Good Hair Everywhere

I am taking a moment to appreciate 3D animated hair and fur.

Take Sully’s fur from Monsters Inc., for example. Just from looking at it, we are able to imagine what it feels like. We have a good idea of what Sully would feel like if we were able to pat him. The fact that we can compare a real textural feeling to something animated by a cold, hard computer is pretty amazing.

Hair is pretty cool too. Merida’s hair from Brave is probably the most beautiful hair in the entire animated world, as far as I’m concerned. It’s wild and big and out of control and probably took so much memory to create. But every curl behaves like we would expect hair to behave. It moves so naturally in relation to Merida and adds character to her character. It must’ve taken a lot of work to control every curl in order to make her hair look uncontrollable.

 

Another set of good hair is Rapunzel from Tangled. What’s really amazing about that animation is the sheer amount of hair that had to be considered. The hair at least 10 times longer than Rapunzel herself and it’s used as a prop throughout the movie—it’s a lasso, it’s a rope, it’s a ladder… In animating this hair, utility had to be taken into consideration all the while keeping things silky, shiny, and smooth.

This video showing a variety of hair related goofs with Rapunzel’s hair gives a little bit of insight into the physics of good hair.

Chipotle's Animated Advertising

Chipotle has done a great job of creeping us out but also making us feel like they're the best choice for fast food with their "Cultivate a Better World" videos. The storytelling in "The Scarecrow" gets the point across without dialogue; rich visuals with an ominous and ironic soundtrack do the trick.

Chipotle took an emotional approach to advertising to appear as the virtuous fast food chain. An interesting fun fact is that McDonald's used to be the restaurant's largest investor. Now, however, Chipotle is often praised for this marketing technique. They vow to move away from factory farming and improve the way that animals are raised for meat, including eliminating the overuse of antibiotics. The animated videos also go along with an app that they have created based on the scarecrow's journey from the factory to something more "natural." Chipotle gives us a little more insight into what they wanted to convey with these videos below.

I think that one of their other videos, "Back to the Start" is also extremely adorable and although a bit simpler, still provokes the same emotional response. Willie Nelson's cover of "The Scientist" is pretty awesome too.

Disney Pixar - For The Birds

I absolutely love this animated short film.  Not only do I find it hilarious, but it also retains a very realistic feeling while having nonsensical undertones.  For example, the smaller birds all have tiny wings - so small they would not be able to fly.  But it only makes sense that birds can fly, so the smaller birds are able to flap three small feathers to magically float in the air!  But the thing that has me most intrigued are the textures of the feathers themselves.  The feathers on both the small birds and the big one look so realistic to me.  Especially when the small birds fluff their feathers when settling on to the wire, you can see every ruffle of their feathers.  It almost appears as though they were animated individually!  I love the detail that went into this short, and I love the comedy that goes with it.

Muzzy!

Hi there,

Any fan of the 90's pop-culture, or general hilarious videos is aware of the painfully awkward commercial for Muzzy. Muzzy is a the worlds #1 video language assistance course for children. Below you'll find the original infomercial from 1996.

If you can look past the overall cheese factor within the commercial you'll notice that the program uses animated characters to teach language. While this technique featured primitive animation, it engaged children and gave them a fresh perspective with learning the language. An example of the simple animation is below.

Flash forward to the 21st century and the people at Muzzy have released a new and updated version of their service. The new muzzy features computer animated graphics and catapults the brand into the millennium of advanced technology.

In my personal opinion the new version of Muzzy looks awkward and poorly put together. I prefer the hand drawn animation of the past and think that it is much more fitting of the company.  I'm curious to see how this new adaption and version of the brand have affected sales for the company.

What do you think of this update?

Until next time,

Alex

Conte

The other day a friend of mine showed me a video on YouTube of an electronic music artist named Conte. I was immediately taken aback by the creativity and innovation that I experienced while watching the video and I knew I had to share it with you guys.

This video was created by David Conte, who is also the musician. I don't think that I have ever seen something like this before. It combines the music to the visual lights in a way that makes them feel like they are one of the same. The the lights change colors and move to the beat of the music in a mesmerizing way and every mark is hit in the video. The other impressive thing about this video is that it is all done live. David Conte has the routine down perfectly so that the placement of the objects and lights is not messed up. There really is no room for error in this endeavor. This video makes the music come to life through lights animation and video. I think this is really something special. Check out his videos at http://www.jackconte.com/ -- they are all awesome!

