Wednesday, March 17th

Travel and a big move have tied things up here the last three weeks and I realized we never congratulated Nicolas Schmerkin and the good folks over at Autour de Minuit on their big Oscar win for the animated short film “Logorama”.

Autour de Minuit has been producing ground breaking animated shorts and series work for a few years now and you’ve seen their shorts in a few of our Animation Show’s with films “Raymond”, “War West” and last year’s Academy Award nominated short “This Way Up”.  "This Way Up" was especially near and dear to us as we commissioned the film along with Autour de Minuit back in 08.

Keep your eyes peeled for their next offering called “Babioles”, a new series of CG/live-action shorts set for release later this year.

You can check out the teaser above. Congrats Nicolas on a much deserved win!

Tuesday, March 16th

Last month we shared Max Hattler’s killer animation loop “1923” aka Heaven and now Hattler is back with his second loop also inspired by the work of French artist Augustin Lesage “1925”aka Hell.

The second loop is frighteningly hypnotic and even at just 1:42 you can feel time wrinkle while the cycle tugs you in. Hattler shares:

I am fairly obsessed with patterns and mirroring myself, and I liked the idea of transposing his vision of the spiritual world into a contemporary moving image context – Updated through the lens of pop-­‐cultural and art-­‐historic references – Using sound, image and movement to try and heighten the sense of the spiritual, while to adhering to his parameters of symmetry. The Idea of a loop made perfect sense both in terms of a ‘moving painting’, as well as an endless cycle – Eternity – Implicit in ‘the spiritual’.

Saturday, February 27th

The sharp new web original “Larkmart” is written, voiced, designed and animated by Aaron Simpson the creator behind animation sites Cold Hard Flash and Lineboil. The series rolls out on Mondo Media’s Minisode network and Simpson promises more new episodes soon! I recommend repeat viewings to catch some quick moments here. “You loose your job without the satisfaction of the murder”, Funny stuff!

Jossie Malis, the artist behind the web series “Bendito Machine”, has a new infectious character to share. The metaphysical adventures of Fantástico Morales document a man with strange nasal fluid powers. The series is animated in Psycolor.

Sunday, February 21st

Animator and Visualist Max Hattler kicks off 2010 with an addictively hypnotic animation loop titled “1923”. Hattler spent some time at the Animation Workshop in Denmark recently and directed the piece which was animated by student animators and CG artists. “1923” is inspired by the French painter Augustin Lesage’s work, which it seems was literally guided by spirits. Lesage’s painting “A symbolic Composition of the Spiritual World” is one of many spiritualist works with fantastic complexity. Hattler’s loop peers inside this cycle updating Lesage’s vision into a futuristic metropolis. A second loop “1925” which adapts more of Lesage’s work is underway.

Sunday, February 14th

A 2007 mash-up video by Cody Richeson that may be only slightly spookier than the original Goofy Movie theatrical release. Richeson isn’t the first to play with Disney properties, video remix artist Pogo’s been at it for a while and his tribute to Pixar’s Up, titled “Upular” will stay with you for a good long while.

With new projects, travel and a brand spanking new decade things have been slow here on the site. My apologies! We’ve got some announcements and changes behind the scenes here that are pretty major but still shaping up. We should have an official update on the site by spring. In the meantime welcome back and thank you for the kind words, film suggestions and general encouragement while we were away.

Saturday, December 19th

Vancouver Film School student Jordan Clarke’s match moving “Box Animation” might be this year’s best dream animation installation. Catch more from VFS on Youtube.

Thursday, December 17th

Holiday cards are out this year.   JibJab Sendables are the way to go. They kicks things off this year with a holiday classic that will be beaten into your brain relentlessly for the next two weeks. Last year there were two channels on Christmas day dedicated to a 24 hour “Christmas Story” movie marathon. Now you can add yourself to the action. Go Jibjab!

Wednesday, December 16th

The season for great holiday specials is upon us. My favorite so far is Baman Piderman’s “Happy Winter Friends!” (part 1) by Lindsay Small and Alex Butera. You know a show has reached the eleventh realm of weird when there’s no hope in explaining the back story (with justice) to friends. Hoping to see part two soon! We’ve talked up Alex’s work before here on the site but visit B & P on Facebook and show some love.