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Video Inspiration #34
Video Inspiration is a weekly(ish) post where we either feature a specific artist or show a sort of "best of" list of videos we've discovered during the week. Everything here may not be brand new, but we felt it worth sharing with the community. If you have good finds that you'd like to share, please feel free to send your links to nathan@abduzeedo.com with "video inspiration" in the subject line. This week I'm featuring some cool videos I've found since last week. Enjoy! Die Vögel: Fratzengulasch from timo schierhorn on Vimeo. assimilation from Takuya Hosogane on Vimeo.
Video Inspiration #33 - Reader Submitted Works
Video Inspiration is a weekly(ish) post where we either feature a specific artist or show a sort of "best of" list of videos we've discovered during the week. Everything here may not be brand new, but we felt it worth sharing with the community. If you have good finds that you'd like to share, please feel free to send your links to nathan@abduzeedo.com with "video inspiration" in the subject line. It's time for another round of reader submitted work! As always, I'm blown away by you guys :) The Weekend Lake from Matt Wiebe on Vimeo. Gulp. The world's largest stop-motion animation shot on a Nokia N8. from Nokia HD on Vimeo. Cartoon Network "Cinemedia" from Nathaniel Costa on Vimeo. Showreel11 from Fredric Furstenbach on Vimeo.
Video Inspiration #32
Video Inspiration is a weekly(ish) post where we either feature a specific artist or show a sort of "best of" list of videos we've discovered during the week. Everything here may not be brand new, but we felt it worth sharing with the community. If you have good finds that you'd like to share, please feel free to send your links to nathan@abduzeedo.com with "video inspiration" in the subject line. This week I'm in a bit of a music video mood. I hope you've like what I've found! 'When The Night Falls' Chromeo [OFFICIAL VIDEO] from DANIELS on Vimeo. Oh Land - White Nights from CANADA on Vimeo. Toro Y Moi - "New Beat" (Official Video) from Urban Outfitters on Vimeo. Tahiti 80 "Easy" from Tahiti 80 on Vimeo.
Video Inspiration #31
Video Inspiration is a weekly(ish) post where we either feature a specific artist or show a sort of "best of" list of videos we've discovered during the week. Everything here may not be brand new, but we felt it worth sharing with the community. If you have good finds that you'd like to share, please feel free to send your links to nathan@abduzeedo.com with "video inspiration" in the subject line. This week I'm featuring some cool videos I've come across since I last posted. Hope you enjoy! Let me know what sort of stuff you like to see in the comments below and I'll try to find more of it! THE TELL TAIL - James Copeman & Sam Renwick from F5 on Vimeo. 8 Hours in Brooklyn from Next Level Pictures on Vimeo. The Schwarzenegger Trilogy from Brainbow on Vimeo.
Video Inspiration #30
Video Inspiration is a weekly(ish) post where we either feature a specific artist or show a sort of "best of" list of videos we've discovered during the week. Everything here may not be brand new, but we felt it worth sharing with the community. If you have good finds that you'd like to share, please feel free to send your links to nathan@abduzeedo.com with "video inspiration" in the subject line. This week I've tried to collect a varied line-up of videos for your viewing pleasure. Let me know what you think! Summadayze Colourfornia from Nick Thompson on Vimeo. Don't Hug Me I'm Scared from This Is It on Vimeo. YEAR ZERO TRAILER from GLOBE on Vimeo. Loose Fit - Table Beggar music video from Abbie stephens on Vimeo. Dutch Wife from Jesse Kanda on Vimeo. Teebs "Moments" from Paul Trillo on Vimeo. Han Kjøbenhavn short film from Han Kjobenhavn on Vimeo.
Fun Toy and Illustration Design by Yum Yum
Yumyum is a London, England based animation, illustration, and design studio. They make super cute toys and really fun animations that are sure to brighten up your day! Here's a little peak into some of their work. Check out their portfolio for more. YUM YUM ARE BETH ALGIERI AND JONNY PLUMMER, TWO DIRECTORS / DESIGNERS WITH A COMMON PASSION FOR CREATING NEW AND EXCITING THINGS. Don't forget to swing on by their portfolio for more and let me know what you think via twitter!
