Packing enough hardcore tropes to anchor four video game trailers, this full CG film from Tokyo-based director Alessandro Pacciani and VFX house From Software for Namco Bandai’s Dark Souls II holds together with artful rendering, believable mocap and ambitious scope. File under Guilty Pleasure. [Watch]
Three-time Oscar-nominated director/animator Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville, L’illusionniste, The Old Lady and the Pigeons) and London animation force th1ng responded to Matt Groening’s invite to create a Simpson’s couch gag with this appropriately over-the-top Gaulish interpretation. Previous guest couch [Watch]
Almost seven years after it first stormed onto the festival circuit, French director/illustrator Franck Dion‘s inventive and stylish animated short “Monsieur COK” still brings smiles despite its melancholy subject and palette. The film keeps your attention for almost 10 minutes with snappy pacing, intriguing character [Watch]
Inventive and minimalist character work keeps Utrecht studio Job, Joris & Marieke on our must-watch list. Like this music video for instance: a monochrome romp with dark undercurrents for fellow Dutchman Job Roggeveen and his collaborative musical project called Happy Camper. “The Daily Drumbeat is a sunny song [Watch]
Strange Beast director/animator Andy Martin worries about you. Specifically, he worries about the possible side effects of your auto-portraiture obsession (beyond the obvious problem that nobody looks good shot up close with a wide angle lens). “Selfie” was created for the Pictoplasma #Characterselfie project. [Watch]
Approached by NBC “to help emulate the gritty undertones” of the network’s hit drama Blacklist without revealing details of the show itself, MPC NY inserts a sweeping CG domino sequence into stark live footage shot in and above the Mojave Desert. The process started with a 3D previz and six life-sized reference sculptures [Watch]
