You *need* to check out this 11 min pilot of awesomeness from Buenos Aires based Punga, and production company L’Orange Gutan!
So full of great ideas and hilarity it’ll make you weep / give up (whichever comes first)!
Click here to view the embedded video.
Coming at you via the classic boob tube, the :30 second Mountain Dew spot with Paul Rodriquez featuring Don Pendleton and his Green Label Art can, is the latest commercial project from Evan Dennis and the crew at Shilo. I sat down with Evan and talked shop about thrashing, P-Rod and “Doing the Dew.” Catch the Q&A after the jump.
Sheina: Hello, Evan.
Evan: Hello, Sheina.
Sheina: Can you please state your full name?
Evan: Uh… Evan Owen Dennis. In that specific order.
Sheina: Perfect. Im also going to need your social security number, but will do that later. So, let’s get into it, what’s this skateboarding thing all about?
Evan: I think it was invented back in the day with a piece of wood and wheels. It probably came from roller skates, but now Paul Rodriguez does it.
Sheina: This Paul Rodriguez guy, can you describe him in three and a half words? No more or no less.
Evan: Thats a tough one. He’s young… spiritual… and very very humble.
Sheina: Is “very” the half word?
Evan: Yes, “very” is the half word. But yea, Paul is a very humble guy. Those words don’t really express his natural ability for skateboarding. He’s an extremely talented athlete.
Sheina: Do you have any experience with skateboarding?
Evan: I started skateboarding when I was really young. Around nine or ten years old, I got my first skateboard and just became obsessed with the entire culture behind it. Everything from the graphics, to stickers, to the style of skateboarding, that was basically what my entire youth was about. Even the music associated with skateboarding. There’s so much in that subculture and it’s really where a lot of my early artistic and musical inspiration came from.
Sheina: What was going through your head when you were approached to do this project?
Evan: As soon as I heard what it was for, knowing of who Paul is, I was really excited. I’ve watched him in the X-Games and in competition, and he is one of the best of the best. He has such a great style. I’ve seen the pieces that he’s been featured in, and I knew this would be a great experience to make something really cool. I’ve also seen Don Pendleton’s artwork as well. The idea of collaborating with these two guys and taking all of our work and putting it into this melting pot, then seeing what comes out on the end of it, could be really interesting with all of these talented people.
Sheina: Well, how did it all turn out on the shoot?
Evan: One of the main requirements from the ad agency, was that they wanted Paul skating street spots. And one of the hardest things was to find locations on the street to set up and shoot at, without being kicked out immediately. We had to get permits for the sidewalks but sometimes we weren’t allowed to set up on certain ones. But then Paul would climb up on the ledge, like in the front-side tail-slide shot, and he would just go for it. We always ran a great risk of not being able to shoot in these locations, because it was pretty run-n-gun. A lot of that was fast-paced and a lot of high-energy.
Paul Rodriguez and Evan Owen Dennis.
Sheina: And with Paul, I mean P-Rod…?
Evan: Paul has an awesome ability to overcome the pressure, and that’s why I think he is so great in competition. You see it before he goes and does his tricks, he has a ritual. When he needs to land a trick, he is really amazing at pulling it off, and we were able to be in some of those moments. Everyone was really excited to watch Paul skate. He has a certain aura where you know he’s just going to do it perfectly. He makes the stuff look really easy when it’s so technically difficult. At the park, the trick where he did the switch hard flip down the nine stairs, now that’s an impressive trick to have in your arsenal.
Sheina: So, no stunt doubles were used in this shoot?
Evan: Definitely, not. I don’t think they can find a stunt double that can skate as well as Paul. Unless we were to shoot his next action movie debut.
Sheina: What about injuries? Did anyone get hurt in the process?
Evan: No one was hurt, but maybe some feelings. Just kidding. No, everyone was in really great spirits. From the crew to the agency everyone had a fun time. Shoots like this can be stressful at times, but at the end of the day shooting skateboarding is fun. So, no one got hurt, but just good times.
Sheina: Being all skateboardy and stuff, did you guys venture out and find some random location gems?
