This piece is breathtaking. An experimental short film (for a thesis project) done by (Communication) Design and Technology grad students from Parsons School of Design (yay my ex-school!), explores the point of view from underneath the urban space we took for granted, every day. It's purely fascinating, as this short film brings a fresh point of view (pun intended?) to our daily lives in the city.
I know this is a mix of footage and animation, but I cannot help but wonder the props they used to demonstrate all the human actions happening above it. It's brilliant!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Okay, I love Justice. And this is another music related post. I'm sure we're already familiar with their DVNO videoclip, which consisted of every possible title card from 70s to the 80s on television! It's insane! The transitions are perfect from one identity to another, made to reflect the lyrics of the song. I wonder why most title card/logos back then were made on a darker background? Or am I missing something?
Tee hee. I know this animation is old, (heck, all of my motion features here are a bit dated anyway, but still interesting), but it's one of my favourite stop motion pieces. Western Spaghetti, made from your everyday objects. Very well put together and thought! I especially love the shrinking dice!!!!
But to chop off your dollar bill and throw it into the pan? Honey, that's how I roll. Except that the Washingtons belong in the toilet, and Lincolns in the kitchen. I'm a little high class that way.
In this economy crisis, I think we all should save money and begin cooking our own furniture.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
hahahaha. I cannot stop doing this. I don't, I don't. And all of these are examples we students, with no sleep, no social life and food, can achieve within a week. Okay, at least by the end of semester. It's possible. I think.
Nando Costa, I love you, you're one of the earliest modern father of motion graphics (p.o.v), and you started with slicing layers and animating piece by piece in Flash:
WHAT THE HELL. I LOVE THE LIQUID FLOW OF EACH TYPE TRANSITION!! EVERYTHING IS WAY TOO SMOOTH! HOW CAN I TOP YOU LIKE THIS??!?
....So I once knew a teacher who knows Costa. Apparently Costa is already married, so... it looks like I've to go back to the drawing board. You know, actually working hard.
God I hope all of you know who Josef Müller-Brockmann is. He was a Swiss graphic designer, famous for his grid-like, clean and very simplistic work for concert posters in the 50's. And he used my favourite typeface too! Akzidenz-Grotesk! Mother of Helvetica! His sense of style was very, well... Swiss-like. Everything is in order and within the ruler, or the grid. Even when it was tilted diagonally. He also used solid colours and basic shapes to emphasize on the meaning or information of his visuals. While my style is usually more messy, inorganized and way too... "experimental", I will always appreciate something which I find difficult to achieve. The Brockmann style.
Some of his works (to refresh your tired memory):
Remember now? No? I know, my history book is hidden somewhere in the closet too. That's why I can't really provide more information on these posters hahahahaha- ahem.
Gary Butcher, an animator from the UK took it a step further. He took Brockmann's posters apart, piece by piece, converted them into individual layers, and then animated them as smoothly as possible. The transitions from one poster to another were flawless. I absolutely enjoyed how he manage to balance the footage with type on it (very Tibor Kalman, very 90's) according to the music. So if you are thirsting for motion graphics typography for the past 4 weeks, here's something for you to drink on:
I feel like on a url!spam here. Suddenly there is a surge of sweet, motion memories returning to the small shell which I call head and I had to put everything down here before... before... before I get lazy to blog again hahaahhah
I LOVE the band M83, which proves the pinnacle of my closet hipsterhood, but their videos are always, always, always about angsty teenagers in 80's get up. This take on the video (I think m83 had a video competition for this song) was more abstract, modern and has more techno feel to it. I am stunned by the beauty (artistically and technically) of the blanket of light moving gracefully like water, but I am still trying to figure out what the hell are the swinging bulbs and the dude in black about.
Wait for the climax of this song. It was composed so beautifully, like a burst of emotions coming from a person. The visuals even nailed it!
Not much info on David Altobelli (director), or Dan Norton(animator). Altobelli's website explained little of him, perhaps he would prefer his portfolio to reflect him more than explosive Flash or crazy graphics we tend to see on designers' website (cough mine cough). I don't know how hard is to google Dan Norton without getting Ed surface from the results (you irresistable sexy beast Ed Norton you!)-
Okay, I lied. Here's Dan's website. I just needed an excuse to mention Ed anddddd Fight Club after that.
I understood the particles were generated by a plug-in (I lost count from the video) in After Effects, but it looked like there was massive rendering to do! My laptop would have melted on the 'render' button alone!!!
Listen, I've gone through particles before. I had only 3 motion graphics classes during undergrad, and wham! I had this 'brilliant' confidence to resort to that medium for my Senior Thesis. But that was 2 years ago. See my work for proof of Ummi's particle experience:
Yea, um. I hope the video shows up. Don't laugh. I've tried my hand on this, okay?
