LTV21

Hominid by Brian Andrews

admin — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 03:14:45 +0000

Kinetic Typeography

admin — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 01:23:11 +0000

I know this is an ancient topic, but it deserves a place in this tribute to LTV. I originally drew up this draft when KT was hot and viral, but I still think it needs to be included so…

I wish this was one person’s particular style and wasn’t so prevalent… it appears to be an animation class exercise that has tons of contributors on YouTube. But something like this is almost a fun modern version of Stick Figure Theater, taking dialog from a movie and creating animation around it.

But there are so many examples, I can’t just pick one animation and one artist as a nominee for LTV: Modern. So here are a couple of fun examples just for.. well.. fun.

V for Vendetta:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Q0dfrbr10

Fight Club – Chemical Burn:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuiKJ0rRTAo

Fear and Loathing in Typography:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIujke_cLxc

“Blood and Thunder” by Matthias Sturm

admin — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 00:32:30 +0000

Saw this a while ago but have no idea what led me to it. Here’s the original site I found it on:
http://ticklebooth.com/2009/07/matthias-sturm-blood-and-thunder/

A video by Tobias Stretch.

http://vimeo.com/5772524

Blood And Thunder by Matthias Sturm from Tobias Stretch on Vimeo.

More videos and other art by Tobias Stretch:
http://web.mac.com/tobystretch/Site/Film.html

More music by Matthias Sturm:
http://www.myspace.com/mslucifermusique

2008 Getty Images Short & Sweet Film Challenge – “Photograph of Jesus”/Hill & “Star Games”/Jodry

admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:05:29 +0000

I first heard about this from The Animation Show’s site (a great animation site and traveling animation show created by famed animator, Mike Judge).

Getty has an amazing archive of photos and video. They are one of the foremost archives of such things. You’ve probably seen dozens of their stock photos and video before (check the credits when you go to the movies, you’ll see Getty mentioned none too few times). In 2008, they teamed up with London-based Short & Sweet, a weekly short film gathering, to host a film challenge. The four selections shown are all really great, but two stood out as potential LTV fodder.

The winning selection was called “Photograph of Jesus” by Laurie Hill. The animation starts about 60 seconds into the video. Some great use of the Getty archive with some serious cutout stop motion action:

http://vimeo.com/2362113

Photograph of Jesus by Laurie Hill in association with the Getty Images Short & Sweet Film Challenge from Hulton Archive on Vimeo.

The second may be more of an LTV bumper type thing, but still trippy enough to be included. So here’s you’re two-fer bonus prize.. Jasmin Jodry’s “Star Games”:

http://vimeo.com/2362236

Star Games by Jasmin Jodry in association with the Getty Images Short & Sweet Film Challenge from Hulton Archive on Vimeo.

The other two videos are pretty good too. Definitely check out “Perrington Stud” by Big Red Button and “Long Jump” by Ian Mackinnon & Dominic Parker.

Check out the Getty film challenge site and the four winners in nice light-boxy video displays here:
http://filmchallenge.gettyimages.com/

Grizzly Bear “Two Weeks” fan video (via @pigjockey)

admin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:36:35 +0000

Thanks to Pig Jockey for posting this animation a few months ago.

I like the song (“Two Weeks” by the band Grizzly Bear), but if you replaced it with something a little creepier, this might be a prime LTV candidate. Either way, it’s a well made animation. Great job, Gabe Askew.

Two Weeks – Grizzly Bear from Gabe Askew on Vimeo.

“Life is Flashing (Before Your Eyes)” by Vince Collins

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:03:29 +0000

For all the great and wonderful and odd animations that appeared on LiquidTV, we can’t overlook the filler animations that would appear before the opening credits, bumpers on commercials or between other animations. Sometimes horrifying, but they’re the glue that bound it all together. This certainly could have qualified.

