Cisma: Criolo “Duas de Cinco”

If Spike Jonze’s vision of the future in Her was too sunny for you, try on Denis Cisma’s decidedly bleaker take in this short film inspired by Criolo’s latest album, “Duas de Cinco.”

Set in the south side of São Paulo, where Criolo grew up, the short involves 3D printed weapons, futuristic drugs and the inescapable dangers of poverty. The film seems to agree with the old adage: the more things change, the more things stay the same.

From the release:

From the start, the director imagined a record of the Brazilian’s “favelas” in the future, 30 years down the road, in 2044. This idea was too ambitious to materialize without large sums and Criolo is an independent artist, but became possible with the support of the Grajaú community and the production team.

Nearly the entire cast is made up of friends of the singer and people who live in the neighborhood, most of whom had never acted before. The main cast includes Daniel Dantas, Morgana Naughty and Léo Loá, young students chosen with help from the drama teacher of CEU Jaçanã public school, named Tiago Ortaet.

Produced through Paranoid, Clan did an admirable job handling all post-production.

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Credits

Main actors: Daniel Dantas, Morgana Naughty and Léo Loá
Direction and screenplay: Denis Cisma
Production: Paranoid
Photography director: Will Etchebehere
Post-production and visual effects: CLAN vfx
Assembly: Fernando Stutz and Marilia Ramos
Soundtrack: Duas de Cinco – composers: Criolo, Daniel Ganjaman, Marcelo Cabral and
Rodrigo Campos | Cóccix-ência – composers: Criolo, Daniel Ganjaman and Marcelo
Cabral
Recording and editing studio: Oloko Records
Production coordination: Andrezza de Faria, Luciana Oppido, Gabi Hahn and Marina Blum
Production director: Silvio Bettoni
Post-production coordination: Andreia Lopes and Roberta Bruzadin
Coloring: Fernando Lui
Graphics: João Schimidt
Composition: Gustavo Samelo
3D supervision: Luciano Neves
Executive production of post-production: André Pulcino
Executive production of post-production assistant: Diego Souza
Assistant director: Camila Andreoni
Art director: Olívia Sanches
Art assistant: Clarice Cunha
Stagehand: Igor Apoena
Art clerks: Felipe Santana and Marcão
Wardrobe: Marina Vieira
Wardrobe assistants: Vinicius Couto and Tainara Dutra
Objects production: Bella Yumi
On-location production in Grajaú: Bruno Camargo
Machinery: Israel Basso
Gaffer: Marcelo Pinheiro
Cameraman: Thomas Dupre
Camera assistants: Joana Luz and Cris Zurrilho
Direct sound: Rene Brasil
Make-up designer: Denise Borro
Make-up artist: Lilian Berzin De Oliveira
Casting producer: Barbara Catani

The Podium Waltz


Daniel Bruson directed this marvellous animation for the opening scene for “The Podium Waltz”, a short film about visually impaired brazilian runner Terezinha Guilhermina.

This scene follows the way her guide described the opening ceremony of the Paralympics to her, as they walked through the Olympic Stadium. For that I created about 1400 black and white watercolors, that were photographed and then composed and colored digitally. I tried to create this atmosphere where shapes and sounds emerge as they come to the character’s attention, and also to bring some of the joy and wonder of the moment.

Daniel was also responsible for this rather emotional animated scene for the film:

Update: Check out this nice making of as well.


The Podium Waltz

Direction
Daniel Hanai & Bruno Carneiro

Animation Direction
Daniel Bruson

Animation
Daniel Bruson
Francisco Beraldo
Ian Sampaio
Flávio de Paula
Leandro Franci

Compositing
Daniel Bruson
Francisco Beraldo
Leandro Franci

General Assistance
Rafael Moretti
Talita Annunciato

Posted on Motionographer

Gloob launches in Brazil.

> Quicktime H.264
(18.6mb)
> iPod Compatible
(8.3mb)
> Watch in Flash
(7.3mb)

> Quicktime H.264
(19.8mb)
> iPod Compatible
(9.5mb)
> Watch in Flash
(7.9mb)

> Quicktime H.264
(17.4mb)
> iPod Compatible
(5.9mb)
> Watch in Flash
(6mb)

Brazil just got itself a new channel with the launch of children’s entertainment network Gloob earlier this month. Designed by the Globosat in-house team, you can get full details of the launch here.

New Work from Birdo Studio

Sempre_Livre

Check out these three recent projects from the Brazilian Birdo Studio:
Sempre Livre is a poppy, colorful Flash animated spot that was made in just 2 weeks for agency Samurai. Birdo, designed, directed, animated and handled the script as well and said they’re “proud to be able to make a commercial for sanitary napkins completely free of blue liquids!” Amen to that.

