The Mill LA fire the first volley in the Super Bowl XLVI ad wars with some smile-inducing particle VFX in this :60 for the Audi S7 directed by Matthijs Van Heijningen thru MJZ for Venables Bell & Partners. Editor: Jono Griffith @ Hagon, music: “The Killing Moon” by Echo & The Bunnymen.
Director Tomek Bagiński and Warsaw gods-of-3D Platige Image bring all their considerable animation skills to bare on this lavish game intro to “Witcher 2: Assasins of Kings”. Platige CG super Maciek Jackiewicz, who worked on the project with a team of 40 designers and animators, labels the film “one of the most demanding projects in Platige Image history.”
So here’s the thing: Vimeo occupies ground zero for artists, animators, directors and studios who want their video hosted in a friendly, cost-effective, reliable, ad-free environment – and you don’t grow to 9.7M registered users and 65M unique visitors a month by disappointing people.
Which begs the point, if your Vimeo ain’t broken…?
Indeed, Vimeo wasn’t broken but it was getting on – the last rethink of the site and UI happened in 2007. Massive growth, user feedback and the desire to future proof the site all lead to the New Vimeo.
How new is new? Vimeo now looks cleaner and smarter but this is no cosmetic make-over, an in-house team of approx 20 has been banging away for 13 months, and re-wrote every line of code on the way. According to Vimeo, this “cleaner codebase allows for more rapid development so the team can release site updates and new features in less time.”
There are simply too many new/improved features to list here so I encourage you to test the new Vimeo for yourself here.
Check this absolutely visceral opening sequence for Red Bull’s new NBC show. It teams Other Films director/DP Scott Duncan and the post skills of Spontaneous with editor Todd Crites supplying the micro-surgery to “Sail” (Unlimited Gravity Remix) by Awolnation.
If you’ve seen the “The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore” app you know Moonbot Studios in Shreveport, Louisiana packs some serious narrative, design and animation skills. Now the studio finds itself nominated for an Oscar for this “Morris Lessmore” short they describe as “a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story.” Techniques used include miniatures, 3D animation and 2D animation.
The Stash crew and I are very excited to invite you to STYLE FRAMES, a new series of design conferences dedicated to the “art of the pitch” launching this May 10-11 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
EARLY BIRD tickets now available.
Presented by Stash Media and produced by FITC, STYLE FRAMES will showcase outstanding pitch art and the talent behind it, while demystifying the pitch process, discussing best practices and helping creative professionals win more work.
STYLE FRAMES brings together influential design, advertising and media professionals from both the client and the creative sides of the industry for two days of learning, networking and inspiration.
Your animation/ VFX showreel carries a ridiculous amount responsibility: wrapping up your life’s work in a few minutes, introducing you to hundreds of people you will never meet, and (hopefully) prying open doors to creative glory. As a result, many reels try to be everything to everybody often leaving a muddy or diluted picture of the studio or talent behind it.
This new reel from Portland’s Feel Good Anyway effectively demonstrates the opposite approach. The carefully edited sequence leaves no doubt about the smart, smile-inducing, DIY and idiosyncratic vibe you can expect from FGA and implies, “Unless you want to rethink your whizzy/shiny car spot, photo-real talking cheetahs or feature-level apocalyptic space battle you probably don’t need us. And we’re good with that.”
Here’s a light and squidgy way to wrap up Friday: a CG short from Cybertime in Vienna called “Hooked” showing off their rigging, animation and beatboxing skills using Cinema4D.
London projection map mavens Marshmallow Laser Feast (Barney, Robin and Memo) whip up a batch of illusionary hi-jinx in a set of three online spots for Sony. No cuts, no post. Good fun. Watch all three spots and BTS here. Thx to Alba for the link.
Dutch graphic and audiovisual designer Rogier Wieland constructs a wonderfully simple and surprising animated narrative with lo-tech stop-motion in this music video called “Lass Es Schneien” (Let it Snow) for German singer/songwriter William Wahl.
Irish director Lorcan Finnegan just sent us this chilling trailer for his new short film called “Foxes” featuring full CG foxes and CG set extensions.
“We put together a team of VFX guys from around the world who all worked remotely with me and VFX supervisor John O’Connell. John was able to get a few guys that he worked with on Game of Thrones and we found the other guys by looking at reels on Vimeo.”
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) currently moving through congress (despite heavy opposition from the online industry) could radically change your online life.
From the NY Times: “Opponents say several of the provisions in the legislation, including those that may force search engines and Internet service providers to block access to Web sites that offer or link to copyrighted material, would stifle innovation, enable censorship and tamper with the livelihood of businesses on the Internet.”
Go here to learn more and get involved.
Toronto illustrator W. Scott Forbes has made a name for himself crafting covers for the comic book trade, but with this animated short he turns his considerable talent for atmosphere, composition and intriguing females into a quiet tragedy of mid-century infidelity. Music: Cyrille Marchesseau, sound: Julien Begault.
AD Brian Thibodeau and writer Bill Wanek bring back advertising legend/icon/sage/guru David Ogilvy with help from the Chicago crew of Ogilvy & Mather and 33,000+ pushpins.
Shot and edited: Jill Vanc and Petr Novak @ Eyepatch, music: Paul Bessenbacher @ Emoto, sound design: Dean Hovey @ Soundwell.
