over the weekend i attended the opening night of animation block party. watching animation and relaxing outside on the lawn of a high school in brooklyn – we know how to get down! most of the shorts in the mix were new to me such as this, this and this. great films and a really great night! and i finally had a chance to catch a new short by one of the ladies of animation, leah shore.
“for more than 20 years charles manson has refused to communicate with the outside world… until now. these are the actual never before heard phone conversations between canadian best selling author marlin marynick and charles manson.”
yes please! from there the film drops and you fall down the manson hole. it get’s outta hand, and purges energy that jumps off the screen and juggles with your brain. leah broke out the metal!
Jessica Polaniecki and Signe Baumane dreamed up this ladies of animation dinner party. “Sometimes the animation scene in NY can feel a bit like a boys club and it would be fun to see what happens when we remove the boys.”
Here’s what happens – potluck meal/rooftop drinks/scary stories.
Our small community of lovely artists each brought a yummy dish to the gathering at Signe’s studio. I made this with this.
We drank cold wine on the roof until the rain came, then cozied up in a circle telling creepshow scary stories that somehow all started with “…On a night, just like tonight…”
OMGCHILLS.
Aaand I took this picture. So I definitely photoshopped myself into the group shot. You’d never notice! Probably shouldn’t have said anything, but I’m too proud of my skills.}
Anyway, ladies. Thanks so much for making this happen. It was pretty nice seeing all of you outside the usual film screening or birthday thing. This was great, we should do this again sometime!
Maybe! This is an oddball opportunity to feature an unusual, dainty + ornamental piece of delicate workmanship.
Reel 13 is hosting another competition of 3 short films and this week, it includes “Down to the Bone” by Peter Ahern!
“PBS is giving us a chance to vote on airing a cartoon featuring an inside-out kid, comedic blood splatters and pseudo-sexual cat licking! Yay!” ~Peter
I have to say I’ve chosen very intriguing stills. Oh yah!
Do you want to see “Down to the Bone” on TV?!
It’s your call, darlings! Polls close this Wednesday, 4/4/12 @ 5pm. The film with the most votes will air on their tv channel this Saturday night!
The hamster is crushing on a red headed school teacher (meow!) and rescues her from evil demons, obviously. And the music by Colin Huggins kicks surfer butt.
It’s up for Best Short on Reel 13. So if you enjoyed the light comedy + epic adventure of this video, it’d be so weird if you didn’t vote. Voting ends for this week on Wednesday at 5PM. Holy sh*t it’s Tuesday. There’s still time!
I’m excited to discover this contest and might even submit my own if the mood strikes. Everyone should! Here’s some motivation — the winner receives $250 and is broadcast on Reel 13 Saturday night on THIRTEEN. On television.
DOWN TO THE BONE is one of our favorite short films and it is available online today!
This is the work of our friend, animator Peter Ahern. It was his senior thesis film at Pratt, made in 2009.
Synopsis!
Little Michael has vicious allergies, and when babysitter Meredith arrives for a night of no-nonsense, he’s swiftly dispatched to the yard…where his delicate condition takes a turn for the worse.
Here’s a cool little clip from SXSW 2010, where Peter gives some insight into the film during a post-screening interview
Head over to the Peter’s blog, Optic Candy, to read more.
I should have known better when Patrick showed me this video and asked, “video or CGI?” I was convinced it was live action until the fruit breaks when it crashes down onto the countertop, where I assumed the artist digitally added the special FX.
“Silestone Above Everything Else”
Everything is CGI, the backgrounds, light, everything. The talent is Alex Roman.
*His real name is Jorge Seva, but he uses Roman as an artistic alias for indie work, like Tyler Durden.
Production time – 10 weeks with his evil genius sidekick Juan Ángel García Martinez.
Some critics say it’s more to do with computer power than any new skills, but I’ll have to respectfully disagree. We know that oil paint is a medium that allows us to create photo realistic works of art on canvas but I would say that the ability to do that is more about artistic talent than the paint itself. Interestingly enough, Roman was trained as a traditional painter in school and just picked up architectural visualization because he’s just THAT good.
And what is important to remember with this commercial spot is that it was done by a super team of two people, where most photo-real CGI is done by teams 10 times that size.
If you have a few minutes to spare, watch Roman’s film Third and Seventh, which he directed, animated and orchestrated the music himself last year.
And now a short clip from Pixar’s “Day & Night” by Teddy Newton.
I’m going to make a bold statement and say that this is by far the best Pixar short yet. I have a sweet spot for traditional animation, and here they have blended both 2D and 3D styles so well. The 2D characters are silhouettes while the 3D worlds inside of them make up their actual characteristics – one being Day and the other Night.
The sound effects are done in a very clever way. Different sounds of nature represent the characters emotions / actions – when Day falls, there is a sound of a tree falling; when Night laughs, it’s the sounds of little (adorable!) ducks quacking.
I have been a fan of Teddy Newton’s style ever since I was shown his concept and design work, particularly for The Incredibles.
It’s just so wonderfully crafty. I believe that the pattern on Edna’s dress is houndstooth. How fab.
I tried to bake a cake for my fiancé’s birthday. The recipe was called “The World’s Best Carrot Cake” so you can imagine the pressure I was under. The cake exploded, overflowing all over the oven. The top part had cooked but the center was complete mush-blob after 40 minutes of baking. I had to cut the top layer off, bake it FOREVER but yada, yada, yada it ended up being “The Word’s Best Disaster of a Carrot Cake.”
I once had a similar episode when making pesto from scratch. My experiences in the kitchen can best be expressed in this Ralph Steadman print. (Some of you may already be aware of my love for Ralph Steadman.)
Steadman: ‘I was never much of a cook and I admire people who can knock up a delicious meal from practically nothing. I think this print is testimony to the relationship between me and food around the place [...] Something unthinkable would ensue and I guess this is a fair reflection of the predicament I imagine would result from my uneasy experience!’
I’m with you, Ralph.
-Noelle
Click here to view the trailer of the film with commentary. If this doesn’t make you want to finally watch it, or watch it again for the hundredth time, I just don’t know what will.
