It is amazing to see so many of the major commercial production houses have started to really embrace Vimeo as a place to showcase work and their processes.
PSYOP is a fantastic example, not only have they been posting up most of their recent work, they have also been posting up breakdowns of how it was conceived from start to finish. As much as I enjoy the finished work I must say I enjoy these breakdowns and making of’s even more.
EDIT: Original video was removed by PSYOP, here is the complete ad:
>
Great stuff! Check out the rest on their Vimeo page.
I watch a lot of random animation, films, shorts, commercials, tests, whatever. I figured I may as well start sharing some of my favorites on a more consistent basis because it keeps me hunting for more.
Start with a nice little short by Eran Hilleli called “knowledge of the cone”
I am really partial to the character design and style of the motion. Angular characters and quick direct emphasized motions definitely do it for me, and I always enjoy a good slap in the face. Check out the website, as there is a good collection of other work.
There are few studios and people that get me excited to hear about something new, and Manglobe is definitely one of them.
Michiko to Hatchin is a great new TV series brought to you by the people that were responsible for Samurai Champloo and Ergo Proxy, as well as many other bits of animation. Directed by first time director (long time animator and storyboarder) Sayo Yamamoto. She is working alongside the talent of many animators, character designers, and even the director and creator of a little series called Cowboy Bebop. Shinichiro Watanabe is the music producer of the series, proving further that anything he has a hand in turns to gold. The music plays an important role in this series just as it did in Bebop and Champloo. Meaning it is an absolute perfect fit for every sequence in the series, I think Watanabe is the only person that could give Wes Anderson and Sophia Coppola a run for their money.
Check out the title sequence:
I have seen up to episode 15 (Edit: 17) and I can’t wait to see more. It is 1 part Cowboy Bebop, 1 part Samurai Champloo, baked with a little bit of City of God. It has such a since of playfulness that any animator can appreciate. They aren’t afraid to leave the standard style behind for a minute and have some fun with the look and feel of a scene. One of the best parts about this series is a strong since of influence from films like City of God, and the more recent City of Men. Fernando Meirelles seems to definitely have some influence here in some form or another. The range of characters is also phenomenal. From the 2 very different title characters (Michiko is kind of like a much crazier female and Brazilian version of Spike Spiegel, with Hatchin or “Hana” a very quiet younger girl with high sense of morality) to the huge range of characters they run into along their little journey, I was rarely dissappointed.
I am so glad to see that there are smaller studios in Japan that couldn’t care less about the vomit inducing mainstream animation scene in Japan. Like the great films and series before it, it is a shame that Michiko & Hatchin doesn’t get more recognition.
Pop music isn’t bad, it is just ruled by a bunch of twats. Throw a little electricity in there and all will be fine. Came across this video on Motionographer saw that Miho Hatori was involved, and I was sold. I really liked the video so I did a little research of my own and was incredibly pleased with what I found.
Goes to show what is possible with a fairly basic and really crazy idea, some fine tuned editing skills, and some nice looking animation. Something about this I just really like, I have been a big fan of Miho Hatori for a long time, something about this type of music combined with her voice is just magical.
He has been responsible for many great things in my lifetime, and I am just now learning about it, what a chump I am. If you have the internet chops, make sure to check out the Last Century Modern album. And let me know if you discover anything else. Not a lot out there from the normal music vendors, so I may try to do a little digging for more.
Enjoy! Looks like there may be a new album in Feb. according to my research.
You already know who The Roots are, if you don’t, you might want to start listening to some better music. Luckily they have made it very easy for you with Home Grown!
I highly recommend checking out any of their albums in full. Do You Want More?!!!??!, Things Fall Apart, Phrenology, and The Tipping Point are my favorites, but The Roots are kind of special in that they have an endless list of incredible tracks.
