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Motionographer (100 unread)

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May 23, 2012
2:10
Maximin Spotti / POUTSHI: Créativité
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Maximin Spotti/POUTSHI presents: Créativité
Posted on Motionographer
May 22, 2012
21:42
Chris Lenox Smith for Primus
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Chris Lenox Smith makes his solo director debut with this awesome take on the Western for Primus’ ‘Lee Van Cleef’
Also make sure to check out this video on the facial rig:
Director: Chris Lenox Smith
Production Company: Mixtape Club
Executive Producer: Randi Wilens
Producer: Bruce Moreau
Writing/Concept Development: Andrew Curtis
Animators: Paul Imperio, Anne Calandre, Julien Koetsch, Mary Varn, Elaine Lee
Character Design: George Harbeson
Design: Morgan Schweitzer, Eve Weinberg
Storyboard artist: Tavet Gillson
Set Design, Lighting: Jesse Casey
Animatic: Zoya Baker, Mary Varn, Julien Koetsch
Character Coloring: Ed Chow, Mary Varn
Additional Design: Alex Mapar, Brad Walters
Posted on Motionographer
May 20, 2012
5:02
Neil Gaiman’s Commencement Address 2012
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Neil Gaiman addresses Philadelphia’s University of the Arts 2012 graduating class. Incredibly inspiring.
Posted on Motionographer
May 18, 2012
4:33
Fresh Paint Studios for Epix
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Directors Kevin Robinson and Greg Herman crank out 90 (yes, nine-zero) spots for the launch of EPIX Drive-In, a new B-Movie network.
Posted on Motionographer
3:57
Mara Smalley updates
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Designer Mara Smalley updates her portfolio with a stunning collection of work.
Posted on Motionographer
May 17, 2012
21:03
Studio Type Project by weareseventeen
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weareseventeen just made “a little in-between jobs typographical piece. Box of Toys done the whoopass audio!”
how sweet is that?
Posted on Motionographer
16:48
Marc Reisbig for The Oslo Airport
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Glorious miniature animation by Marc Reisbig. The fantastic models were made by wearetheartdepartment, using a selection of hard woods to echo the design of the actual airport.
Agency: Dinamo
Production company: 4 ½ and Passion Pictures
Agency Producer: Tonje Østbye
Agency Creatives: Victoria Evensen, Hanne Martinsen
Director: Marc Reisbig
Production Company: Four and a Half, Norway
Producer: Magnus Castracane
Production Company: Passion Pictures, London, UK
Producer: Anna Lord and Mike Turoff
DoP: Toby Howell
1st AD: James Emmott
Gaffer: Robin Brigham
Camera Assistant: Leonard Wilkinson, Chris Nunn
Production Design: Gee Staughton for The Art Dept
Assistant Production Design: Joe Kirton
Art Department and Models: Gee staughton, Joe Kirton, Ben Cote, Jon Buck, Hazel Townsend, Harris Allen, Alban Allen, Perrie Murphy
Animators: Mike Mort, Matt Cooper
Data Wrangler/Rig Removal: Colin Perrett
CG and Post Production: Illusive, Portugal
Head of Post Production: Nuno Conceicao
CG Animator: Jose Poeiras
Posted on Motionographer
0:38
Motionographer Classic Quickie
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Motionographer Classic Quickie: The Art of the Title pays homage to Saul Bass’ classic Anatomy of a Murder.
Posted on Motionographer
May 15, 2012
16:40
Fugu & Tako
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Director Ben West and Robot have just released the trailer for the upcoming short Fugu & Tako
Posted on Motionographer
May 14, 2012
13:07
3d/webGL music vid from Minivegas
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3d/webGL music vid from Minivegas
Posted on Motionographer
May 13, 2012
22:20
FAUX IMAGES VI
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FAUX IMAGES is back for it’s sixth installment which brings you DAVID LEWANDOWSKI (LA), CYPHERAUDIO (Toronto) and T.FLEISCH (B). Enjoy the international issue Tuesday, May 15th, 8pm at LEAP Berlin.
Posted on Motionographer
May 12, 2012
8:32
Colosse – A Wood Tale
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Some months ago we announced the teaser, and now “Colosse - A Wood Tale”, the sweet new short directed by Hornet’s Yves Geleyn, is out. This beautifully handcrafted little story of a wood robot puppet and his bird friend talks about eccentricity, companionship and acceptance.
Yves Geleyn, from Hornet’s site:
“I’m a huge fan of Jim Henson’s work. I have always wanted to work with puppets but never had the chance to do so before. I’m also a huge fan of robots; they were in all my childhood movies, cartoons, and comics. The robot from Paul Grimault’s The King And The Mockingbird; Brad Bird’s Iron Giant; and Goldorak, a Japanese cartoon, were inspirations for me. It was these two passions of puppetry and robots that drove me to create this short film, with a bird in it of course (can’t lose my bad habits).”
More goodies on the page.

Director: Yves Geleyn
Hornet Inc.
Executive Producer: Michael Feder
Producer: Zack Kortright
Live Action Producer: Joel Kretschman
Director of Photography: Ivan Abel
Gaffer: Michael Yetter
1st AC: Jason Vandermer
Key Grip: Joe Mandeville
Fabrication: Connie Chan
Set: Halsey Rodman
Lead Puppeteer: Steven Widerman
Puppeteer: Billy Barkhurst
Robot Tech: Ben Phelan
CG Lead: Erwin Riau
CG Animator: Nicholas Johnnides
Editor: R.J. Glass
Compositor: Yussef Cole
Roto Artist: Mary Varn, Julien Koetsch
Music & Sounds Design: Huma-Huma
Special Thanks: Sang-Jin Bae, Greg Bedard, Chris Smith, Joseph Sluslak
Posted on Motionographer
May 10, 2012
23:03
Buck: The Responsibility Project
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More killer design and animation from Buck for The Responsibility Project. The credits read like an all-star team!
Posted on Motionographer
19:34
Anthony Scott Burns for Paul Van Dyk
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Anthony Scott Burns has created a wild sci-fi ride for Paul Van Dyk’s upcoming album “Evolution”
Posted on Motionographer
17:31
Max Winston’s “The Woods”
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Stopmo animator and designer Max Winston revisits the natural world in this animation test for a cartoon pilot, “The Woods“. Read more about this and his previous work “I Live in the Woods” here.

