» I, pet goat II by Heliofant

It's name comes from the short story George W. Bush was reading along, on the morning of September 11 of 2001, with a group of schoolchildren at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota County, Florida. "The Pet Goat" from the book Reading Mastery II: Storybook 1 by Siegfried Engelmann and Elaine C. Bruner. 

This great short film is a "surreal" symbol orchestra on today's human condition. It’s packed with symbols of spiritual, philosophical and conspiracy matters remixed with our recent history and culture. The story is less of a narrative and more like an interpretive dance on America’s war on terror, religious fundamentalism, militarism, totalitarianism, deceitful media, exploitation, etc. If you are interested in a brief description of some characters you can visit the gallery section in Heliofant's site. 

Motion capture was used for about half the animation adding a much needed real touch to the surrealism and it's theatrical staging.

Heliofant is a new animation studio based in Montreal.

"HELIOFANT IS A NASCENT INDEPENDENT COMPUTER ANIMATION STUDIO FOCUSED ON CREATING EXPERIMENTAL AND CHALLENGING CONTENT. BRINGING TOGETHER ARTISTS FROM THE FIELDS OF DANCE, MUSIC, COMPUTER ANIMATION AND VISUAL ARTS, THE COMPANY IS VERY INTERESTED IN EXPLORING THE COMMON GROUND THAT UNDERLIES MANY SPIRITUAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITIONS IN A LYRICAL FORM."

The great driving score was created by Tanuki Project.

» Cultural democracy or mediocrity? PressPausePlay Full Movie Online

In February I posted this:

"PressPausePlay, a film about fear, hope and digital culture". The digital revolution of the last decade has unleashed creativity and talent of people in an unprecedented way, unleashing unlimited creative opportunities. But does democratized culture mean better art, film, music and literature or is true talent instead flooded and drowned in the vast digital ocean of mass culture? Is it cultural democracy or mediocrity? This is the question addressed by PressPausePlay, a documentary film containing interviews with influential creators of the digital era. To name a few interviewees, Ted Schilowitz, founder, Red Digital Cinema Camera Company, Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster, Scott Belsky, CEO & founder, Behance. The film was shot globally between August 2009 – January 2011, covering more than 150 hours of interview footage with international creatives and thinkers - representing the state of digitized culture today.

Now it's out, you can download it from their website, full HD.

» Against All Odds, Gettin Tail

Tolle PSA für AIDES ("First French association against HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis") commissioned this spot to Stockholm based directors Against All Odds. It maintains the serial-sex theme of previous virals but veers away from stylized 3D in favor of an early Ub Iwerks style.

Music: "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.

» Martin Allais, Pilot Evolution

I tried to find more info about Martin Allais but there is no much data about him in his site or in the web, it's not clear if he is from Spain or Venezuela, or where did he study, but he is definitely a good director. He is represented by Boolab. 

This is a campaign promoting Pilot brand’s latest models, the Frixion, whose main feature is that it lets you both write and erase.

» Xaver Xylophon and Laura Junger, Joy Of Destruction

"Joy Of Destruction" it's a film about the human drive to destroy and the entertaining value that's attached to it. It was made using paper collages and stop motion.
Xaver Xylophon, 25, studied Visual Comunication at KHB Berlin Weißensee, he did a 10 week internship at Foreign Office, one of my favorite studios. Now he is releasing this great piece with Laura Junger, 25, a  bachelor from La Cambre in Brussels, a visual arts school.

» ScanLAB

The Bartlett School of Architecture runs ScanLAB, a series of research projects exploring 3D scanning in architecture and design. This projects are run by Matthew Shaw and William Trossell, in 2010, they produced 64 scans of the Bartlett Summer Show 2010 using a Faro Photon 120 laser scanner. These have been compiled to form a complete 3D replica of the temporary show which has been compiled into a navigable animation and a series of architectural drawings. These drawings represent the closest record of the exhibition. The process of 3D scanning captures full color spatial data of the models, drawings and exhibition spaces and allows them to be revisited long after the show has finished.

» The Animation Workshop, Mighty Antlers

Mighty Antlers is a bachelor film project from The Animation Workshop, a school in Denmark, with strong reputation due to the top education they provide for the international industry. This short film was created by Sune Reinhardt, Mikael Ilnæs, Michael L. Fonsholt and Jouko Keskitalo. The story is great and the images are carefully treated; lighting, textures, characters, animation, environment, etc., are all packed and styled together, awesome job from this students. There is a making off here.

» Field, Muse

Field is a studio for digital art and graphic design based in London. Led by Marcus Wendt and Vera-Maria Glahn. Their projects take shape in illustration and animation, interactive installations and realtime generative visuals. Field has created work for global brands and cultural institutions, while their experimental films and installations have been shown at festivals and galleries around Europe and in the U.S. This experimental short film, "Muse", was commissioned by Netfilmmakers gallery. Their concept is based on how inspiration is now digitally delivered or acquired by taking a deep breath under the vast digital ocean of data and information, at least is what I understood, and that it's know a whole different process to filter such data and reflect its input. Beautifully done. Soundtrack by David Kamp. Chect out this other video in which they used mocap to create a digital choreography here, making of here.

