Toolfarm Inspirations Archive

Ken Broomfield mentioned this on the AE-List earlier in November and I thought it would be a perfect submission for Flashback Friday.

This animated short features two intertwined soundtracks, produced by Tony Schwartz. In one, Frank reads is autobiography and in the second, he lists words beginning with the letter "f." The visuals include an animated collage of photos that Frank had cut from magazines and arranged by theme. I was born the year this came out, but the soundtrack reminds me of Radiohead's "Fitter Happier".

From Wikipedia: ."The movie won the 1974 Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Animated Films. In 1996, Frank Film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant'."

Labels: Experimental, Film Short, Flashback Friday

A fun video with vector silhouettes of superheros with love and music guns. I love the video. It's so fun and stylish.


Ladybug - The Presidents Of The USA from Moog on Vimeo.

Labels: Music Video

I'm really suprised I hadn't put this one up earlier since it came out in May of 2008. Wale, pronounced Wah-lay, is a Washington D.C. based hip hop artist that I really dig. The video is chock full of big effects, and a couple of smoke effecte that looks like a Trapcode Particular presets. The video mixes hundreds of styles and gives a tribute to the Gnarl's Barkley Crazy video and of course, Justice, who is heavily sampled in the song.



I know I put the original Justice D.A.N.C.E. video up here which is A.W.E.S.O.M.E. so I'll put it up again. Directed by Jonas & Francois.

Labels: Music Video

This short film by Eric Lerner uses some beautiful pink and gray smoke/particle effects near the end, tracked to the actor. It looks not quite real, but surreal. The video is beautifully shot. (Warning, loads of naughty words toward the end as well, subtitled, not spoken.)

If you're not familiar with Sigur Ros, they're a group from Iceland that I would categorize as experimental indie rock. Much of their music is really mellow.


[][][][] / "Sigur ros - Gong" / Eric Lerner from Eric Lerner on Vimeo.

Labels: Film Short, Music Video

A really fantastic animated Russian pop video made with old postcards of Vladivostok. I really like the song, as well.


Oleg Chubykin - "The Tourist" ("The Tourist" , 2007) from Chubykin on Vimeo.

Labels: 2D, Music Video

Directed by OneInThree uses the Droste Effect, a la MC Escher. It's a super cool effect but it did make me a little dizzy. A bit of variety thrown in would've improved the trip for me.


Wild Beasts - Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants. Dir: OneInThree from OneInThree on Vimeo.

Here's the Droste "Clap Your Brains Off" video from the Mexican band, Somos Machos, which uses the same mathmatical effect. I do like this video a bit better than the first (and the song for that matter).


"Clap Your Brains Off" Mexican Droste Videoclip from Frank Beltrán on Vimeo.

And here's the Making of Droste "Clap Your Brains Off" video, with an explanation of the effect. It's like string theory to me. My mind goes numb after 8.2 seconds. Some of the explanation is in Spanish, so it helps if you habla Espanol.


Making of Droste Videoclip "Clap your brains off" from Frank Beltrán on Vimeo.

Via AE Portal News

Labels: Experimental, Music Video

I loved Clash of the Titans as a kid. I love the non-CGI Pegasus, the mechanical owl, and the Kraken monster. Harry Hamlin was looking pretty good as Perseus too (his eyebrows hadn't come in all the way yet, I guess!)

As the final work of effects legend Ray Harryhausen, the Medusa head is especially fantastic, with it's intricate clay snakes and glowing eyes in this clip. The full film is on YouTube and I consider it a must-see film. I hear that there's a remake in the works. Not surprised. I'm sure they'll make the film with Attack of the Clones style CGI.

Labels: Flashback Friday, Stop Motion

After watching this, I am really not sure what exactly Autofuss is, but it appears to be a studio in San Francisco. This piece is just lovely. I love the effects in the last 10 seconds. Gorgeous work.


Katelyn from autofuss on Vimeo.

Labels: Commercial, Film Short

The Watchmen is the most impressive trailer I've seen here (posted at Toolfarm earlier today), but here are a few others coming out in 2009 with loads of effects.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Fantastic effects. Each HP movie gets a bit darker.

2012

The world is coming to an end in 2012. Everybody panic! Look at those water effects in the Himalayas, though. Impressive.

Terminator: Salvation

The 4th installment of the Terminator series. I think this is the third John Connor they've had. Did they use Digieffects Damage on the trailer? If not, It looks like they did.

Labels: Movie Trailer

I'm a huge fan of the Raconteurs and Jack White, in particular. This is a fantastic new tune! The video is pretty swell too. Directed by Autumn de Wilde and edited by Miky Wolf, the band is playing in the woods amongst an array of mirrors. This seems rather low tech and simple, but man, it must have been tough to light and keep the gear out of the mirrors. Maybe they ended up painting out crew and equipment. I have no idea, but its cool.


Old Enough from Miky Wolf on Vimeo.

Labels: Music Video

I saw Kanye West at Lollapalooza, missing Nine Inch Nails on the off chance that Obama was going to show up an announce his fellow Chicagoan. Well, it didn't happen and I am really not a Kanye fan, although, he is growing on me. I did have a good time and I've seen NIN twice before, so I was going for something new.

Anyway, here's a crazy new video for the song Heartless, which I read was painstakingly rotoscoped by 65 animators in Japan. Wow, he could've used Red Giant ToonIt and a greenscreen and saved 64 animators a lot of work :-) The video is kind of cool though.