Posted on Motionographer
17:26
I Live in the Woods!
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Max Winston seems to be a lover of the natural world – of all things serene and beautiful and heavenly – but he’s also unafraid to destroy that beauty and reveal the bloody carnage and weird behavior that lies within. Spectacular.
As we can see in this animation test for a Nickelodeon pilot, “The Woods”, Max is a gifted artist in many arenas – direction, design, animation, comedy, dramatic pauses – but unfortunately, for some odd reason, you won’t see this on air. And while I cut off my access to cable TV, I would definitely revive it long enough to catch episodes of Max’s show (sidled with a revived Mr. Meaty) if available.
“The Woods” obviously isn’t student work, but some of the storyline was pulled from his exceptional CalArts grad short, “I Live in the Woods!”, which was never posted here – until now. After an extremely long and successful run on the festival circuit, this masterpiece finally made it online last year for all to see. Let’s revisit it:
(Warning: Gore and gratuitous violence in all its splendid glory.)
Also see:
• A process video + trailer for “I Live in the Woods!”
• Max’s personal notes on “I Live in the Woods” + development art for “The Woods” at the Magical Mountain of Mush!
• An interview with Winston at Short of the Week.
Posted on Motionographer
2:24
Ned Wenlock: Honda “Go Everywhere”
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Ned Wenlock (Hoverlion) creates Go Everywhere, a beautiful spot for DDB South Africa and Honda. Wenlock’s previous music videos for Danger Beach’s Apache and MGMT’s All We Ever Wanted Was Everything shared a similar playful style.
While searching on Vimeo for the credits, I found this fun video from the composer, THePETEBOX.

Credits
Agency: DDB South Africa
Client: Honda
Prod Co: Hoverlion
Producer: Georgiana Taylor
Director: Ned Wenlock
Character Animator: Eon McNaught
Executive Creative Directors: Matt Ross, Grant Jacobsen
Creative Director: Sean Harrison
Copywriter: Matthew Berge
If anyone has more complete credits, please send.
Posted on Motionographer
May 09, 2012
5:36
Delicate Machines
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Delicate Machines has put together a fantastic reel of studio work as well as collaborations with Prime Focus, The Orphanage, Frantic Films, and others.
Posted on Motionographer
5:32
Tiny Tower by NimbleBit
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Great 8 bit graphics in Tiny Tower for iOS and Android.
Posted on Motionographer
0:17
[London] Screen Social
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[London] Screen Social: Music vs Film – Thursday 10 May, 7pm to 2am
Posted on Motionographer
May 08, 2012
22:11
Mikey Please: The Eaglemen Stag
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Mikey Please’s paper-craft short film about a man obsessed with time, The Eagleman Stag, finally makes its online debut after a very successful festival run. The Eagleman Stag pre-dates Please’s luscious TV on the Radio music video and Dragonframe commision, Seven Legs. Also announced today, Please will be represented by Passion Pictures in Europe and Hornet Inc. in the Americas.
The Eagleman Stag is the third and final film we’ve featured of the three Royal College of Art grad films that were honored with a 2011 BAFTA nomination in the Short Animation category (the other two being Matthias Hoegg‘s Thursday and Dave Prosser’s Matter Fisher). The Dope Sheet ran a great interview with Mikey back in February.
Please is currently working on and fundraising for his new film, Martyn Myller. Keeping in line with Please’s cosmic stories, the protagonist wonders if he is shrinking or if everything else is just getting bigger. See more about the film below.
Posted on Motionographer
12:23
Method Studios for The Avengers
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Beautiful and simple, Method Design’s (a division of Method Studios) end title sequence for Marvel’s latest blockbuster features exquisitely detailed, close-up shots of The Avengers’ costumes. My favourite part is how they’re all chipped, broken, scuffed, and worn. This piece is quiet and gorgeous – a total opposite to the film itself (which is anything but quiet), and as such, it gives the audience a perfect finish to the experience. Like an elegant dessert after a sumptuous main course. In case you’re wondering, yes this is definitely a film worth seeing.
From Method Studios’ page:
Creative Director for Method Design in LA, Steve Viola comments, “Many of the shots in the piece employ complex transitions that proved challenging with varying lenses, scene depths and text positioned in stereo. We were pleased with the resulting sequence, which while CG, is completely believable.”
Thanks, Whedonesque, for the tip.
Creative Director: Steve Viola
Producer: Dan Masciarelli
Concept Designer: Chris SanchezTitle Designer: Steve ViolaDesigners: Bernard Crosland, Michael SausaCG Supervisor: Pouyan NavidCG Lighter: Marko MandaricLead 3D Designer: Jamie SawyerCG Artists: Omid Ensafi, Norris Houk, Ariel LozaStereo Compositing Supervisor: Troy MooreLead Compositor: Eva SnyderCompositors: Krista Benson, Sandro Blattner, Ivy Depies, Sam Jorgensen, Ryan Quinlan
Posted on Motionographer
2:30
“Natural Fight” by Berkanism
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Interesting mix of live action and abstract animation in this piece by Berkanism.
Posted on Motionographer
May 07, 2012
18:57
Classic Quickie: Key Frame Animation
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Motionographer Classic Quickie: National Research Council of Canada’s Key Frame Animation, 1971. (Hat tip to Retroist.)
Posted on Motionographer
18:05
Hayley Morris: Hilary Hahn and Hauschka “Bounce Bounce”
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Natural history dioramas meet Fantasia meet hand-crafted chiaroscuro in Hayley Morris’s stop-motion music video for Hilary Hahn and Hauschka “Bounce Bounce”. Also, check out this film of Hayley sketching and creating her tide pool creatures, directed by Danny Gregory and Tommy Kane.
Posted on Motionographer
16:24
Swelter
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Just in time for summer, CalArts’ Jacob Streilein brings us this richly painted short, Swelter.
Credits
Direction, design, animation: Jacob Streinlein
Music: Michael Paul Kennedy
Posted on Motionographer
May 06, 2012
3:09
Boutiq for Hauert
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Nicely done character animation in the latest from Boutiq
Posted on Motionographer
May 05, 2012
3:03
“38-39°C” by Kangmin Kim
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Beautiful mix of animation in this short by Kangmin Kim
Posted on Motionographer
May 04, 2012
22:36
Tokyo o’Clock
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Tokyo o’Clock Studio launches its very first Reel, and it’s looking good!
Posted on Motionographer
11:37
IVCA Awards 2012 – Opening Titles by Jack Morton Moving Image
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Stylish opening titles for the IVCA Awards 2012 by Jack Morton Moving Image
Posted on Motionographer
May 03, 2012
17:46
Where Things Come From
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Hardy Seiler explores “Where Things Come From” in this trailer for a fictional TV series, nowadays.tv, on knowledge-seeking in the digital age. Synopsis: Ask questions. Stay curious.
Note: This post has been upgraded from recent Quickie to Student Full.
Credits
Graphic and Realization: Hardy Seiler
Text: Hardy Seiler & Daniel Nauck
Motion Design: Jascha Müller & Jonathan Winkler
Sound Design: Torsten Strer
VO: Peter Bennett
Kindly supported by: Stefan Heijnk
Posted on Motionographer
May 02, 2012
18:45
Will by Eusong Lee
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Will: A poignant film of love and loss from CalArt’s Eusong Lee. See process work at Eusong’s portfolio and blog.
Credits
Direction, Visual Development, Story & Animation: Eusong Lee
Music: Julian Kleiss
VO: Dario Barrera
Sound Design: Paul Fraser
Posted on Motionographer
8:40
Psychic Land by 2veinte
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Buenos Aires based 2veinte shares a selection of highly promising body of work. Pay special attention to Psychic Land.
Posted on Motionographer
May 01, 2012
23:36
100 Frames
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In the ultra-short spirit of Animade Lernz, the great folks at Fraser Davidson are behind 100 Frames: The A-Z of London. Make sure to also check out H is for Hipster and M is for Modern Art.
Witten by: Fraser Davidon, Dan Jones & Simon Tibbs
Animated & Directed by: Sweet Crude (Fraser Davidson & Simon Tibbs)
Produced by: Matthew Harvey
Audio Mix and Spot Effects by: Morgan Samuel
Special thanks to: Glyn Hughes
Posted on Motionographer
22:59
Alexander Pettersson: “Legs” & “Cuckoo”
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Check out the outstanding sense of animation and great illustrations in Sweden-based Alexander Pettersson‘s work (↬ Bran).
Posted on Motionographer
20:03
SVA Motion Graphics Portfolio Screening
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SVA Motion Graphics Portfolio Screening, Thursday May 3rd a t 7pm!
Posted on Motionographer
1:27
Sabrina Cotugno: Kagemono: The Shadow Folk
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I am still recovering from cute overload. Sabrina Cotugno’s fourth year CalArts film, Kagemono: The Shadow Folk, is a beautiful gem.
Posted on Motionographer
April 30, 2012
22:12
Punga: Nokia “Traffic”
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Nice mix of dimensionality and bold colors in this Nokia spot by Punga. Check out their previous Nokia spots as well: Smart Data, Ovi Maps, Maps 3D, and Ovi Suit.

