Balls-to-the-wall 2D motoring madness from São Paulo animation house Birdo in collaboration with Gabriel Nóbrega from Vetor Zero/Lobo thru Leo Burnett for Fiat “telling stories about good people who transform into evildoers in traffic.” [Watch]
PostPanic director Fons Schiedon’s talent for creating visual calamity takes a darker turn in this CG music promo for the first single from Wonder Where We Land, the new album from UK producer SBTRKT.
Fons Schiedon: “The music has a tremendous dark undertone and a sort of untouchable quality. It pushes on with force, but at the same time remains mysterious and illusive. I wanted to reflect that in the visual direction, which is moody and noir, but also quite synthetic.
“It’s unapologetic about being a digital representation. We refer to elements from the New York area and cultural lexicon, but have them appear quite isolated and reduced, as if observed by alien eyes. There is a gradual shift of focus embedded in the visual direction that aligns with the change of the creature.
“The creature is shown in silhouette for more than half of the video. We only have him step into the light halfway through, which gives him a certain power and triggers a sequence that is at first bold and aggressive, but ends in tranquility.” [Watch]
Outsider directors Dom & Nic re-team with MPC for more fun with CG fauna (a frill-necked lizard and his tarsier housemate) in this follow up to last year’s brilliant “Platypus” spot for UK bank first direct. [Watch]
Zena Barakat‘s talent for commissioning touching, thoughtful, low key motion work based on the urban relationship narratives found in The New York Times’ Modern Love column continues uninterrupted with the release of this insightful three-minute piece by director/animator Scott Wenner, aka the CD at motion504 in Minneapolis.
Scott Wenner: “The challenges were the aggressive schedule (approx. 4 weeks total) and finding unexpected ways of complimenting the VO instead of just illustrating it. The biggest challenge was the daunting task of having complete creative freedom: which you always think you want, until someone gives it to you.
“With the days ticking down and panic setting in, I went down multiple roads and had many false starts before finally landing on a look and feel. I even spent some significant time on a photorealistic route until the final cut-down of the audio interview made it clear that it was the wrong direction.” [Watch]
Issue 107 adds another 1.5 hours of inspiration and insight to the Stash Permanent Collection of over 4,000 outstanding animation, VFX and motion design projects including behind the scenes features and exclusive interviews with the talent behind the brilliance. [Watch]
Director Genndy Tartakovsky‘s animation test for Sony’s upcoming Popeye feature pushes the physical comedy he brought to Samurai Jack, Dexter’s Laboratory and Hotel Transylvania to a crazy new level with some of the snappiest timing and extreme exaggeration since Tex Avery.
Tartakovsky’s revealing intro and the BTS scenes of him cracking up his team as he narrates animatics are also well worth your time. [Watch]
