Daniel Garcia directed this video for T.V. on the Radio with the help of Mixtape Club. The narrative matches the lyrics and quirkiness of the song, titled “Me-I”, perfectly. Quirkiness is a delicate thing and can go very very wrong if not handled with some sophistication. Dan G. plus the Mixtape club have more than enough tricks up their sleeve to handle such a challenge. That’s just an opinion, and opinions are bullshit, in my opinion.

The Video is a web exclusive so you’ll have to use the Adult Swim flash player to view it, sorry.

And don’t miss the production shots!

Stephen Watkins

Helio Vega

Coke creates fun interactive site with Faithless and Paranoid.

It’s been a while since I’ve dropped by Amautalab’s site, and it looks like they’ve updated since my last visit. I’m particularly keen on the Tokyo.Now spot, which, from the looks of it, is almost entirely analog.

Normally, I don’t go for stop-motion, especially in the context of motion graphics. It takes years (maybe decades) of practice to do stop-motion right, and when young mographers decide to give it a shot, it usually ends up looking sophomoric and unpolished. (In a bad way, not like in that hipster, anti-aesthetic, “it’s supposed to look like shit” way. Although that’s often the excuse they give.)

But Amautalab has built vibrant vignettes infused with whimsical typography that are packed with charm. Each scene is well-crafted without threatening Amautalab’s inner child. Nice job.

Mad propage to Chris Martz.

This trailer for the short film, Missing Pages, by Jerome Olivier, is an example of beautiful horror. Each shot looks to be a gorgeous study of composition, lighting and color, heightened further with elements of slight animation, that leave the viewer a bit uneasy. Mix that with the great build up to violent cuts that Olivier choose for this, and you got one creepy trailer.

Another point that is very impressive when looking at the quality of this trailer is that it is essentially a one man show. Olivier is the man behind the curtain on this one, having written, directed, edited and animated it. It is a great example of how much further this medium can stretch to than just some pretty graphics. I only hope that the film itself is as good as this trailer.

Motion 3 looks strong… really strong

‘I am totally ripping you off’ - Intellectual Property

Everything is more dramatic is slow-motion. That’s a given. Mundane acts like sneezing and laughing become epic adventures in physiology. A bullet piercing an apple becomes some kind of sensual metaphor. But instead of stringing together a bunch of unrelated, clichéd shots showing off Phantom high speed HD cameras, Superfad decided to go the extra step and weave a loose narrative in this amazing promo produced for NAB.

There’s something mythical about the story. It has just enough suggestion of a narrative to keep you going: a protagonist (the woman in white), an antagonist (the dog/ink splatter) and god-like figures that watch over everything (the birds). But honestly, if this was shot at normal speed, it wouldn’t have worked at all. Superfad seems to understand the peculiar way that slow-motion implies narrative in the simplest of acts.

This didn’t give Superfad license to be sloppy, though. The piece is rife with beautiful (though slightly unorthodox) compositions that underscore the dramatic tension set forth in the music and editing. It’s lovingly crafted and full of detail.

I don’t mean to make too much of it. I’m sure many of you will scoff at my mini-dissertation above. Something about this film, though, snared me, and I don’t think it was accidental.

Nustah uses some flash trickery to display pre- and post versions of their work.