Posts tagged 'Whimsical'

The Jump

I’ve technically already posted the attached – it was, after all, included in Late Night Work Club’s ultra-rad first release, Ghost Stories – but, considering that it was my favorite of the bunch, I figured this magical bit of animation from Charles Huettner deserved its own entry on the site. ENJOY!

[ The Jump ]

Fight For Everyone

“Is it easy to relax when you’re told you’ll never fail?”

A whimsical-yet-dark and bizarre music video – created by Persistent Peril for The Leisure Society – where an all-powerful hand lovingly creates a planet teeming with life before having second thoughts…

Garth Jones, Ginny Jones, Mark Billington and Emma Wakely – who handled the animation in the attached – deserve a special mention. Their ability to consistently pull off such descriptive motion in few-seconds-long vignettes using a cast of minimally constructed figures shows their proficiency for the medium.

ENJOY!

P.S. When you’re done here I recommend giving Noise Trade, another fantastic Persistent Peril-created music video, a watch next.

[ 'Fight For Everyone' Music Promo ]

With My Umbrella

Takashi Ohashi‘s animation in this music video for cokiyu reminds me of both bleeple’s 2D moving collages and Ori Toor’s layered undulations. They all share a foundation of smooth, psychedelic abstraction but Takashi’s shapes veer away from pure form to conjure an alien landscape of playful, swimming organisms. It’s smooth-as-fuck, too – clearly he sweats the details, something I always appreciate.

Speaking of which, I’m a big fan of the ‘color-echo’ effect that makes it’s first appearance from 1:41-2:06, reappears at 2:47 and spools up to a crescendo from 3:17 to 3:47. It probably looks good on your phone, sure, but it’s one of those bits of subtle animation that’s magic on a big screen in a dark room so, if you’ve got access to a similar environment, I suggest you experience it there.

Enjoy!

P.S. If you’re diggin’ this, definitely watch Chunkothy next.

[ cokiyu - With My Umbrella ]

Up In The Sky

“Up in the sky, there is a village,
and the people there are blue –
I believe it’s true.”

Anraud Janvier, a recent graduate of Supinfocom, wrote in to let us know about a music video he recently co-directed with Antoine Robert at Cube Creative for 77 Bombay Street. The song describes a perfect little utopia that exists above the clouds and the bright, whimsical and weird visuals drip with a naive innocence the mirrors the optimistic vibe.

It’s feel-good sunshine from start to finish but, seeing as I’m partial to wormholes, my favorite sequence kicked off at 2:33 when the Mii-esque rendered cast plunged directly into a technicolor tunnel via a blossoming Lotus flower. That shit’s mah jam, bruh.

When you’re done here, be sure to check out Playing With Light, an excellent little short produced at Cube two summers ago. Enjoy!

[ [HD] 77 Bombay Street - Up In The Sky - Official Video (Animated) ]

Ozo

A whimsical, super-fun and bizarre seven-minute treat. Cheers to Alex Vial, Martin Brunet, Leslie Martin and Matthieu Garcia (of Supinfocom) for the stellar visuals as well as Neal Williams and Julien Bégault who handled the music and sound design, respectively.

When you’re done watching the attached be sure to check out the other fantastic shorts created by Supinfocom students that we’ve posted to the site. Enjoy!

[ OZO ]

Kagemono: The Shadow Folk

“The story of Beopup, a little fox who goes hunting in the woods and uncovers something rather unpleasant…”

Diggin’ this cute and whimsical (but a bit dark, too) animation by recent CalArts grad, Sabrina Cotugno. Enjoy!

A big thanks to Timo Cox for sending this one our way – cheers!

[ Kagemono: The Shadow Folk ]

Little Boat

The attached first appeared on my radar over a year ago when it was initially released. We had recently featured This one time… – a bizarre, wonderfully inventive short by its creator, Nelson Boles – and, for whatever dumb reason, I figured I’d save his latest for later. Between now and then Little Boat has been pinging my consciousness at regular intervals and, when I saw it had been selected as a finalist in the 2012 Vimeo Awards, I figured it was high time I give it a proper watch.

Sometimes when I’m certain a film is going to be great I won’t press play until the setting is just-right. Often I’ll implore you to ‘grab your headphones’ or turn the lights-down and, in that regard, I try to take my own advice as much as possible. Most times that isn’t feasible and I’ll catch up on your suggestions and my own regular internet rounds while on the train or whenever I have a few minutes in-between keeping my daughter alive.

It’s a shame I waited so long to dive in to this one but I’m glad I made the effort to slow myself down before experiencing it. Everything about Little Boat is great – its whimsical, bizarre (and endearing) story is told entirely through quick vignettes of tightly executed, cell-shaded visuals backed with some excellent sound design that completes the immersion. It, like all great animated shorts, appears to be a snapshot taken from within a fully-realized unique world, wholly separate from our own. Nelson seems to have a knack for creating those so we’re excited to see what he’ll come up with next. Speaking of which, have you seen This one time… yet? It’s fucking great.

[ Little Boat ]

Oh gee Oh why

”...or how to mastermind a nonsensical parade following a cock-a-hoop bestiary into the doors of infinity.”

Five second-year students at French school-of-awesome, Gobelins – Hanne Galvez, Yoann Hervo, Juliette Laurent, Stephanie Mercier and Pierre Zenzuis – put together this fantastic, trippy, bizarre and wonderful animated short that was exhibited as one of the many opening films that kicked off this year’s Annecy, the legendary international animation film festival. If this is what they’re making now during their second year, imagine what their graduation films will be like. Enjoy!

P.S. If you’re into process, be sure to check out this great Röyksopp-backed ‘making of’ video that Juliette put together.

[ Oh gee Oh why ]