Choros - Experimental Dance Film

I absolutely love this new experimental dance video from director Michael Langan. Choros is a film that aims to enhance our perception of motion by exploring movement of the human body. The film echos a technique developed in the 1880s by photographers such as Eadwaerd Muybridge and Etienne-Jules Marey. This experimental film captures the movement of dancer Terah Maher. Michael was able to capture the most subtle movements by layering 32 sequences without fear of overexposing the film. There is a beautiful dreamlike quality to the piece and it is really nice to watch. 

"Choros revisits these technical innovations and attempts to contribute original innovations of its own. Using recent advancements in digital compositing, the technique developed for Choros introduces color, frees the film from the confines of a black studio, and allows the dancer to linger in one position without risk of overexposure, resulting in a variation of this historical technique that allows a degree of subtlety heretofore prohibited by technical limitations."

The music accompanying the film is 'Music of 18 Musicians' by Steve Reich which adds to the almost hypnotising rhythm of the piece. You can watch the film below or on vimeo.

https://vimeo.com/35770492

Choros from Michael Langan on Vimeo.

Papercraft 2 - Design and Art with Paper

For christmas my mum bought me the new Papercraft book. I think its probably the best papercraft book I have got yet! There is such a broad range of work, and some really fascinating projects. There are projects from artists such as Johnny Kelly, Yulia  Brodskya, Rob Ryan.

"With an unparalleled collection of new and groundbreaking projects, papercraft 2 is an inspiring up-to-the-minute survey of current developments in contemporary design with paper. In addition to more outstanding 3D graphic design, illustration, installations and motion design, the book and bonus DVD present work from an even broader range of creative disciplines." 

Below is a photograph of one of the spreads in the book, showing work from Anderson M Studio. I really love this project, I think it is a really exciting motion piece. You can see more work from Anderson M Studio on my blog here. This book has also introduced me to many new artists and projects. I feel very inspired and want to start creating some paper art work again! You can have a look inside the book on the Gestalten website here.

Holy Flying Circus

Here is the latest project Jim Le Ferve has been working on. Jim is a freelance film maker, mostly working in animation. He is also represented as an art director for some projects by Nexus Productions. This title sequence for the new series Holy Flying Circus is created using a very large phonotrope. Below is Jim's explanation of a phonotrope.

"The Phonotrope is a technique I created about five years ago involving a record player spinning at a fixed speed (45 revolutions per minute) and a camera filming at a fixed speed (25 frames per second) and a sequence of pictures laid out around the circumference which, when filmed, would create the illusion of animation."

I love this style of animation, I would definitely like to try it out some time. It looks like it would take a lot of patience to get all the characters prepared.  Maybe I could animate my cut out Rosie army this way, seeing as they are all lined up and ready to go! (If you haven't seen my 'Rosie' animation check it out here). Watch the 'making of' Video for Jim's new project below and have a look at his blog for more information http://www.jimlefevre.com/?p=1430

Beauty of a Second

This film is a wonderful collection of one second clips capturing beauty. It is the first round of Beauty of a Second short film competition advertising the new Montblanc luxury chronograph. Your challenge as a video artist is to "seize the moment" and capture beauty in one second. The subject can be anything you consider beautiful.

"190 years ago, Nicolas Rieussec recorded time to an accuracy of a fifth second for the first time - the chronograph was born. To celebrate this unique invention, Montblanc is announcing the one-of-a-kind "The Beauty of a Second" short-film contest presented by the famous film director Wim Wenders."

There are some really interesting clips in this first video, including a car filled with plastic balls, feet shooting down a waterslide,  and some really beautiful close up shots of life some with soft focus and light leaks. You can see the whole project here http://www.montblanconesecond.com/#/en/ and get involved yourself. The deadline for the next installment is on the 13th December. This campaign is viral marketing at its best I think.

Pottermore

Personally I don't see much point in the new pottermore website, it is essentially just an online portal introducing the new harry potter e-books and unseen additional content. The new stop motion animation film launching pottermore from Andersen M Studio however is utterly brilliant!

I have always appreciated the work of creative directors Martin and Line Andersen, one of my favorite stop motion pieces being Going West for the New Zealand Book Council, and this animation for pottmore is just as impressive. The project was was entirely paper craft, all hand cut and photographed using a digital slr, no CGI was used to animate the piece. I love the paper owl and the wizarding sorting hat.

The images below can be found at mestudio.com and the film can be seen below.
http://www.pottermore.com/

The Bicycle Animation

Really interesting project from Katy Beveridge looking into the way animation is made. Her work is an exploration into the proto animation and zoetrope techniques showing you can animation in real time. When I first saw this it reminded me of Nexus Production's dircetor Jim Le Ferve's project creating a zoetrope using blue tack. You can see his work here http://vimeo.com/5507203. Katy's bicycle animation is really nicely put together, and very creative. I could see these being sold as bicycle accessories! I would definitely want one! You can see Katy's blog here http://www.katybeveridge.com/ 


"With my work I wanted to take it to the point where the whole animation, including the mechanism was all human driven. In such I hope to share with the viewer the exciting technical aspects of animation, that magical moment where we see something come to life for the first time, an experience usually limited to animators alone." 

