Hasta La Motion!

If you tuned into Superbowl 2011, you may have seen a slew of dazzling commercials that caught your eye. Here at Motionographer, we where particularly impressed by the latest from Fx & Mat, Coke Siege. As luck would have it, we were fortunate enough to rope the directors in for an exclusive interview about the teams latest piece (full interview below).

“Our intention was to make an epic film using the codes of the fantasy world. As illustrators ourselves we love the energy we see in concept art for films, books and games and we thought this project had great potential for bringing that into motion. We wanted illustrated landscapes, integrating the characters as much as possible with their environment. Wherever possible, we wanted to use graphic tricks to create depth – using atmospheric depth and coloured haze, rather than very photographic optical depth of field.”

Full interview with Nexus’s Fx & Mat about Coke “Siege”

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We’re pleased to announce our first set of speakers for F5 2011! Here is the first savory piece of the cake—just enough to want a bigger bite. This group speaks to the careful consideration placed on finding the artists//heroes//colleagues who fit the overall theme of Happy F5 this year.

We’re also ecstatic that Buck will be creating the fest’s awe-inspiring opening titles. Our lips are sealed, but expect their special sauce of whimsy, humor and highly produced playtime. Buck will share their process and creative vision for the project during their special speaker session.

So far, F5 has drawn exclusively from a wealth of visual artists, designers, animators, technologists, engineers, musicians, writers, and puppeteers who point to a singular direction in creativity: one that builds an artistic fabric with the shared thread of imagination and optimism.

This is only the beginning. More happiness in store. And smiles guaranteed.

Check out our speakers page for bios and more info. And make sure to lock in your tickets…

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Come one, come all to the Happy F5 site—now open with all the information you’ll need for this April 15. Behold the immediacy of the festival scoop—morning, noon and night! Witness the whole story behind our history, ethos and expectations for this year’s event! Step into Roseland Ballroom! Scan the network of attendees expected to grace the floor!

And follow F5 on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news, clues and ticket giveaways as we inch ever closer to the party.

Posted on Motionographer

This Irish born, Berlin-based animator has accumulated a lot of fans over the years with his work such as 2009’s award winning “Please Say Something”, 2008’s bizarrely engaging child-like animation “Octocat”, and his breakthrough 2006 piece “WOFL2106”. Getting a cult following for his animated work, David OReilly now returns with his latest offering “The External World”.

After being premiered at the 67th Venice Film Festival, it’s such a joy to see this online. Bursting to the brim with ideas, it’s a tour-de-force of comedy script writing, timing, and well placed technical ability.

Having been lucky enough to catch OReilly’s Talkshow with Fons Schiedon at Holland’s fantastic Playgrounds Festival, I can see OReilly’s quick-fire comedy influences clearly at play here (Adult Swim’s Xavier: Renegade Angel springs to mind). But, like any well used influence, OReilly has spring-boarded off these shows to create his very own dark, twisted world.

What I was left with after watching this piece was the renewed sense of why I fell in love with animation in the first place… the sense that anything is possible, given time, energy and talent. You can create a world where you’re able to let you imagination come alive, without boundary.

It’s the pure dedication to applying this principle that makes OReilly such a unique and truly inspirational animator and film maker, and, for me, “The External World” cements OReilly’s place as one of the most exciting talents in animation in the world at the moment.

Credits

This has been amended since original posting -ML

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Sydney-based filmmaker, Guy Verge Wallace, has just birthed a 5-month-long labor of love in the form of a music video for Papa Vs Pretty. At just 19 years old, Guy executed this entire film alone in a friends living room.

Inspired by the dinner scene from Pink Floyd’s, ‘The Wall’, he fuses the visual language of people like Svenkmajer and Gilliam with less direct contemporary pioneers like Radical Friend, Tatia Rosenthal and Sean Pecknold. Combining new and old techniques, his analog aesthetic is corrupted by the digital world.

You can also check out a wonderfully detailed making of on Guy’s blog that chronicles the process behind these life-sized stop-motion characters. Keep your eye on Guy. This is the energy we need to keep evolving as an industry.

Posted on Motionographer