Sparkles and Wine - Teaser

Simple execution from Nacho Guzman that yields amazing results. It's amazing to see how much light position truly does affect the way we perceive the way someone looks.

Moniker creates crowd-sourced music video for Light Light

Brilliant and highly interactive idea from Moniker for Light Light's new song, Kilo. I could tell you all about it but you should just follow the link and experience it for yourself.

 CLICK HERE

Daft Punk ft. Pharrell - Random Access Memories Teaser

Haven't been this excited for an album release in a long time.

Photo of the Moment - Untitled

Untitled, a photo by emilyupsidedown on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Print.

Computer program that learns to play classic NES games

You heard it here first folks. Or maybe you didn't, and if that's the case you should be looking at something else on my blog. Computer programmer Tom Murphy has created a program that learns to play NES games and win....with some interesting results. I don't claim to understand half the math that went into creating this but Tom's commentary and examples are pretty entertaining. I could watch a computer learn to play videogames all day.

30 Days of Animation

One of these animations pops up every now and again, but I always seem to love them. Geoff King created an animation for every day in March and below is the result. His attention to subtlety and detail are what bring out the personality in his characters. I could learn a lot just from watching this over and over.

National Geographic - 80's Ident

BUCK is going totally 80s with this new ident for National Geographic's “80’s the Decade that Made US”. They were tasked with telling a story of the American experience in the 80's and I think in 15 seconds they did a pretty amazing job. I love the watercolor animation as well as the audio track that pairs it. Everything comes together on this piece and it shows.

Emporium Arcade Bar 8-Bit Promos

I always love 8-bit animations and this one from OPTIMUS DESIGN for Emporium Arcade Bar in Chicago is no exception.  We all know booze and gaming go hand in hand, but I think we're all waiting for the first "coffee house" arcade lounge if you catch my drift.  There would be a lot less controllers thrown anyways...

Meetformer

I really like the color palette and isometric cartoony style of this informational animation from Roman Vyshivanov.

Illusions (part one)

Really intriguing concept from Animal on the subject of Illusions.  Now I have always had an affection toward the weird and unexplained, so a video on illusions was right up my alley to begin with.  The first thing that stood out to me about this piece was the voice over.  It fits so well.  I love how it sounds like it's from archival footage.  I also enjoy the mixture of found and animated footage.  However, what I found best about this piece is that it could have ended half way through and achieved what I thought it was going to, but then it goes into a much deeper and unexpected place in the second half that I honestly got a few chills.  Well written and I'm looking forward to the following 7 films.

Photo of the Moment - Hyatt Cinema

Hyatt Cinema, a photo by cito17 on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Abandoned movie theater in my hometown.

Light Speed Car

A really fun animation from Marcus Melin. The smoke effects are really great in this piece. I especially love Melin's process; he makes illustrations and puts them on Dribble, then if he gets enough likes he animates them. Seems like an interesting way to make small projects.

After Effects: Cineware & Cinema 4D Lite

As many people are finding out, the next version of After Effects will have Cinema 4D integration.  This is huge news and will be a much easier way for motion graphics artists to get 3D work into their animations. Learn more about it in the video below.

LAB[U]

Lovely animation from The Workroom on sustainable cities.  Really enjoy the design and use of space in this piece.  There are a lot of moving parts all working together, much like a city, and I think that really helps to pull the whole thing together.  It's especially great when you understand something that isn't even in your native language.

Windows

Absolutely entranced by this animation from Conor Whelan on that happy loneliness one often feels while traveling alone.  Expertly captured through the use of windows.

Patrick Moore

Great logo, icon, and text design from Patrick Moore.

McDonald's - Roller Coaster

Buck being Buck....this is just so awesome.  Something about putting a cheeseburger through a retro filter just always makes me happy. It's almost more American that apple pie.

365 - January

Wonderful concept from The Brothers Mcleod: One Film. One Year. One Second a Day. Follow the daily progress here. Watch more 365 here.

Eclipse

I posted the making of this piece a long, long time ago.  Somewhere along the way it got lost in the shuffle, but I've rediscovered the full version and it's amazing.  Love the pacing, style, and overall ambiguity of this piece from Gobelins.  I feel the pacing really goes hand in hand with the feeling of outer space; slow and quiet.  I also enjoy how the environment almost looks like a topographical map with all the line work.  Great piece, I could see this being much longer, but keeping it to 3 minutes was just as effective.  Let the viewer make their own conclusions.

Konami (Alphabet Test)

I really enjoy this animation and video from Bryce Wymer and Justin Demetrician. Letter animation like this can be a great tool for those situations where imagery just doesn't work. Sometimes just throwing text on screen can be a little stale, so coming up with your own animated alphabet can really help. I'm planning on doing something similar on an upcoming freelance project so this is a great reference.