Nokia “Traffic”
Director: Facu Labo 
Executive Producer: Patricio Verdi 
Line Producer: Eva Amuchastegui 
Art Direction: Rodier Kidmann, Juan Casal 
2D/3D Animation & Compositing: Cesar Pelizer, Juan Casal, Facu Labo
 Modeling: Franco Vecchi, Guido Lambertini, Ago Carrera
 Music / Mix: Daniele Carmosino
SFX: Alex Sidiropoulos
Posted on Motionographer
5:48
Herbal Essence
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A classic quickie from 1972 for Herbal Essence. Studio/artists unknown.
Posted on Motionographer
April 28, 2012
2:50
Botanicula
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Back by popular demand (here’s to you, Kris Merc) – another fantastically designed game to start your weekend. I have more than one friend who is currently losing sleep playing Botanicula – an indie game developed by Czech studio Amanita Design.
Posted on Motionographer
0:36
Emmanuelle Walker: Royksöpp “So Easy” (unofficial)
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Emmanuelle Walker’s experimental-animation test turned hypnotic short – an unofficial music video for Royksöpp “So Easy”. Also check out these fabulous Samsung webpage loaders.
Posted on Motionographer
April 27, 2012
22:28
Mike Ko: iphone Diorama
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Cute iPhone diorama graduation project by Mike Ko.
Posted on Motionographer
20:03
Sosolimited: Patterned by Nature
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The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences commissioned Sosolimited, Plebian Design, and Hypersonic Design & Engineering to create Patterned by Nature, a 10 ft. wide by 90 ft. long sculptural ribbon that winds through a five story museum atrium and is made of 3600 tiles of LCD glass. Animations are created by independently varying the transparency of each piece of glass.
I love the use of LCDs with no backing to create a magical window, and the decision to use abstract patterns that invite the user to pinpoint their origins. The actual animations are just 20×180 pixels! The piece recalls the real-world pattern recognition sculptures of Ned Kahn and the low resolution art of Jim Campbell.

Patterned by Nature was created by
Plebian Design – plebiandesign.com
Hypersonic Design & Engineering – hypersoniced.com
and
Sosolimited – sosolimited.com
Posted on Motionographer
April 26, 2012
18:11
Woof Wan-Bau: Penguin English Library
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Woof Wan-Bau directs a penguin’s whimsical, surreal journey to celebrate the opening of the Penguin English Library. Someone should show this video to Werner Herzog, to answer his penguin dilemma.

