Hasta La Motion!

The highlight of my 2013 advent calendar season was Saschka Unseld‘s The Blue Umbrella Making-Of Holiday Calendar.

Now that all twenty-four days have been revealed, enjoy a master class in making an animation short – from reading the original pitch to pre-enacting story beats with real umbrellas to early cinematography tests to story reels to color scripts to rain dramaturgy charts to amazing camera capture workflows.

Big thanks to Saschka and Pixar for sharing all of the hard work that went into creating this story!

Wanda Print is an integrated print services studio, part of Wanda Productions specialized in digital Art, photography, image manipulation, retouching, Matte-painting, 3D CGI, direction and graphic design.

Wanda Print is constituted of a sharp offer of talents: graphic designers, digital artists, matte painters, photographers, artistic directors including :
Photographer Monica Menez | Art Director Antoni Tudisco | Photographer J.A.C.K | Digital Artist Benoit Challand |

Created under Charles Denis’ impulse in association with Patrick Barbier (CEO of Wanda Productions). Charles Denis brings with him more than 15 years of experience that won him the most prestigious international awards (Cannes Lions, Grand prix Strategies, Epica…). His strong expertise in techniques of production gives him a better picture of the complexities of the market and allows him to provide the projects with an ambitious production value.

Audio from Echolab.

Global Creative Innovation Network Iris Worldwide, Singapore have partnered with a D&AD black pencil winning Director to create a 90-second film titled The Glass Car. The film is the latest installment from Johnnie Walker’s Responsible Drinking global initiative – Join The Pact.
The film acts as a reminder of the fragility of human life as it asks people to make the commitment to never drink and drive. Its release coincides with the final 2013 Formula One race in Brazil and end of year festivities around the globe.

CREDITS:

Agency: iris Worldwide, Singapore
Client: Ewan Topping – Global Marketing Manager Johnnie Walker Sponsorship
Regional Creative Director APAC: Grant Hunter
Director: Russell Appleford
Producer: Louise Oliver
3D: Russell Appleford
2D: Garrett Honn & Victor Perez
Editor: Peter Booth
Music and Sound Design: ECHOLAB
Sound Mix: Rich Martin – Envy Post
Creative Group Head: Jonathan Cockett
Senior Creative: Shawn Foo
Creative: Lam Nasril
Planning Director: Paul Gage
Board Director: Hannah Dogger
Agency Producer: Prema Techinamurthi
Senior Account Executive: Cheryl Chan

®Creative studio Mill+, the concept, design and animation arm of renowned VFX company The Mill, has contributed its visually stunning cinematics to Activision’s blockbuster Call of Duty: Ghosts, the new installment in the global phenomenon Call of Duty® series. Led by Cinematics specialists at Infinity Ward, Mill+ collaborated with teams of elite designers and visual effects artists in both their Los Angeles and London studios to create the cinematics players started seeing on Nov. 5.

The team at Infinity Ward had a vision for how cinematics could further help to bring the new narrative to life. Developing the look in collaboration with The Mill led to a new and unique level of cinematics that is sure to captivate and immerse players into the experience.

The highly-stylized look was created from scratch, but reads as a hybrid of live-action and CG. High contrast, sharp shard-like shapes distinguish enemy Federation forces from the light and smoke elements that characterize the underdog Ghosts. Each cinematic delivers a story, with “Loki,” for example, depicting a clinical and clean outer space vista using reflections, lights, flare and spills of light, while “Legends Never Die” uses explosions, fire, smoke and fog, looking down at South America, then at city level in Caracas after the demise of the continent.

Mill+ Creative Director/Director Paul Mitchell, based in Los Angeles, drew upon over a decade’s worth of experience in design and visual effects. “The most intriguing aspect of Ghosts was the opportunity to combine storytelling with design and visual effects,” Mitchell says. “We created something unique to each based on the story Infinity Ward wanted to tell. Through the overall process, we made sure there was a cohesive look and feel.”

“This project owes so much to Infinity Ward’s vision and desire to raise the level of creative aesthetic,” Stephen Venning, Executive Director, Mill+ says. “The team wanted contemporary, unique graphics that would reflect the sophisticated storytelling. Working with his lead designers Ed Laag and Eugene Gauran, Mill+’s Mitchell built style frames and narratives that are comparable to anything you would see in a movie.”

Call of Duty: Ghosts is available now on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U and Windows PC, and will also be available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One later this month.

2013 Reel for Amsterdam based Woodwork, a creative film, animation and design studio carved out of the idea that digital and analog can work together harmoniously. Founded with a passion for motion graphics and live action, Woodwork maintains a design-led, hands on approach to everything they do.