From the YouTube description:

“Tony Vegas’ Animated Acidburn Flashback Tabu. This short is Vince Collins’ Life Is Flashing (Before Your Eyes). A bell, a cup, a duck. Of course.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9J27RaDr5M

“I Lived on the Moon” – Kwoon

admin — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:39:18 +0000

A beautiful animation coupled with a haunting tune.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTysF1E4Ft0

Music by Kwoon ( http://kwoon-music.com/ )
Animation by Yannick Puig ( http://www.yanim.net/ )

Guerre Naïve by Superinfocom (thanks @LittleMonsta)

Monsieur boeuf la tête — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:25:16 +0000

Guerre Naïve (site appears to be down, currently) is a cool little animation that has an interesting mix of styles, bright colors and lighting, and a fun little exercise in CG animation. At times the CG reminded me of the “almost looks stop-motion” quality that things like “Lucy, Daughter of the Devil” did, but much subtler.

I don’t read much French or Japanese, but it seems to have come out of Superinfocom, an animation school in France.

From what I can tell, music was done by Yann van der Cruyssen and this guy, Bruno Mayor, appears to have done some of the fantastic artwork used. And this Remoz guy calls it “my short movie”, so maybe that’s the HMFIC to congratulate for all this

More stuff from Superinfocom Valenciennes here and here.

Fans of animation (and who else would be reading this at all) would do good to click on most of those links for more great art and animation.

Guerre Naïve from Guerre Naïve on Vimeo.

Dreams designed by Dalí in Spellbound (1945)

Monsieur boeuf la tête — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:52:20 +0000

Not strictly an animation, but weird enough to have made a great filler/bumper for LTV.

History of Evil by Ole-Magnus Saxegard

admin — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:05:13 +0000

A fantasticly dark and poignant animation about..well.. the history of evil.

YouTube Link

Description from YouTube:

Animated Documentary-Mockumentary about Evil in western civilization from Ancient Greece to present day.

After all the comments I feel like some clarification is in order, but firstly, to you guys that liked it:

Thanks, you’ve made my day.

The film was intended to show what people have believed in and pointed to as evil throughout history. It was meant to get you to think about what evil really is. It is meant to show that when we get too obsessed with “evil” we might end up taking part in it ourselves.

One has to separate evil and human cruelty. Human cruelty is people not being nice to one another. Evil is soemthing else, it is something we have created, a word and a concept for things that are not acceptable. It is a label for things that we do not understand and dont want to understand.

But is evil really ever a complete explanation for anything?

A lot of bad deeds has been done in the name of good. The people that did them ment good, are they evil?

OK, and finally,
This video is not meant to:

-blame wester culture and people for all the “evil” in the world. I’m european, and thought that I better stick to my own history.
-blame religion for all the evil in the world.
-claim that God is dead. (It is simply a reference to the philosopher Nietzsche, look him up.)
-offend anyone, race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.
-claim that Elvis was evil.
-be an exact and complete account of the actual events that has taken place throughout history.

This was a student project, hence the “unfinishedness” and abrupt ending. I ran out of time. I might update it later.

It was animated frame by frame in flash and composited and textured in AfterEffects.

Disney+Dali=Destino – weird and cool (thanks @LittleMonsta via @GreatDismal)

admin — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 02:34:01 +0000

God, where do I even start with this one? I never thought I’d be posting something from Disney in relation to Liquid TV, but damned if there aren’t some hidden gems that surface every now and then.

I could reiterate all the facts, but blog MonstersAndRockets.com has done a fine job of that, so you can just read their writeup. But for those who just want the meat of it all, here it is: Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí started work on an animation back in 1946. They got 18 seconds of test footage done before work stopped. Disney’s nephew, Roy, while putting together Fantasia 2000, decided to complete what had been started and I’m glad he did.

I guess it’s enough to say “Disney meets Dali” to get the idea of what you’re in for with this 6+ minute of footage, but for animation and LTV fans specifically, you may perk up a bit when you see what appears to Peter Chung-esque scenes in there. Did Dali influence Chung or are they both just creatively twisted in a fun way?

As was pointed out in the M&R blog, it’s a wonder this video hasn’t been pulled yet, so watch it while you can.

I give you, Destino.

Thanks to William Gibson for retweeting @LittleMonsta on this great animation.

UPDATED: Adding a proper “Via” link for lazy people who drop right to the bottom of a post without reading it

Via @GreatDismal (William Gibson) via @LittleMonsta via Monsters and Rockets.