Credits
Director: Woof Wan-Bau
Character Animator: Isobel Knowles
Music and Sound: Quemu
Posted on Motionographer
April 25, 2012
21:00
Alice Dupre: Big Scary “Mix Tape”
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I admit the CG that opens this promo put me off a bit, but the design and animation of the loops in the Big Scary “Mix Tape” music video are killer. Directed by Alice Dupre, the promo starts with some lovely, colorful loops and then pairs them into surreal, fun relationships (rocking chair ping-ponging with a meat leg on a trampoline?).
Posted on Motionographer
1:35
World’s first Twitter animation?
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Fantastic Twitter-based animation for Smart Argentina [Hold down J to animate]
Posted on Motionographer
April 24, 2012
17:46
Count on Me
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More beautiful animation from Gentleman Scholar in their personal short “Count on Me“
Posted on Motionographer
11:52
Ben & Julia Threesome
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Ben & Julia (meet them here) have been busy so now you can feast your eyes on the contradictorily named pieces Nothing To Celebrate vs la Fête de l’Anim in Lille. Oh, right, and also the third one, last but not least Yo Gabba Gabba feat Biz Markie. Enjoy.
Posted on Motionographer
April 23, 2012
19:22
MOTEL 6 “Metamorphosis”
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King & Country and MOTEL 6 reflect on the classic family road trip in “Metamorphosis“
Posted on Motionographer
14:54
NYC Mograph April Meetup
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NYC Mograph April Meetup, Tuesday April 24th 8pm @ Mary O’s.
Posted on Motionographer
April 22, 2012
17:11
Imaginary Forces – God of War: Ascension trailer
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Imaginary Forces takes the ink effect to new heights in this painterly trailer for God of War: Ascension.
Posted on Motionographer
5:49
Süperfad: Mad in Spain 2012 Titles
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Mad in Spain 2012 Titles handcrafted by Süperfad‘s Nando Costa. More info here.
Posted on Motionographer
April 20, 2012
17:27
Rest in Peace: Hillman Curtis
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We just learned of the passing of Hillman Curtis. After a long battle with colon cancer, Hillman left this world on April 18, 2012 at 51 years old, but his legacy will live on for many years to come.
Speaking for myself, Hillman was a huge influence. Early on, when I didn’t know up from down or left from right, I was looking for mentors. I was looking for someone to guide me through the fog of building a career in creative services.
I lived in Austin at the time, so finding such a person wasn’t easy. Like a lot of neophytes, I turned to books. And that’s where I met Hillman Curtis. Through his writing, he taught me animation for the web, the fundamentals of design and most importantly: how to create the best work you can possibly create. Later, through his films, he inspired me to push my boundaries by learning about others who had pushed them before me.
Hillman himself was a consummate boundary pusher. For this, he is celebrated. Thanks, Hillman. Rest in peace.
Thanks to Jeffrey Welk for the nudge.
Posted on Motionographer
April 19, 2012
22:04
Stefan Nadelman: Lost Lander “Wonderful World”
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Stefan Nadelman (aka Tourist Pictures) creates a polyhedral game of life for Lost Lander’s “Wonderful World”. The music video balances oscilloscope-inspired visuals with a warm, synaesthetic heartbeat.
Hat tip to Sean.
Posted on Motionographer
18:51
Sean Pecknold: The End is a Beginning
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Dragonframe commissions Sean Pecknold to create a cosmic stop-motion tale – The End is a Beginning.
Posted on Motionographer
17:41
PBS “Off Book”: The Art of Film & TV Title Design
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The latest installment of the PBS’s excellent “Off Book” series highlights the art of film & TV title design, featuring interviews with Peter Frankfurt, Karin Fong, Ben Conrad, and Jim Helton. Check out the full series on YouTube or Vimeo.
Posted on Motionographer
17:28
2012 Vimeo Award Voting Open
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Voting for the 2012 Vimeo Awards is open. Lots of great finalists to check out. Categories include motion graphics, animation, music video, advertising, and experimental.
Posted on Motionographer
April 18, 2012
20:07
A Conversation with Mate Steinforth
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Recently we’ve seen more and more of Sehsucht, and with good reason: they’ve steadily been building steam through the years, and it’s culminating in some brilliant work.
A few of us at Motionographer were curious about how Sehsucht’s Berlin office came about. So we struck up a conversation with Mate Steinforth to learn about his experience moving back to Germany to get Sehsucht Berlin up and running after years of living in New York working as a director at PSYOP.
Tell us about how Sehsucht Berlin first came about.
When I was still in New York, a couple of things started to develop. First and foremost, my wife wanted to move back to Germany, secondly I wanted to be closer to my family again, and last but not least I started talking to Sehsucht.
When they contacted me, I told them that I loved working at PSYOP and that if I would come back to Germany I’d much prefer Berlin over Hamburg, where they were solely based at the time. I jumped at the occasion when they said that Berlin was an interesting option for them.
So I moved back to Germany and started working with them in Hamburg to get to know everyone, immerse myself in the culture of the studio and also the culture of the German advertising industry.
Can you tell us about your experience setting up Sehsucht Berlin?
After about half a year working at Sehsucht Hamburg and quite some time searching for an office, we were able to set up shop in Berlin in the end of 2009.
We really hit the ground running beginning in 2010 with a couple of pretty big projects, which was great from a financial point of view. Usually, you would expect at least a couple of months time until a new business venture turns a profit. Because we were still very small in the beginning and because we could win some decent projects we were able to work very effectively from an economic standpoint from the start.
What was it like to get a new office rolling whilst producing great work?
Although Sehsucht has a great name in Germany and hopefully internationally, there was a bit of a difference in terms of the day to day projects happening compared to PSYOP. Most of the projects we did in 2010 were technically solid but not as creatively fulfilling as I would’ve liked them to be.
Luckily, in the end of 2010 we did a project for the German launch of Google Streetview, which turned out nice. It started out as an internet film for Germany viewers only, but because people liked it, it started running in cinemas and on TV in a few different countries, if I’m not mistaken.
In 2011, we were able to work on several very interesting projects, including Red Bull, Vorwerk and MTV Close & Caring. There really does seem to be a balance between money and creativity. The more interesting projects usually have less budget than the more technical ones. From a studio’s perspective the challenge is to strike a balance between the two to keep things running.
Tell us a bit about your work/life balance.
We have been extremely lucky to be able to keep the work/life balance in check, more or less. Especially compared to the US, we have very reasonable working hours. That isn’t to say that we don’t have that stretch a week or two before a delivery when we work late hours or weekends. Just not as frequently and especially not as taken for granted. We really try to keep hours reasonable as much as possible.
You’ve recently become a father. Can you talk a little bit about how this has affected your professional life?
Becoming a parent is probably one of the most drastic changes someone can have in their lives. I personally can’t even answer what it changes, as things are just so immediate with little babies — every day is different.
It does take a lot of time, of course, so you hardly have any free time anymore to just relax and zone out. Nowadays, I try to get away from work early to support my wife and take care of our daughter at least a couple of hours every day. Then I fall into bed around 10pm pretty much dead. That repeats daily.
What I’ve heard a lot is that having kids makes you structure your time a lot better and makes you use it a lot better. I think this is probably true. You just don’t have any time to procrastinate.
Is there anything you miss about being in New York?
What I really liked about living and working in New York was the vast amount of opportunities to meet fellow artists. Every day there’s an open studio, a gallery opening, some DVD screenings, some rooftop film festivals and what have you.
This always had a great effect for me. Even working at the perfect place, which PSYOP was for me at that time, work will get on your nerves eventually. All the daily routine, annoying changes and late hours will wear you down. Talking to someone from another studio who shared the same experiences helped me put that into perspective. On the other hand, if I talked to someone who just had a great project going on, it gave me something to aspire to.
Coming back to Berlin, I realized that the city needs something like this, at least for our field. There are a lot of really talented and inspiring artists in Berlin but unfortunately they’re not very connected. I wanted to establish a regular meet & greet style event just like James & Thiago’s great See No Evil in London.
Unfortunately, this didn’t happen for the whole first year in Berlin, because I was too busy. So on a very informal pub crawl I met Andreas Fischer who had the same idea of a Motion Graphics Meeting in mind. We teamed up, and out came FAUX IMAGES.
Over the period of the first year that shot up to over 200 attendees for the last two events. It was much more successful than we expected; apparently the time was ripe for the idea.

Don’t forget to check out the Making-of video
Posted on Motionographer
13:22
Jamie Caliri: The Shins “The Rifle’s Spiral”
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Jamie Caliri’s music video for The Shins “The Rifle’s Spiral” is an otherworldly magic show. I love how the chairs grow into existence, and there’s a falling sequence at the climax of the video that’s particularly stunning. The heroine and camera motion in it feel particularly dynamic.
For the video, Caliri and his team used a motion control camera system called Volo and Caliri’s own DragonFrame software. Nowness reports that a 3D version of the film exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS is also in the works. A behind the scenes video is below.
Caliri has previously been featured on Motionographer for his work on United Airlines “Dragon”, United Airlines “Heart”, Lemony Snicket End Titles, and United States of Tara titles.

