Apr
12
Tappin Gofton
Posted in: General
Tappin Gofton is a London-based design studio founded by Mark Tappin and Simon Gofton. (old school Flash website which is a bit flakey, but the work is solid)
Apr
09
See No Evil: 1 Year Anniversary
Posted in: Adobe CS5, community, creative, event, General, James Wignall, london, man vs machine, mograph meeting, See No Evil, Thiago Maia, ubik
See No Evil, the London event that is run by Thiago Maia and our own James Wignall will celebrate its 1 year anniversary next week with a meeting featuring Ubik and Man vs. Machine. The meeting is at 7PM Tuesday, April 13th at Kick Bar. One lucky attendee will win a brand-new copy of Adobe CS5 as well!
We’re very excited to see more community events like See No Evil that are celebrating and sharing great work in the field of Motion Design, film-making and animation, and that create a space for designers to meet up with each other outside the office. We caught up with Thiago to talk briefly about his last year running the event.
Give us a quick rundown of what See No Evil does, who’s involved and what’s your mission?
See No Evil is an bi-month event and a blog for all Animators, Designers and Directors to show and discuss our work in the UK. It is an initiative from Thiago Maia and James Wignall and our mission is to give the industry a better sense of community in London and a new place where they can find work and interesting things about our industry in UK.
Why did you want to start SNE? What was missing from the Motion Design scene in London?
As a Brazilian and a freelancer in London, I always missed that community side to meet people and especially where to look for it.
In London things are a bit more underground, a bit more difficult to get in touch with if you don’t know people. There are people from everywhere in the world and there are always people arriving and leaving the city. So, I decided to do something to help everyone and make people get together.
In the begin it was just a get together in the Pub and I used to call it “Mograph Meeting”. It used to happen once a month and I used to email just people that I knew and their friends. James Wignall came down few times and we started to talk about the “Mograph Meeting”. He said he was interested in helping me to develop the idea, so we teamed up and in March of 2009 we created the first See No Evil with the release of PSST! Pass It On 3 in London.
What has been the best thing about the last year of SNE?
The best thing of 2009 was to see the event growing, getting better and helping people in the industry.
It started just showing peoples work and now we have the best Directors in UK coming down to show and talk about their work.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned? Anything you would have done differently?
I think the big lesson is that it is really difficult to organise something like this, especially without any sponsor or help from the industry. We learnt a lot from our mistakes and we still learning. But it is worth it when you get feedback from people and see that you are helping the industry. It is great for us when we heard people saying that they got work because of See No Evil.
What plans do you have for the next year of SNE?
Our plan is to make the event grow and to be self-sufficient. To make it better and more professional for everyone, with more and more surprises.
We want to improve the website/blog to post more of the best work from the UK industry, and also to make it a better place to find work, studios and freelancers in UK, helping the industry to get together.
If we can dream high, we would love to make a big See No Evil Event next year with Directors and people from around the world. But it still a dream, because at the moment the cost of organising the events comes from our own pockets and a big event would cost a lot money! But we are dreamers and I believe that everything is possible.
Congrats, guys! Looking forward to another year. We’ll try to get over there at some point to check it out and buy a round!
UPDATE: 04/14/10 Check out SNE pics from the event here.
Apr
09
Kenichi Tanaka: Japan-A Strange Country
Posted in: culture, General, Humour, info graphics, issue animation, japan, Japanese, Kenichi Tanaka, Students, vector, visual essayUPDATE: English VO version found on youtube! Thanks for the info, tvp.
Kenichi Tanaka made this thesis piece to show his countrymen that things that take place in Japan, ‘isn’t that normal’. So the tale was told from a foreigner’s viewpoint rather than a Japanese’s, but he begs ‘please don’t call me racist, because I am one of short, small eyes Japanese ;P’. This is a smart and insightful piece because of the cultural self-awareness of its maker. Definitely a significant contribution to the world of visual essays.
We are not sure why it’s not available in English, (see English VO version link at the top) but to those of you who don’t speak Japanese, watching this humorous infographics animation while not understanding the VO, somehow adds another layer of complexity and heightens the uniqueness of the viewing experience. To find out more about the piece, be sure to visit Kenichi’s blog, here.
Apr
09
Against All Odds/XYZ Studios for Victorian Government
Posted in: Against All Odds, Animation, australia, claymation, General, Grey Melbourne, melbourne, tilt-shift, Victoria, Victorian Government, xyz
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
Apr
08
Pixels by Patrick Jean
Posted in: 3d animation, 8-bit, Atari, compositing, donkey kong, Frogger, General, live action, nyc, Patrick Jean, pixels, Space Invaders, Tetris, tracking, vfx, video gameWow, tons of you have just sent this in, and it’s appearing everywhere on the internet this morning. And no wonder! Patrick Jean’s new film Pixels is a great short film. We’ve seen the techniques here before, but this execution is ambitious, clever and well-realized. And it’s the details that truly make it fun to watch. The Tetris blocks filling in the skyscrapers, Frogger leaping between cabs, and Donkey Kong on the Empire State. I really like the Atari logo appearing on the Death Star building down in lower Manhattan, too. Poor NYC, though. Always the victim of someone’s VFX disaster …
One More Production is the company responsible, and they’ve got a ton of other great work as well.
