Ringling College students Michael Bidinger and Michelle Kwon hit every beat perfectly in their graduation film, a four-minute romantic comedy called “Jinxy Jenkins, Lucky Lou.”
The refined character design, animation subtleties and clever story arc (combined with the breezy original core by Mason Self and sound design by Nick Ainsworth) make it easy to forget you’re watching a student film and not the trailer for a new Disney feature. [Watch]
The Method Design team in New York twist classical Middle Eastern architecture into a hyper-detailed and carefully lit 3D broadcast promo toolkit designed by Danny Yount and Prodigal Pictures for FX Network’s new drama “Tyrant.”
According to Method: “The abstract frames will allow for the addition of text elements and a set of transitional elements were also provided. The artists paid particular attention to creating a detailed version of the logo treatment which is revealed front and center. The Method crew’s toolkit included Maya, V-Ray and Nuke.” [Watch]
The four members of new French directing collective Brutus (Thibaud Clergue, Aurélien Duhayon, Sébastien Iglesias and Camille Perrin) all graduated from the animation program at the Arles campus of Supinfocom in 2012 and just dropped us their first short film: a grindhouse-flavored concoction of speed and death called “Horde.”
“We tried to find an original look for this film so we mixed different kinds of renders. We also mixed different kinds of animation like a pose to pose in 12 fps for the characters, and a more fluid animation for clothes and props. We mainly used 3ds Max with V-Ray, Mari, Flash, Photoshop and After Effects.” [Watch]
No doubt time-lapse films are everywhere these days and some say the time for time-lapse has lapsed. But director Timothy Melville and cinematographer Nathan Kaso are out the convince you otherwise with this sweeping branded film for Australian car maker Holden, shot over seven nights across the wilderness of Tasmania.
“We travelled over 2,000km through the barren hills of Queenstown, to the vibrant streets of Hobart and finished on the dolerite plateau of Ben Lomond National Park. We captured nearly 20,000 still images, shooting from dusk until dawn and averaged just four hours sleep per day.” [Watch]
French directing duo Quentin Baillieux and Raphaëlle Tinland (aka Parallel) strike an artful and atmospheric balance of 2D and 3D techniques in this online brand film animated by Ann lou Erambert for Italian watch makers Anonimo who carve (rather than cast) the cases for their timepieces out of solid brass. [Watch]
Paris directing collective PLANKTOON (aka Sun, Alban, Fabrice, Alexandre and Sebastien) step outside their usual realm of fun/colorful 3D character work for this powerful monochrome fundraising appeal created for French AIDS charity Sidaction thru Passion Paris and Leo Burnett. If you have kids of any age, it’s hard not to get caught up in the drama of the vignettes. [Watch]