Motion Graphics Inspiration by Vellas & Laga
In 2008, a young animator, and a not so young art director, joined forces and started to work as partners, from that idea Vellas & Laga was created and since then they have created, directed, animated, and fought in a lot of films, for TV, Internet and any other interesting form of media. For more information about Vellas & Laga we highly recommend that you visit their website at http://cargocollective.com/vellasandlaga. But we have selected some pieces from their portfolio to feature here on Abduzeedo. Reel 2010 Vellas, 2010 Reel from Vellas & Laga on Vimeo. MTV - TOP 10 Graphic package created for MTV Brazil, for the classic show "TOP 10". We created the open titles, rank numbers, bumpers... Check it out. MTV TOP 10 Graphic Pack from Vellas & Laga on Vimeo. MTV Colírios Capricho Capricho is a teen magazine mainly for girls. They made a partnership with MTV Brasil and produced a reality show where the public will choose the new "boy next door". MTV Colirios Capricho Montage from Felipe Vellasco on Vimeo. Metro Newspaper Metro Newspaper from Felipe Vellasco on Vimeo. MTV - "Anti AIDS 2009" MTV Brazil invited 4 artists to create a 15 seconds spot, for their new campaign against AIDS. Thanks to Beto Shibata. MTV - "Anti AIDS 2009" from Vellas & Laga on Vimeo. WORK PROCESS: Boomerang Queda Livre Opening Credits created for "Queda Livre", an upcoming program from Turner Channel. Queda Livre from Vellas & Laga on Vimeo. Bats This is a small video that is shown on cinema, before every film created by Ioiô Films Bats from Vellas & Laga on Vimeo.
The Creative Illustrations from Denis Zilber
You probably already seen some of these around... and if you like artworks filled with creativity, colors and sense of humor, so I guess you probably liked what you've seen and you also probably wondered who was the artist behind those arts. So here we present you Denis Zilber, a very talented artist from Ramat Gan, Israel who is into illustration/animation and have some pretty nice artworks at his portfolio. His caricatural style makes his artworks really fun to admire. We will present here a selection of some of Denis' work and we really recommend you to check out his portfolio and his blog for further artworks and info. I hope you like the selection. Enjoy. :)
Amazing Digital Animations by Polynoid
One of the greatest things about animations is the freedom of creation. There are plenty great videos out there, and simply love surreal themes. Polynoid is a collaboration and portfolio of digital workers and they've done some great works. Since there's no way to embed their videos here, I'm linking each one to its page at their site... and you should really take a look at these, cause it's awesome. I hope you enjoy it all! Cheers. ;) Reel 2009 458nm Flap Flap Mindplotter
MEET MELINE : The Making Of and Trailer
Every Monday we have been posting tutorials for Photoshop and other apps. The idea of the tutorials is that we practice more and try different things that we can only do through personal projects. That's the case of Meet Meline, an independent 3D short film that's being created by Virginie GOYONS and Sebastien LABAN in their spare time that looks simply fantastic. "Meet Meline" tells the story of little girl, named meline, that will be faced with an extraordinary event. A strange little creature will appear on her life. The story follow this unusual encounter from the little girl's point of view. Virginie GOYONS & Sebastien LABAN are working on "Meet Meline" since a year and a half now during our spare time (nights and weekends). We've completed all the pre-production including script, concepts, previz, characters and sets design, sound research etc. We are now on production, working on the 26 individual shots that compose the 6 minutes long 3d animated film. The Trailer After two years of intense work on an independent 3D animated short film called "Meet Meline", Virginie GOYONS and Sebastien LABAN made the teaser/trailer to show you a little bit more of the short film. We're proud to present you the 46-seconds-video with the official music of "Meet Meline", composed by Guillaume ROUSSEL! MEET MELINE (2009) - TRAILER from Sebastien LABAN on Vimeo. What we’re trying to get with “Meet Meline”, or should I say with Meline herself, is to focus on the emotions a girl of her age is having. A kid playing, a kid moving, a kid looking, a kid thinking is something that can’t leave you indifferent. It’s so full of life, of joy, it’s like a magic box that lives on its own. Even when they are not happy, or that something is bothering them, a kid is so fascinating to look at! They are quick, eager, lively; They are very expressive, you