Credits:
Written, directed by : Patrick Jean
Director of Photograhy : Matias Boucard
SFX by Patrick Jean and guests
Produced by One More Production
Apr
08
New York destroyed into 8 bits
Posted in: General
PIXELS by PATRICK JEAN.
QT Download version from One More Production
Apr
07
Contagious‘ North American Editor Nick Parish (former Creativity/Ad Age) caught a screening of Banksy’s recent film, ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’. He’s been kind enough to share his take with us and our readers. Enjoy!
The Sex Pistols did it first. The KLF wrote The Manual on how to do it. Now Banksy is doing it: creating a story to spur demand, lending authority to it in a rapidly popularizing subculture, satisfying the hunger and laughing while everyone eats it up.
It is almost a performance edition of the ‘I can’t believe you morons actually buy this shit’ piece.
Thierry’s the ultimate idolator, a King Toy of the graf world, but in an endearing, ‘let me hold the ladder and learn to do it’ savant-ish sense rather than cynical or ill-meaning way.
In him, Banksy has a tool to make us aware of our desire to belong and understand, nudging him forward, enabling his rise, only to gloat over the result. The art fans, clad in Ed Hardy, lined the sidewalk to see Life is Beautiful and take home a piece. But once everyone catches on to the gag, what happens to the work? And Thierry’s (clearly unbalanced) ego? If Banksy was affiliated, does that mean it has value (in an artistic or financial sense)?
Apr
07
Edouard Salier Paranoid for Nike
Posted in: General
As anticipation for the biggest football tournament of the year heats up, W+K Amsterdam brings Paranoid and director Edouard Salier back to Nike (see Nike Women) for another web-film with the theme of athletes and their battles against Mother nature. This time Nike offers up a solution; a shoe that reacts to the changing terrain (courtesy of Digital District, frequent collaborators of Edouard’s).
Agency: W+K, Amsterdam
Creative Directors: Mark Bernath and Eric Quennoy
Art Director: Pierre Janneau
Copywriter: Mike Farr
Producers: Neil Henry and Cat Reynolds
Head of Broadcast: Erik Verheijen
Executive Creative Director: Jeff Kling
Account Team: David Anson, Jordi Pont, Gene Willis
Nike: Enrico Balleri and Colin Leary
Production Company: Paranoid US
Director: Edouard Salier
Executive producer : Claude Letessier / Cathleen O’Conor
Head of Production: Matej Purg
Producer : Anne Lifshitz
Line producer : Romain Staropoli
Post coordinator : Charlotte Raffi
Director of Photography : Wouter Westendorp
Graphic design : Marthe Salier, Xavier Reye, Julien Michel, Damien Martin
Editor: Olivier Gajan
VFX: Digital District
Producer: David Danesi
VFX Supervisor/ 3D : Julien Rancoeur
Lead Flame : Christophe Richard
Music and Sound Design: Massive Music / Guy Amitai
Apr
07
YMCA: Head Gear Animation
Posted in: General, Headgear Animation, paper animation, Questions, rotoscope, Stop-motion, TBWAVancouver, YMCA
Head Gear Animation and TBWA\Vancouver created this charming spot for YMCA, titled ‘Questions’. Its important message is definitely worth pondering, especially for people like us who spend most of our waking hours indoors and glued to a computer screen.
The tactile lo-fi look and carefully considered colour scheme (dull versus bright marks, contrast between all the ‘less than ideal’ facts and the more positive mission statement to reclaim our community) work so well together in driving the message home. The simply brilliant message stays with me long after the last frame flashes on my computer screen. Time to go out there, folks! Enjoy the (Northern-hemisphere) spring!
NOTE: You can also watch an alternative version (with a child’s VO), check out the print campaign and agency credits, and don’t miss the campaign’s official website !
Apr
05
Astronomers Dream
Posted in: 2d, Astronomer's Dream, Aztec, General, illustration, Malcolm Sutherland, Maya, short film
Apologies for being 9 months late, folks. That’s enough time to pop a baby out…Better late than never, Astronomer’s Dream by Malcolm Sutherland is now available on Vimeo in its entirety. So enjoy its Mayan-influenced, richly illustrative look, and the payoff at the end. It starts a tad slow, but trust me, it’s quite worth it in the end.
More info and credits here, and Malcolm’s folio site is here. Thanks for the timely reminder, Kris!
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