Direction: Jamie Caliri
Production Designer / Co-Director: Alexander Juhasz
Editor: Steve Beebe
Lead Animator: Anthony Scott
Animators: Matt Manning, Mike Johnson, Rachel Larsen, Rich Zimmerman
Post Production Supervisor: Damien Christian D’Amico
Puppet Fabrication: Pablo Grande Weiss, Yoriko Murakami, Robyn Yannoukos
Scenic Artist: Vera Long
Prop Artist: Kristen Droney
Set Designer: Neva Williams
Production Manager: Elyse Kelly, Susan Bell
Stage Manager: Matthew Manning
Posted on Motionographer
1:26
ISO for Simian Mobile Disco
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Minimal RGB landscapes for Simian Mobile Disco’s Cerulean courtesy of ISO
Posted on Motionographer
April 17, 2012
15:44
Nekosan knows where things come from
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Nekosan comes from good old Hannover and they know where things come from, too. Together with Hardy Seiler.
Posted on Motionographer
14:00
Lilian Darmono updates
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Beautifully crafted illustrations by Lilian Darmono.
Posted on Motionographer
11:05
Grant Orchard’s Dirty Thoughts
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Studio AKA‘s Grant Orchard’s latest piece is a reduced graphic animation similar to his signature style works. It’s called Yeah Just There and was made for onedotzero‘s 15th anniversary as a Granimator app. Similar to the Geometric Porn App (which he only saw 2 weeks before finishing his piece, according to his Pictoplasma Talk last week) Grant’s app was first rejected by Apple. Now they apparently changed their mind so you can all enjoy it here. [Mildy NSFW] Cue Apple-are-Nazis debate in comments.
Posted on Motionographer
April 16, 2012
3:08
John Lin
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With poetic visuals backed by compelling concepts, SCAD MFA student John Lin shows a lot of promise.
Posted on Motionographer
April 13, 2012
23:06
Fez
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Here’s a weekend tip: Fez, Polytron’s gorgeous (and much-delayed) game, is scheduled to release today on Xbox Live Arcade. Fez – along with titles like Journey and Limbo – seem to be indicative of a nice little trend: indie games from smaller studios that emphasize original gameplay and fantastic visual design instead of the usual focus on sequels.
Posted on Motionographer
17:02
UKTV Watch Rebrand
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London’s DixonBaxi team up with VFX powerhouse, Analog Studio, to create these lovely ident animations for the UKTV rebrand.
Posted on Motionographer
April 12, 2012
20:06
Punga for Red Cross
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PUNGA/Not To Scale create organ-devouring worms for Red Cross Mexico. Check out the credits + animatic on PUNGA’s revamped site.
Posted on Motionographer
6:01
Buck and Sehsucht for MTV
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We wanted to take a moment to highlight two great pieces that Motionographer favorites Buck and Sehsucht have released for MTV.
The quality of the design seen on MTV – especially some of the show packages – has had ups and downs over the past few years, but there’s recently been some fantastic work. Polynoid’s MTV EMA 2011 open was spectacular, and it seems that the trend is continuing.
We’re looking forward to more!
For Buck:
Executive Creative Director: Ryan Honey
Executive Producer: Maurie Enochson
Producers: Emily Rickard, Nick Terzich
Associate Producer: Ashley Hsieh
Coordinator: Emily Suvanvej
Associate Creative Director: Joshua Harvey
CG Supervisor: Doug Wilkinson
Animation Director: Steve Day
Art Director: Joe Mullen
CG Lead: Jens Lindgren
Technical Director: Albert Omoss
Designers: Joshua Harvey, Joe Mullen, Sean Dekkers, Vincent Lammers
3D Artists: Joao Rema, Ana Luisa Santos, Jens Lindgren, Jean Choi, Briana Hamilton, Brandon Perlow, Kai Wang, Vincent Lammers, Alex Dingfelder, Moses Journey
Character Animators: Tyler Mele, Tyler Lancaster, Steve Day , John Nguyen
2D Animators: Alex Perry, Ege Soyuer, Vincent Lammers, Matt Everton
Compositors: Rachel Keyte, Moses Journey
Music Composition and Sound Design: John Black at CypherAudio
Lead Creative Direction: VIMN MTV World Design Studio, Milan
Creative Director: Roberto Bagatti
Associate Creative Director: Anna Caregnato
Art Director: Carlos Carrasco
Executive Producer: Cristina Mazzocca
Coordinator: Beatrice Cardile
For Sehsucht:
Client & Lead Creative Direction: MTV World Design Studio, Milan/Italy
Creative Director: Roberto Bagatti
Associate Creative Director: Anna Caregnato
Art Director: Scott Bendall
Executive Producer: Cristina Mazzocca
Producer: Beatrice Cardile
Production Company: Sehsucht Berlin GmbH & Co KG, Berlin/Germany
Director: Mate Steinforth
Design: Mate Steinforth, Christian Zschunke
3D: Philipp Broemme (lead), Ronny Schmidt, Adrian Azadvaten, David Weidemann, Christian Zschunke
Additional 3D: Hannes Weikert
Animation: Matthias Knappe (lead), David Weidemann
2D Animation: Helge Kiehl, Ronny Schmidt
Compositing: Christina Agapitou (lead), Christian Zschunke, Helge Kiehl
Producer: Christian Gemeiner
Music: Michael Fakesch
Posted on Motionographer
April 11, 2012
19:27
ALPHABETIC
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Made by Ariel Costa (blinkmybrain) and with sound by Marcelo Baldin (combustion) ALPHABETIC is a beautiful romance between type and animation.
Posted on Motionographer
18:48
Timo Schaedel / Platige Image: Hotpoint “Land of Heat”
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Timo Schaedel and Platige Image present an otherworldly landscape in Hotpoint “Land of Heat”. It’s a lovely study of light refracting across hot and hotter air, creating a watercolor meets macro-photography effect.
Platige Image has a photo gallery of macro-licious stills at their facebook and a making-of below.

Agency: JWT Milan
Producer: Isabella Guazzone
CCO: Enrico Dorizza
Creatives: Cristiano Tonnarelli, Pinky Mascetti, Alessandro Conte
Production house: Akita Film:
Producer: Alessia Pietromarchi
Director: Timo Schaedel
Postproduction manager: Paulina Machalica-Niemira
Postproducer: Agnieszka Stachowicz, Olga Kotas
CG Supervisor: Jakub Knapik
Postproduction studio: Platige Image
On set supervisor: Jakub Knapik, Adam Wierzchowski
Concepts: Damian Bajowski, Marek Madej, Michael Lohde
Animatic: Bartek Kik, Damian Nenow
Modelling: Konrad Kiełczykowski, Łukasz Rzeszot, Piotr Tatar, Tadeusz Chmiel
Simulation: Piotr Suchodolski, Łukasz Sobisz, Andreas Felix Gebhardt
Rendering: Jakub Knapik, Tadeusz Chmiel, Waldemar Woźniak, Jakub Bogacki, Piotr Tatar, Łukasz Rzeszot
Support rendering: Marcin Waśko
Compositing: Jakub Knapik, Tadeusz Chmiel, Robert Bielecki
Support compositing: Juliusz Zenkner, Piotr Popielawski, Piotr Dworaczyński
Conversion: Adam Wierzchowski, Jakub Jeziorski
Programming: Adam Wierzchowski, Jakub Jeziorski
Grading: Piotr Dutkiewicz
Online: Mariusz Rokicki
Support online: Wojciech Rogalski, Aneta Kitlitz
Posted on Motionographer
17:55
TNT Belgium: A Dramatic Surprise on a Quiet Square
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The viral marketing clip of the day features a good dose of storytelling, breaking down television tropes into interchangeable jigsaw puzzle pieces. There’s a hot chick on a bike, some slapstick, a gunfight – the only thing missing is a helicopter touching down.
With the popularity of Improv Everywhere and theatrical productions like Sleep No More, this sort of promotion fits right in with the popularity of the consumer wanting to be in the middle of something special. You’ve just got to make sure you don’t stray too far into Theme Park Stunt Spectacular territory (though, I admit I probably watched the Universal Studios Miami Vice show over thirty times as a kid).