Pode Acreditar (You Can Believe) is a fun cel-animated music video, with comical and fantastic drawings appearing over the live-action shots of Marcelo D2 and Seu Jorge. In concept, it can be compared to the D.A.N.C.E. video, the Kid Cudi video or any of the many VH1 and MTV promos like this one from Click 3x that have used the same idea. Yet the personal drawing style and execution here don’t make it seem derivative at all, after all, it’s just a technique and a process.

Finally, the 33rd São Paulo International Film Festival is a collaborative project directed by Amir Admoni with characters designed by the world-renowned graffiti artists Os Gemeos. Birdo handled character animation for the festival opener.

Three cool, new, diverse projects from a small and very capable character animation studio. Fly high, Birdo, fly high!

Posted on Motionographer

Blacknail Pictures Make No Excuses


Comprised of London VFX veterans Mario Ucci and Rick Thiele, Blacknail Pictures created this stunning piece for Breast Cancer awareness for IBCC via Ogilvy, São Paulo. The simple concept: excuses let Breast Cancer grow.

This visual metaphor could have stopped as a simple typographic solution. However, it ended as visceral and cinematic experience. The beauty of the fluid movement, renders and lighting captivate, allowing for the message to seep into your subconscious.

This labor of love was pulled off by just the two of them (with the support of Passion Pictures) while busy in their day jobs on feature films.

Agency: Ogilvy, São Paulo
Art Directors: Fernando Reis, Guilherme Nobrega (Ruivo!)
Copywriter: Marcelo Padoca
Head of Art: Denis Kakazu
Creative Directors: Anselmo Ramos, Fred Saldanha
Production: Blacknail Pictures
Director: Rick Thiele
Photography Director: Mario Ucci
Editor: Rick Thiele
Sound: Dr. DD/Bonde Fumegante

Posted on Motionographer

Motionographer | Motion graphics, design, animation, filmmaking and visual effects » General 2009-10-16 12:39:43


Comprised of London VFX veterans Mario Ucci and Rick Thiele, Blacknail Pictures created this stunning piece for Breast Cancer awareness for IBCC via Ogilvy, São Paulo. The simple concept: excuses let Breast Cancer grow.

This visual metaphor could have stopped as a simple typographic solution. However, it ended as visceral and cinematic experience. The beauty of the fluid movement, renders and lighting captivate, allowing for the message to seep into your subconscious.

This labor of love was pulled off by just the two of them (with the support of Passion Pictures) while busy in their day jobs on feature films.

Agency: Ogilvy, São Paulo
Art Directors: Fernando Reis, Guilherme Nobrega (Ruivo!)
Copywriter: Marcelo Padoca
Head of Art: Denis Kakazu
Creative Directors: Anselmo Ramos, Fred Saldanha
Production: Blacknail Pictures
Director: Rick Thiele
Photography Director: Mario Ucci
Editor: Rick Thiele
Sound: Dr. DD/Bonde Fumegante

Posted on Motionographer

PIXAÇÃO’S BARBARIAN ALPHABET.

pixa

The glorious menace of PIXAÇÃO has been disseminating through the streets of Sao Paolo for decades, leaving the whole population to feel as if they are living in Suicidal Tendencies’ band room. These videos capture the primitive form of graffiti as it lives now while giving a little back story of how it derived over the years from heavy metal imagery, barbarian alphabets, and pissed off favelans wanting to ram a paint can into the faces of the upper class. Thanks to Cool Hunting for putting this together.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Cisma: Adobe “Le Sens Propre”

cisma-le-sens

Cisma’s latest short film, “Le Sens Propre,” continues in the surreal tradition of “Handmade” and “The Fly and the Eye,” fleshing out a body of work that grows more interesting with each new project.

The narrative of “Le Sens Propre” loops around itself in a dreamlike Gordian knot. The film’s real focus is on perception—the little surprises that blossom when expectations are upended and conventions are twisted.

From a production standpoint, there’s no 3D involved. The hand-crafted tableaux feel palpably real, which only further underscores the film’s surreality.

For a Q&A with Cisma and some production stills,  read on.

Disclosure: “Le Sens Propre” was underwritten by Adobe, an advertiser on Motionographer. This is no way effected our decision to share this work.

Posted on Motionographer

Capitu Titles

capitu_1

So, due to popular demand, I’m pleased to re-present (as a full post) the title sequence to ‘Capitu’–a TV miniseries, based on a 19th century Brazilian literary masterpiece, Dom Casmurro, written by Machado de Assis. Told retrospectively from the point of view of the aging central character, it describes his obession with finding all kinds of evidence that his wife had been unfaithful, and his own best friend is actually the father of their only son.

