Ticktockrobot director and first-time father, Jun Iwakawa draws on his background in print and graphic design for “Handle With Care,” his rough guide to caring for a newborn baby – an off-kilter mix of dry humor, factual information and an early aughts-inspired aesthetic. [Watch]
Just when we were sure we’d seen enough football advertising to last a lifetime, director Anders Schroder and the Frame team in Copenhagen hit us with this carefully choreographed matrix of CG fun to promo the Superliga (Danish soccer league) broadcasts on TV3 Sport/Viasat. [Watch]
Hornet’s Yves Geleyn, who established his animated animal-wrangling skills last Christmas co-directing the blow-out success “The Bear & The Hare,” keeps the charm of that multi-award winning John Lewis spot but slides the technique sideways into hand-crafted wooden puppets for Rice Krispies thru Leo Burnett, London.
Watch Geleyn’s previous adventure with woody puppetry here. [Watch]
Imaginary Forces‘ directors Dan Gregoras and Jeremy Cox keep the pallet minimal and the details intriguing in the title sequence for the new WGN original series “Manhattan.” Set in Los Alamos, NM, in 1943, the show “chronicles the lives and families of the scientists building the world’s deadliest weapon, and exposes a world full of secrets and consequences.” [Watch]
More smile-inducing 3D character animation work from Supinfocom students complete with the mandatory manic chase sequence and a scene-stealing narcoleptic ninja Granny. “Escarface” was co-directed by Eva Navaux, Burcu Sankur, Vincent Meunier, Lionel Arnold, Dario Sabato, Pierre Plouzeau. [Watch]
Nexus directing duo Smith & Foulkes swept the film festival circuit and collected an Oscar nom for best animated short when they unleashed “This Way Up,” their 10-minute, CG slapstick ode to death, hell and dogged father/son perseverance back in 2008.
Now online for the first time, the film’s charm proves timeless with insightful character work, masterful dark-comic timing, sombre atmospheric design and a delightful/definitive vision of the underworld. [Watch]