can literally watch them live or think. That’s what we’re trying to create here. The Making Of This is a 12-minutes featurette with behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, talks about the story, the characters and the environments, shot breakdowns and much more : the Art of making a short film! MEET MELINE : THE MAKING OF (Sebastien Laban and Virginie Goyons) from Sebastien LABAN on Vimeo. We maintain a production blog that can be visited here: Visit the Production Blog As we progress on the film, we are posting screenshots & making of the film. There's also some test animations or even final renders. Animation Test 1 Meet Meline (2009) - Animation Test #1Enviado por ssebastienn. - Televisão clássica online Stills "This is the personnal space of Meline! She spends most of her time drawing a strange little creature. My wife Virginie was responsible to create all the elements in 3D, and I lit and shot the complete scene!" "Such a dark place! Meline seems confused. What to do? Entrer in it or not? ... My wife Virginie was responsible to create all the elements in 3D, and I lit and shot the complete scene!" More Information For more information about the project we highly recommend that you check out the sites below: THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.meetmeline.com THE PRODUCTION BLOG: Production Blog THE FACEBOOK GROUP: Facebook Group THE CREATORS: Virginie GOYONS & Sebastien LABAN Also, I'd like to thank Marjorie for the suggestion via email. You can send suggestions as well, just send us an email to this address abduzeedo@abduzeedo.com sharing your finds.
The Incredible Evolution of Pixar
No one makes animated movies quite like Pixar. With 23 years, 10 films, and 22 Academy Awards under their belt, the incredible guys over at Pixar Animation Studios keep getting better and better with each passing year. Last week we received a suggestion from one of our readers about doing a post on Up, their latest masterpiece. I thought this was an excellent idea, but I also think that their other films deserve some recognition too. So here I bring you a collection of all the Pixar feature films to date plus some of their shorts at the end. My all-time favorite Pixar short is Presto!, so definitely be sure to check that one out ;) Actually, now that I come to think of it, Toy Story 2 was the first film I ever saw in theatres (to my memory). I was seven :) Have an idea for the next post? Send me your suggestions via facebook or twitter! Feature Films Of course everybody remembers the classics like Toy Story. I should probably admit that I wasn't too crazy for The Incredibles and Cars though. But after Ratatouille they just get better and better. Toy Story, 1995 A Bug's Life, 1998 Toy Story 2, 1999 Monsters, Inc., 2001 Finding Nemo, 2003 The Incredibles, 2004 Cars, 2006 Ratatouille, 2007 WALL-E, 2008 (came out on my birthday :D) Up, 2009 Short Films It's seriously amazing to see how much these guys have evolved and how much emotion they're able to portray in a few short minutes of little to no dialogue. Enjoy! The Adventures of André and Wally B., 1984 Tin Toy, 1988 For the Birds, 2000 Boundin', 2003 One Man Band, 2005 Lifted, 2006 Presto, 2008 Partly Cloudy, 2009 (preview)
Vivid Motion Graphics Workflow Tutorial & Free Wallpapers
(via: www.whiteinkblog.com) Ok guys, This is a big one, I recently posted this over on my blog, but thought it would be cool to share it around. I'll take you through the process that went into making this project plus a few screencaps that work really nicely as widescreen wallpapers! To start to view it in HD, click over to Vimeo (I recommend that, HD is a big plus) or just check them out here. and just for the sake of it here's it on youtube HD. (notice the difference in quality of this and if you got to the vimeo page and watch it HD there!) Last weekend I was worked on a short motion graphics piece. The idea was to record myself in front of a greenscreen and then incorporate an element of visual effects. As the recording and editing progressed I become more interested in abstracting the video to become a new medium, a sort of particular environment that I could explore. This intruiged me so I continued down this road. In this atricle I hope to share some of my own thoughts and techniques when it comes to working with after effects, etc. You'll see that even with some rudimentary materials you can create some pretty impressive and vibrant visuals. Ok so to give you a break down of what was involved it was something like this. Film Greenscreen Content >> Capture/Cut/Key in Final Cut >> Particle Visuals, AE Camera Control, Sound FX & Music >> Final Ram Export Thats the rough workflow, of course