Against the Grain

Brilliantly animated stop motion by Jonathan Chong (aka dropbear) for new track 'Against the Grain' from Melbourne indie folk artist Hudson. Not only a catchy song but a wonderfully bright and energetic motion piece. It makes me want to buy another pack of colourful pencils to play with like I did when I was a kid!

You can find more work from Jonathan here
http://vimeo.com/dropbear.

Hudson - Against The Grain from Dropbear on Vimeo.

Lille

I have only just discovered the wonderful Lisa Hannigan. This music video for her song Lille is so creative, definitely the best pop up book I have ever seen! Lisa was the vocal partner of Damien Rice on his albums O and 9. She has recently released her second album passenger and my friend Thom has been sharing his love for her and kindly given me lots of her music.

Breakdancing Bears

Love the new weetabix advert from BBH London agency, where a nine year old girl performs an amazing street dance routine after eating her cereal, and is surrounded by breakdancing bears! I found this behind the scenes video of the shoot and was really surprised to find out the bears were actually filmed in life size costumes with break dancers inside! There were also smaller puppets filmed in the same green screen technique. Altogether I think its edited really well, and is an effective advert portraying their 'fuel for fun' campaign. BBH also produced the new british airways brand campaign and the very funny sequel advert for yeo valley - Live in Harmony, boyband. Two other really great adverts on tv right now.  http://www.bartleboglehegarty.com/#!/europe

Red Bull Canimation

I have just come across this competition for Red Bull. Whether its stop motion, CGI, or a hand rendered approach, red bull want you to create an advert using their can. The logos and resources are available to download on the website.

http://canimation.redbull.co.uk/.

The deadline is November so its not long, if I can get my camera lens replaced in time I might give it a go. Would be really good to work on another motion piece.

Paint Powder and Bubbles

BT Visions TV on demand service has recently been rebranded by Man Vs Machine in collaboration with Proud Creative. I really like the high speed photography by Jason Tozer, it is very similar to the Sound Sculptures project I blogged about last year by Dentsu London. Below is a video showing three of the idents, Paint, Bubbles and powder which have been photographed in high speed.

MvsM / BT Vision Rebrand from ManvsMachine on Vimeo.

Pinhole Stop Motion

As part of my self directed study I attempted to make a stop motion animation using pinhole photography. This is something I haven't come across yet so thought it would be a challenge. I used my coca cola pinhole cans to take the photographs and had to photograph in the studio to get a clean white backdrop. This meant that the lighting was darker and I had to expose each photo for three minutes. This took all day in the studio, probably about eight hours. I then had to develop them in the darkroom, scan and edit them on the computer before animating them. It was an interesting experiment and I want to develop this idea further.



Pinhole Stop Motion from Rosie Slade on Vimeo.

Finished Motion Piece!

I have finally finished my motion piece! One thing ticked off my list for deadline!Through the Viewfinder is an exploration into photographic processes and the development of technology. The project focuses on looking at ways to change traditional photographic methods into digital pieces. The experiment shows a documentary being played from a laptop through four different lenses to show the transition from traditional cameras to digital.

Extreme Sticky Note Experiments

My friend Lydia showed me this amazing video today. The video uses over 280,000 post it notes creating chaos in the office. Its so colourful and exciting and I want to play with post its now instead of doing my work!

They even give you DIY instructions on their website, definitely going to try this out at some point.
 http://www.eepybird.com/featured-video/the-extreme-sticky-note-experiments/

Viewfinder Photos

I have continued my 'Through the Viewfinder' project for my self directed study. I photographed my motion piece today and am in the process of editing and animating. Watch this space for the finished motion piece.

Star Alliance

Came across this lovely new piece of paper art animation by Andersen M studio on itsnicethat. I loved their 'Going West' animation for the New Zealand Book Council and this piece is just as stunning. Check out their website for more beautiful paper art work and animations. http://www.andersenm.com/

Motion Graphics Lecture

Last week I went to the arnolfini in Bristol to listen to a Motion Graphics Lecture. The event highlighted the importance of moving image to designers and the role it will play in the industry in the future. There were four speakers, from Moving Brands, OnedotZero, Red Bee Media, and Rudd Studio, each speaking about their latest work for 15minutes, with a question and answers session at the end. 

I was really interested by Shane Walter's talk about onedotzero which is a London-based moving image and digital arts organization. I didn't get a chance to go to the decode exhibition last summer so it was really good to hear what Shane had to say about their events. Their work is really innovative and shows a range of interactive digital art, and moving image. http://www.onedotzero.com/

Fluid Sculpture

This piece shows a fluid sculpture composed of 100ft knitted tubing. This is actually only a prototype for a fluid sculpture dress. The piece won the award in the captured category at the Vimeo Awards. You can see the awards -here- there are some other really good pieces in this category.

Water Sculptures

Came across an amazing piece on vimeo yesterday. Its called Water sculptures and you can watch it here - http://www.vimeo.com/15370828. 

I love the super slow motion filming, and the water sculptures created are just beautiful! High speed photography is definitely an area I want to experiment with at some point. Look at Shinichi Maruyama's website to see similar projects.

http://www.shinichimaruyama.com/

Dance the Decades

Brief: To develop a digital campaign that communicates the richness of the British Music Experience museum to new visitors.

One of the aspects of the museum was a dance booth where visitors get the chance to learn and perform dances through the decades. This stop motion recreates my experience of the dance booth using over 150 cut outs.