Evan: When we were shooting under the freeway in the minivan, Paul’s friend Nigel, who was shooting the behind the scenes footage, was skating around and found a spot at the end of the underpass. It turned into this amazing location to shoot at. It’s actually where the big 360 flip is at the end. The other stuff we found included some great moments of him standing up against the fence, and it was just beautiful. It felt natural, people were skating, having fun, and letting us know of some great locations to shoot at.
Sheina: That’s great that everyone was psyched and contributed to the effort. What was the highlight of this shoot?
DP, Max Goldman.
Evan: There was this one moment with Max Goldman, the DP, and I, where we were shooting at the underpass, and Max wanted to get this moving shot from the van of Paul riding to do this 360 flip in one take. As Paul was skating up, he asked us if he could do a line of tricks for the shot. So, we started rolling and we got this cool line of Paul doing one trick after the next. When we caught the footage, it was so great, but also amazing that he got it in that one take and Max did such an amazing job capturing it.
Sheina: Nice, a one shot, one kill, kind of situation. This entire experience must have been a life changer? Well, for the vibe and ease of the project.
Evan: Every project changes my life in some way. This one allowed me to work with new people, and added to my skill set and knowledge. I left knowing a lot more than what I went in with. Working with a talented DP like Max Goldman was a highlight for me, the guy is a genius behind the camera.
Sheina: Did you guys “Do the Dew?”
Evan: Paul really does drink Mountain Dew when he takes his breaks…
Sheina: This might be his secret to his success then, right?
Evan: I think so…. Actually, definitely.
Sheina: What’s your all-time favorite skateboard trick?
Evan: I think my favorite trick of all time is a perfectly executed 360 flip. Which is one of Paul’s specialities, he has it down to a science.
Sheina: Did you get a chance to show off any of your thrashing skills to the crew?
Evan: I think I skated from one side of the park to the other, without falling. Unfortunately, that didn’t make the final cut.
Don Pendleton.
Sheina: How was it working with art dude Don Pendleton?
Evan: It was great. He supplied us with the artwork and we took it from there. It was up to the team and myself to interpret his work into motion and CG. He’s also featured in the piece painting the canvas. I really wanted to do his artwork justice in motion.
Sheina: What about the music for the spot? How did you select the jam?
Evan: It was sent to us by Dave Hohman the creative director at Tracy Locke. He has a relationship with Stones Throw Records and the track is produced by Oh No. The track is called “The Funk” from the album Ethiopian.
Sheina: And the post-production side of things?
Evan: Post, is the most difficult side of everything, by far. Figuring out how to execute what we wanted to do with the limited amount of time and having a smaller but great team, was pretty rough. Prior to starting any project, I like to do a lot of R&D work with the team and figure out some new techniques that we haven’t done before. I like to take risks and try something new. I also didn’t want Don’s artwork to come out flat in the animation, since it’s already two dimensional. I wanted to extrude it in 3D with depth, lighting, and shading in compositing. As well as to immerse it with Paul’s skating and the environment. So, we figured out a way to extrude it via 3D and it worked out really well. I mean I can’t say enough about my team, they’re so good.
Sheina: I noticed you just said “extrude” a couple of times. What does that mean?
Evan: I actually, don’t even know what that means but it makes me sound smart.
Sheina: Nice! Well, I’ve got one last question for you and it’s probably the most important one of this interview. How dreamy is Paul Rodriguez?
Evan: The camera does no justice to how dreamy he is in person.
The dream boat P-Rod.
