Elegant Oops
This short film won best video in the Experimental category at the Vimeo Festival + Awards. Though the concept might sound boring, or at best amusing, I believe the execution of this amateur hour remix is phenomenal and compelling. Chris Beckman (using a concept by Billy Rennekamp) took 37 reclaimed YouTube videos and seamlessly edited them together at the points in which the cameramen/women lose control of their camcorder/smart phone/etc., and the result feels like one camera being tumbled through time and space, moving from one haphazard situation to another. From the camera’s POV...
read moreWe Have Liftoff!
Jay O’Callahan is a powerful storyteller. He doesn’t have any props, he doesn’t have a script, he doesn’t really do voices or use costumes or hand puppets or anything else. What he does have is presence. Jay O’Callahan talks in this video at the 99% conference about storytelling and its powerful way of expressing that which cannot otherwise be told. I’ve known for a long time that storytelling can be a powerful way to express ideas; in my job as a multimedia instructional designer I’ve come across many a project where we believed the best way to get a...
read moreMeet Buck!
This is possibly the best 3D animated short I have seen in a very, very long time…its creativity and innovation is right up there with Pixar’s recent “Night and Day” short. If you couldn’t tell, I absolutely love watercolor and painterly effects in illustration. Especially when used in a medium that traditionally has very smooth, clean lines; the messy, grungy, artistic look of paint really appeals to me. I don’t know how they managed it for this 3D short, but it’s fantastic, and gives me so much inspiration to try it out myself one...
read moreThree-Minute Fiction
I participated in NPR’s Three-Minute Fiction contest for February. To be precise, I wrote 600 words in about half an hour just before the deadline. The first I’d heard of it was when Weekend Edition said “last chance!” So I thought, “what the heck? It can’t hurt.” I’ve been having a lot of trouble with what my mom calls the “butt glue” lately. That is, the thing that gets you to sit down, turn off the TV, close the browser, and just write. I figured I wouldn’t have a shot in Hell of winning against thousands of entries that had...
read moreHer Morning Elegance – Human Stop Motion
Another great example of animation, though a totally different type. Very creative and original! And of course,...
read moreBlue Hippy Cats
I think this video is brilliant on a few levels – the dry humor, the character, the counter-culture anti-Na’vi sentiment…but most especially the animation. I think it’s wonderful, and I desperately want to learn how to do this stuff. …Anyone know how to put together a home-made motion capture studio for less than $1k? ...
read more
Recent Comments