminds me of Brad Bird’s famous insistence that animation isn’t a genre, it’s an artform.
Posted on Motionographer
Mar
12
The schedule of speakers for F5 is now online!
A brief run-down: Things get started both days around 11am and run until the early evening, with lunch and afternoon breaks for you to grab a drink from the bar and mingle a bit.
By the way, our remaining tickets are moving along at a pretty good clip. I see a sell out on the horizon…
Posted on Motionographer
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