Project Title: Mountain Dew
Length: :30 and :15
Debut Date: 6/25/10
Film Location: Filmed in LA
Advertising Agency: Tracy Locke
Creative Director: David Hohman
Art Director: Campbell Hooper
Director of Broadcast Production: Monica Victor
Producer: Kiri Carch
Account Director: Jim Ryan
Senior Account Executive: Andrew Spring
Production Company: Shilo
Director: Evan Dennis
Director of Photography: Max Goldman
Compositing: Gabriel Regentin
2D Animation: Gerald Soto, Helen Kim
CG Lead: Warren Heimall
3D Rigging and Animation: Henning Koczy
Additional 3D Animation: Richard Cayton
3D Modeling: Krzysztof Fus and Jesper Lindborg
3D Tracking: Steven Hill
3D Artist: Eric Xu
Storyboard Artist: Fred Fassberger
Roto Artists: Helen Kim, Adam Grabowski, David Marte
Editor: Eli Mavros
Assistant Editor: Hedia Maron
Producer: Mariya Shikher
Line Producer: Chris Palladino
Head of Production: Julie Shevach
Executive Producer: Tracy Chandler
Telecine: Company 3
Colorist: Tom Poole
Music by Oh No, track title “The Funk”
Sound Design/Mix: Audio Engine
Sound Designer/Mix: Tom Goldblatt
VO Talent: Paul Rodriguez
A.F. Schepperd’s tripped out video for Blockhead is nothing short of an incredible feat. Anthony acting as Director and the only animator said that he created the entire project just under 5 months, only working within Flash.
His previous work for Ape School really grabbed our attention. This time around, he’s really outdone himself.
Directimated by A.F.Schepperd
Commissioned by Ninjatune Records
Music by Blockhead
Superfad Seattle has just released a new short film called Preguntas Hermosas, a beautiful tale of a time shared between two people told through a combination of “Poema X” by Pablo Neruda and “Under the Harvest Moon” by Carl Sandburg. As explained by Director David Viau, “The story unfolds in three parts; a fond remembrance, loss, and then finally acceptance.”
With cinematic transitions and methodical pacing, Preguntas Hermosas casts dark characters in epic worlds for its arresting narrative. The film’s narrator, Gabriel Puerto, complements the score and adds depth to the amazing visual journey. The camera work shows great restraint, leaning more toward a practical approach to cinematography in the CG environment.
David was kind enough to share some of his thoughts and a bit of the process, after the jump:
“My initial plan was to do a personal short film, but the idea was embraced by the office and quickly became more than a one man show. It was primarily done during off hours, nights and weekends, or during the dead zone waiting for client feedback. We really owe a lot to our friends and colleagues who collaborated with us on this.
“Anyone that’s ever tried to do a personal project and balance that with all of the paying work knows that it’s a crazy undertaking. The folks and Clatter & Din and Lightpress here in Seattle were amazing and jumped right in. Christi O’Donnell who wrote the score is an amazing talent. Gabriel Puerto who did the voice over sort of fell into our laps, and the moment we heard him speak we knew he was perfect. We worked in Maya, XSI, C4D, Photoshop, After Effects using Red Giant plug-ins and Final Cut.”
Production Company: Superfad
Directed by David Viau
Executive Producers: Chris Volckmann and Will Hyde
Narrator: Gabriel Puerto
Adapted from the Poems Poema X by Pablo Neruda and Under the Harvest Moon by Carl Sandburg
3D Artists: Dade Orgeron, Robin Scher, Phiphat Pinyosophon, Andrew Butterworth, Tom Oakerson, Alex O’Donnell, Carlos Stevens, David Viau, Paulo Dias
Phiphat Pinyosophon, Jordan Blit
Animation and Compositing: David Viau, Loren Judah, Carlos Stevens, Justin Pae, Paulo Dias, David Viau, Tom Oakerson
Subtitle Animation: Will Hyde
Editor: Ryan Haug
Finishing: Lightpress
Colorist: Jeff Tillotson
Audio: Clatter and Din
Sound Design and Mixing: John Buroker
Original Score: Christi O’Donnell
Pianist: Christi O’Donnell
Violinist: David Liu
News of a Motion Design studio launch are always exciting, more so when the studio has already possessed a considerable repertoire and strong reputation in Graphic Design.
Originally a Graphic Design / Illustration studio with a clientele ranging from Pepsi to Microsoft and Sony, ilovedust had been flirting with Motion Design for a while, but it wasn’t until recently that they finally decided to launch a Motion department.
With four new projects for clients such as Nike and Mtv , ilovedust showcases their range of styles and technique, from traditional animation to 3D, as well as some great storytelling skills, particularly in the “Nike Chase” project – done in collaboration with Curious Pictures and Director Ro Rao.
