This comment on global warming starts of in a light hearted way but turns to dark humor as it progresses. Sun of a Beach, directed by Alexandre Rey, Arnaud Crillon, Valentin Gasarian et Jinfeng Lin, is a 2013 short animated film from Supinfocom Arles (now MOPA). Original soundtrack : Thomas Blanc
Aardman have collaborated with Atlantic Records and British folk rock trio The Staves to create a visually stunning music promo to accompany their latest single Winter Trees from their debut album Dead & Born & Grow. Click here to watch The Staves Winter Trees Video Aardman directors Karni and Saul talk about the making… Read More »
Thank you to Kate Sorenson and her couponing team for contributing this article. Kate and her team run the blog, Coupon Cravings, a site full of great deals and clever ways to save. 3D animation is engaging, creative and fun. It can also be a great tool for teaching and school projects. However, the costs… Read More »
Sintel (2010)
There is no denying that hand-drawn animation is out of favour in the commercial cinema. The trend towards computer graphic (CG) animation started in 1995 with Toy Story from Pixar. This was followed by Toy Story 2 and 3. The DreamWorks studios jumped on the CG bandwagon with Shrek (2001) which was also very successful and led to sequels. The last hand drawn Disney feature film, The Princess and the Frog (2009), was a disappointment at the box office when compared with successful CG animation.
Where does this leave the home animator who may have ambitions to break into the animation business? CG animation is probably the best way to go. Unfortunately the kind of software used by the major studios would be very expensive for a young animation enthusiast to purchase, even in the student version. Fortunately the Blender Foundation have made CG animation software available free of charge. They rely on donations and volunteers to develop and improve the software.
Left: a computer graphics render with soft shadows. Right: a cel shader and border detection.
This is a guest post by Olivia Lennox.
As you’ll well know, there are far more animation techniques out there than the average movie-goer or TV watcher knows about. You can’t blame them for only really knowing about stop-motion animation, CGI animation, and what goes into shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy. These techniques are what ‘make it big’, and what can be seen on screens, both big and small, all over the world. But there are plenty of other forms of animation that don’t get the credit they deserve.
This video traces the development of animated creatures in live action movies. Starting with the puppets of King Kong animated by Willis O’Brien it moves on the computer graphics characters we are familiar with today. The video was produced by Inrd Shelby who points out that it is for educational purposes only and no copyright infringement is intended.
Biôrn, an old Viking, is determined to reach Valhalla, the warrior’s afterlife full of excessive drinking and debauchery. To gain entry he has to die honorably in battle, but he discovers that the right death isn’t so easy. It has an unexpected and hilarious ending. This is a computer animation with a painting-esque style. This… Read More »
A cop in a diner is too busy eating a donut to notice a robbery taking place. This computer animation is by Vincent E Sousa, Bertrand Avril, Yann de Préval and Denis Bouyer. The production time was four weeks using 3dsMax, Photoshop and After Effects. Produced at Supinfocom Arles, France.
An armed robbery takes place at a grocery store. The whole thing is recorded on the store’s video system but the fuzzy images lead to confusion. This computer animation was made at Gobelins, l’Ecole de l’Image, Paris, France. The co-directors were Johanna Bessière, Nicolas Chauvelot, Olivier Clert, Cécile Dubois-Herry, Yvon Jardel and Simon Rouby. More… Read More »
Gary has a crush on a girl that is oblivious to him. He creates an alter ego in an attempt to get closer to her. This computer animation is directed by Clément Soulmagnon with Yann Benedi, Sébastien Eballard and Quentin Chaillet. It was made at Supinfocom, France.