Sand animation: fish

Gorgeous fluid sand animation.

A Tangled Tale from corrie francis parks on Vimeo.

"Shot by Shot" editing examples

In David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson's book, "Film Art: An Introduction," the chapter on "The Relation of Shot to Shot: Editing" describes several different types of edits.  The student authors of this BLOG explain and give some good examples of:

• graphic relations between shot A and shot B
• Rhythmic relations between shot A and shot B
• Spatial relations between shot A and shot B
• Temporal relations between shot A and shot B
  
  and more!

Storyboards-some examples

Good web resources:

• Stanford's Tutorial here 
• Storyboard basics - OSU
• YouTube storyboard channel
• Awesome Storyboards from 15 of Your Favorite Films - Flavorwire

Hitchcock's storyboard for Psycho, 1960

Masters of Polish Animation trailer

Lots of good references.

THE MASTERS OF POLISH ANIMATION trailer from Cinefamily on Vimeo.

Walter Murch - Sound Design for THX1138

Creating space with sound. Some terrific insights.

Walter Murch discusses "Apocalypse Now"

Film editor Walter Murch discusses his approach to sound design for Apocalypse Now. Go to 34:45

Walter Murch: "The Rule of Six"

Walter Murch, the amazing film and audio editor (Apocalypse Now, The English Patient...and many many others) explains what makes an edit work:

Walter Murch: The 'Rule of Six' in Film Editing from Imaginox on Vimeo.

Star Wars Uncut!

Star Wars Uncut: Director's Cut from Casey Pugh on Vimeo.

Wikipedia says: Star Wars Uncut is a 2010 fan film remake of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. It is a shot-for-shot recreation of the 2004 "Special Edition" re-release of the film made from 473 fifteen-second segments created and submitted from a variety of participants...

Many of the sequences are filmed in deliberately crude, low-budget or otherwise comical manners, and the actors do not always resemble the original cast. One scene is a stop-motion sequence using Lego Star Wars figurines^. Another mimics the animation style of the 1968 Beatles film Yellow Submarine.

The result is amazingly smooth, visually delightful, and hilarious.

Star Wars Uncut won a Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Media on August 21, 2010.

Check it out!

Norman McLaren explains animated motion

The Canadian experimental filmmaker breaks it down. These are terrific technical explanations. Part 1:

Animated Motion Part. 1 - Norman McLaren / Grant Munro from Juan Pascual Sgró on Vimeo.

Part 2: Motion and Tempo - GOOD one.


 Part 3: Zero motion



 Part 4: Composite Motion --another good one!

Animated Motion: Part 4 by Norman McLaren & by Grant Munro, National Film Board of Canada

Part 5: Change--in color, light, texture, etc.

Animated Motion: Part 5 by Norman McLaren & by Grant Munro, National Film Board of Canada

PBS 2013 Online Film Festival!

In March 2013, PBS launched the "PBS 2013 Online Film Festival," showcasing 25 shorts, voted on by the public.
Example: "The Story of an Egg:"

Watch 2013 Festival | The Story of an Egg on PBS. See more from PBS Online Film Festival.

7 basic plots in storytelling

Some advertising "creatives" applied Christopher Booker's "Seven Basic Plots" ideas to the advertising world and give some examples.  (The AdWeek page takes FOREVER to load because of all the YouTube videos)

7 Basic types of stories:

1)    Underdog: Overcoming the monster

2)    Rebirth

3)    Quest

4)    Journey and Return

5)    Rags to Riches

6)    Tragedy

7)    Comedy

 1. Overcoming the Monster. This type of story goes back through Beowulf to David and Goliath and surely a lot further than that. It's the classic underdog story. Ad examples include Apple's attack on Big Brother in "1984" and American Express's attempt to dent the dominance of Black Friday with Small Business Saturday.

Example: Apple's ad from 1984:

22 Rules of storytelling, according to Pixar

 On Twitter, Pixar storyboard artist Emma Coats has compiled nuggets of narrative wisdom she's received working for the animation studio over the years:

#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

stop motion journey - lots of stills

Constantine Konovalov I LOOK & MOVE

I LOOK & MOVE from Constantine Konovalov on Vimeo.