American Horror Story

 

 

 

To be honest, I'm not really a big fan of the horror genre. But American Horror Story has been all the rage lately so I decided to check out the trailer for the new season. One character that really popped out was the two headed lady. I have no idea how this could be possibly done through motion graphics but it looks amazing.

The OMEn Chronicles: Make-or-Break Effects

    Let me introduce The OMEn Chronicles, written by RJ Aguiar and directed by Wren Weichman. The short film takes place fifteen years after the events of the world-famous Harry Potter series. Although not a lot of information is put forth, it can be inferred that some serious business is going down amongst the wizarding community. While the plot and acting leave a little bit to be desired, the main thing I'd like to address are the special effects. Because this wouldn't have been nearly as half as good as it was, if it had not been for the effects. Especially for a movie about magic, the special effects could be argued to have acted as another character by themselves.

   It's always fascinating to me, watching the before and after shots of any film with a high rate of special effects. It really does make a difference between what was initially shot and what came after. In this case, the post-production work that went into the film was something to be commended. Maybe not for its perfect performance, but by its ability to transport this footage into an entirely different type of world: where magic looks just as real as you and me. Even the color-grading that went into the making of this worked to present an atmosphere that was in synch with the tone of the film.
    And like any other filmmaker interested in this field, I love to know just how things were done. Which is why his tutorials are worth it to check out. Much like other tutorials we've experienced, he provides footage so that we're able to follow along as he teaches us. It's not a perfect system, but it's definitely something you can learn from.

    Even if special effects aren't your thing, The OMEn Chronicles are worth it to check out.

Oh, God, Why: Production Memory Lane

I was inspired to take a trip down memory lane (kind of) and ventured into my YouTube account of high school work. It’s interesting comparing now to then. I think I’m still proud of the stuff I did all those (4…) years ago, but I also think it would be interesting to give some of it another go—redo them with a better knowledge of production. My favorite (and most relevant) piece was a stop motion animation video about a hot air balloon to the moon. I made it with felt, using a felt board background with felt characters and objects. The felt and 2D-ness made it easy to move stuff around because felt sticks to felt. Well, felt sticks to felt if you’re careful and paying attention. I ran into a lot of issues in the approximately 20 hours it took me to make 30 seconds. I kept knocking things and forgetting things and the lighting kept changing… in reality, the quality of this video is not even a little impressive—you can’t even read the title sequence. I still like it though. I still like the story. I still appreciate the amount of work it took me to get those semi-mediocre 30 seconds. I think I’d like to do it again someday. I’d like to revisit the story and try it again and make it better. Then I’ll have a nice “Then and Now” retrospective to impress people with at parties.

The Pink Panther

When I think about memorable title sequences, I can't help but think about the iconic title sequence for "The Pink Panther". It is one that launched the success of not only the movie, but it also created a morning cartoon series revolving around the character in the title sequence.

For those who are unfamiliar with this title sequence, it shows a cartoon pink panther who is something of a troublemaker. The pink panther plays around with the surroundings and tries to not get caught by the bumbling inspector who is after it. Here's the video for you to enjoy!

This title sequence is pretty special because it differs from the whole movie. The movie is live-action through and through, but the title sequence is all animation. It sets the mood of the movie up and it really draws the viewers attention to the people in the movie because the pink panther interacts with the names in a very fun way. This intro has always been something that I have loved and, in my opinion, it is truly timeless.

Studio AKA: #FeelingNuts

This is a mainly animated video, that varies in format. This video does an amazing job transitioning between different worlds of animation. This video uses lighting, black and white, 3D, shadows, and even green screen.

It's very impressive how they manage to keep these 2 characters consistent throughout such different settings with really just 2 eyes and a mouth to define them. The 3D is especially exceptional and high end as their couch form is very stunning.

I do think this video is a good example of some really cool things you can do even outside of the 3D world in After Effects.