» CRCR

This video named "Todor & Petru" is the unofficial music video for The Thunderclaps "Judgment Day". It was made by Gobelins students Remi Bastie, Nicolas Dehghani, Jonathan Djob Nkondo, Nicolas Pegon and Jérémy Pires during an internship at Paris based WIZZ. They are known as CRCR, it's not clear if they are some kind of collective or studio but together they also created the "Jesus2000" animation 2 years ago, and the opening for the 2010 Annecy animation festival named "Junkspace". I was quite impressed with the combination of drawn animation and live action. It was done in such a way so that the piece has a cinematic style while retaining the organic and expressive qualities of drawn animation. It’s a worthwhile combo experiment. 

» NOVA documentary, 75min online premiere

A documentary film on new art and the young artists behind it. Directed by Isaac Niemand, and produced by Rojo, an independent creative organization, founded in 2001 by David Quiles Guilló, in collaboration with BossaNovaFilms, it was all filmed at Nova Contemporary Culture which happened in July and August 2010, in MIS-Museum of Image and Sound, and SESC Pompeia, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Starring: Yoshi Sodeoka, Rebecca Ward, Tofer Chin, KRINK, Base V, Yochai Matos, Max Hattler, Lucy McRae, Kit Webster, Jimmy Joe Roche, Flavio Samelo, Matt W Moore, Zeitguised, Mulheres Barbadas, Gustavo Gagliardo aka Defi, Filippo Minelli, Quayola, Javier Longobardo, Renaud Hallée, Mark Jenkins, Ljudbilden & Piloten, Sosaku Miyazaki, Anna Taratiel aka Ovni, Robert Seidel, B. Fleischmann, Koen Delaere, Taras Hrabowsky, Cristopher Cichocki, Yusk Imai, to name a few.

Music by: Bradien, Roll The Dice, Fuck Buttons, to name some.

» Petra Mrzyk & Jean-François Moriceau

Working collaboratively since 1998, France based artists, designers and animators, Petra Mrzyk & Jean-François Moriceau are known for their detailed black and white ink drawings, their work surrounds the absurd, humorous, and even the perverse. With an ironic connection to commercial stuff, comics, and design, they have created their own vision on the contemporary visual culture. In their work, anything is possible and the surreal is their emblem. The have exhibit their work in several solo and collective shows around the world. You can watch some of their art works here. This is their latest music video, Sebastien Tellier´s "Look" clip, it's been a while since this but in case you haven't watched it or haven't heard about them I decided to make this post. I also recommend to watch Air's "Sing Sang Sung" and "don't be light" clips, some clever and detailed pieces. They also created this iphone app in collaboration with Sam Vermette for Recordmakers anniversary, it's free and it's fun.

» The Thomas Beale Cipher by Andrew S. Allen

I watched this film a couple of months ago and I wanted post it immediately but I waited and researched more about the story behind it. The story says that a group of men came across with a treasure while on expedition in New Mexico, and they buried it in Virginia. One of them, named Thomas Beale, left three cipher texts with a friend, who forgets about it for more than 20 years. One day realizing that Thomas is not coming back, he opens the box and tries to solve the ciphers. Being unable to, he passes along the texts to a friend, James Beverly Ward, who cracks one of the three ciphers, but not the one that actually gives the precise location of the treasure. More than a hundred years go by, and no one had been able to solve the remaining two ciphers texts, if it exists, may still be out there, buried in Virginia. Everything now known about the Beale Cipher is based on a single text, published by Ward and submitted to the Library of Congress in 1885. The first cipher text allegedly describes the location of the treasure. The second text, the only one deciphered, explains what the treasure is, and the third supposedly details the names of the people that should get the treasure. Some people say that it´s all a hoax perpetrated by Ward, but the tale of the Beale ciphers, as I found on the web, continues to intrigue codebreakers and treasure hunters. Also, there is a Cheyenne legend dating from around 1820 which tells of gold and silver being taken from the West and buried in Eastern Mountains.

About Andrew S. Allen and the film aesthetics, he has embedded ciphers of his own in the film, there are 16 hidden messages, that´s kind of a interesting thing to do if you are already immerse in this story of mystery and riddles. He used a combination of old school hand drawn design and rotoscoping with fabric and paper textures. The look is simple and elegant, perfect for the story, it won numerous film festival awards. Check out the website here.

» Kim Holm, Matta - Release The Freq

This is the official video for ¨Release The Freq" by Matta, from the album "Prototype" under AD Noiseam label. Kim Holm did direction, design, cinematography, editing, 3D and animation, pretty much everything. He created a poetic and  dreamy look, some great images, very beautiful to watch, unfortunately I had to watch it on mute.