Polish avant garde animation - Ann Arbor Film Fest 2013

AMAZING screening this past year curated by Marcin Giżycki with work from 1958-2012. AMAZING stuff. List of films here on AA Film Festival's site. Here's a sampling: "Tango" Zbigniew Rybczyński, 1980

Tango - Zbig Rybczynski (1982) from Chris Whale on Vimeo.

stop motion metropolis

Urban Development done old-school, paper, stop motion style. Great sound design. By Rob Carter.

Metropolis by Rob Carter - Last 3 minutes from Rob Carter on Vimeo.

Metropolis is a quirky and very abridged narrative history of the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. It uses stop motion video animation to physically manipulate aerial still images of the city (both real and fictional), creating a landscape in constant motion. Starting around 1755 on a Native American trading path, the viewer is presented with the building of the first house in Charlotte. From there we see the town develop through the historic dismissal of the English, to the prosperity made by the discovery of gold and the subsequent roots of the building of the multitude of churches that the city is famous for. Now the landscape turns white with cotton, and the modern city is ‘born’, with a more detailed re-creation of the economic boom and surprising architectural transformation that has occurred in the past 20 years.

Music/sound inspired animation

"Sonar" by Renaud Hallee, 2010 In the same vein as Oskar Fischinger but contemporary and elegant.

Sonar from Possible Metrics on Vimeo.

Informational animation about MUSIC

Nice piece about the complexities of music--using motion graphics/after effects.

Understand Music from finally. on Vimeo.

Multi-plane animation stand

Great example of stop motion animation set up. He does everything in camera.

Short of the Week

Short of the Week.  Great site for experimental, animation, live action....

Sample:

Tutorials and inspiration --After Effects specific

Where do you go to see and learn about current After Effects work?

1) Motionographer - motion graphics specific, terrific site with professional and student work

2) Creative Cow - has great tutorials for a lot of software, After Effects ones are really good.

3) Video Co-Pilot: good tutorials, current on all the latest developments 4) Lynda.com has basic instructional videos - but you need to subscribe.

Stop motion cut outs - dance

The Modern Dance

The Modern Dance from Rogier Wieland on Vimeo.

Audio first, animation second

Audio was first, image second, for most of these pieces.
Oskar Fischinger (father of "visual music," or the music animation, 1920s, 30s, 40s) worked with a composer to create some of his "motion paintings."

Studie nr 8 (excerpt) by Oskar Fischinger from CVM on Vimeo.

Signe Baumane's wonderful "Teat Beat of Sex" animations (sex from a woman's point of view):

"Teat Beat of Sex" from Signe Baumane on Vimeo.

Other animations made from audio interviews:

Storycorps (National Public Radio's audio interview program)

Nick Park's "Creature Comforts"

Storyboarding tips

Check out this site for info on storyboarding from OSU:

Lullaby Factory: Fanciful Installation for Children’s Hospital

Lullaby Factory: Lovely public art piece at hospital in London.  Visually engaging and aurally soothing.

Art & Social Change

Actipedia is an open-access, user-generated database of creative activism. It’s a place to read about, comment upon, and share experiences and examples of how activists and artists are using creative tactics and strategies to challenge power and offer visions of a better society. 

Animating Democracy inspires, informs, promotes, and connects arts and culture as potent contributors to community, civic, and social change. As a program of Americans for the Arts, we bring national visibility to arts for change work, build knowledge about quality practice, and create useful resources.

French! cut out animation

Beautiful paper cut outs come to life. 12 min. long!

Open Culture: Free movies and courses and so much more

Open Culture is one of the most amazing websites out there for providing free access to incredible cultural treasures that are now in public domain. From Hitchcock to Tarkovsky, sci-fi classics to free courses, this site embodies the ideal notion of the what the web can do for the greater good.

Hitchcock explains film editing/assembly

The master of editing explains 3 different approaches.