XYZ and Bitstate (both on The Ebeling Group’s roster) have created two more spots for the Havaiana’s campaign. (We posted the Three Legged Legs addition a while back).

Watch XYZ’s spot | Watch Bitstate’s spot

All the spots in the campaign use electric, candy-coated palettes to paint dreamlike worlds that we tour from a foot’s point of view. It’s a fun concept, albeit a little constraining at times. I think it works, though, especially with the sudden jumps to live action (a.k.a. “reality”) at the end of each spot.

MK12’s History of America will premiere July 07

Call for Entries: The Art of Animation

In some ways, I feel like Digital Kitchen are unsung rock stars. When I talk to students about them, they often aren’t aware of them. But DK’s new site shows exactly why DK is worth putting at the top of anyone’s list.

The new Michaels spots (there are two, don’t miss them) are beautiful specimens of hybrid animation techniques fused together by seamless transitions. We posted DK’s new reel as a Quickie a while back, but it deserves mention here again. The editing and sound design are simply incredible.

Thanks to Shaun for the tip.

Construction contracting has to be one of the driest possible topics for a commercial spot, right up there with accounting and insurance. Despite this, Buck managed to pull off a minor miracle for ServiceMagic.com.

In about four weeks, a team of eight designers and animators whipped up this delightful romp through an imagined world of perfect contracting. Stylistically, Buck’s minimally shaded CG world of harmonious, soothing colors underscores the message of simplicity suggested by the spot’s voice over. The effortlessly fluid character animation also builds on the idea of expertise and confidence that Service Magic purportedly facilitates.

The look-and-feel is reminiscent of Buck’s excellent ID campaign for TV Land. In both cases, Buck showcases its penchant for smooth transitions and its ability to balance animation and design.

This was posted over at the quickies but I felt I had to move Matt Lambert’s site over to the features.

First and foremost, Matt’s reel is a very entertaining few minutes of motion. It is cut with great precision, and each piece in the montage displays Matt’s skills in all realms of our industry. He can design and animate very well and looks to have had creative direction over most of his current work.

Another point of interest about Matt’s reel is the inclusion of sound effects for each of his spots. A nice touch by Hecq, who did all the sound design for Matt’s reel and also did the sound design for “The Doll” as well. This type of sound design is not too often used in reels as they are usually overpowered by the track and it brings another layer of entertainment to the montage.

He recently left the design studio, Jellyfish in London, and seems to have done work for companies all over, like BNS in LA and Vollmilch in Frankfurt. Soon he will be joining the flood of people to the NY scene, and the studios here will be better for it.

dieLAMB

This funny short film directed by three French bad-asses known as Bif, brings some flavors to The Mill we haven’t quite tasted, while retaining that level of sophistication we all know and have come to expect. The film’s storytelling, style treatment, and editing really take the live-action / 3d animation combo to a different level. And there’s no better way to show off those character animation skills. Great work guys!

Watch Raymond!

Tae Iris Kim

Designer Slash Model

Julian Bevan: check out Metal Mania