Some of you may know I have a soft spot for music. These days however I’ve been quite nonplussed by the lack of quality in music videos. So when I saw this amalgamation of gorgeous 3D & sound I was quite struck. Struck by awe. Check it out for yourselves, and make sure to sit through at least a minute and a half of it. It gets better and better. Need more? Visit the Myspace(s).

Behold! Apparati Effimeri’s “TETRAGRAM FOR ENLARGEMENT” is one twisted, mind-bending piece of work. Through the use of projected light (and, the absence of light), we witness something as grand and tangible as a castle, meld, mold, melt, and continually rebuild itself. The presentation features a glitchy audial adventure from Be Invisible Now! – so if you’re a fan of that kinda stuff, you’ll doubly like this short piece.

Source: Create Digital Motion & Apparti Effimeri

WOOD, by mcbess

I can’t get my head around the work coming from the mcbess machine (Matthieu Bessudo and friends ie. Simon).  It’s not just incredible illustrations or incredible music, it’s both wrapped in a 3D tortilla shell and smothered in a dark and moody chipotle sauce.  “wood” is a music video for Matthieu’s band the Dead Pirates and produced by the Mill, (the Mill has worked with the likes of Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry to name a few).

Let us know what ya think!

Here’s an artist I haven’t thought about in a while… Mr. Richard Melville Hall commonly known to friends as Moby is set to release a new album. You may remember he gained super music noteriety for his album Play back in ‘99 which at the time seemed to permeate all forms of audible media (radio, tv, movies, commercials, etc.).  I sort of fell out of touch with his later albums, as my music tastes went down the wondering paths they often do.  Yet apparently I was set to return, as I stumbled upon his latest single / video for his upcoming album Wait For Me.

Shot in the Back of the Head (below) was created by the ever-awesome director David Lynch.  I haven’t had a chance to hear any of the rest the new album Wait for Me but this first single combined with two additional things makes me want to keep my ears open.

• Thing 1: He’s giving the first single away for free (available here); not entirely embrassing the free / pay-what-you want model but still a good first move.
• Thing 2: His blog post regarding a return to do-it-yourself and home studio work with friends reads rather nicely.

I leave you with the video below.  Almost gives a sort of M83 feel does it not?  Oh that may be because producer Ken Thomas who’s helped out with Sigur Ros & M83 lent his hand to the mixing.

Shot In The Back Of The Head from Moby on Vimeo.

The Last UnicornChildhood Regression, Here I Come!

Don’t look at me like that! This was a serious topic of discussion in our work environment today.  Maybe it was the previous references to Playmobil, Floppy Diskettes or possibly Men at Work… I don’t really know. What I do know is that the beast of nostalgia (Nostalgior!) has dug its bedazzled claws into our mental space and insists on regurgitating its hypercolour memories all over our contemporary floor.

Did you happen to catch this early 80’s animated flick?  I was surprised that NONE of my hard working (read: hard drinking) team had!?  I was an ill-tyke at the time enjoying some Superchannel and remember watching The Last Unicorn more times than I would like to admit. I wept tears at the plight of our lead unicorn, I wet pants at the sight of the freakin’ red bull and yes I sung song during the credits.

Speaking of credits this movie boasts a soundtrack by America. AMERICA!  As well for vocal talents we have Alan Arkin, Jeff Bridges, Mia Farrow, Christopher Lee and Angela Lansbury (Whodunnit Ang? You did… You did!).

This falls into a suite (sweet?) of animated 80’s movies that, though each different, boasted similar qualities in animation style and overall tone.  To this list I would say we have:

• The Last Unicorn
• The Secret of Nimh
• Transformers: The Movie

There’s probably a few more to add to the list. Heavy Metal? Rock & Rule? Hmmm, help me out here people, don’t leave me hanging.

Upon further reflection, could this tale be an allusion for original cultures (the unicorn) struggling against the ruling power’s (King Lir) push to drive them into the melting pot of contemporary society (the ocean), and the ever present fear of becoming the last of their kind? That may be a stretch. I’ll have to watch it again, or, perhaps they’ll produce a live action version someday (currently in the works).

In the meantime, bring on the waterworks…

Sita Sings The BluesBy Nina Paley

Last night I sat down in front of ol’ man laptop in search of audio-visual entertainment and feasted my peepers (jeepers!) on something beautiful.  This beauty came by the name of Sita Sings The Blues.  Okay where to begin… there’s just too much cool going on here.  Everyone, breathe. Find your calm place and we are ready to begin.

Sita Sings the Blues takes us through what the poster dubs as the Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told.  I’m inclined to agree.  Artist, animator and director (WHAT?!) Nina Paley gives us an animated re-telling of the Ramayana, an ancient Hindu tale of love, trust, betrayal, justice and… well it covers a lot of allegorical ground.  To boil it down you have the beautiful Sita and the trials she experiences with her main squeeze Rama.

Now this on its own would make for a stellar watch (like with your eyes, not the time keeper) but the awesome keeps on coming.  First off Sita expresses her emotional state through dirty thirties era blues songs.  And through some alternating animation styles, as well as references to contemporary relationships you have here a story designed specifically to amaze.

Now I am just about to wrap this post up but there’s one last thing. IT’S ULTRA-FREE! I say ultra because this feature length film is not only offered for free download in numerous formats but it is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.  This basically translates into a do-whatever-you-want-with-it license.  Share, distribute, profit-from, remix and… well anything.  Checkout the official site to read Nina Paley’s thoughtful post on her reasoning behind this choice.  This also got me learning about the Free Culture movement, but that’s for another post.

prettyloaded.com

This site is simply brilliant.  A preloader that loads other preloaders may seem pretty redundant, but when you see how clever and entertaining some are it’s easy to see how you can lose 10 minutes without any forethought.  Pretty Loaded is a project curated by the creative agency Big Spaceship. You can submit your own preloaders or follow the project via twitter @prettyloaded.

mcbess The art of Matthieu Bessudo

Here be an extravaganzalopagos of media from the mind of Matthieu Bessudo @ mcbess.com.  I’ve admired Matt’s illustrative style for sometime now, and in the vein of ISO50 I caught on to the notion that supplementing your talent with more talent is the way to go!… as you can see in the following show reel after the jump.

If video killed your radio star, head to mcbess radio for resuscitation.

And the frosting on the cake that never gets stale: blog.mcbess.com

Paperlandby JonDoe @ Nowhere Lab

Just checked out the Nowhere Lab animation reel featured on their site. I’m not quite sure if JonDoe is an actual person, or a pseudonym for the organization as a whole. I think this world could use a few more pieces of paper fashioned for cuteness. Indeed, it would then be a better place.

Source: The Behance Network and Nowhere

This award winning film details various memories from veterans of 1982’s First Lebanon War. The plot follows around Folman as he attempts to reveal memories of a massacre, which have since been exiled to the deepest recesses of his mind.

I’m sure I’m not the first to compare this flick to Waking Life, as the technique used to bring each still to life is similar to rotoscoping. Turns out Waltz With Bashir wasn’t created by filming first and tracing second but instead drawn first, then animated using a combo of Flash and classic techniques. As the film drew onwards, I began to sense a strange connection with Waking Life as far as the pacing and conversation is handled throughout the film.

Gorgeous animation and great use of colour helps to create vividly moving scenes. With a spectacularly haunting, yet effective ending (which I won’t ruin for you here).

For more, check out the trailer or the promo site.