We were fortunate enough to get a first glance at the new ilovedust site – which launches today, by the way – and catch up with CD Ingi Erlingsson for an exclusive and very interesting interview.
Make sure to spend some time on their new site and check out the work, motion or static, bombastic stuff!
Looks like they are here to stay. Welcome!
UPDATE: Full Credit List available after the jump.
Hooray for Melbourne! Thumbs up for the Victorian Government for commissioning this lovely animated spot–such a welcome change from their usually live-action based pieces. This one is directed by Against All Odds via XYZ studios for Grey Melbourne. My favourite bit is the facial expressions these characters have (especially the lady). The claymation look and tilt-shift treatment may not be new, but it’s delightful nevertheless.
I sincerely hope this is a sign that the Australian clients and public are sharing their love more equally between all-things-animated and all-things-live-action….
TITLE OF WORK
Homework
CLIENT
Consumer Affairs Victoria
PRODUCT
Building & Renovation Advice
FIRST AIR DATE
18.03.2010
MEDIA OUTLET
TV
DURATION
30 seconds
AGENCY
Grey Melbourne
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Ant Shannon
DEPUTY CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Brendon Guthrie
HEAD OF ART
Tim Holmes
PRODUCER
Jess Smith
BUSINESS DIRECTOR
David Dumas
SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER
Tim Clark
PRODUCTION COMPANY
XYZ Studios & againstallodds
DIRECTOR
againstallodds
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Hamish Macdonald (XYZ)
Josh Thorne (AAO)
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Derek Picken
PRODUCER
Fritte Coliander
3D & POST SERVICES
Milford
PRODUCER
Johan Gustavsson
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Måns Björklund
VFX SUPERVISOR
Robert Krupa
LOOK DEVELOPMENT
Robert Krupa
3D TEAM
Sebastian Ekman
Jonas Laurell
Dan Faxe
Calle Halldin
Laurent Clermont (aao)
Hannes Drossel
Daniel Holmgren
Daniel Bystedt
Gustav Tell
Kenneth Nyman
Kristian Mårtensson
Patrik Hålén
Pär Andersson
2D TEAM
Fredrik Pihl
Sofie Ljunggren
John Wallin
Kevin Grady (AAO)
MUSIC HOUSE
Nylon Studios
Peppermelon updates! My favourite in this batch is the MTV ‘Los Premios 3009′ (MTV Awards 2009). It features eye-popping futuristic imagining of the 3 main cities: Bogota (top section), Mexico City (middle), and Buenos Aires (bottom). I recommend playing the HD teaser for the most satisfying viewing experience. Also, don’t miss the design rationale here.
Two other favourites of mine : Fox’s Retro Classifica (left, below) and Zilveren Kruis (right, below). Both features very well-considered character and environment designs, yet each is very different from the other.
Without a doubt, Peppermelon has sealed their reputation as one of the best and most versatile studios in the industry.
UPDATE: 2 more items are added to the Q&A section, the result of a few readers’ additional query which I followed up with Sam.
Sorry for the delay, folks. Everyone at HQ graciously waited for me to post this one, since I’m such a kitty-freak. So without further ado, I present, the Kitteh Kitteh series, made by the stupendously awesome London-based Tokyoplastic. It’s an insight into what happens in a kitten’s headspace, during those innocent kitten-naps.
There are two in the series, ‘Catzilla‘ and ‘Tail Gunner’, and don’t miss a ‘quick’ video they did to pay tribute to Scatman John and to promote www.kittehkitteh.com. Also available on Vimeo, here.
Those of you who want more, and who are as curious as I was as to how did this delightful project come about, read my interview with Sam from Tokyoplastic, below.
1. How did you guys get the idea for Kitteh Kitteh? Tell us a bit on how the project started…including why you decided to shun the commercial world and hunker down to do this for six months.
We designed and modeled the Kitteh while we were doing the Little Fella a few years ago with a vague idea that we’d use it for some kind of micro series along with the Little Fella. Its so easy to start personal projects, its infinitely harder to finish them and sometimes I think the most terrifying thing about doing ones own work is being faced with a blank canvas; the potential and the freedom can be quite confounding. I think that by placing or by having constraints placed upon your work it forces you to be a lot more creative.