Client: TNT/Turner Broadcasting System Europe Ltd.
Contact: Hanna
Kiss, Malgosia Chapman, Simon Goodrick.
Agency: Duval
Guillaume Modem.
Account Team: Jana
Vervoort, Marc Wellens.
CD: Geoffrey
Hantson, Katrien Bottez.
Copy: Dieter De
Ridder.
AD: Ad Van
Ongeval.
Agency Producer:
Marc Van Buggenhout.
Prod Company: Czar.
Director: Koen
Mortier.
Executive Producer:
Eurydice Gysel.
Producers:
Matthias Schellens, Birgit D’Hont.
DOP: Norman
Baert/ Konrad Widelski/ David Ramboer/ Brian Moons/ Wesley De Grie.
Editors: Manu Van
Hove/ Alain Dessauvage
Sound design:
Senjan Jansen.
Post Production:
Nozon.
Media: Ambient,
online.
Stunts
Stuntteam de Beukelaer
Stunt-coordinator
Ron Sleeswijk
Stuntman
Nicolas de Pruyssenaere
JP de Kam
Rob de Groot
Nick Roeten
Thanks for the credits, Dieter and Nick!
Posted on Motionographer
15:15
Eli Guerron relaunches
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Technical director Eli Guerron relaunches with loads of process work and a new short, “It Gets Better.”
Posted on Motionographer
5:03
[London] Screen Social: Music vs Film
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[London] Screen Social: Music vs Film [the extended mix] – Thursday 12 April, 7pm – 2am
Posted on Motionographer
4:45
Korb for Coca-Cola
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The ever-impressive Korb brings dancing Coke bottles to life.
Posted on Motionographer
April 10, 2012
18:19
SXSW 2012: Animated Shorts
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The animated shorts follow our music video and film titles coverage to wrap up our SXSW 2012 round-ups. The SXSW love’s not over though – there’s some panel coverage and an interview with Wayne White and Neil Berkeley on their fantastic documentary, Beauty is Embarrasing, on the way.
Enjoy the winner of the SXSW 2012 Best Animated Short, (notes on) biology by Danny Madden and check out our wrap-up of the SXSW 2012 Animated Shorts.
Posted on Motionographer
16:50
Phil Borst: “Mork”
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Great abstract animation from Phil Borst.
Posted on Motionographer
15:42
Sehsucht: Pictoplasma Doomsday Trailer
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Sehsucht’s Mate Steinforth directs a colorful but desolate trailer for the Pictoplasma conference.
Posted on Motionographer
April 09, 2012
16:01
Incredibox
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Incredibox debuts an interactive, character-based music sequencer.
Posted on Motionographer
15:55
Us for Benga
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Us pressed, hand labeled, hand numbered, polished, and animated 960 unique records in their latest for Benga.
Posted on Motionographer
April 06, 2012
21:33
Motionographer’s Role in the Industry (Right Now)
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We recently posted a short op-ed piece that sparked a good deal of comments. In sharing this news, Motionographer was a bit late to the game; many other blogs that deal more consistently with industry news had already posted it. But the consensus on our team was that we should add our voice to the chorus.
The Reaction
Many of the comments on the post contained good points from several different angles. To my delight, not everyone agreed. References were cited, civility was maintained and I was shown new perspectives on the issue.
Things came off the tracks a bit with this suggestion, though:
“Here is another thought, how about Motionographer pay attention to studios with good practices and ignore studios that incur in abuse?”
After reading through some of the ensuing comments, I realized it might be helpful to explain why this suggestion is completely untenable. For those of you who instantly rallied behind this comment, please put down your pitchforks and shovels for a minute and listen carefully: This is for you.
Limited Resources
Motionographer is an all-volunteer organization run by people with full-time jobs in the animation, visual effects and commercial production industries. We run this site after hours and for free.
We simply don’t have enough time to investigate every claim that some company has done something wrong. We barely have enough time to make posts every day. Case in point: I’m writing this post when I should be working. It takes a huge chunk of time just to put a few words down, much less follow up on long threads of emails to see just how “bad” or “good” a company is being.
We’re doing our best. That might not be enough, but it’s all we’ve got.
The Need for Investigation
For those of you (and I hope there aren’t many) who don’t understand why we would need time to investigate claims, please understand this: Despite your personal experience with a company, we can’t simply take every negative claim at face value. Call us crazy, but we subscribe to the “innocent until proven guilty” school of thought. That means, when possible, we like to hear both sides of a story, trying to figure out what really happened.
Usually, it’s impossible to know exactly what transpired. Most reports of employer misconduct are mired in a web of circumstances that are difficult to reconstruct without the aid of a full forensics team led by David Caruso.
Other times, an individual’s experience with a company can be traced to one bad employee or one bad encounter. Should an entire studio — which could include hundreds of innocent people who have little to no control over the organization — be blacklisted because of one bad employee?
(Hint: The answer is no.)
Even if we did blacklist a company, we would then need to follow up to see if they’d changed their ways and could be “re-admitted” to the site. More time, more resources.
Which Good? Which Bad?
All of this begs a more fundamental question: On what grounds would a company be blacklisted? Legal? Those standards vary from state to state and country to country. Ethical? Fine, but whose ethical guidelines are we using? There aren’t any universally agreed up standards that I know of.
Or should we just defer to the original commenter mentioned above. Perhaps he is the ultimate judge on all things “good” and “bad”? I suspect even he wouldn’t agree with that.
Pandora’s Box
If we started blacklisting sites, it would be irresponsible of us to share any work that we hadn’t already vetted. What if, for example, we accidentally posted a project from a new studio in Argentina that hadn’t paid one of its freelancers? We would by hypocrites!
So, following that logic, we’d need to investigate each and every studio and individual before posting them. If we didn’t, we’d be prejudicing against larger companies that are more open to public exposure and privileging smaller companies that fly under the radar, even though they are just as capable of wrong-doing.
Clearly, that’s a Pandora’s box left closed.
Shades of Gray
Despite personal convictions otherwise, the lines of right and wrong are very rarely clear. Just read through the myriad opposing viewpoints in the comments on the Digital Domain post. Any reasonable person must concede that issues worth debating are muddled with complexity rendered in endless shades of gray. If the issue was black and white, there would be no debate.
Put another way: Had Digital Domain been grinding up babies and using their meat to fuel its workforce, I think we could all safely agree that would be very bad. But it’s never that simple.
What Motionographer Tries to Do
We try to keep things pure. There are slip-ups. There are mistakes. And goodness knows tons of great work slips by our radar. But all of us put our hearts and souls into this project, because we believe in the value of sharing and discussing great work.
No contributor is allowed to post a project that he worked on or is affiliated with. It must be submitted for review just like any other project. And since we all work at competing companies, this turns out to be a pretty good system.
And for those cynical detractors out there: Yes, I work for a company that gets posted on Motionographer. But I haven’t always. Including this site’s predecessor, I’ve been working on Motionographer for about eight years now, in spite of misdirected hostility and bevies of ignorant remarks from people who only understand things from one perspective: their own.
What Motionographer Will Do
We’re in the (long and expensive) process of establishing the Motionographer Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity officially recognized by the IRS.
The Motionographer Foundation has many aims. In addition to revamping Motionographer.com, we will continue producing F5; build more community and educational resources; and hopefully set up entities to aid freelancers, artists and studios survive and thrive in this industry.
But we’re not there yet.
In the meantime, we will focus on doing what this site has always done: Sharing and discussing work that we like. When possible, we’ll post news about related issues in hopes that they will spark conversations that can effect change. At this point, anything more simply isn’t possible.
Justin Cone
Editor-in-chief and founder of Motionographer.com
Co-founder, F5
Posted on Motionographer
1:33
Nice folio, Limbert Fabian
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Nice folio, Limbert Fabian.
Posted on Motionographer
1:19
“Nihonbashi Koukashita R Keikaku” by Takuya Hosogane
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Takuya Hosogane goes anime in this new music video for Jin, but keeps his sly sense of humor. Takuya says that he wanted to create a piece that referenced the experience of browsing through a tumblr of animated GIFs: gloriously random with awesome moments of synchronicity. And, in a true win for the Internet, someone’s already taken the video and reblogged it on tumblr it as an animated GIF.
Special thanks to the incredible Maya Rosewood for help in translating our discussion with Takuya.
Director/Composite: Takuya Hosogane
Storyboard: Takuya Mitomi
Character Design: name
Layout Design: Jiko Abe
Background Design: Zajirogh
Color Design / Background Paint: Ina
Color Layout: Narumi Minagawa, Manami Oikawa, Chiaki Kato
Production Manager: Yuya Yamaguchi, Chiaki Kato
Key Animation/Animation Supervisor: Nakagawa Hideki
Key Animation/Executive Adviser: Shingo Yamashita
Music: Jin
Production Company: Maxilla inc.
Posted on Motionographer
April 05, 2012
18:28
‘Speaking of…’ by Animal
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Fantastic mix of 2D and 3D in this piece by Animal for the “Speaking of Pittsburgh” series.
Production Company: Animal
Producer: Phinehas Hodges
Director and Lead Animator: Samm Hodges
Editor: Mike LaHood
Additional Animation: Kris Boban
Posted on Motionographer
April 03, 2012
15:32
Rear Window Timelapse
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Jeff Desom pieces together a killer looping installation of the Hitchcock masterpiece, Rear Window. Check out a timelapse of the composite.
Posted on Motionographer
4:45
Paying To Work For Free
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Last week VFX Soldier exposed a scheme by Digital Domain to offer students at their taxpayer-subsidized university program the opportunity to work for free on their commercial production. In a November speech to investors to raise money for an IPO, Digital Domain CEO John Textor explains their plan this way:
30% of the workforce at our digital studio down in Florida is not only going to be free, with student labor, it’s going to be labor that’s actually paying us for the privilege of working on our films.
Now I know that you are shocked, absolutely shocked! by these sort of goings-on in the movie business. But the horse has left the barn. The cat is out of the bag. The fat lady sang. No amount of collective smacking our heads, moaning and groaning and rage as we sit in front of our computer screens will stop this from happening now. Digital Domain has already convinced Florida State University and The Department of Education that somehow this is NOT “taking advantage of the students,” and they’ve gotten an $80 Million subsidy from the City of Port St. Lucie and the State of Florida — all on their promise of high-tech jobs.
But does anyone really think that this is the first lesson we should teach future film students?
Some more info:
The Animation Guild: DD Finds New Revenue Stream … Students!
Cartoon Brew: Digital Domain’s John Textor Brags to Investors about Exploiting Animation Student Labor
Canadian Animation Resources: Editorial: Working = Money, right?
Occupy VFX: Shame on Digital Domain
Scott Benson: Paid Internships … The Other Kind
LA Times: Digital Effects Firm’s Partnership With College Draws Artists’ Ire
NY Times: The Unpaid Intern, Legal or Not
US Department of Labor: Internships Under the Fair Labor Standards Act