there were some forward-backward process as you can imagine. This isn't going to be a tutorial but rather how you might approach working on something similar, I'll go through each of the stages and fill you in on what worked and what didn't. To start: Film Greenscreen Content Ok, so I had pretty limited access to facilities, it was about 3am so no recording studios would let me in. Armed with a pretty decent budget HD camera, tripod, one lamp, a .7x wide converter, some tape (you'll see why) and of course a few square meters of green cloth. I set it up like so: had the camera and the lamp in pretty much the same place, at 300w the lamp was too bright and was going to cast a strong shadow behind the subject so I pointed it up against the white ceiling so that it would bounce and defuse the light onto peter, that way you'd avoid a as much shadow on the green screen. Bare in mind peteys (he let me call him that) pants are green, so they would be tricky to key out, you might have to masked it out frame by frame (rotoscoping), he refused to wear anything different as you can imagine. Try to wear clothes that contrasts green, nothing from the green spectrum is what you're aiming for. You want the greenscreen to be as evenly lit as possible. Ideally I would have had a lamp on either side lighting from behind and making the greenscreen bright for an easy key. There was also an ugly florescent light – you don't really want these, if you can avoid it - directly behind and above me which actually helped soften the lighting in general. That came in handy in post when I was keying the footage. As you can see the camera is about at hip height. I'd also recommend getting the most vibrant green you can find, the green I found was a little muted. Ideally you're looking for something that's pretty easy to key like this. As the lighting wasn't perfect I had to rotoscope some of the frames, you want to avoid that if possible. Say you need to rotoscope 3 seconds and you're shooting 25fps, that's 75 frames. Depending on the complexity of the movement that could eat up a plenty of time. Try do everything you can before post so that in post it's a smooth process. I turned the camera on it's side for the full body recording, for two reasons, first off, so that I could fit in the whole shot; and secondly when you're recording a full body shot on a greenscreen it makes much more sense to turn the camera so that the shot is vertical, this way you maximize the resolution. The action of the scene is now taking up pretty much all the frame. I said earlier I had tape and a .7 wide converter, yeah, about that... erm, I taped the converter onto the front of the camera, and surprisingly it worked a charm, it was crucial for full-body shots. I had no other way of doing it, the room wasn't big enough to move the camera back far enough. As I didn't need the image to be totally sharp this was ok, however if you want a really sharp image, dont tape your lens on. I think thats obvious; anyway, here's what it looked like. Cut/Key Capture in Final Cut After a recording I captured the MiniDV in Final Cut. I didn't need the key to be perfect., I just needed to get rid of the main bulk and isolate me to some extent. Here's a quick breakdown of the process. Raw footage was keyed then converted to B&W using Gradient Ramp in After effects. I had the particles respond to lights and darks so I crushed the blacks & whites together creating a strong contrast. Particle Visuals/AE Camera Control, Sound FX & Music After the footage was processed then came the main task, the one which required the most thought and was essentially the hardest of them all. I used Trapcode Form, an extremely powerful plug-in from Red Giant Software for After Effects. There are tens of thousands, quite possibly millions of different combinations for how this plug-in can look. It's easy to navigate but I think I've only scraped the surface. It was my first time using this plug in, be sure to check out their site for more info plus you can download the trail for free which is a great way to learn it. The way I had the plug-in set up was to convert the video into a 3 particle deep system. Consisting of the colours red,green,blue. I could have made it 2000, 243 or 68 deep, any number, it's totally up to you. However this will effect loading times. This is also applicable to all the setting, if ever you've used after effects you'll know that there is a huge range of possibility, a fantastic piece of software. Anyway by linking the particles to only display the lights of separate precomp (the b&w video footage of me talking) I now had a pseudo-3d animated environment that I could maneuver the after effects camera around. While After