So the Kitteh just sat there along with all the other little projects that we’ve never finished, slowly gathering dust, while the quality of commercial scripts and the budgets to produce them gradually slumped to an all time low. We want to be involved in creative, exciting and challenging projects that fully exploit our talent as directors and enable us to grow (as I am sure all directors do) and given the absence of those we decided it was high time we went back to working on our own stuff.
We knew that we wanted to make entertaining shorts in which we could do a lot of the things we enjoy; character driven animations that combine the cute, grotesque, monstrous and maniacal, that make people laugh and would enable us to do a whole bunch of stuff we’ve never tried. We came up with a list of constraints: they had to be short (which costs less and you can do them quickly… allegedly), have only one character (so far) and they would all be film genre pastiches. Since then we’ve been turning down a lot of work, it feels like a big risk, but then at the same time I look forward to coming into the studio, I have a spring in my step and we’re having fun.
2. I noticed the Scatman tribute is not yet up on the Kitteh Kitteh site…was that a separate piece that was completed after the first 2 videos (Catzilla and Tail Gunner)?
The Scatman John tribute was a little additional thing that we did with the character; it doesn’t really fit in with the concept of the Mini Epic film pastiches which forms the basis of the Kitteh Kitteh series. It is relatively easy to produce something like that so it was released more as a promotional piece for the site and series.
3. How many people worked on this? can you give us a complete crew breakdown?
Since the project goes a long way back a lot of people have worked on it over the last few years. So here’s a brief and probably not exhaustive list:
Direction / sound – tokyoplastic
Kitty Design – Damian Johnson
Kitty Modeling – Matthias Bjurstrom
Rigging – Rodi Kaya
Fur Texture – James Kirkham
Animation – Ben Crowe, Anders Freij
Rendering / Comping – Antoine Perez, Andy Hague
4. What’s the production pipeline like?
Since only a few people work on this at a time its reasonably easy controlling whats going on. Its the kind of pipeline you wish you could employ in commercials. I do the storyboards and animatic, any additional modeling that is needed gets done, the render gets set up while the animation is being done and then everything is rendered and comped. Easy… give or take the months of late nights and screaming at computers.
5. What are some of the most unexpected technical/creative difficulties (if any) that you encountered during the process?
Because the kitty was modeled real scale, none of the particle / physics sims we used worked properly. However creatively it was all pretty straightforward once the original concept was nailed. The absolute joy of working on ones own projects.
6. What next in the Kitteh Kitteh series? When can we expect another film?
Ah… well… money permitting we would like to do another two this year… but they are quite expensive for us and take up a lot of time, always in fact more than we think. They are also going to be screened at a few quite major film festivals, as soon as the programs are announced we’ll post the information on the site, and we have to hold back on releasing the new ones till then.
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS:
7. What’s your view on the current commercial directing climate? I seem to pick up a general slump in the air. Do you see the light at the end of the tunnel coming soon?
In brief: I don’t know.
It would be too easy to have a big whinge about everything I personally perceive as being wrong with the commercial world and the frustrations that we have had to deal with while working within it. However I don’t honestly think there would be any point, everybody who works in the commercial world has the same gripes and I am fairly certain that those things aren’t going to change anytime soon; that is the industry we choose to work in. While undeniably there are still people out there making amazing stuff you say you have picked up a general negativity in the air and so have I (specifically toward creative work within the commercial industry) and I believe that this is all the more reason to pursue ones own work. I know this is easier said than done and I am hugely thankful that we are in the position to be able to do it. There is a massive amount of fantastic personal work being done out there and it is my hope that this will feed back into the commercial world. Ultimately we, like so many others, are devoted to making the best commercial work that we can; its great to do what one loves but getting paid for it too is just awesome.
P.S. Somebody is going to have to tell somebody else soon that if you want to have great creative then you’re going to have to pay good money for it too!
8. What was Picasso Pictures’ role in this?
Picasso Pictures provided the office space, machines and software and didn’t baulk at us taking time off commercial projects. Their support has been invaluable and is very much appreciated.
