Sep 24

Bot & Dolly: Box

Posted in: General, performance, projection mapping, robots, technology

“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

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Jun 10

Logan: NASA Project “A Volta”

Posted in: dark, Experimental, General, music video, nsfw, robots

a-volta-logan
Warning: This video contains strong language, simulated sex and violence. Might not be suitable for some environments.

For the NASA (North America South America) Project’s “A Volta,” Santa Monica-based Logan built a dim lit nightmarish world of isometric madness and ultraviolence inspired by the artwork of The Date Farmers.

In an interview with BoingBoing’s Xeni Jardin, Logan’s Alexei Tylevich explains the semi-narrative structure of the project:

It wasn’t meant to be a great “story” but just another structural device to keep the viewer occupied. It’s a music track with a “plot” thinly stretched over it. I thought it might be clever to turn this video into a mini-film with a semblance of a plot. A plot that has the same level of strategically naive incompetence and misdirected energy that is implied in the work of Date Farmers.

If you’ve been following Motionographer for a while, you’re no stranger to Logan’s work. While they’re capable of producing consistently slick commercials for clients like Apple and Lexus, they refuse to be easily pigeonholed.

Projects like Toyota “Meet” and their Metal Gear Solid 4 interstitials defy categorization and challenge rational thinking. Skewing towards post-modern modes of presentation that leverage dissonance, juxtaposition and suspension of resolution, these works show that Logan is as interested in exploring formal qualities of storytelling as they are in straightforward narrative.

Case in point: The “making of” featurette Logan created for “A Volta” does little to reveal technical details, opting instead for an obtusely entertaining mockumentary:

Read the full interview over at BoingBoing for more information.

Credits
Artist: N.A.S.A.
Track: “A Volta” (feat. Amanda Blank, Sizzla & Lovefoxx)
Director: Logan
Producer: Logan
Original Artwork: The Date Farmers
Commissioned by: Squeak E. Clean Productions
Executive Producer: Susan Applegate
© 2009 Spectrophonic Sound under license to Anti- Records

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