Toolfarm Inspirations Archive

Directed by Alexandre Moors and Jessica Brillhart. Here are some excerpts of an interview the directors did for Flavorwire.

Flavorwire: Tell us about the concept behind the video. It has some echoes of Sin City/The Spirit - was that intentional?

Alexandre Moors: Kind of. The label definitely referred to it at the beginning. They liked the black-and-white urban animated style that would fit within the Crystal Method album aesthetic. But, from the beginning, we aimed at taking it somewhere fresh and unique.

Flavorwire: What was the process involved in creating the animated world?

AM: The video came out of the UVPHACTORY studio, and that's kind of what we do there, mixing live-action, 2D animation, and 3D elements - merging all these different components into one world. The trick is to make it seamless. In that way, I particularly appreciate how the live-action (Matisyahu) works within the graphics. He really blends it together and creates this iconic presence.

Jessica Brillhart: Yeah, it was a definitely collaborative effort. Alex and I came up with the groundwork, and then our team of 2D/3D animators and designers took it from there, with us pointing annoyingly at their screens, spewing whatever we thought worked or didn't. I suppose that's an obvious part of the process.

The Crystal Method - Drown In The Now from IgnitionVM on Vimeo.

The Crystal Method's new video, Drown In The Now (featuring Matisyahu) from the May 2009 release, Divided By Night.

Labels: Interview, Music Video

A bit reminiscent of the IKEA scene in Trainspotting, this video has some great tracking and just looks really slick. Directed by Howard Greenhalgh. I saw them in 1998 or so in Chicago and they opened for some band. I really can't remember the headliner. We left about 3 songs in, as I came to see Placebo.

Placebo - For What It's Worth from Placebo on Vimeo.

Labels: Music Video

Besides being a fantastically catchy tune, this has some fun 80's style motion graphics which seem like something the Go-Go's might have in a music video. I love the color scheme and the newsprint type dots are great over the green screen footage. This video moves!

Labels: Music Video

If you have a "computer graveyard" in your post house or studio where your old equipment goes to die, this may be of some inspiration to you. I'm looking at mine now, expecting them to wake up suddenly and start playing Symphony No. 9. It's a bit disturbing actually.



"What you see is what you hear (does that even make sense?) Atari 800XL was used for the lead piano/organ sound, Texas Instruments TI-99/4a as lead guitar, 8 Inch Floppy Disk as Bass, 3.5 inch Harddrive as the gong, HP ScanJet 3C was used for all vocals."

Labels: Bizarre, Experimental, Film Short, Flashback Friday, Music Video, Technology

Fun stop-motion animation assembled on a gym floor. Visit the film's site to view the making of, complete with set and animation tests. Created by Blink Productions.

Labels: 2D, Experimental, Film Short, Stop Motion

For the first time, the Cannes Film Festival will be opening tonight with a 3-D animation; Disney/Pixar’s "Up" has been chosen this year. While several animated films have been chosen in the past, Up is the first one to have the honor of opening night. View the full theatrical trailer.



Up will be released on May 29th.

Labels: 3D, Cannes, Character Animation, Film, Movie Trailer, Technology

I know it's been out for awhile, but I saw this a few nights ago and was really impressed- just gorgeous CG work by 1stAveMachine. Their site is worth a look, the homepage features an interesting folded cardboard and cell animation "Unbox the Box" for Audi.

Labels: 3D, Commercial, Experimental, Technology, Website

This is more like a film short than a commercial. I mean, we really need smell-o-vision for perfume ads anyway, right?

I just love the shot with the light coming through the train window with the Chanel bottle reflection casting on the wall. I do love Audrey Tautou.



If you're curious, here's a Making of...

Labels: Commercial

Shot In The Back Of The Head from Moby on Vimeo.

Video by David Lynch, music by Moby. So yeah, it’s going to be weird, but how interesting is that combination??? Creepy hand-drawn animations with disembodied heads to a track from Moby’s upcoming album, "Wait For Me".

Labels: 2D, Bizarre, Character Animation, Experimental, Music Video

I love the static watercolor textures in this animation....

Bryum & Kapok 03: A Lilt from Overture on Vimeo.

Part three of a series. Check out Overture's site for details, the full story, and to see more lovely work.

Labels: 2D, Bizarre, Character Animation, Experimental, Film Short, Music Video, Website

Creepy clowns and cops have it out in this short film from Adam Berg. The film was made to promote the new Philips Cinema 21:9 LCD TV. According to one of the comments (unedited, obviously):

All of the people were posing, trying to stay still. In post-processing they edited to make them perfectly motionless. All the explosions, glass, bullets and crazy stuff was computer generated. The camera was on a dolly, but the tracks were edited out in post.

Thanks Matt Schirado for the link!

Labels: Commercial, Film Short