Mike Please è un Animatore/Filmaker/Illustratore con uno stile molto personale.
La maggior parte dei suoi video sono realizzati in stop motion: i personaggi sono quasi bidimensionali, schiacciati in una deformazione tipica del fumetto.
Please sa usare magistralmente diverse tecniche che riescono a caratterizzare in maniera molto particolare ogni diverso lavoro.
Vi consiglio di guardare tutto il video “Rave On” per M. Ward: un po’ di bicicletta.. è meglio del monitor ;).
Per il video del nuovo singolo dei Prodigy, ‘Warrior’s Dance’, il regista Corin Hardy ha trasformato pacchetti di sigarette in forme umane per poi dar loro vita. Le scene di live action sono state girate in due giorni in un pub a Londra nel distretto di Hackney, mentre ci sono volute quattro settimane per l’animazione a passo uno. La scena delle noccioline è l’unica generata al computer.
Corin Hardy ha dichiarato di amare le favole dei fratelli Grimm, che gli hanno ispirato l’idea per questo video, e di realizzare pacchetti di sigaretti umani da quando aveva quattordici anni. E pensare che non fuma.
Prod. co: Academy Films
Director: Corin Hardy
Puppeteers: Will Harper/Johnny Sabbagh : Dark Vast
Animator: Gary Carse
This year’s rendition builds on audio sampled from previous SIFF films to create a disjointed steam-of-consciousness narrative. The visuals are lush, jewel-toned dreams rendered by hand in acetate, paper cut out and ferns(!). I only wish I could see this on the big screen.
2009 is really shaping up to be the year of analogue. Digital post-production finishing adds layers of needed polish, but analoge animation techniques are really experiencing a renaissance. Fun times!
As someone who has an intense love-hate relationship with New York, this sweetly animated film from Andy and Carolyn London tugged hard on my heartstrings. It’s a simple concept: Interview New Yorkers and then animate objects in the city to match their personalities. The result is a compelling short that helps me see the city—and its people—in a new light.
Kirsten Lepore è un’animatrice laureatasi al Maryland Institute College of Art nel 2007.
Sweet Dreams è la sua tesi: un corto animato di quasi 10 minuti realizzato con la tecnica a passo uno.
Prodotto quasi interamente con cibo vero, racconta la storia di un pasticcino alla ricerca di qualcosa di più oltre al suo mondo di grattacieli fatti di zollette di zucchero e amici al glucosio.
Patrick Boivin’s latest stop-motion short—a comedic battle between Iron Man and Bruce Lee—burned up the interw3b as soon as it was released a few days ago. And for good reason. Boivin’s storytelling skills are matched by his spot-on stop motion work. Watch the making-of video to get a glimpse of Boivin’s meticulous process.
One of animation’s greatest strengths is its ability to simplify complex systems for digestion by the widest possible audience. This is something Montreal based Atelier Transfert understands implicitly.
Their approach is very specific: Using mostly stop motion, they “can take abstract concepts and bring them into the tactile world to illustrate a very simple message. Through simple and visually entertaining analogies, we can communicate complex features.”
Case in point is their recent video explaining how Email Center Pro software works. Atelier Transfert mixes metaphor and humor to keep things simple and engaging. It’s a technique that’s harder to master than it sounds, so I thought I’d ask them a few questions about their process. Atelier Transfert’s Christian Martel graciously responded.
If Google Translate can be trusted, “Atelier Transfert” roughly translates to “Transfer Workshop.” Why did you choose that as your studio’s name?
Yes, Google Translate is accurate. ‘Atelier’ in French often suggests an artist’s workshop or practice, and ‘transfert’ means transfer, which I sort of meant as in transport—intersecting various approaches, disciplines, and media through a design process.
These stop-motion tutorials we’ve been doing lately are still very rooted in design in that they attempt to reduce a message to its simplest expression.
AT has a very specific approach—namely, using stop-motion animation for “how-to” or expository videos. Why stop-motion? Why not, for the sake of argument, 3D animation?
Initially, this allowed me to create entertaining videos within my comfort/technical knowledge zone (using good old basic graphic designer’s tools such as a digital still camera, Photoshop, and Illustrator). Afterward, I understood that you have way more control with such short cuts. In this sense, the phenomenon of manipulating time with cuts is taken to a whole new level.