Effects may look 3d it's considered to be 2.5d so it has some of the appearance of 3d(X, Y & Z axes) but it isn't 3d in the same why 3DMax, Maya, Blender or C4D are. I was able to expand the particles to add some more depth to the video, like when I zoom into the face and you can sort of see my side profile even tho the shot was static and didn't move. For example you could achieve a similar effect with a photograph, actually for some of the parts I did use stills from the footage. Here are some shots of the flowchart from After Effects; how each layer and comp relate to one another. This is just a small portion of it. Final Ram Export Here is the result. Watch in HD if you can! When I was done I added it to the Render Que and exported it. Full HD so it came out pretty sweet. I'll also note that I was working in 32BPC, not the 8BPC default, this really worked nicely to bump out the glow. Here are a few screen-caps. Click them for full-res, the work pretty nicely as widescreen wallpapers. So there you have it, that's the rough workflow. If there's one tip I can give you to take away from this, it would have to be; try do everything you can on set to make the work in post as easy and clean as possible. I think this can be applied to plenty of other mediums, photography etc. You want a solid beginning to work with and then everything you do after that will be a breeze. Orignionally written for www.whiteinkblog.com, please subscribe if you liked this. You guys are what will make it grow and develop! Thank You!
Awesome Background Light Effects in Flash - 3 FlashEff Component Giveaway
Last week I was working on a project that needed a Flash animation, nothing really complicated, but I thought a nice animated background with some light effects would work just fine. With that in mind I used a few ellipses, some blur and blend modes to create the effect I wanted. The result was really cool and the best thing is that the process was super easy. Because of that I decided to write a Flash Tutorial showing how to create an awesome background with light effects, but there's more. The guys from JumpeyeComponents gave us 3 copies of the incredible FlashEff component. To win is simple just leave a comment, as usual and we will announce the winners next week. FlashEff is a Flash CS3 (and Flash CS4 ready) AS3 component (by JumpeyeComponents) created for easing the animation process. It is also a collection of over 140 patterns (and growing) that enable cool animations and interactive actions on visual objects and texts. FlashEff can be used/customized from both, the visual interface and API. Step 1 Create a new document in Flash, I used 600x500 pixels because it was the area I had for my design. Then select the Rectangle Tool (R) and create a rectangle. Fill the rectangle with gradient. Use Linear for Type, and for the Colors use #040F1E and #2F4462. After that select the Gradient Transform Tool (F) and rotate the gradient. The dark blue will be at the bottom. Step 2 Select the Oval Tool (O) and create an ellipse, then go to Modify>Convert to Symbol (F8) and convert the ellipse to a symbol. Step 3 Editing the symbol, you will have the ellipse in the frame 1, go to the frame 100 and click the right button of the mouse. Select Insert Keyframe. Then with the Subselection Tool (A) edit the shape of the ellipse, move the points to create a different shape. Step 4 In the Timeline, click with the right button of the mouse in a frame between the first and the last and select Create Shape Tween. Step 5 Insert another Keyframe, this time in the Frame 200, then with the Subselection Tool (A) again, modify the shape of the object and apply another Shape Tween in the timeline. Step 6 Repeat the previous step, but for the last image instead of using the Subselection Tool (A) to deform the shape, copy and paste the ellipse of the first layer. Add the Shape Tween again. The idea is that this movie clip will be deforming an ellipse then getting back as an ellipse again, sort of endless loop. Step 7 Back to the Stage view, you will have the instance of the movie clipe you created. Duplicate that instance 3 times. Rotate and scale them like the image below. Then go to the Movie Clip Properties and change the Blend Mode to Overlay. Tip. You can create different movie clips with different shapes and number of frames, it will make it more fluid. Step 8 Select all instances of the ellipse movie clip and go to the Property Panel. Go to Filters and add Blur. Use 150px for the Blur X and Y. Then test your movie. If you want it faster you can edit the movie clip and reduce the number of frames, instead of 1 to 100 make it 1-60 for example. Step 9 Add a text to the stage in a new layer and