Hasta La Motion!

Wow, 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

Posted on Motionographer

This past week, a music video for Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness” featuring MGMT and Ratatat, had a short lived fling with the Internet as a wave of censorship swept it out of sight. There were rumors Cudi didn’t approve of his performance, and an alternate video for the same track (see it here), was created.

Fortunately, fans fought for the video’s return, which gives us the pleasure of sharing “Pursuit of Happiness” by French collective Megaforce.

With their trademark surreal, zero gravity camera trickery, Megaforce choreographs a somber Cudi rising and falling through a living room dream-space as he ponders the pursuit of happiness. The image of him as a dreamer, matched by Megaforce’s style and profound talent, gives this musician more authenticity than all the hot ladies and posses he could purchase for a more mainstream video.

Posted on Motionographer

Amsterdam-based agency Selmore selected Matthijs van Heijningen (Bonkers) to direct this epic tale of a water drop’s lifelong mission to join his breathren as a pint of Bavaria Beer. While the denouement in chuckle-worthy and nicely paced, the real replay value comes from the lush CG work from Eight VFX. Each scene is fully realized and full of nearly tangible depth.

As an aside: the concept reminds me of a bit of a photo-realistic retelling of the oft-admired Guinness “Dot” spot from Psyop and agency IIBBDO Dublin.

Credits
Agency: Selmore
Art Director: Jarr Geerligs
Copywriter: Kim Triesscheijn
Account: Olivier Koning, Floor Schroeiers
Client: Marco van Bilsen, Frenkel Denie, Peer Swinkels, Mathieu Veldhuijzen

VFX: Eight VFX
VFX EP: Baptiste Andrieux
VFX Supervisor: Vania Alban-Zapata
AD, Shoot Supervision and Matte Painting: Yann Mallard
Compositors: Nicolas Cadorette Vigneau, Jean-Marc Demmer, MC
Animators: Freddy Burgos, Chien-I Kao
CG Artists: Giancarlo Lari, Shuichi Nakamara, Mathias Jourdes, Raphael Protti
Digital Integration: Yannick Leblanc
Roto Artists: Marianne Magne, Joe Chiao
VFX Producer: Marsi Frey

Production: Bonkers
Director: Matthijs van Heijningen
Executive Producer: Saskia Kok
Producer: Daan Hofman

Sound: FC Walvisch
Music: Massive Music
Post Production: HecticElectric, MacGyver
Editor: Jono Griffith, Michael Horvers

Posted on Motionographer

Verizon literally goes to war with its touch-screen competitors in this new spot for Droid. Brought to you by “author of epicness,” Rupert Sanders and VFX heavy-hitters, Asylum; this piece is a call-to-arms more than it is a commercial. Sure, we expected something like this with Rupert’s recent work for ODST. However, this treatment is unexpectedly refreshing for a phone.

I’m personally glad to see a brand whose image counters to the safety, lightness and warmth of some of our other recent hand-held devices. Congrats to mcgarrybowen for being bold enough to take a little risk with this launch in a time where everything is so safe.

Agency: mcgarrybowen, New York
Executive Creative Director: Mark Koelfgen
Executive Creative Director: Warren Eakins
Copywriter: Tiffany Smith
Art Director: Michael Cannova
Head of Broadcast Production: Rosanne Horn

Production Company: MJZ, Los Angeles
Director: Rupert Sanders
Executive Producer: Eric Stern
Director of Photography: Alwin Kuchler
Line Producer: Laurie Boccaccio

Editorial Company: Spot Welders
Editor: Neil Smith

Visual Effects: Asylum
Executive Producer: Michael Pardee
Visual Effects Supervisor: Robert Moggach

Music: Q Department
Sound Designer: Brian Emrich

Sound Design Company: Trinitite Studios
Mix: Lime
Mixer: Loren Silber

Posted on Motionographer

Raf Wathion and The Mill, LA teamed up to create this nuanced piece of art for Lexus via Team One.

Taking a sculptural approach, three of the Lexus’ new features are represented through visual analogy. As some car work seems to exploit the peak of technical and stylistic saturation, it’s always refreshing to see directors take a more subtle approach.

Though this spot was produced while at Rabbit, Raf has recently joined Skunk for US representation.

Agency: Team One Advertising
Creatives: Chris Graves (CCO), James Hendry & Craig Crawford (GCD), Molly Grubbs (Copywriter), Ryan Fluet (Art Director)
Agency Exec Producer: Jennifer Weinberg
Agency Producer: Helen Park


Production Company: Rabbit
Director: Raf Wathion
Director of Photography: Stephen Blackman
Exec Producer: Anura Idupuganti
Line Producer: Fred Vrancken

Editing Company: Butcher
Editor: Dave Henegar
Music: Robot Repair


Post Production: The Mill / Los Angeles
Executive Producer: Sue Troyan
Producer: Arielle Davis
Shoot Attend: John Leonti
Lead Flame Artist: Giles Cheetham
Assistant Artists: Ant Walsham, Billy Higgins, Gavin Camp, Mike Plescia, Shane Zinkhon
CG Lead: John Leonti
CG Artists: Michael Panov, Meng-Yang Lu

Posted on Motionographer