Animation visionary Isao Takahata of Studio Ghibli fame died on April 5, and Smithsonian magazine published a great written overview that complements the video essay above. Read the rest
Swedish designer and motion graphics artist Andreas Wannerstedt creates captivating looping animations and uploads them to his Instagram.
Here's a look:
Páraic McGloughlin's Arena is "brief look at the eart from above" mesmerizes us with the shapes we made upon it, culled from satellite imagery then ordered frame-by-frame to give the uncanny appearance of a single plot of land rapidly changing.
Check out Páraic's Instagram for more work from the Sligo-based artist.
Pearse McGloughlin and I collaborated on the audio resulting in something between music and a soundtrack.
Audio mastered by TJ LippleHear
more of Pearse's music here : open.spotify.com/track/0mvfR4zmmxDTvlYyWmmJvG?si=KIHR2daoe
Arena soundtrack available here: store.cdbaby.com/cd/pearsemcgloughlin3
open.spotify.com/album/2RNXEQZlBaBgeVmyLESIgb
Amber Willams at Directors Notes took the time to make an interview with me about the making of "Arena" and my work in general , you can check it out here: directorsnotes.com/2018/04/04/paraic-mcgloughlin-arena/
Thanks a million Amber.
Here's another short movie from Páraic, titled Chase, compiled using the same technique but at ground level.
Self-taught stop-motion filmmaker PES made his first animated short in 2001. It was a saucy little number called "Roof Sex" that featured furniture getting it on. The film won several awards and its success kick-started his career.
The Oscar and Emmy-nominated director recently reshared this "Making of Roof Sex" video on YouTube, a fun NSFW-ish behind-the-scenes piece that was originally released in 2003.
Here's the original (which is NSFW, primarily because of the sexy moaning):
PES is currently teaching a course on stop-motion animation on Skillshare. Read the rest
IllustrisTNG, a next-gen simulator for cosmological events, created this beautiful animation of a "late-type" star-forming galaxy. It's fascinating to watch how mind-boggling mass and energy on a mind-boggling time scale looks familiar to observable phenomena on earth. Read the rest
Kudos to Travel Oregon for making a beautiful animated promotional video, called "Only Slightly Exaggerated." It was written and produced by Portland's own Wieden + Kennedy. Animation by Psyop and Sun Creatures Studio, and music by OregonSymphony.
From Cartoon Brew:
“We thought Oregon deserved better than just another travel ad,” said Wieden+Kennedy agency art director Nick Stokes. “So we turned to animation to try and capture its magic. We’re very proud of the work, and I’m honored to represent my home state in such a unique way.”
The spot depicts popular outdoor activities in Oregon like mountain biking the North Umpqua Trail, swimming at Trillium Lake, and hot air ballooning over Willamette Valley wine country.
No, you're not hallucinating. It just feels like it.
Thanks, Heathervescent! Read the rest
"Only slighty exaggerated," it's titled. "Based on actual events. More or less. " Read the rest
In I Am Here , director Eoin Duffy addresses the strange sensation when we realize our entire lives have led up to one fleeting moment. Read the rest
It's been six years since Disney's original Wreck-It Ralph movie. You'll remember that it was focused on video games. Its sequel, due to release at Thanksgiving, is set inside the internet.
Taking place six years after saving the arcade from Turbo's vengeance, the Sugar Rush arcade cabinet has broken, forcing Ralph and Vanellope to travel to the Internet via the newly-installed Wi-Fi router in Litwak's Arcade to retrieve the piece capable of saving the game.
A new teaser trailer for Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 was released Wednesday and it looks like a whole lot of fun.
Side note: I don't want to spoil it by describing it, but don't miss the funny "internet-breaking" ad for the film on its IMDB page. Read the rest
Hannah Jacobs animated this simple and clean kite-themed video for Secret For The Mad by Dodie (previously). Read the rest
Marcin Nowrotek filmed a jazz quartet with a Kinect, then ran the recording through volumetric processors to give NEBULA an otherworldly 3D look and feel. Read the rest
Fair warning: This might just be the cutest, and simultaneously educational, thing you'll see all week.
Using the drawings and story provided by his young son Nathan, Allen Mezquida created a wonderful "animated dinosaur drama" they've simply titled, Dinosaur.
Allen writes that his dino-obsessed five-year-old spends hours drawing ("mostly dinosaurs") every day and that he was "so inspired" by his work that he offered to animate them:
He also loves watching BBC documentaries about dinosaurs. Next thing I knew, we were working on this short film together. Nathan was very clear about the story he wanted to tell and how he wanted it to look. He said he wanted it to be very real, "never cartoony." I did my best to stay true to his vision...Yes, proud father aside, it came out great. The Museum of Natural History in LA even posted it.
Parent/child collabs ftw! Read the rest
Many people think animated feature films started Disney's Snow White, but this interesting video essay counts at least seven before the appearance of the seven dwarfs. Read the rest
Guldies (previously) posted this weirdly satisfing stop-motion animation of life in the woods. The visuals are amazing -- 2500 still pictures taken with a Canon DSLR and sequenced at 18 frames per second in Dragonframe -- but it's the way it works with sound that I really felt. Read the rest
I am a great admirer of Terry Gilliam's cut-out animations in Monty Python's Flying Circus.