convert it to Movie Clip, Modify>Convert to Movie Clip (F8). Then go to the Window>Components or F7. Select the FlashEff component and drag it right over the movie clip. That way it will link the component to the movie clip. Step 10 Go to Window>Other Panels>FlashEff Panel. Then select the component you dragged to the stage. Click on the Show tab and select the Pattern tab, you will be able to select the type of effect you want to apply to your movie clip. In my case I used FESDesertIllusion with the default palatinates. Then select the Hide tab. In this tab you can set how the type of effect you want to apply to hide the movie clip. I used the same as the show, so it will appear and disappear with the same effect. Step 11 Here the idea is create a transition to a black background. To do that, create another layer and go to the frame 110. Insert a blank keyframe by clicking with the right button of the mouse and selection Insert Blank Keyframe. With the Rectangle Tool (R) insert a rectangle with the dimensions of the stage. Fill it with black but change the Alpha to 0. Then go to the frame 125 and insert a Keyframe, not a blank this time. Change the Alpha of the rectangle to 100. Then apply a Shape Tween in this layer from the frames 110 to 125. Step 12 Insert frame to all layers in the frame 125. Then add another layer and rename it to logo. Add your logo and convert it to a movie clip. Then add another FlashEff component linked to the logo movie clip and go to the FlashEff panel. Select the Show Tab and set a pattern to make the logo appear in the screen. I used FES3DCamSquareFocus with the default settings. Then just save and test the movie. Conclusion The blend modes in the new version of Flash CS4 are really cool, they work pretty much the same as in Fireworks and that is great to create some light effects very easily. Also the new interface of Flash is much better, more similar to After Effects. This was the first time I had the change to play with the new version of Flash and I now, want to play more. Besides that, the FlashEff component is incredible, the effects you can do with it are very professional, and the best thing, you won't waste time trying to figure out a way to create those effects, just select a pattern and voilà. Another Example Download the Flash File Click here to Download the Flash file used for this tutorial
Video of the Week #27
What's up, people? Well, this week's video, we've got a really awesome animation by the talented Stephane Coedel, the title sequence he directed for the pilote of an unproduced TV series created by Pete Candeland for Cartoon Network, called "The Amazing Adventures of Kid Cole & Klay. This is really awesome! There are also some "making of's"... all good stuff! Enjoy these! ;) The Amazing Adventures of Kid Cole & Klay from Stephane coedel on Vimeo. Kid Cole & Klay Storyboard from Stephane coedel on Vimeo. Kid Cole & Klay Colorboard from Stephane coedel on Vimeo.
4mations.tv goes LIVE
4mations.tv is a collaboration between Channel 4, Aardman Animations, Reality Digital and Lupus Films and has a strong focus on rewarding animators who upload their work - offering cash rewards of up to £1000 for popular content, competitions, opportunities to pitch for commissions, and even the potential to get on TV. Channel 4 have launched 4mations.tv, a new video-sharing site aimed at bringing together the best animation from around the world. The 4mations website is based around a video-sharing platform, allowing users to upload, rate and comment on content. Additional functionality includes the "Thinks" application, that allows users to quickly and easily create their own personalised animations. Thinks has been developed by the guys behind the cult web-app "Fuzzwich" (www.Fuzzwich.com). The site was designed by Oscar-winning Aardman Animations (based in Bristol UK) and built by Reality Digital (based in San Francisco USA), and is based on Reality's "Opus" video sharing platform. 4mations' visual design is based around an iconic kitten-skull character called "General Tiddles", created by designer Gavin Strange and the Aardman creative team. 4mations launches with a whole host of specially commissioned content from the UK animation community, including animated series, virals and games. The site launches with the series "Hate" - an animated spoof of celeb magazine Heat - and the "General Tiddles" series. Overall 35 individual films and 2 interactive games from 14 animators were commissioned for the launch of the site. Animators include The Brothers McLeod, James Harris & Gus Hughes, and Richard Barnett & Steve Smith from Trunk. Camilla Deakin, Director of Lupus Films and 4mations.tv’s Executive Producer, comments "We