Early Gaming Animation - Duck Hunt

It is interesting to see how far animation has come from the early stages of "Flipbook" style animation to modern computer software that can animate and render entire new worlds in a few hours.  I have looked at early animation earlier in this blog like "Steamboat Willie", and then I looked at modern gaming animation with "Wolfenstein".  But this post I chose to look back at early gaming with "Duck Hunt".  This game was part of the first era of realistic gaming, because the controller was a gun that you could use to point at the ducks flying in the game.  You were able to actually shoot at the screen and kill the ducks - all virtually.  It was an interesting development in technology, as well as animation, because the game creators had to animate their game to mimic real life (such as feathers flying off of the duck when it is hit, and the duck falling out of the sky).  The animators had to create several options of animations for every action that could possibly happen in the game.  I think the result was a fun, realistic game that was ground-breaking for the time.

Ready For The Kickoff: The 4chan Autumn Babby Cup

It's that time of year again. The leaves are turning, the days are shortening and the Autumn Babby cup is underway in just a week. What is the Babby Cup you may ask? Well, here's the formula.

It's 4chan. Playing soccer. So before we go further, we need to get some things clear. 4chan gets a bad rep, but so much of the content on the internet that people enjoy originates from there. It's a place of free speech divided up into boards. These boards range in topics from science to tentacle porn and everything in between. So where does the Babby cup come in?

4 times a year there are cups. The summer and winter cups, and the spring and autumn babby cups. The babby cups serve as qualifying cups for the summer and winter cups. Each board has a team, and this team is customized to crazy extents, with custom goal horns, anthems and even player models. Every player is named for something on that board, inside jokes abound.

/vr/'s tactics from the last cup (/vr/ is the retro games board)

The games are played, computer verses computer. Each board's team has a manager, who chooses the players' tactics and positions. Intense rivalries form between boards, and each game is commentated on.

Each player's name is said with utmost seriousness, it's anybody's game. Some boards have more spirit than others, but nobody backs their team like /mlp/. One fan went as far as to create football club scarves for him and his fellow nor/mlp/eople.

The 2014 Autumn Babby Cup is in one week. Plenty of time to get hyped. All info can be found here. I recommend looking at the different boards and their teams. You might find who you'll root for! Until then, I leave you with this.

An Apocalyptic New York City

Having just visited NYC two weeks ago for the Global Citizen Festival, re-watching this clip from I Am Legend was disturbing to say the least. Overgrown weeds, animals running wild, and quiet streets. Time seems to stand still in this forgotten city.

It's amazing to me how all of this looks so real. It was filmed in NYC, of course, but to actually convey the feeling that there is no one left except for the protagonist seems almost impossible. However, they did it here. It must have been a lot of work to clear off the streets, and to make them look as if no one had set foot on them in years. The aerial shot of the city is my favorite, which I think best captures the magnitude of the circumstances presented in I Am Legend.

Space Jam & Greenscreens

I'm pretty sure the first movie I ever saw using Green Screen to insert a real-life character into a completely animated movie was "Space Jam". I own this movie on VHS and I used to watch it all the time as a kid. The other one I remember was "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", but for whatever reason I think Space Jam stuck with me more, even though Roger Rabbit is probably a better movie. Who can deny the Looney Tunes? I remember as a kid wondering how they inserted Michael Jordan into the cartoon, and it's funny to me now how obvious it looks. It's also astounding how easy it actually is to do stuff like this, especially when your lead actor is Michael Jordan, and nobody is expecting an Oscar-winning performance. Still, I love this movie. For your viewing enjoyment, the final basketball game between the Tune Squad and Monstars:

And as a bonus, the ESPN 30 for 30 on this legendary game between the Looney Tunes and Monstars. Here they reflect on the majesty of this historic game. They also acknowledge the tragic death of Foghorn Leghorn in the first half, where he was burned alive. Truly heartbreaking.

Creepy Old Photos...Come To Life!

Hi there,

Now that it is officially October I have began my search for the scariest,  most haunted stories, movies and media the world has to offer. During my search I came across this truly creepy set of animations by Droga5 art director Kevin Weir. He takes real black and white photos, that are creepy enough to begin with and animates them into a truly haunting visual experience. Don't believe me? Take a look below!

Eery doesn't even begin to explain it! This is an incredibly creative way to not only showcase animations skills, but also scare a few people along the way. 

The artwork here, while legitimate old-time photos, reminds me a lot of American Horror Story (Which premieres tonight!). This technique would be really exciting to play around with. Manipulating the past to frighten the future is definitely an intriguing concept! 

                                 
                                    

I hope I didn't scare you too much! After all it's all just created by a man sitting at a computer. Head over to http://www.kevinjweir.com/ to check out some more of Weir's work.

