Director/animator Jeff Le Bars has an impeccable eye for composition and color, as his Emile Cohl 2012 graduation film “Carn” proves.
But the real magic of “Carn” is its story — an aspect of filmmaking most young directors struggle with. Built on a simple, fable-like structure, “Carn” ticks along with satisfying, grim precision until its fateful conclusion. The pacing, like the layout, is spare and artful, brimming with tension achieved through subtraction, not addition.
The music and sound design from Spectral Approche beautifully underscore the film’s emotional power.
Columbus-based Leftchannel has been plugging away for over 10 years, but it’s been a while since we’ve posted them on Motionographer.
Their recently launched opener for the 2013 motion Conference, which kicks off this Friday in Albuquerque, breaks that silence. It’s a delightful typographic romp seasoned with cute character work and a couple visual surprises that make it worthy of repeat viewing.
Leftchannel’s Creative Director Alberto Scirocco will also be presenting three sessions at motion 2013.
As a follow up to our earlier post regarding the debut of Bot & Dolly’s mind-boggling short, “Box,” (above) we’re sharing an interview with the team as well as a behind the scenes video produced with The Creators Project.
Behind the Scenes
This behind the scenes film contains interviews with GMunk (Bradley G Munkowitz), BOX’s Design Director and Tarik Abdel-Gawad, BOX’s Creative Director together with behind scenes footage from the making of BOX.
Interview with Bot & Dolly’s Tarik Abdel Gawad, Creative and Technical director on “Box”
Can you please confirm for our readers that none of the box visuals were comped in post?
Yes, this is a capture of a physical performance. The visuals are not added in post.
Where did the idea for this project come from? Was it commissioned?
Box is an internal project that grew naturally out the the intersection of art and technology at Bot & Dolly. We have a great interdisciplinary team of designers and engineers that made the project possible.
From the start, the exploration of classical magic fit with our creative process. Magicians have a long history of mixing technology with performance and the categories of classical magic were perfect inspiration for the geometric illusions in Box.
Can you tell us a little more about the robots? What are those robots normally used for?
The spec sheets on the Bot & Dolly website are the best source of information on our robots.
How did you work out the choreography between the performer and the robots?
Working out the choreography was a process of rehearsal and iteration. For mainly practical reasons it was actually me performing. I had the most experience operating the robots, and since this was an internal project, rehearsals often took place at night. Each robot weighs around one and a half tons so it takes awhile to get comfortable moving around them, and safety is important.
How did you track the movement of the surfaces by the projector? Was it all preprogrammed based on the robots’ movements?
The projectors and robots are all calibrated within the same coordinate frame. Bot & Dolly’s software, BDMove, makes its possible to synchronize graphic content with robotic motion.
What was the design process for this like? Where did you start? And did you need to test and iterate a bit before getting it down?
We would start with a category of classical magic and begin exploring limited narratives made up of only abstract geometric shapes and a single performer. During the animation phase we relied on quick hand drawings and moving blocks around a table to communicate ideas because it was nearly impossible to describe something just with words.
Choosing the right geometry was very important to creating the illusion of depth, and directly affects the robotic motion. The primary illusion is created by transforming the geometry of the physical 4’ by 8’ canvas mounted to the robotic arm, through projection.
In the first section, “Transformation”, we extrude the canvas into a cube. Later on we combine two canvases to form a larger hinging shape, which in return affects the robotic animation. We tried to make each section build upon the last, and we were always learning something based on what was just completed. By the end, we ended up with a very complex environment, the performer is inside of the projected volume, there are holes in the floor and line drawing on the back wall.
What was the most challenging aspect of the job?
The difficult part is that you don’t know exactly how something will turn out until you’ve seen it projected in the space. Even then it changes with the environment’s lighting, which is also synchronized with the graphic content and robotic movement.
Many software applications were used on this project in conjunction with BDMove. It’s a very collaborative process with a lot of creative control, so it takes a lot of time and iteration to get to the point where everyone is happy.
What’s next for you?
I’m not sure. One of the things I love about working at Bot & Dolly is that we tackle a wide range of problems, both on the creative and technical side. There are applications in a variety of fields for the technology demonstrated in box, which makes it hard to predict the next thing.
Combining the hand crafted artistry of 2D character animation within a stunningly integrated use of 3D CGI sets, the journey through time is reflected in the film’s opening shot; an unbroken take which lasts a whopping 95 seconds.
Check out some of the process below. Plus, there’s a 2-part interview on the D&AD website.
Written by – Marc Craste and Damon Collins
Client: TSB
Paul Pester
Catherine Kehoe
Mike Regnier
Terry McParlane
Agency: Joint London
Creative Director – Damon Collins
Producer – Matt Keen
Music: Anne Dudley
Sound Design: Factory
Production Company: Studio AKA
Writer/Director: Marc Craste
Producer: Nikki Kefford-White
Character Design: Steve Small
Additional Art Direction: Dave Prosser
Previsualisation: Christian Mills, Anna Kubik
Supervising Animators: Steve Small, Michael Schlingmann
2D Animators: Peter Dodd, Sharon Smith, Nicolette van Gendt
2D Assistant Animators: Nick Appleton, Gerry Gallego, Freya Hotson, Simon Swales, Margot Tsakiri-Scanatovits, Justine Waldie, Jonathan Wren
2D Paint: Eamonn O’Neill, Kristian Andrews, Gemma Mortlock
2D Compositing: Michael Schlingmann
Supervising CG Artists: James Gaillard, Christian Mills
Modelling & Texturing: Adam Avery, Sara Diaz, Will Eager, Vincent Husset, Raymond Slattery
Rigging: Adam Avery
Lighting, Rendering & Compositing: James Gaillard, Daniel Garnerone, Alex Holman, Christian Mills, Will Eager, Cristobal Infante
Simulation & FX: Cristobal Infante
3D Animators: Boris Kossmehl, Fabienne Rivory, Marie Verhoeven, Lucas Vigroux
Technical Director: Fabrice Altman
Editor: Nic Gill
Production Co-ordinator: Ren Pesci
Production Assistant: Alli Albion
“Box,” a new short film/performance from design and engineering studio Bot & Dolly produced in association with The Creators Project, takes projection mapping, well — out of the box.
