This is the final film project for my time at Vancouver Film School’s classical animation program (class-mate with prior posted “The Bet” film-maker Miguel Otálora)
All artwork, animation and rendering was done by me (Matthew Wade) and the soundtrack was recorded and mixed by Jacob Kinch. Features the voice acting of Sara Lynch.
For the best results, I suggest people watch it with headphones on, as the sound mix is pretty sweet.
Hope you enjoy. Thanks.
The Vancouver Film School keeps harvesting unique animators with some beautiful skills, this one was created by Miguel Otálora a graphic designer from the Colombia’s Universidad Nacional and traditional animator from the Vancouver Film School.
An out of control bullet is the result of a bet in a small dive bar. The Bet is an absurd journey of blood and black humor that will end in the same place where it shouldn’t have started.
Original soundtrack by Solo Etra and sound design by Jacob Kinch.
Electro Rock meets Pinocchio. That’s how Copernicus Studios, a Canadian artist-driven animation studio, describes the latest animated video created for the Jimmy Swift Band.
The story is epic, the characters are wonderful and charismatic, the animation is meticulous and full of life, the backgrounds are wonderful. Probably the only thing I didn’t like about the video is not having seen it in full screen the first time round, so save yourself some time and put on your headphones, crank the volume up and click the full screen button before hitting play.
This is a short sketchbook-style animated film that takes a close look at people at a “La Fete Nationale” celebration in Montreal, Quebec. You can clearly see through the portrait of each ‘character’ in this animated sketch, you can almost recognize them from the times you’ve been to a public event and you even get a good feeling for what this Canadian event would be like. I watched this with fascination from beginning to end, I think the brilliance of it is that it gives away so much with very little.
The film was an independent production, directed and animated by Malcolm Sutherland with music by Kevin Kardasz, and was produced with financial assistance from The Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.
As you all know, things are really rough in Haiti right now, so animator Howie Shia and his brothers decided to use their company to do something to help aid those suffering from the earthquake. They have set up PPF Neighborhood: over 2 dozen like-minded friends in the independent arts community (both in Toronto and abroad) banding together to create a downloadable benefit compilation of music, visual art and photographs.
The project is a third party fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders and all proceeds will go to the victims of the earthquake. What we hope is that, even if you’ve given already, you’ll feel compelled to donate $5 (or more) to help us make a difference in a tragic situation. In return you will receive 14 tracks of original music and 13 works of visual art and photography, packaged neatly in a pdf booklet.
Just go to PPF Neighborhood where you can purchase the album through paypal or any major credit card.
Featuring a who’s who of award winning artists, the project brings together Juno Award Winners (and losers), Art Professors, Underground Hip Hoppers, Latin Jazzers, Pop and Electronica Darlings, as well as Vanguards of Illustration, Animation and Photography. It’s an eclectic mix of “creative” types who are trying to use what they do best to offer a helping hand.
Also, the PPF House Neighborhood will only be available until Feb. 11, 2010, the final day before the Canadian Government closes its pledge to match all private donations. So please, if you’ve got some time and spare change, check out what we’ve put together and if you like it, tell your friends, family and colleagues.
More information on the project and its contributors can be found here.
This short video was created by Yann Benedi and Celine Desrumaux, in Montreal (November 2009), for the event Challenge your world 20/20, a partnership between Challenge Your World and Motionographer. 20 video artists create 20 wild, whimsical, and unconventional machines that solve environmental issues. If we’re going to transform the world we have to push ourselves to think differently.
This fantastically quirky and charismatic animation took three weeks to produce with a mix of 3d and 2d. Jean-Francois Leroux was in charge of the sound design. The directors say: “Through this video, we wanted to show that a simple daily object can have disastrous damage if we don’t care about it. We are telling the story of a Blue Planet, the last meeting of the inhabitants to try to save the planet. Unfortunately they aren’t focused on the real problem, which will doomed them. But it’s not too late for us…”
One of the most fascinating facts about this film is that the main character was based on the actress Laurie Maher, whose eyes were filmed and composited into the actual puppet. Have a close look, it is as eerie as powerful.
Madame Tutli-Putli boards the night train, weighed down with all her earthly possessions and the ghosts of her past.
She travels alone, facing both the kindness and menace of strangers. As day descends into dark, she finds herself caught up in a desperate metaphysical adventure. Adrift between real and imagined worlds, Madame Tutli-Putli confronts her demons and is drawn into an undertow of mystery and suspense.
Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski of Clyde Henry Productions directed this wonderful film back in 2007, produced by the National Film Board of Canada. As with many personal projects Chris and Maciek were not only the filmmakers but also played the role of animators, sculptors, collage artists, screenplay writers and art directors.
Nick Cross is an award-winning animator and independent film-maker living in Ottawa, Canada. He’s played a key role in the production of several animated features such as Ren & Stimpy ‘Adult Party Cartoon’ and Rupert, not forgetting his personal projects: The Waif of Persephone and Yellow Cake. Nick’s portfolio contains clients such as Nelvana, Spumco, Nickelodeon and New Line Entertainment.
You have been in almost every job on the animation production line, from set decorator to editor, producer, writer, animator to director.
In which role do you feel most comfortable?
I think that the role that I enjoy the most is the art direction aspect of making films. I really like to play around with mood and colour and placing characters into those settings. I guess I just enjoy the idea of creating new worlds and environments; that’s the best part of animation and film-making for me.
Your personal projects have taken many years to produce. Do they stray a lot from the original idea in that time or how do you manage to stay on course?
Since all of the editing in an animated film takes place at the beginning, it gives me a firm framework to work around. If that weren’t the case, it would be really hard to resist the temptation to keep changing things as I go until the final film no longer resembles the story that I originally intended to make. It’s like being a long-distance runner, you need to have discipline to make it to the finish line.
How do you fund your projects?
I fund them with my commercial work. The sad reality is that short films rarely pay for themselves so they have to be more of a labour of love. The downside of having to self-finance my work is that I have to prioritize my time in favour of work that pays the bills. The fact that I pay for the films myself gives me all the freedom that I want, but on the downside, that’s one of the main reasons why my films take so long to produce.
Most animation students have at least one idea for an animated short but they don’t have (yet) the advantage of earning for commercial work. What advice would you offer them in order to see it finished?
Just have confidence. It’s inevitable that a filmmaker will lose motivation as they work on an animated film. It’s just such a long and sometimes a tedious process. You always get to a point where you start to question yourself and the validity of your work. You just have to push all of that aside and have confidence in your original vision, in what got you interested in starting the project in the first place. That’s all it takes, really — perhaps it’s easier said that done, but that’s the one thing that I’ve learned in 11 years of making my own independent films.
How would you sum up the underlying social message in the Waif of Persephone?
I think I would have a hard time summing it up. I don’t usually start a new film intending it to have a moral or a message. They usually just encapsulate a lot of ideas that I have in my head at that particular time. However, I think the main theme for that film is about how good intentions are almost always destroyed by greed.
What’s the animation work you’re most proud of?
That’s hard to say. Like a lot of artists, I am pretty critical of them, but I think that I have reached a point where I’m starting to feel proud of some of my most recent work and Yellow Cake in particular. I think that all the different parts from story to animation and background styling came together quite well in the finished product.
Indeed, the style and grading of Yellow Cake are very unique. What do you reckon is the secret ingredient?
I don’t know if there is a secret ingredient. The style is just my natural way of working; the only real look that I intended to put in the film is a heightened amount of contrast between the light and the darks. I wanted there to be deep, dark shadows to emphasize a sense of foreboding in a subtle way.
Is there another Nick Cross short in the pipeline? Can you give us a hint about what it is?
I actually have two new films that I am working on right now. One is still just a zygote of an idea and doesn’t really have a solid plot yet. The other is a shorter film then my last few; it will only be about 5 or 6 minutes in length. It takes place on a farm and involves a fox stealing chickens. That’s about all I can reveal at this point, since I’m still storyboarding it and I don’t quite have all the plot points figured out yet.
If aliens stole your animation and artistic powers, what could you do for a living?
I originally wanted to be a biologist and a lot of the jobs I had before I got into animation were working with animals. When I was a little kid and people would ask what I wanted to do for a living, I would always say that I wanted to be a zookeeper. I still love science and I’m addicted to nature programs, so I don’t think I would be totally lost if the art thing ever fell through.
A traffic pedestrian sign is understandably fed up with his job until he discovers that there’s more to life than posing and discovers dancing.
This smile provoking animation is the product of 7 months of work from 13 students in the 3rd year of the BAA Animation program at Sheridan College in Oakville (Ontario, Canada). Their names are: Adam Pockaj, Ki Eun Suh, Debbie G. Yu, Hank Choi, Kevin McCullough, Dimas Mohammad, Allison Neil, Dan Seddon (writer), Amanda Stocker and Jason Walmsley.