Bathtub IV and other ‘stop motions’ by Keith Loutit (thanks @donttrythis !)

admin — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 13:23:15 +0000

These videos are almost too cheery to be considering LTV-worthy, but every now and then something truly phenomenal comes around that you just can’t help but feature it for all the animation fans who might enjoy a brighter/cheerier palette cleanser before delving back into the dark and weird.

I haven’t read all his postings, so I’m not sure of all the little tricks he uses, but the primary result of these videos is a technique that makes real life scenes and events look like they’re stop motion animation. I don’t know if it’s the bright colors and high saturation coupled with the sharp focus near the middle of the frame and blurred toward the edges. Whatever it is, people come out looking like tiny little matchstick models, the seas look like they’re fake, even a real helicopter appears to be a little toy.

The “Bathtub” series appears to be all water oriented, but he has other videos that cover other topics.

I want to thank MythBusters’ Adam Savage for tweeting the link to this video and bringing the series to my attention.

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Keith Loutit on Vimeo

Mixel Pixel – Monster Manual ($99 music video)

Monsieur boeuf la tête — Sun, 10 May 2009 14:20:47 +0000

So many great animations out there, but not all are really LTV “weird”. But we run into some like the following that are a specific kind of weird and “WTF” that makes them great for LTV show openers or commercial bumpers.

This animation was created by Dan Meth for $99 Music Videos for the band Mixel Pixel (in case you were confused by who did what for whom). After seeing this and checking out their respective websites, there’s nothing I don’t like about what Dan Meth and $99 Music Videos do, and Mixel Pixel has this fun “growing up in the 80’s” thing going on that’s growing on me quickly.

I think what jumped out at me about this video right off the bat is how much it reminds me of Augenblick Studio‘s work on “Superjail!“. Maybe it’s just the quick and dirty drawing style combined with the stream of conciousness composition. Whatever it is, it tickles me properly.

Mixel Pixel’s Site

Mixel Pixel’s MySpace Page

Dan Meth’s Site

$99 Music Videos’ Site

$99 Music Videos’ Facebook Page

$99 Music Videos’ Twitter

And for fun, the “Making Of” for the video, including what Dan Meth spent his $99 on:

Monster Manual “Making Of” video

Philips Broadcast 1938 by George Pál

Monsieur boeuf la tête — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 05:23:03 +0000

Commercial from 1938 for the new Philips Symphonic Series radios. Directed by George Pál who also directed the 1960 version of The Time Machine, among other features you may recognize. The Philips Broadcast features Sam Browne and Evelyn Dall with Bert Ambrose’s orchestra.

I can imagine this being something the old LTV would play during the intro sequence or as an incidental bit of animation that doesn’t play all the way through. But I have to give props to the creators of this stop motion piece because it’s hard enough to imagine the things Nick Park and Tim Burton and those guys do these days, but to do fairly fluid stop motion without the aid of all the fancy tools we have today (computers and I’m sure there’ve been some non-computer gadgets invented since 1938 to aid im stop motion production).. this has to be the equivalent of a 5 minute long Superbowl commercial in 1938 standards. Enjoy this blast from the far past.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQmiqymo7Og

BTW: Thanks to YouTube commentor “raymond18” for introducing me to a new animation term: puppetoon invented/pioneered by George Pál. Essentially, stop motion using rigid figures, not posable ones.

More information at IMDB’s page, NNDB’s page and GeorgePal.com.

Her Morning Elegance/Oren Lavie

Monsieur boeuf la tête — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 17:06:41 +0000

First, thanks to @LeoLaporte for retweetn @paulandstorm on this video. These are the kind of things you might not necessarily stumble across without watching what all the cool kids are doing and watching.

This video is a bit of an oddball in the “LTV” context, but I think the animation fits well within the realm of LTV animation qualifications (even if the music is too ‘nice’).

A far cry from any Superjail, Dogboy, Franks Planet or even the artsy foreign pieces that have been featured, Oren Lavie‘s music video for “Her Morning Elegance” is a fantastic live action+stop motion piece that’s just fun to watch. Oh hell, I don’ t know what else to say about it. Sometimes things just fall into the category of “I don’t know what it is, I just know I like it”.

