Hasta La Motion!

Supinfocom students (Arnoux Anthony, Dessinges Rémi and Fesquet Guillaume) continue the recent legacy of exceptional students films with ‘From the Hoop’. This film is a surreal journey that follows the life of Rucker Park star, Earl Manigault, through his struggle with drugs and eventual rise to Harlem philanthropist.

The thing about Supinfocom films that resonates is their consistent attention to detail through all aspects of production. There is an obvious thought and care given to every layer of their films from story, to character development, environments, etc.

However, what really makes this film for me is the lighting, art direction and cinematography. For the majority of shots, there is a maturity in the movement of the camera and dramatic use of lighting that is often lacking in student films. Much of this happened in the final composites, but there is definitely a cinematic intuition in the early concept art and photographic research (see making of).

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For his master thesis at Arts et Technologies de l’Image, Mathieu Gérard created “Steel Life,” a breathtaking tapestry of textures and light that evokes themes of genesis and rebirth.

While there’s no obvious narrative, the film uses abstract realism—lovingly rendered imagery inspired by nature—to build an associative network of ideas. The lush soundtrack, composed by Mathieu Alvado and performed by the Star Pop Orchestra, adds a dramatic arc to the film.

Also check out the breakdowns in Gérard’s making-of film.

“Steel Life” will be screened at F5.

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Two LED spots have been dropped off the back of another. The first one, for Samsung, from The Viral Factory (director James Rouse) in London can be seen below:

We grabbed this one a few weeks ago. Since then, it has racked up a decent 4.7 million hits on Youtube. For those who may have missed it, it follows approximately 300 sheep covered in LED lights, a cast of local shepherds and their sheepdogs. The film features sheep being herded into a series of ever more improbable shapes. “The Viral Factory will not be drawn on what was real and what has been achieved in post, but a YouTube debate is predicted.”

This next, more recent, Honda spot is brought to you by W+K Amsterdam and Erik Van Wyk of Bouffant in Capetown. In this spot, the headlights of Hondas become the matrix in which to create simple animations. Most importantly, this was all captured in-camera.

Aside from the creative merits of the Honda ‘Lights’ spot, I’d like to shift the focus to the accompanying making-of video. Unlike the purely viral-format of the Samsung spot, W+K extracted their viral from the TVC shoot. Not only do they get a ‘free’ spot from it all, but they humanize the brand and introduce people to the innovation that goes on under the hood of it’s spots. By keeping it all in-camera, a BTS becomes something interesting enough to watch. Ramp up the scale of the actual shoot and you can do the same to the ‘wow’ factor.

The increase in creating supplemental BTS films seems to have hit a spike during the massive success of the Bravia Color Campaign. The BTS for the ‘Balls’ spot from Fallon/Juan Cabral and Fugslig is one of the more memorable. In preparation for the roll out of ‘Paint,’ Sony’s micro-site hosted a BTS with a countdown to the commercial’s premiere. And who could forget ‘Bunnies‘ and the making-of?

The price of a potential viral hype machine and a chance to show off your in-camera craftiness may not be more than a hand-held second unit. As ad dollars drop, web-content distribution grows and consumers become more savvy (and critical) of advertising, this practice seems like a multi-pronged solution to a few of the ad worlds evolving needs.

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Hot off the heels of last night’s NYC screening, the first six PSST!3 films are now available online. Excellent.

Take a break from whatever you’re doing (unless it’s open heart surgery) and strap on your headphones for a delightful romp through the collective unconsciousness of some of the most creative image makers working today.

The next six films will go online on April 2nd. Check the Screenings page for showings near you.

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Hornet Inc.’s Santa Maria built a mixed media playground for the Ronald McDonald House and agency Leo Burnett in this 2′38″ spot.

2D, 3D, stop-action, claymation, practical, digital—there’s just about everything in here. My favorite moments are the bursts of cheerful, hand-hewn type.

I’m fairly certain folks will be divided over this one: half feeling that it’s a happy ensemble of imagery, the other half feeling it goes a bit too far. Personally, I like it, and I think it works. It’s as if an entire morning of Saturday cartoons from my childhood has been condensed into an elaborate nugget. It’s warm, earnest and pure.

Watch the making-of video

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