Until next time,

Alex

Orphan Black: A Story of Clones

If you’re a fan of the Parent Trap (and are still in denial about Lindsay Lohan not having a twin sister), take a seat because I’m about to introduce you to something that will make those effects look like child’s play. Orphan Black is the name, but simple cloning is not its game. Created by Graeme Manson and John Fawcett, Orphan Black is a drama aired via the BBC that deals with the concept of clones. And while you may think “making a clone video isn’t that hard,” I’d say to hold off on your judgement just yet. Because Orphan Black brings a new twist to the classic clone genre: these ones can actually interact and appear in the same moving environment as the other. Don’t really understand? It means that one clone can smack the other in the face and not be blocked out of frame with a stand in.

It’s a very unique and very complicated process, but the effort put in can really be seen in the final product. I ended up binge-watching almost the entire first season in one night not only because the story was absolutely engaging but because I wanted to see just how far they were going to take these special effects. It’s a strangely thrilling process to watch as they balance tennis balls to save a place for putting in clones, shoot their shots five different ways (and times), and create a whole new element of cloning that I haven’t seen in any digital media for quite awhile.

It’ll make you do a double-take, leave you feeling more confused than satisfied, but it’s an addiction that is not something you’ll regret.

Emotional Stick Figures: Animator Vs. Animation

A few years back, a video called Animator Vs. Animation became viral. This video features a self-aware stick figure made in Flash fighting with its creator. A huge hit, the creator, Alan Becker, released two more episodes over the following couple years. Just a few days ago, after years of nothing, Becker released the fourth installment of Animator Vs. Animation.

Each Animator Vs. Animation video has the sentient drawing interacting and fighting with its environment. There is a narrative occurring across the four videos, but each video can easily be watched standalone. Stickman also interacts directly with Animator via Animator’s cursor and together they wreak havoc on whatever venue they’re in—be it the desktop, Solitaire, or, in the new episode’s case, Facebook and an iPhone. Stickman takes tools from Flash to use as weapons, he hits ‘Likes’ statuses on Facebook, he knocks around aps on the iPhone. The final scene of the newest video is Stickman high-fiving Animator by Animator choosing the Hand tool in Flash.

Not only is the animation really cool and really clever, the use of relatively non-verbal storytelling is pretty cool. Especially in this newest video, though there is text present throughout, much of the narrative relies heavily on just visuals and sound effects. It’s amazing that we can catch the emotions of a faceless stick figure, but body language and head angle really does a lot.

THAT 70's SHOW TRANSITIONS

Well this is the second time I'm writing this blog because of some fun connectivity issues so I apologize for my blunt writing style this evening. I swear the first time around I was painting word pictures that would be hanging in the Louvre in a hundred years if that ever becomes an exhibit.

Earlier today I began the long journey of watching the hit television sitcom That 70's Show from start to finish. As I laughed watching a young Ashton Kutcher and Topher Grace make their careers, I was also reminded of one of the shows most fundamental elements: the transitions from scene to scene which not only featured the character who would be starring in the next scene but also had them moving or dancing in front of an animated background.

Here are a couple of examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy7kr5pTKJ0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PG_w-z5vOI

These same transitions were used throughout the years that the showed aired but the first two seasons featured some very interesting transitions that weren't used again in the later years. Using a very cost-effective technique known as "Syncro-Vox" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncro-Vox) pictures of Farrah Fawcett and Richard Nixon were shown screaming rock lyrics. Syncro-Vox was developed by Edwin Gillete in 1956 for advertising purposes - making animals look like they can speak for commercials. History lesson aside, what I realized is that the caliber of animation in a hit television show is at the same level as the reel we watched in class on Thursday showing the work of previous Motion Graphic & Animation classes. Needless to say, I'm excited to see what kind of work I'm producing at the semester's end.

Wolfenstein - Animation in Games

This week I chose to talk about animation in video games.  These days video games are having more and more "cut scenes" where the player has little to no control over the character's actions and just watches a scene unfold.  These scenes are powered by animation and in most cases are much more realistic than the actual gameplay.  In the video below, you can see both cinematic cut scenes and gameplay, which shows the difference in animation style and visual impact.  *WARNING* the video is extremely graphic, showing gruesome, violent scenes.