If you love the song, Kanye is giving away free mp3s at his site.


Heartless from kwest on Vimeo.

Labels: Music Video

The new Watchman trailer literally went up on YouTube 3 minutes ago. This looks like a visual effects extravaganza.

Labels: Movie Trailer

Fun text animations and CGI for the new Dreamworks film Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Big and Chunky Video


My friend Dru Nget worked on the video, but didn't mention that part to me for quite a while! Here is the press release about the project.

(November 18, 2008; Los Angeles) Entertainment design and branding studio, Shine, has conceived, designed and produced two music videos for Dreamworks Animation's new film, "Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa". The music videos were created for use on MTV.com, Nickelodeon, and as bonus features with the movie's soundtrack which was released by Interscope Records. They are also being used as viral marketing videos online.

The video ideas were conceived by Shine. The character animation was created by the in-house team of animators at Dreamworks Animation, and were used throughout each piece. Shine edited the characters together, created custom graphic animated environments and backgrounds, and integrated it all together to make original music videos for each featured song. The songs were written and performed by the Interscope Records artist Will.i.Am.

ABOUT SHINE. Shine is a creative design and production studio specializing in branding and storytelling for the entertainment and advertising industries. With its roots planted in Hollywood, Shine's team leverages its conceptual thinking and deep experience in branding, advertising and design to help some of the biggest names in the entertainment and advertising worlds communicate their message. Shine's mission is to fuse striking conceptual thinking with the cutting edge crafts of full-motion electronic media in an effort to distinguish brands, personalities, stories and experience.

music artist: Will.i.am
client: DreamWorks Animation
Paramount Pictures
Interscope Records
Shine credits:
Creative Director; Michael Riley
Executive Producer; Bob Swensen
Editor; Adam Bluming
Designer / Animator; Dru Nget
Designer / Animator; Zee Nederlander
Designer / Animator; Ara Devejian
Designer / Animator; Larry Duenas
Designer / Animator; Mike Cahill
Designer / Animator; Link Huang

Labels: Character Animation, Music Video, Typography

I really don't understand this commercial, but its fun to watch. Is this really all roto'd? I would have shot it all on greenscreen. The music is "Air War" by the group Crystal Castles. Thanks for the link, Ko!

Labels: Commercial

Dark and hauntingly beautiful work from Benjamin Chauvet of Avignon, France.

Labels: 2D, Film Short

This can be my next computer! I don't think I'd like wearing those little gloves though. Would working like this slow you down or speed you up? Peter Kim has a nice write-up about the technology on Create Digital Motion.


g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.

Labels: Technology

We had HBO growing up and I remember how exciting it was when this animation played... the movie was starting! Of course, I was probably watching Grease 2 for the 22nd time, or Poltergeist, which I saw over and over again, but those little Mr. Roger's Neighborhood cars and street scene and that 3D logo still trigger some excitement!

Labels: Flashback Friday

King and Country directed and animated this self-promotional short; "”The Ride”; loosely follows the journey of an idea from it’s rough beginnings, through a perilous course, until it finally takes off into the world."

Labels: 3D, Demo Reel

Beautiful hand drawn filigrees and lots of 3D movement, combined with treated video. How many layers could they have used?

Labels: Music Video

Interesting text animation/subtitling. Ken Broomfield posted this one to the AE-List. He recommends ignoring the substance and just looking at the design :-)

Labels: Titles

A gorgeous black and white video for the new Oasis song, I'm Outta Time, featuring lots of cgi wild animals. I love the mood and the enormous moon. The song is very Beatlesque (yes, like a lot of Oasis tunes) and the new album comes out December 1, 2009.

Oasis - I'm Outta Time

Labels: Music Video

This Steve Barron directed video was the one of the first music videos to use CGI and was considered groundbreaking at the time. According to Wikipedia "Ian Pearson and Gavin Blair created the animation, using a Bosch FGS-4000 CGI system. The animators went on to found computer animation studio Mainframe Entertainment (today Rainmaker Animation), and referenced the "Money for Nothing" video in an episode of their ReBoot series. The video also included stage footage of Dire Straits performing, with partially rotoscoped-animation in bright neon colors, as seen on the record sleeve."

It's been a very long time since I've seen this video. It's nostalgic, to say the least. This was the 1996 "Video of the Year" at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Labels: Flashback Friday, Music Video

Trippy distortion and color effects. Sort of reminds me of either an Iron Butterfly video or public access.

Labels: Music Video

In case you missed it, check out CNN's Hologram effect they launched for the Election Day coverage. Jessica Yellin explains how it works. It's pretty cool. I was reading that the military has been using this technology for a few years. "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi...." Read: Forget The Magic Wall. CNN Now Has Holograms at Tech Crunch.

Labels: Technology

Now THAT is some incredible editing!

Labels: Experimental

Hand drawn machines and conveyor belts move the fishy nuggets to the city while little monsters suckle their mother and then blow her up. There are dancing teeth and bleeding cats too. Yes, this is one interesting video.

Labels: Music Video

I remember seeing this trailer on tv a couple of months ago but it seems like the film came and went from the theatre pretty quickly. Was it terrible? It doesn't look half bad from the trailer and there are some really cool visual effects with the mirrors and other reflections. A good one to finish up Halloween weekend.

Labels: Movie Trailer