What struck me is the amount of research, meaning, and integrity that goes behind this. Since the book is considered a ‘forerunner of Modernism (at least in Brazil)‘, the team’s initial inspiration is Dadaism, specifically the decollage technique (creating an image by cutting, tearing or otherwise removing pieces of a picture to reveal parts of other images lying beneath).

According to Lobo, ‘the chaotic and disjointed nature’ of Dada decollage pieces parallels the nonlinear, short-chaptered structure of the novel. Layering of images suggests the passage of time, memory, and accumulated life experience, and the tearing/ripping evokes the violence inherent in the central character’s tormenting doubts and desire for vengeance.

The animation was first created in After Effects, then each frame was printed on different paper stock. The printed frames were crumpled, restretched out and glued one on top of the other, and the entire stack was then placed under a stop-motion camera. Shots were taken at appropriate intervals as the layers were ripped and peeled. The photographs were taken back into after effects to create the final stop-motion sequence.

Lobo has been kind enough to provide us with the ‘making of’ video and a very eloquent write-up about the conceptual and aesthetic rationale behind it. Click on the link below to read it all…highly recommended.

In 2008, Lobo was commissioned to create the opening sequence and interstitials for Capitu, a TV mini-series adaptation of Dom Casmurro, the masterpiece by 19th-century Brazilian novelist Machado de Assis. The story is narrated by the title character, an aging man who decides to write his memoirs in an attempt to “tie the two ends of life together”. But the true purpose of his endeavor is to search for proof justifying his undying obsession: that his childhood sweetheart, Capitu, whom he finally succeeded in marrying, had betrayed him with his best friend, the real father of their only son. What makes Machado’s novel unconventional is that he treats the traditional themes of marriage and adultery as a mere backdrop for an exploration of surprisingly modern literary concerns: the unreliability of the first-person narrator; a skeptical awareness of the novel’s structure; the failure of memory in recapturing past facts objectively, functioning instead as a means for self-justification and self-deceit.

Lobo sought to encapsulate these issues in the opening sequence, not just through the choice of imagery but also in a way that involved the animation technique itself. The preliminary research started with the early 20th-century art movement Dada, following a suggestion by the series’ director Luiz Fernando Carvalho. Since Dom Casmurro is considered a forerunner of Modernism, at least in Brazil, we thought it made sense to start with some of the most radical pioneers of the avant-garde. We focused mainly on Dada artists who used collage and photomontage as their media of choice. The chaotic and disjointed nature of their work paralleled the fragmented structure of Machado’s novel, with its short chapters, nonlinearity and constant interruptions as well as remarks by the narrator himself. This research on the evolution of collage eventually led us to discover the works of post-Dada European artists like Wolf Vostell, Mimmo Rotella and Jacques Villeglé. They developed what became known as decollage: instead of building up an image by adding parts of other images, they worked by cutting, tearing or otherwise removing pieces of a picture to reveal parts of other images lying beneath.

This approach seemed perfect for the task at hand. The superposition of images provided a fitting metaphor for the passage of time and the accumulation of experiences throughout one’s life. Ripping through these levels mirrored the process of peeling the layers of memory carried out by the narrator, in search for the final truth buried in his past. The act of ripping also suggests violence, representative of his tormenting doubt and desire for vengeance.

Visually, the distressed result of this procedure was also appropriate, since it connected in many ways with the art direction of the mini-series. The show was predominantly shot inside a run-down mansion, using recycled materials for settings and props. The theater and the opera are recurring elements in the novel, so the production relied on classic theatrical techniques for the recreation of the environments. This inspired us to base our layouts on old letterpress show posters – the same material largely employed by the decollage artists.

We wanted the aesthetic and the animation technique to be fully integrated in these pieces, which meant that the ripped paper should be more than just a graphic style: it should be the very mechanism that drove the animation forward. We started by preparing simple animations in After Effects, primarily featuring typography and collage-like graphics representing key concepts of the story. These animations were edited together with short live-action clips from the series, and the entire sequence was then printed sequentially, frame by frame, on different kinds of paper. These sheets were glued on top of each other, resulting in a stack of paper that had the first frame of the opening at the top and the last frame at the bottom. We mounted the stack below a table-top digital camera and proceeded to rip and tear the paper sheets one by one, slowly revealing each layer underneath. This process was photographed at regular intervals, and the pictures were imported back into After Effects as a sequence, where it received some slight color and time adjustments.

The result was the same animation and live-action sequence we started with, only fractured and reassembled in such a way that never allows for a single intact frame. Every image that begins to take shape never achieves its complete form; every ripped bit of paper reveals something that belongs to another point in time. The spot resolves itself only at the end, unveiling the word Capitu: the only person who holds the key to the mystery of the story.

Posted on Motionographer

Capitu Titles