put the word out to the animation community that we wanted ideas for funny stuff to run on 4mations around launch, and we were blown away by the great response we got. We are now working with 14 different teams on some really funny and often very dark material. One thing this has proved to me once and for all is that UK animators are very talented but also very sick and twisted!” Jon Gisby, Channel 4’s Director of New Media and Technology, said “4mations will enable us to meet the needs of an audience that is increasingly online. It’s also the logical next step in working with the great creators of animation and we’re thrilled to provide an online home for such a vibrant community. This is another example of Channel 4 working with its partners to reinvent itself for a fully digital future” Links to the site and content: 4mations.tv The Thinks "create your own animation" app General Tiddles' "Suicide Kittens" General Tiddles' "Driving Lessing" Hate animation series About the team Channel 4 - Channel 4 is a UK-based public-service broadcaster, originally set up as the fourth television service in the UK. Channel 4 has now expanded to include multiple digital TV channels, Film 4 (its film making arm) and numerous websites including Channel4.com and E4.com. http://www.Channel4.com Aardman Animations - Aardman, based in Bristol (UK) and co-founded and run by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, is a world leader in animation, and the company behind Oscar-winning animation Wallace and Gromit. It produces feature films, television series and television commercials for both the domestic and international market. Their multi-award winning productions are novel, entertaining, brilliantly characterised and full of charm that reflects the unique talent, energy and personal commitment of the very special people who make up the Aardman team. The studio’s work is often imitated and yet the company continues to lead the field producing a rare brand of visually stunning and amusing independent and commercials productions. Lupus Films - Lupus Films is one of the UK’s leading producers of animation and children’s TV programmes. The company was set up by Camilla Deakin and Ruth Fielding, who were previously the Arts and Animation commissioning team at Channel 4. Lupus Films has made a variety of animation and live-action shows for the BBC, Five, UKTV and Channel 4, and are currently in production, in collaboration with Pinky & Perky Enterprises, with a revival of ‘The Pinky & Perky Show’ for CBBC. In addition they manage Channel 4’s animation short film schemes AnimateTV, run jointly with the Arts Council, and the soon to be launched Animated Digital Shorts with the UK Film Council. Reality Digital - Founded in 2003, Reality Digital is a San Francisco-based company that provides software products and a hosted service platform for storing sharing, managing, and monetizing user generated content (video, photos, games, text and more).Reality is a leader in the white-label video-sharing space, providing solutions to clients including MTV, ITV (UK), VH1, Atom and Lonely Planet.In March 2008, Reality secured a $6.3 million in series B funding from Openview venture Partners Finances to help accelerate its growth.
Video Inspiration: Sigg Jones
When the heavy weight champion wrestler Sigg Jones drinks a strange Powerdrink he loses control of himself unleashing all the good he had. His Agent will have to set him straight... Sigg Jones is the name of a short movie made by three students from Supinfocom School in France. The Film was made using 3DSmax. This is one amazing fight sequence, the styles and the modeling are superb. For your viewing pleasure I have found an HD/English version (that has slightly different sound effects) of the short film, you can find the original at www.siggjones.com. Final Project: Sigg Jones from Eighth Ronin on Vimeo.
Video Inspiration: Vancouver Film School
Vancouver Film School, is exactly what its name tells you, a Film School in Vancouver, Canada. The students, and the school itself make very cool videos, which I'd like to share. Enjoy! The first movie is about a penguin and a wishingwell: By Josephine Gutianjo The second movie is about 2 creatures, 1 trying to cheer the other one up. By Michael Lewicki By Mauricio Bartok Ruiz Besides fun movies, there are movies on serious subjects and matters as well. A movie about the Space Station 'The Voyager' By Leo Aguiar, Jaime Arvizu and Tyler Lemermeyer By Dongkun Yoon I know I only put up animated movies, but that's because I enjoyed these most. If you want to have more on this, you can visit the official VFS website or visit The VFS Youtube Channel. I hope you enjoyed this post! Daan.