Posted on Motionographer
April 02, 2012
20:43
The Macula: “Archifon”
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The Macula, a Prague-based studio, uses projection mapping to turn the Olomouc Baroque Chapel into a giant musical instrument. Visitors use laser pointers to activate music and animation. The installation even includes a programmable drum machine. Very cool!
Concept, audio, max msp programming by Tomaš Dvořák – Floex {floex.cz}
Concept, visuals, realtime tracking by Dan Gregor – Initi
Support programmer: Jakub Koníček
Vocals: Karolina Vyskočilová
Posted on Motionographer
18:31
B’zwax “Megalizer”
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Monday dance party time! My fave section is 0:30-0:45. (Hat tip to Julien Nantiec.)
Posted on Motionographer
11:14
MTV Group Hug by Sehsucht
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Lovely new ”Group Hug” MTV ident from Mate Steinforth of Sehsucht. (Check out making-of and be sure not to miss the previous “Close and Caring.”)
Posted on Motionographer
10:00
[London] See No Evil April Event
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[London] See No Evil’s April event will be on Tuesday, April 3, 7 pm, at The City Arts & Music Project.
Posted on Motionographer
April 01, 2012
18:00
Bryan Louie updates
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The original Bryan Louie updates with beautiful boards.
Posted on Motionographer
March 30, 2012
19:20
ReconstructMe
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Christoph Heindl’s real time 3D model reconstruction program, ReconstructMe, looks promising.
Posted on Motionographer
17:29
Marco Tempest: A Magical Tale
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Marco Tempest presents A Magical Tale at TED. And check out the making-of at onformative.
Posted on Motionographer
16:04
[Call for entries] Scratch European Animation Festival
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The Scratch European Animation Festival is accepting submissions. C’mon, it’s free!
Posted on Motionographer
15:06
SXSW 2012: Music Videos
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SXSW 2012′s selected music videos featured a mix of techniques and ideas, from men who cry to disco ball-head ballerinas to doing a guitar (that last one is NSFW).
Check out all twenty-three SXSW 2012 selections and our write-up here.
Congrats to the Winner of Best Music Video at SXSW 2012: DANIELS for Battles “My Machines”.
Posted on Motionographer
14:27
New releases from onedotzero’s collaboration with Granimator
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New releases from onedotzero’s collaboration with Granimator featuring work from Grant Orchard, Motomichi Studio and Lobo. Stay tuned for releases by: Cassette Playa, Logan, Universal Everything, Richard Hogg, Tokyoplastic, Trevor Jackson, Troika and Intro.
Posted on Motionographer
March 29, 2012
22:54
Team Getaway @ SVA: Getaway
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Check out this super-cute and well-executed mini-film, Getaway, created by Team Getaway (a group of Juniors from SVA’s BFA Computer Art Dept.).
Posted on Motionographer
March 28, 2012
16:48
LEGS v. Rye Rye
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LEGS v. Rye Rye
Posted on Motionographer
15:43
Theodore Ushev: Kottarashky & the Rain Dogs “Demoni”
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Theodore Ushev used a gramophone and fifty vinyl records painted with oil, acrylics, and gel paint markers to create this music video for Kottarashky & the Rain Dogs’ Demoni. He joins the ranks of contemporaries like Eric Dyer and David Wilson, experimenting with pre-cinema optical devices. The video features bright visuals reminiscent of Joan Miró that playfully dance and loop to the music.
Ushev was last featured on Motionographer for his 2006 Russian Constructivism-inspired Tower Bawher, from his XX Century Trilogy.

