I’m completely biased, as the animator who made the film above is a friend of mine, but I love this submission for The International Douglas Adams Animation Competition, which challenges creative types to produce an animation to accompany a lovely audio recording of sci fi writer and Hitchhiker’s Guide creator, the late Douglas Adams, talking in 1993 about the evolution of the book from rock to silicone. Judges include the imperious Stephen Fry; winners are announced on Friday.
Stories, moments, people and ideas of interest from within the worlds of innovation and design, spotted and written about by Helen Walters, writer and researcher at Doblin, a member of Monitor Group. Attitude, errors and opinions all the writer's own.
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May 21, 2012
February 9, 2012
How amazing is this? Greek multimedia artist, Petros Vrellis converts Vincent van Gogh’s “Starry Night” into a swirl of animation and interactivity. The music and the movement are perfectly matched to the spirit of the original painting. As Local Projects principal Jake Barton wrote of the project, it’s “a startling flow of lines, color, sound and interactivity.” Wonderful.
January 20, 2012
End of the week treat… A charming homage to the wonder of the book. Enjoy!
[Video via Andrew Blau.]
September 28, 2011
Shared mainly in the name of celebrating animated creativity (I co-authored a book about experimental animation once, and it’s still a topic that’s dear to my heart) and in the name of celebrating old friends, here’s the latest video from British electronic musicians, Plaid. This video, for track At Last, was created by Set in Sand of Abandonbuilding Pictures, with illustrations by Thedreambox.
September 15, 2011
“Big Bang Big Boom” is “a short unscientific story about evolution and his consequences” by the Italian street artist, Blu. It’s also the most incredible thing I’ve seen in an age. Breathtaking. Holy wow.
(Video via Sean Rocha.)
August 31, 2011
Overlooking the fact that even if we could go back to the start, we probably wouldn’t really want to (it’s not modernity that’s the problem, it’s how we’ve chosen to use it) this is a beautiful piece of animation by Johnny Kelly, and an amazing cover of a Coldplay song by country legend, Willie Nelson. And, yes, it’s also a check in the sustainable cred (ad) box for fast food restaurant, Chipotle.
(Video via Scott Crawford.)
July 12, 2011
You can see the more polished trailer for upcoming animation feature Henry Waltz, along with its faked approval green screen. (“The Limeligt Motion Picture Assosiation?” I don’t think so.) But even more than the finished thing, I loved this behind-the-scenes look at how the animation is being made. The creator, Emil Goodman, who’s based in Hungary, describes: “In this footage I captured my body-motions with a really cheap home-made motion capture system, and that’s how I move the flying vehicle’s wings. The green-screen footage was captured with a little compact camera in 720p. I have a beauty-dish on my head :) That’s my hat :)” The results are testament to what’s possible when you combine commonly available technology and tools with a large helping of creativity and imagination.
(Video via Geoff Manaugh.)
June 26, 2011
A joyful celebration of creativity and the wonders of post-production in this glorious music video for the track Be Africa, by Bibi Tanga and the Selenites, where the singer is both a lifesize Bunraku puppet and the visuals form an extravagant homage to tribal African masks. Directed by French animation duo, Soandsau.
(Video via Mara Carlyle.)