The timing on the images throughout the entire clip can edited to syllable, rather than to a word or a phrase. This makes for a high impact on the educational front—especially when demonstrating a recipe or technique.
With stop-motion, you can achieve the precision of an illustrated manual with each frame. This is even more interesting than the eye candy aspect of making objects move by themselves.
Now that our approach is even more centered on photography (seriously, shooting/composing these is like a very very long photo shoot, with all the usual preoccupations and concerns with the final shot), we use remote capture software combined with Photo Mechanic to check to motion while filming. We still put together the edit in Final Cut Pro, but have also started experimenting with Dragon Stop Motion. All the colour correction and any transparency tricks are all done in Photoshop.
Do you ever get clients asking for things outside the world of stop-motion?
Not yet. Just some simple illustrations added to a stop-motion piece.
Would you ever consider doing work that wasn’t stop-motion?
Sure, we’re always eager to innovate. Plus, with the appearance of of DSLR cinematography (Canon 5D Mark II, Nikon D90) you can start to get near film-quality HD video. I love the idea of film and photography converging.
I imagine in some cases, it can be quite challenging to understand a product through the lens of a company’s brand. It sounds like it takes a lot of time and patience.
Yes, it certainly does. Before figuring out how we’re going to film, we do all that good marketing stuff too. The commercial sphere of graphic design, photography, and film has given us enough experience to make sure we achieve the branding message. Like an ad campaign, this requires a lot of initial background research before we propose a concept.
Plus, we try to adapt our video style to a company’s existing branding. In fact, although the style is similar, we rarely shoot them the same way: StartCooking is shot in natural light, Alltop was done with flash photography, and Email Center Pro was lit with modeling lights (which, by the way, tend to dim slightly around dinner time as power consumption in the building goes up).
What’s in store for the future? Any big projects coming down the pipeline? Any new ideas you want to work on?
Yes, although I don’t think I can mention it just yet. Anyway, we’ve just started with these and we’re looking to do a few more.
Brazilian director Vinicius Costa shows off some mixed media chops in his new short, “Special Guest: The Journey.” There’s a suitcase as cabinet of curiosities with flapping airplane, piano keyboard parking lot, and pink neuron climbing through a Dali-inspired landscape. It’s an endless, playful, stream of consciousness loop that rewards repeated viewings (are those people dancing in the front yard?).
Costa’s debut film with 1st Avenue Machine-sibling Special Guest is in the studio’s tradition of having new directors create a film based on their idea of The Special Guest. From Costa: “It occurred to me that just looking at someone’s luggage could tell you a lot about the owner’s personality.”
Director: Vinicius Costa
Production Services: Animatorio
Compositors: Vanderlei Santana and Rafael Antonelli
Rotoscope: Vanderlei Santana, Rafael Antonelli, and Raiza Costa
Stop Motion: Animatorio
Audio: Omni Audium
L’ingegnosa tecnica di animazione messa in opera da Javan Ivey ha prodotto i suoi risultati!
Il promo per 2009 è l’evoluzione del primo video sperimentale My Paper Mind che l’animatore produsse completamente da solo con una tecnica chimata Stratastencil. Ora Ghost Robot e il regista Elliot Jokelson hanno reinterpretato l’innovativa tecnica per produrre un lungo e strabiliante video.
Tutta l’animazione è stata prodotta con After Effects e poi stampata su 1336 fogli; diversi assistenti hanno ritagliato tutte le tavole che hanno composto i 20 frames per secondo dell’animazione in stop motion.
L’intera animazione è stata girata anche con le lenti stereoscopiche 3D, che sembra essere nuovo standard per le animazioni di un certo livello.
35000 shots in meno di 3 minuti.
Stop motion, pure Scintillation. Xavier Chassaing
Consiglio vivamente di vederlo in fullscreen. Xavier unisce tecniche di stop motion e live projection mapping. 35000 scatti fotografici.
Un mondo magico di orchidee e stucchi che si infuoca invaso da proiezioni multicolore.
Nel vero senso della parola una fusione tra immagini reali e digitale.
Non sono immagini in movimento quelle riprese, eppure ci fanno scorrere in modo fluido tra petali e lungo cornici. E poi la precisione tecnica regala esplosioni particellari sulle superfici che dipingono gli oggetti con semplicità ed eleganza. Mathieu Calet è l’autore dell’effetto in questione. Il sound di Fedaden.
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