Clips from The Illusionist

T-Shirt War

Fun!

Out of a Forest

A magical stop-motion short by Tobias Gundorff Boesen. Music by The National - "Slow Show."

Sylvain Chomet - La Vieille Dame Et Les Pigeons

Sylvain Chomet's trademark blend of humor, absurdity, and the grotesque is in full swing in this 1998 short. The attention to detail in environment and character approaches Miyazaki.

The Mysterious Explorations of Jasper Morello

Adventure, skyships, evil scientists, Lovecraftian monsters...what more could you ask for?

Pivot

A slick, stylish, and surreal film from the Netherlands.

Paul Dempsey - Bats

Great song, beautiful images.

Best Animated Short: Oscar Nominees

The fifth nominee is called Logorama, but it was a bit too R rated to post. Clever idea though.

Skhizein

An unusual and cleverly made French animated short, made using both CG and 2D animation. Shortlisted for an Academy Award a few year ago.

Chomet, Tati, and The Illusionist

Sylvain Chomet is the creator and director of Les Triplettes de Belleville, quite possibly the greatest western animated work of the last few decades. His next film, The Illusionist, is slated to be released this February. That is reason for excitement enough. However, the script was written by Jacques Tati, the director and star of the Hulot films, Les Vacances de M. Hulot, Mon Uncle, Playtime, and Trafic. The story takes place in Scotland, and follows an old-school stage entertainer, frustrated by how the rise of modern culture has turned the youth to rock and roll.

A plot like this is pure Tati, and Chomet is the perfect director; both Tati's and Chomet's films have a deep love for the beauty of the cinematic environment, are nearly wordless, and rely on visual gags and quiet, ironic humor for support. Since Tati stared in his own live-action films, it appears the the Illusionist will in fact be an animated version of Tati himself. I cannot express how excited I am about this.

Garuda

A new short from the French animation school Gobelins L'Ecole de L'Image, which has invariably produced amazing shorts over the years. I love the Escheresque cityscape.

Two New Videos

Perfect comic timing, great story. We need more animators like this guy.



In the vein of abstract visualizations of music, this one's another keeper. Music is "Warren" by The Flashbulb.

Thanks to Tommy Welsh for the tip.

Madame Tutli-Putli

A very dark, very creepy shop motion short, by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, gorgeously shot and composed, filled with characters with astoundingly expressive eyes. The sense of weight and movement is superb.

The Vanishing Point

A beautiful piece of abstract video art by Takuya Hosogane. Meticulous and entrancing. The song is “LePetitPrince” by cubesato.

via ISO50

This Is Where We Live

I'm liking this trend of paper animation...

New Zealand Book Council - Going West

Snip snip snip. This gives me chills.

Create Amazing

It seems I'm on a roll today. Since Catherine seems to be our essayist, I think I may be doomed to the role of "poster of internet oddities." Well, I'll see what I can do to change that, but not today. Today I bring your attention a charming and beautiful advertisement by HP. There is a shorter, more talky ad on Youtube, but the director's cut is also available, and I recommend you watch it first, even if it is a large file. The technique is called tilt-shift photography, which distorts the depth of field in a real scene, making it look like a model. The song, in case you wanted to know, is called "Rescue Song" by Mr Little Jeans.

Create Amazing

The Third & The Seventh

This is something to experience. Fullscreen the video, turn down the lights, and turn up the sound.