9. Finally a couple of cat-specific questions (me being a cat obsessive and all)—-The purring is extremely realistic…was that a real kitty’s purr? or was it a person mimicking the purrs? And is that a scottish fold breed kitten you’ve picked?
The purring is for real 
And the kitty was loosely based upon a British Blue.
Thanks Sam, for taking the time to share this info with our readers! We wish you all the best, on behalf of everyone here at Motionographer, and will look forward to the next installments, when ever that may be!
My first introduction to French duo Gangpol & Mit (Guillaume Castagne and Sylvain Quément) was through their music. It wasn’t until recently that I learned they are as involved in the creation of animation as they are in concocting their unique blend of electronica.
Their latest DVD, Faits Divers (Pictoplasma Publishing), is a collection of 18 audio-visual offspring from Gangpol & Mit’s collaborative relationship. According to Pictoplasma, “Guillaume emails some graphics to Sylvain, who then composes a melody and sends it back – or Sylvain coughs up a tune and has Guillaume translate it into animated worlds.”
The introductory essay for Faits Divers from Peter Thaler and Lars Denicke builds an interesting context for the DVD, albeit in the affected language of an art exhibition. The thrust is this: “Eat technology before technology eats you.” This cultural wariness underscores much of the DVD’s contents: Gangpol & Mit are clearly in command of the technology they use to create their audio-visual works, and yet they seem to hold it at arm’s length, choosing to exercise only a certain level of sophistication, never more. in this, they remind of the Amish, who have decided that wheelbarrows and ovens are acceptable technologies, while everything else is regarded with suspicion.
As with all of Gangpol & Mit’s music, the soundtrack is a precise melange of meticulously crafted electronic hooks that mixes a staggering array of retro-flavored synths with Baroque fugues and campy musical devices. Melodies run and jump like Super Mario himself, and warm analogue pads wrap around your head with nostalgic charm.
The visuals, while equally controlled, are comprised of rudimentary vector shapes and gradients, animated in simple, mostly linear movements. If 8-bit Nintendo characters could reproduce and evolve, they might have grown into something like the cast of Faits Divers. In terms of its intentionally sophomoric execution and its left-field content, the animation reminds me of cut-scenes from the Katamari Damacy franchise. Colorful, simple and weird.
Gangpol & Mit juxtapose cultural ephemera like well-traveled DJs, mashing up new and old, familiar and obscure, high and low. Aztec warriors hurl cell phones at each other in a video game brawl, a James Bond-esque hero ingests a psychoactive plant, and a man riding a flying armchair considers cutting off his own arm to rid himself of an evil hand-puppet. Every moment of seemingly cheery sentiment is undercut by a quiet violence, a disturbance of some sort.
The contents of the DVD are grouped into loose categories: Clips/Stories, Activities, Art with Heart and Archives. Clips/Stories are loosely narrative sequences focusing on the misadventures of a motley cast of characters. Activities are stand-alone vignettes that often combine spoken word and music. Art with Heart is a series of three “interviews” with fictional artist characters, each of whom suffers from a unique form of narcissism. Archives contains three animations from the back-catalog of Gangpol & Mit: “Chinese Slavery,” “A Few Elements of Vocabulary” and “How to Play Ping-Pong.”
The accompanying 32-page booklet is handsomely produced and re-presents some of the DVD’s films as sequential art, complete with typographic annotations that shed a little light on the sometimes elusive narratives.
My only complaint: I wish the audio was available separately, either as an optional download or on a separate disc. While I appreciate the visuals, I want to listen to Gangpol & Mit so I can create my own stories to accompany their delightfully twisted tunes.
Note: Faits Divers is a PAL DVD. For more information and to purchase, visit Pictoplasma.
Design and VFX team Elastic/A52 rock out for Honda Accord in this highly colorful CG jazz spot, as they show off how much hidden space the new Accord Crosstour really offers.
Appealing to a younger, musically-minded target market, its aesthetic and general concept hits a home run. Design-wise, the palette is alive with energy and pop and the beautifully animated characters have a unique look that works an interesting transitional device.
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.
