So here’s the thing: the love interest is nubile, naked, flies a broom, and her octopus-wig doubles as her chaperone fending off the lusty advances of an undead, one-eyed old pirate captain while three also-undead sailors hang around playing musical wingmen. [Watch]
IKEA’s new store in Cheras, Malaysia is about to become the retailer’s best known location thanks to this brilliant, absurdist romp from Paris-based Stink director/mixed-media artist Louis Nieto through BBH AP powered by clever lyrics and a killer track from Fuse Adventures in Audio. [Watch]
The debate over the pros and cons of creative spec work at Stash’s Style Frames conference in 2013 ended with the unofficial two-word consensus: necessary evil. Toronto ad agency Zulu Alpha Kilo strongly disagrees, and produced this clip to make their point. [Watch]
London director/designer Jesse Collett graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2014 on the strength of this low key but technically adventurous short film he describes as “an ethereal, multi-dimensional mashup of real and animated elements.” [Watch]
Japanese animator/director Hideki Inaba remixes elements from his recent animated short called “Berg” into a new video of breathtaking organic complexity for the “Slowly Rising” track by Dutch electro artist Beatsofreen. [Watch]
If you watched the animated short “Jinxy Jenkins, Lucky Lou” from Ringling College students Michael Bidinger and Michelle Kwon last year, you know the gap between student and professional character animation work has vanished. Here’s evidence the same has happened for character-driven VFX. [Watch]
Interview with Mill+ director Carl Addy reveals the careful thinking and process behind his brilliant new BFI “Film is Fragile” spot. [Watch]
Just in time for Halloween, Toronto’s Polyester Studio releases a fresh mix of mad and macabre vignettes called “Memento Mori” (Latin for “remember (that you have) to die”) they describe as a celebration of the dark side of life and a reflection on our mortality. [Watch]
James Franco’s low-key, self-effacing tale of his misspent youth in Palo Alto bubbles to life in director/animator Julian Glander‘s vibrant and naive 3D style: the latest installment in the “California Inspires Me” series thru BBH LA for California Sunday magazine and Google Play. [Watch]
The perfect way to start your Friday: A 50-second blast of over-the-top visual chaos at the center of a new global campaign for Adidas Superstar via Brazilian director/animator Antonio Vicentini and graphic designer David Galasse. [Watch]
The crowded Rube Goldberg-inspired video genre gets a much-needed kick in the funny bone from 1stAveMachine director (and Rube Goldberg specialist) Bob Partington who, over the course of six and half weeks, employs molasses, a turtle, melting Popsicles and sprouting grass to create “Slow-Berg.” [Watch]
UK-based Swiss philosopher/writer/television presenter Alain de Botton reads his own script in this counter-intuitive mini-masterpiece on the benefits of a glass half empty – conjured by London director/animator/designer Claudio Salas and a crew of over 30 collaborators. [Watch]
Like old master paintings, Guillermo Del Toro’s films use a lexicon of symbols to convey subtext and back story. And so it is with this richly detailed, all-CG title sequence from his new feature Crimson Peak, created by the all-Toronto team of IAMSTATIC and Topix. [Watch]
Raw technique, nightmare imagery and themes of race and madness made Icelandic director/animator Einar Baldvin‘s intense USC thesis film “The Pride of Strathmoor” a favorite on the fest circuit: recognized at Annecy and Ottawa and awarded the Jury Prize for Best Animated Short at Slamdance 2015. [Watch]