Food for thought“You will learn most things by looking,” he would say, “but reading gives understanding. Reading will make you free.”
Paul Rand, quoted by Jessica Helfand.

L'Illusionniste — the art of animation

June 12, 2010, 8:50 PM

Following the wonderful Les Triplettes des Belleville, director Sylvian Chomet comes this summer with L’Illusionniste, a feature-length animated film about an old struggling illusionist and a young girl travelling throughout Europe. The story is based on an unpublished script written by Jacques Tati in 1956 as a letter to his daughter. The main character is a modeled version of Tati himself, one of the finest French comedians (both an actor and a director). But enough with the details, have a look for yourself:

You can find out more on the wikipedia entry or on the beautifully designed official site. If your french is brushed up, you can watch this interview with Sylvian Chomet (either way, you can drool over the beautiful scenes from the movie). You could also watch La Vieille Dame Et Les Pigeons (The old Lady and The Pigeons), another short animation by the same director (be careful not to miss the other two parts).

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When’s the last time you felt something, watching a TV ad?

May 31, 2010, 10:38 PM

Funny how things go round — one year ago I saw a beautiful animation, called Father & Daughter, by Michaël Dudok de Wit. Yesterday I stumbled across a few other shorts by the same gifted author, from which I loved The Monk and The Fish. However, the following collection of TV ads really impressed me, managing to fill me with much more than indifference and nervousness, the usuals when it comes to advertising — mind you, I quit working in advertising 3 years ago and I’ve been off the TV for almost 9 years now.

I can’t really tell what makes them special — maybe it’s the beautiful watercolours, maybe it’s the music, maybe the slow pace — or maybe the credible slices of life told in less than 15 seconds. Either way, I’d sure love to see more advertising like this.

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Pivot — a thrilling noiresque animation

February 19, 2010, 1:46 PM

When a man is witness to a murder and takes pictures of the killer, he has to run for his life. During the chase he is able to turn the tables and the prey becomes the hunter. All resulting in an unfortunate ending.

Pivot from Pivot on Vimeo.

The film is designed and animated by: Kevin Megens, Floris Vos, Arno de Grijs, André Bergs

Music and sound design by Alex Debicki.

Script by Jan Eduards.

Produced by il Luster Productions.

2009

For more info visit: http://pivotthemovie.com/

/via @Research_London

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"United Snakes" — Massive Attack with UVA

November 11, 2009, 4:56 PM

Wonderful and especially thought-provoking experience brought yet again by Massive Attack and United Visual Artists:

United Snakes from United Visual Artists on Vimeo.

Can’t wait for the new Massive Attack album. Hopefully, they won’t postpone it again.

(via itsnicethat)

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Après la Pluie

August 13, 2009, 2:20 PM

Beautiful short animation, reminds me of Tekkon Kinkreet:

Après la Pluie ©2008Gobelins from Emmanuelle Walker on Vimeo.

thanks Diana

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Father & Daughter — a touching animation

June 20, 2009, 3:31 PM

Eye-watering…

It was made by Michael Dudok de Wit and won Oscar in 2001 (and several other awards). It’s a wonderful piece of art.

(via portocala mecanica)

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Le cafe — your daily shot

May 28, 2009, 1:12 PM

Superb animation for Oldelaf And Monsierur D‘s funny song about daily coffee drinking :) Enjoy:

Le café – Oldelaf et Monsieur D
by Mediamovies


(via Google)

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United Visual Artists created the Massive Attack…

December 19, 2008, 2:44 PM

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…stageset for their latest tour. UVA based their set up around a huge LCD screen, dominating the stage (unforgetable impressive, as I’ve written just after the Bucharest concert). All the animations were superbly syncronized with the music — political messages running on the screen, huge, red or white, flickering, dominating, pulsating, penetrating the wide-open eyes. The beautiful part was that, at first, I thought that the screen was similar to the one Muse brought the year before, coloured streams of light flooding the stage as the music got higher and higher. But when the light began to shape shift into letters, and then into maps, images, drops of water, I could not help but watch in awe a political–manifesto–perfectly–built show, meant to strike everyone to the core — not just a normal music concert.

I’d bet that none present there left untouched.

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You can view larger images on UVA’s page about the shows (these ones are from The Royal Festival Hall).

And if you’re wondering who the hell UVA are, I bet you’ve seen this before:
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It’s their much-awarded project “Volume“. UVA also did shows for Massive Attack before, U2 and many more, as you can see here and here.

(via fabrikproject — thanks Alin for the tip ;)

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Radiohead — 15 Steps v2.0

November 23, 2008, 4:11 PM

Eye-popping video made by Kota+Totori for Radiohead’s song. They won the first prize in an aniBooM contest (along with 3 other videos — apparently Radiohead couldn’t make up their mind which one they like best).

This one reminded me a lot of FLCL‘s wacky world, but the one thing that made me grin with admiration was the inclusion of storyboard frames into the final animation.

Enjoy:

Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at aniBoom

(via CG Soiety)

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