Posted on Motionographer
March 27, 2012
7:21
[Interview] Buck: Good Books “Metamorphosis”
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From Buck’s website: “The Buck team dug deep, channeling our inner gonzo, to direct and produce this homage promoting Good Books, the online bookseller that passes all its profits through to Oxfam.”
While Joe Mullen’s and Joshua Harvey’s style frames are awesome enough, below you can watch the official Good Books making-of video which shows the various stages of production …

Read on for an interview with Ryan Honey and Joshua Harvey, creative directors at Buck, and Motionographer’s Angelo Collazo.
How did this project come about?
We were approached by String Theory, a NZ-based agency/production company, in June of last year. They had three scripts for their Good Books — “Great Writers” Series, and they were looking for an animation director to take one or all of them on.
This one really struck a chord with us for three reasons: One, they were looking to have the director take full creative control; two, the Hunter S. Thompson script was amazing and we are big fans of his and his writings; and three, it was for an organization called Good Books (usegoodbooks.com), a non-profit organization that passes all of its profits through to Oxfam. Really it was the holy trifecta, good creative, open brief and for a good cause.
Can you give us a little background on how the project started and the approach you took with it?
The project started with a phone call where we discussed the goals of the project. They asked that we provide them with a director’s treatment so they could decide if we were right for the project. We provided a few styleframes, a moodboard, and a written treatment.
What was your creative process like? And why did you choose the style that you did?
Our creative process was pretty fluid and collaborative. We started by pulling inspirational images that we liked and then our ACD Joshua Harvey and AD Joe Mullen created some initial look frames for the pitch. Next, we sat down and went through the script and talked collaboratively about imagery for each scene and the transitions between them. The next step was storyboards and a boardomatic, where we figured most things out, but there were a couple scenes that we revised right up till the end before we were happy with them.
When we went into animation we approached every shot a little differently. Some needed 3D, some pencil tests and some only needed a few keyframes. It really depended on the complexity of the shot and the artists who worked on the shots.
We chose the style because we wanted to create something unique that was somewhat dark but arty, and could be animated in a fluid manner complementing the verbal tirade of Hunter S. Thompson.
In “Metamorphosis”, what is the story being told?
The story is essentially Hunter ranting about his need to buy the book Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and why he has come to the conclusion that he should buy it from Good Books. He doesn’t actually want to read it; he despises Kafka. It just so happens that the book is the exact height that one leg of his desk is off the ground and he wants to use it to stop the damn thing from rocking when he types. He doesn’t want to buy it from the Great River of mediocrity (Amazon) and have the greedy capitalist bastards get their hands on his hard-earned cash. Rather, he wants the money to go to the insane pollyannas who give their profits away to people who wash their children’s heads in raw sewage. After some mind-melting contemplation he goes to the website, types in the address and as he presses enter, his desk shifts again and his tea spills onto his pants. He looks down to see a beetle sipping his bong water tea, the beetle then convulses and dies.
Please tell us more about the morphing animation. How much was 3D and how much was 2D?
The only morphing animation that was created in 3D was the book to flowers transition. The rest were pencil tested and finished in Flash/Photoshop/AE.
Given the uniqueness of the project, what was your production pipeline and work flow like? Was there a lot of back-and-forth between departments?
Again, it was dependent on the shot. Some elements were animated in 3D as reference for cel; Hunter’s sunglasses and hat. Hair dynamics and processing were also used as a base for some of the loose squiggly/dotted lines. Sometimes shots would be pencil tested a few times and we’d realize we could get a more direct result using 3D. With the beetles and goat scene, we had a tremendous amount of back and forth as we made the hero elements in CG and created illustrative textures for them. We drew on top of them and of course added lots of paint texture/compositing love.
From a technical point of view, what was the hardest shot or sequence?
It was probably the aforementioned shot with the tethered goat and hundreds of beetles. The most difficult cel shots were the pollyanna and the end head-twist shot. Both shots were re-animated so many times we stopped counting. Lens-distorted human bodies are not the easiest thing.
From concept to delivery, how long was the entire project?
We started late June and delivered it in November of 2011. There was a bit of downtime due to other projects — I would say five to six weeks — so it was about four months of production.
Thank you for a wonderful, informative interview, Ryan and Josh! May God bless you on your future projects!
To bring this article to a close, please check out the following video interview with Buck’s Orion Tait (created by Submarine Channel). It’s truly a beautiful interview. One thing I love about Buck is how they take what the agencies give them and successfully infuse the original concepts with far more creative design than was there before … and they get away with it.
Tait comments, “Commercial production is a playground. It’s an extension of art school. You have the freedom to experiment and try lots of different things and not get hemmed in to one style … That’s why a lot of us are in this game … not because we love advertising.”
Buck brings such a rich uniqueness to every work they create, in all areas, from visual design to compelling storytelling. It’s an honor to have interviewed with their best and brightest.

Buck: Good Books “Metamorphosis” Credits
Concept by: String Theory
Directed by: Buck
Creative Director: Ryan Honey
Executive Producer: Maurie Enochson
Producers: Nick Terzich, Alyssa Evans, Emily Rickard
Coordinator: Ben Tucker
Associate Creative Director: Joshua Harvey
CG Supervisor: Doug Wilkinson
Animation Director: Steve Day
Art Director: Joe Mullen
Designers: Joshua Harvey, Joe Mullen, George Fuentes, Trevor Conrad, Jenny Ko, Jon Gorman
2D Animators: Joe Mullen, Harry Teitelman, John MacFarlane, Jamal Otolorin, Joshua Harvey, William Trebutien, Matt Everton, Taik Lee, Tristan Balos, Regis Camargo, Kendra Ryan, George Fuentes, Trevor Conrad, Jahmad Rollins, Matthew Wade
3D Artists: Jens Lindgren, Timm Wagener, Kai Wang, Joao Rema, Albert Omoss, Joshua Harvey, Christine Li, Kelsey Charlton, Ana Luisa Santos
Compositors: Nick Forshee, Alex Perry, Joshua Harvey, Joe Mullen, Moses Journey, Matt Lavoy, Jenny Ko, Helen Hsu, Elizabeth Steinberg, Adam Smith
Music and Sound Design: Antfood
Voiceover Artist: Thor Erickson
Voiceover Recording: Post Audio Labs
Software: Flash, After Effects, Maya
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Onesize for SyFy
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Onesize debuts a show package for SyFy’s new reality show “DreamMachines”. UPDATE: Very cool audio breakdown from Echolab.

Posted on Motionographer