» Butterflies feat. John Malkovich, Gentleman Scholar and Sandro Miller

Sandro Miller directed his friend John Malcovich in this kind nigthmare-ish dark piece. He is an award winning photographer that has been in the business for over 30 years and has numerous big campaigns under his arm. He collaborated with Gentleman Scholar, a collaboration between veteran Executive Producer, Rob Sanborn and Director/Designer Duo, William Campbell and Will Johnson. This is what Gentleman Scholar has to say: "I have this idea in my mind for a painting about butterflies. Blue and green and yellow butterflies, tumbling out of my brain. I think it’s going to be good. I feel like I can almost touch them... like they’re right there for me to grab as they’re flying away... out of my skull and taking all those dark thoughts and little devils with them. Just fluttering away and leaving the good stuff behind. Butterflies. I’m going to get my canvas and my paints. I think I’m all better. I think I’m ready to leave."

» Cultural democracy or mediocrity? PressPausePlay Trailer

"PressPausePlay, a film about fear, hope and digital culture". The digital revolution of the last decade has unleashed creativity and talent of people in an unprecedented way, unleashing unlimited creative opportunities. But does democratized culture mean better art, film, music and literature or is true talent instead flooded and drowned in the vast digital ocean of mass culture? Is it cultural democracy or mediocrity? This is the question addressed by PressPausePlay, a documentary film containing interviews with influential creators of the digital era. To name a few interviewees, Ted Schilowitz, founder, Red Digital Cinema Camera Company, Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster, Scott Belsky, CEO & founder, Behance. The film was shot globally between August 2009 – January 2011, covering more than 150 hours of interview footage with international creatives and thinkers - representing the state of digitized culture today.

» Quayola

Davide Quagliola aka Quayola is an italian artist based in London, there is no much info out there about where he studied, or how does he became an artist. I've been watching his work for a long time and I've seen him grow as an artist taking giant steps forward over the years, he is been in several festivals and expositions all over the world, and he constantly collaborates with a diverse range of musicians, animators, computer programmers and architects, focusing on multiple disciplines, video, audio, photography, installation, live performance and print, he has created a great collection of diverse pieces. This excerpt, of the works named "Topologies", has an iconic painting from the Prado Museum’s collection, "L’ Immacolata Concezione" of Tiepolo as subject. Following the rules behind their visual composition and colors, the painting has been transformed into digital fabrications through the use of custom software. Some photos of the installation at BFI gallery in London here.

» Robert Seidel

Robert Seidel (1977) began studying biology at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and finished his media design diploma at the Bauhaus University. His films have been shown in a museal context, as well as over 250 festivals, galleries, magazines, books and TV programmes worldwide. In his films Seidel is interested in pushing the boundaries of organic beauty and their emotional perception with visual and scientific technology. By layering different structural, spatial and temporal concepts organically he creates a slowly evolving complexity. Watch Futures, _grau, E3, and all his vimeo page if you have the time. Recently he began to expand his experimental films to an architectural canvas. As one example he turned a natural history museum (Phyletic Museum, Jena, Germany) into a “breathing creature” with a combination film projection, synched light choreography and a dramatic soundtrack he created a gigantic virtual sculpture (100x125x80 meters) for the Art Center Nabi (Seoul, South Korea). Besides his personal art he works as a director, curator and journalist. For his Zero 7 music video he was chosen as one of "30 directors to watch" by Canada's leading commercial production magazine "boards".

» Shyscapes

Misha Shyukin created this shortfilm as his graduation project at FH Aachen University (Germany). He asks to watch his "short-art-movie-video-thingy" with your eyes half closed. The great soundtrack is "Tristana" by Nils Frahm.

» Surface Detail, Tom Beddard

Tom Beddard was born in London in 1976, he currently lives in Edinburgh working at 55degrees, a company specialized in interactive museum exhibits, video production and enterprise level systems integrations. This genius has a PhD on laser physics and a fascination with aesthetics of detail and complexity result of simple mathematical or algorithmic processes. He says his creative process is writing his own software and scripts to explore the resulting output in an interactive manner. He wrote a couple of Adobe Pixel Bender plugins to work with After effects and Photoshop to do this kind of 3d fractals, he has released 3d Mandelbulb Ray Tracer in his website, he says Mandelbulbs are a new class of 3d Mandelbrot fractals, "Unlike many other 3d fractals, the Mandelbulb continue to reveals finer details the closer you look." This Mandelbulb plugin is not compared with the quality and aesthetics you see in this piece, but his blog news says he is going to release this new plug soon! He also composed the soundtrack of this video and it's up for his fans here.
March 8, 2011 UPDATE: New Fractal Lab Web App, watch introduction video here.

» Sound of Noise, animated segment

Animated segment for the award winning feature film "Sound of Noise", directed by Ola Simonsson and Johannes Stjärne Nilsson. This piece was animated by Kristofer Ström and Martin Ottosson. This Swedish musical comedy portrays musicians as the ultimate outlaws, it's light on story but heavy on ingenuity. Despite its constant slapstick demeanor, it offers a fairly reasonable snapshot of the punkish anger that often drives experimental music. Very funny and fresh movie.