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]
LOL and NSFW, The Onion nails it with this behind the scenes “Sneak Peek At Ninja Turtles’ Hyper-Realistic CGI Genitals.” Laugh (and cry) here. [Watch]
All is not what it seems in the aptly named “Scale,” a lovingly rendered 3D short directed by Annie Hua, Arthur Graff, Kevin Monnier and Ouirich Bounthavy in pursuit of their Master’s degree at ATI in Paris. Music by Alexandre Chaigneau. [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]