From the YouTube description (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_HXUhShhmY)

For fun Facts about the video visit –
http://www.myspace.com/orenlavie

Oren Lavie music on iTunes-
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=293075581&s=143441

Her Morning Elegance
Directed by: Oren Lavie, Yuval & Merav Nathan
Featuring: Shir Shomron
Photography: Eyal Landesman
Color: Todd Iorio at Resolution
© 2009 A Quarter Past Wonderful

“Her Morning Elegance” written and produced by Oren Lavie, from the Oren Lavie album The Opposite Side of the Sea
© 2009 A Quarter Past Wonderful/Adrenaline under license from Tuition

One Rat Short

Monsieur boeuf la tête — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 04:26:40 +0000

Wow.. been ages since I’ve posted anything new. Sorry about that. Holidays and work got away from me. But it’s February now, so time to get back to the updates, eh?

Here’s a really special piece. “One Rat Shot” is the love child of Alex Weil and Charlex Films. It’s a masterfully produced piece of CGI animation on par with anything Pixar has ever put out. The camera work, sound work, composition, model work, writing.. everything.. is just superb. Maybe 10-20 years from now, we’ll look at pieces like this and call them “primative”, but the quality and artistry put into “One Rat Short” will last a VERY long time. I almost didn’t want to include it because I’d like to focus on some of the deranged and inspired examples of animation that LTV was such a great forum for, but there was a masterpiece here and there so “One Rat Short” still fits the theme and heart of LTV in the 21st century.

Bravo to Alex Weil and everyone who put this together!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa0JZjfLlR0

From the YouTube description:

http://www.oneratshort.com

“One Rat Short” is a work of love created by Charlex Films. It began as part of the effort to grow the company’s CG department but eventually became much more than that. Originally, it was entitled “labratz” and as the title might suggest it mimicked the look and sensibility of worked already pioneered by other studios. As it evolved it took on a life of its own- it became my film- or as any director of an effort like this knows our film. We decided not to use anthropomorphic animation. We decided it would take place in two worlds- one so gritty, grimy and dark that the viewer needs to peer into the screen in order to make out the images- the other a sterile, white world so brightly lit that you feel the need to turn your head away from the screen. It was also important to me to keep the film looking as real as possible. One of the techniques we used was to give a lot of the camera work a hand-held feel and to keep it a little behind the action so that the scenes didn’t seem staged. Lastly and most importantly I kept the story simple and tried to give it heart. One of my favorite short films, which I saw as a child was “The Red Balloon”. I think the melancholic and innocent spirit of that film inhabits “One Rat Short.”

Alex Weil, Director

Western Spaghetti

Monsieur boeuf la tête — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 22:31:25 +0000

From the creative brain of Adam Pesapane (aka PES) comes a culinary visual feast of inedible delight. Western Spaghetti is heading to Sundance 2009 and has been featured as Time Magazine’s #2 Viral Video of 2008. Be sure to check out his site for some of his other videos. You may recognize some of his commercial work like “Human Skateboard”. Best of luck at Sundance, Adam!

LTV21

Hominid by Brian Andrews

Kinetic Typeography

“Blood and Thunder” by Matthias Sturm

2008 Getty Images Short & Sweet Film Challenge – “Photograph of Jesus”/Hill & “Star Games”/Jodry

Grizzly Bear “Two Weeks” fan video (via @pigjockey)

“Life is Flashing (Before Your Eyes)” by Vince Collins

“I Lived on the Moon” – Kwoon

Guerre Naïve by Superinfocom (thanks @LittleMonsta)

Dreams designed by Dalí in Spellbound (1945)

History of Evil by Ole-Magnus Saxegard

Disney+Dali=Destino – weird and cool (thanks @LittleMonsta via @GreatDismal)

Bathtub IV and other ‘stop motions’ by Keith Loutit (thanks @donttrythis !)

Mixel Pixel – Monster Manual ($99 music video)

Philips Broadcast 1938 by George Pál

Her Morning Elegance/Oren Lavie

One Rat Short

Western Spaghetti

Twelve Dangers of Skydiving

Food Fight

Stick Figure Theater

Superjail! (Cartoon Network/Adult Swim)

Tyger

Dog Boy

Smart Talk with Raisin

The Art School Girls of Doom

Crazy Daisy Ed

How Wings Are Attached to the Backs of Angels (1996)

Olive, The Other Reindeer (1999)

A fresh start…