Just to make sure you understand what you’re seeing: The above video is documentation of a live performance. I’ve been assured there was no compositing in post-production. It’s all live.
Bot & Dolly calls their combination of robotic arms and projection mapping a “kinematic projection platform.”
Tarik Abdel-Gawad, Creative Director at Bot & Dolly explains the setup: “Through large-scale robotics, projection mapping and software engineering, audiences will witness the trompe l’oeil effect pushed to new boundaries.”
For the animated content, Bot & Dolly brought on none other than Bradley G Munkowitz, no stranger to Motionographer. His trademark attention to detail is on full display in every frame of the project.
Update: I neglected to give props to the outstanding work on the music and sound design from Keith Ruggiero/Sounds Red. Without audio, there’d be little motivation for the performance.
Interview coming soon…
Production Company: BOT & DOLLY
Executive Producers: Bill Galusha, Nick Read
Executive Creative Director: Jeff Linnell
Creative & Technical Director: Tarik Abdel-Gawad
Design Director: Bradley G Munkowitz
Lead Graphic Designers: Bradley G Munkowitz, Jason English Kerr
3D Artists: Scott Pagano, Bradley G Munkowitz, Jason English Kerr, Conor Grebel
2D Artists: Conor Grebel, Ben Hawkins, Pedro Figuera
Director of Photography: Joe Picard
Lighting Designers: Joe Picard, Phil Reyneri
Projection / Touch Designer: Phil Reyneri
Robotics Animation: Tarik Abdel-Gawad, Brandon Kruysman, George Banks, Michael Beardsworth
Robotics Operator: Michael Beardsworth, Brandon Kruysman
Prop Fabrication: Matt Bitterman, Ethan Dale
Script Supervisor: Ian Colon
Sound Engineers: Joe Picard, Michael Beardsworth
PAs: Sean Servis, Dakota Smith, Nico Mizono, Eric Wendel, Patrick Walsh
Editors: Ashley Rodholm, Ian Colon
Music / Sound Design: Keith Ruggiero
Sound Mix: Joel Raabe
Performers: Tarik Abdel-Gawad, Iris, Scout
“Coin” begins as a rather humble homage to fighting games of yesteryear, an 8-bit nod at nostalgia with lovingly crafted keyframes.
Then things get awesome.
More than just an epic fight scene, “Coin” is an odyssey told through the language of kicking ass. While mopping up the screen with hundreds of foes, the short’s hero journeys underwater, into outer space, through the belly of a whale and into the circles of hell. There are plenty of references to video games from my childhood, but even without that esoteric knowledge, it’s a wildly fun ride.
“Coin” was directed and animated by Chris Burns (Exit 73 Studios) with music, sound design and compositing by Bob Fox.
The students of Gobelins strike again. “Myosis” is an existential love story, a lyrical tale of passion and the creative destruction sometimes necessary to stay in touch with it.
The animation is stunning, but so is the overall art direction. Impeccable control of the palette combines with elegantly framed shots to create a powerful sequence of visuals. Superbly done.
Following up on Johnny Kelly’s insanely successful “Back to the Start” stop-action film for Chipotle is not an easy task. The project mopped up at award shows and was a crowd favorite. Its analogue technique meaningfully echoed Chipotle’s message of bucking factory farming and technologically-powered “progress” for a more hands-on approach to food.
Louisiana-based Moonbot Studios, who won an Academy Award for the short, “The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore” and set the gold standard for interactive storybooks with the accompanying Morris Lessmore iPad app, was up for the challenge.
Their recently released “The Scarecrow” echoes many of the same themes as “Back to the Start,” and its soundtrack also features a cover of a famous song performed by an unexpected artist. While “Back to the Start” had Willie Nelson singing Coldplay, in “The Scarecrow” Fiona Apple sings “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The effect is equal parts haunting and magical.
It’s also worth noting that Moonbot’s film is entirely CG. A helpful reader added some detail in the comments:
“Moonbot’s film is entirely CG” isn’t entirely accurate, the barn and the kitchen interior were built as miniatures, filmed, and composited into the CG scenes.
Where “Back to the Start” shined a bright light on the hand-crafted nature of its production, “The Scarecrow” dives deeper into its protagonist’s life. While both films are emotionally powerful, “The Scarecrow” feels more like a mini-feature film, executed with the same scale and grandeur as a Pixar film.
Scarecrow: The Game
Keeping with the Morris Lessmore formula, Moonbot Studios also created an iOS game to accompany “The Scarecrow.” From Moonbot:
Created in collaboration with Chipotle Mexican Grill, “The Scarecrow” is an arcade-style adventure game for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and a companion animated short film. Both pieces depict a scarecrow’s journey to bring wholesome food back to the people by providing an alternative to the processed food that dominates his world.
French director Marc-Antoine Locatelli’s “Nuance” is an engrossing performance-based project worth checking out. Backed by track “Ants” (EdIT), dancer Lucas Boirat interacts with a mercurial light-based form that seems to be both a source of power and opposition. Although the project surely involved a fair bit of choreography, it feels playful and improvised. That’s a harder feat than it might appear.
For more in the same vein, check out these projects as well:
Labandeoriginale & MotionFanClub: “Unleash Your Fingers”
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A. during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