I think the animation here is highly sophisticated, using different camera angles and lighting techniques that make the characters come to life.  For contrast, I'm putting the original Wolfenstein game below - Wolfenstein 3D.

Flash Animation Overview Part 2: Symbols

So, we've gone over what Flash is, and what it's been used for. Now it's time for how it's used.
Flash can be used to make frame by frame animation, but what makes it so efficient is the ability to use symbols.

Titmouse Animation's "Superjail" is done in Flash

Symbols are similar to animating on cels. Cels, short for celluloids, are transparent overlays that are painted on, producing parts of animation. Cells allow for pieces of a character or scene to be animated, while other pieces are kept the same. They're like layers.

Symbols are like cels. They're vectors stored in Flash that when put together, form a character or object, or whatever you're animating. How the symbols fit and move together is called a rig.

Each individual piece of the rig is a symbol. Animating with symbols allows for jointed movement, which is much faster and streamlined than drawing the same bit over and over again. How well this works can depend on the skill of the animator, the rig itself, or even the design of the character and how it translates to being a flash puppet.

For example, the show El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera uses Flash well. All the characters are rigged well and are expressive.

However, more often than not, Flash is used more as a crutch as opposed to a tool. Canadian-American show Johnny Test has dull character designs that barely move much. Things are static and dull in the show, with the same animation popping up often.

Game of Thrones Green Screen

One of the shows that has won a bunch of recent Emmys for Visual Effects is of course Game Of Thrones. With such a vast, virtual, and magical world it's very important to have believable graphics.

Most of the structures in the show are computer generated, even though they shoot in exotic locations like New Zealand. The video below is a highlight real of some before & after effects consistently found in the show.

One of the things that amazed me was their ability to duplicate extras in the show. Many times they took a small platoon of soldiers and turned them into an army of thousands. It is so amazing how they can do this and create such a realistic army. I also loved the use of green screen curtains to eliminate certain pieces of unwanted terrain that were in the way of the shot. I had never thought about using green screen to get rid of things before.

Rodeo, the company in charge of the visual effects does a fantastic job of creating fantastical and amazing skylines, with crazy mountains, lights, and castles. It truly is a visually stunning show.

Inside Out

I'm a big fan of Pixar animations, so I got very excited when I found out that there was going to be a new movie coming out Spring of 2015. The movie is called "Inside Out" and it tells the tale of an 11 year old girl and her emotions. Of course there is much more to it because the emotions are the focus of the movie. It goes inside the mind of the girl into her emotion headquarters and each emotion is a character in the movie. It features the voices of a bunch of my favorite actors including Amy Poehler, who voices the emotion joy, Mindy Kaling, who is disgust, and Bill Hader, who voices fear.

 I find this concept to be incredibly creative because Pixar, in my opinion, has mastered the art of manipulating emotions. I can't remember a time that one of their movies hasn't made me tear up or feel sympathetic to a character, even if the character was just a fish or a bug. I can't wait to see this film, but in the meantime I think I can get by with the trailer (which just released today!!!).

Marcel the Shell

Back this week with some more stop motion animation. Something I find interesting about this particular video is the creative use of random stuff that's laying around. "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On" is an imaginative and humorous (to me, at least) work.

Although it probably cost barely anything to make, this video has over 23 million views. The only things that needed to move were the shell, the shell's mouth, and a couple of other objects. Yet it told a wonderful story. The use of sound in the video also helps it come to life, as you can hear the shell walking around and dragging its lint. There's a second one as well:

There's even a website, and a book about Marcel. It just goes to show how far such a small and simple idea can go.

Green Screen Goodness

Hi there,

As I learn more about the green screen process, I become more confused and in awe of the spectacular animations that are produced via a single colored wall and a computer. Looking back at some of my all time favorite movies with this new, analytical lens has really led me to appreciate the amount of work and organization necessary to produce these graphics.

For example, take a look at these Harry Potter screen shots with the animation removed. This leaves only the actors, some set and the almighty green screen who is responsible for creating so much within the magical realm.

The movie certainly looks a tad empty when you strip away all of the magnificent backgrounds and beautiful locales that are expertly created by a green screen and a person sitting at their computer. Without this the film would simply be silly, and unable to portray the true essence of the work. Green screen technology has revolutionized modern cinema and has literally allowed films to soar to greater heights.

I've also included a still from the set of Alice in Wonderland...just for giggles.

Until next time,

Alex