Stop Motion Geek

An old man is torn between the lingering presence of his dead wife, a fish in a jar and the reality of his lonely existence. Link:  http://vimeo.com/annamation/tosfilm Tired of Swimming from Anna Eijsbouts on Vimeo . Credits: Voice man: Peter Caracciolo Voice woman: Norma Cohen Sound Design: Mauricio D'Orey Sound Mix: Mike Wyeld Additional Modelmaking: Jen Cardno, Josh Wedlake, Mirjam Baker, Phoebe Longley-Cook, Samantha Reidy, Marah Curran, Hollie Paxton Additional Post Production: Desmond Lo Titles: Tiddo Muda Colour Grading: Doychin Margoevski Edited by: Lot Rossmark & Anna Eijsbouts A Film By Anna Eijsbouts With the support of Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Huygens Talent Programme, Blink Ink, Nat Cohen Scholarship Copyright Royal College of Art 2012

WWE, the pop culture wrestling phenomenon has gotten into the business of Stop Motion Animation.  Yes, that's right.  Basically, it's WWE action figures had a baby with Seth Green's  Friendship All-Stars  and continually posts 2-minute videos via internet about their accomplishment.  Stoopid Buddy Stooidos is the Stop Motion hub right now, so it's no surprise that WWE have teamed up with them to create this series. There will be a total of 26, 2-minute episodes distributed through WWE Network, Hulu, PlayStation, Xbox, AOL On, Nintendo, Vudu, Google Play, (cough, cough), Kabillion, Mattel.com, and finally, iTunes.  I haven't seen a Stop Motion show distributed like this, ever !  This is basically a long commercial to get boys ages 4-12 to get their moms to buy them toys.  I do not know if this will grow a new legion of Stop Motion loving fans like The Nightmare Before Christmas did, but I say whatever little glorification we can get the better. You can go and wa

The story exists in its basic features since the fable «The father and his sons» by Aesop (600 B.C.) and is told to this day in anecdotes and urban myths. In «From Dad To Son» we translated a written narrative into a paper crafted animation short. «From Dad To Son» has been screened in 2012-13 at more than 130 film festivals and received 12 awards. Link:  http://vimeo.com/nilsknoblich/fromdadtoson Website:  http://nilsknoblich.com/post/blog/from-dad-to-son/ Flickr photo stream:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/12731603@N06/sets/72157627428247109/with/6797880243/ From Dad To Son - Shortfilm from Nils Knoblich on Vimeo . Credits: Direction & Design: Nils Knoblich Script: Nils Knoblich & Stephan Hanf Production: Nils Knoblich & Stephan Hanf & Kunsthochschule Kassel Animation: Nils Knoblich, Florian Maubach, Olga Gelwer Set and Puppet Construction: Florian Maubach, Olga Gelwer, Marie Kersting Music Production: Georg Conrad Violin: Josefine Knoblich Sound

Concept art for Lucy and the Anvil Very recently, Shadow Machine Studios (the production behind the upcoming  Hell & Back, and  Pinocchio ), leaked out a hint to what could very much be their next feature via their website.  This project, entitled Lucy and the Anvil .  Which is a successful book by Adam Kline and Brian Taylor. All [Shadow Machine] gives us to go on is a synopsis of the film and a few stills of concept art; both of which you can take a look at below.

Quite an interesting short film from Starburns Industries, the geniuses behind the upcoming Kickstarted Anomalisa . Link:  http://vimeo.com/81415074 Holiday from Starburns Industries on Vimeo .

Link:  http://vimeo.com/89396394 WOODOO from Andre Maat on Vimeo .

Universal Pictures Switzerland has just snuck us a brand new, minute and a half BoxTrolls trailer!  My expectation of the film at this point is that It will rank up on the list of best animated features; it will be up there with flicks such as Toy Story , Shrek , and Fantastic Mr. Fox . This trailer also gives us a peek at the plot of the film.  At this point, I am so stoked for this film I can't express the way I feel about it in writing.  I just cannot wait! Directed by Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable, Laika's The BoxTrolls will hit theaters September 26, 2014. Link:  http://youtu.be/wUYNcf4O7IA The BoxTrolls website:  http://www.theboxtrolls.com The BoxTrolls

Not only do I love this video but I really like the song choice and how it entails with the video.  Beautifully animated, really lovely wooden puppets, and did I mention what a masterpiece it is? Link:  http://vimeo.com/ohyeahwow/colourblind Elliot The Bull - Colourblind from Oh Yeah Wow on Vimeo . For all the 'making of' goodness go read the DragonFrame article here:  http://www.dragonframe.com/blog/2014/03/oh-yeah-wow-elliot-the-bull/ https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/colourblind-single/id834137268 https://www.facebook.com/elliotthebull http://www.elliotthebull.com http://www.kingdomsounds.com.au Director: Samuel Lewis Producers: Darcy Prendergast & Seamus Spilsbury Created by Oh Yeah Wow:  ohyeahwow.com Facebook:  facebook.com/ohyeahwow Twitter: @ohyeahwow Instagram: oh_yeah_wow Animation: Samuel Lewis VFX Supervisor/Colourist: Andrew Goldsmith VFX Technical Support: Josh Thomas Set Construction & Design: Benjamin Brayshaw Art Department:

Created with meticulous attention to detail and hundreds of hand painted 3D printed models, the commercial not only delivers on humour, but also on an aesthetic quality not often seen on British television. http://vimeo.com/89100027 Potatoes That Speak For Themselves from Jonathan Gallagher on Vimeo . Credits Client: GreenVale Agency: Aesop Studio: BlinkInk Directors: Mikey Please & Dan Ojari Role: Compositing

This is Dawn Brown's original House of Monsters short that inspired her to create a miniseries with this as the base idea. Link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPxRLtrofE4 I want to mention that she has her Kickstarter for the House of Monsters miniseries that is live of right now, which you can check out here:  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/houseofmonsters/house-of-monsters-the-stop-motion-web-series?ref=discovery Let me also add that I'm super excited for her, as of right now she has almost funded half of her final goal.  Also, Animation Magazine did a post about her Kickstarter which is awesome!  You can check out that post here: http://www.animationmagazine.net/features/house-of-monsters-series-seeks-funding/ . I encourage you guys to tweet, share, and + this project because it's really cool!  No farther explanation needed.

I want to give a little 'shout out' to Roberyan Cory's post about character design on his Flickr and Facebook .  Cory has worked as a character designer for shows like SpongBob Squarepants .  It's really very educational, I learned a crap ton of valuable information from it! I credit this fantastic  internet find to Cartoon Brew, which, you can check out their post here:  http://www.cartoonbrew.com/educational/a-lesson-on-character-design-by-spongebob-artist-robertryan-cory-97026.html

Following the making of the upcoming short Between Times from the husband & wife animation duo who: choose to pursue the work that they love, combining both hand-crafted and digital aspects of animation to create their unique aesthetic and voice. They are combining the worlds of Stop Motion, 2d animation, and CGI.  I can't wait to see the finished product! Link:  http://vimeo.com/88687371 Between Two Worlds, The Hybrid Animation of Tiny Inventions from lynda.com on Vimeo .

The New York Times recently wrote an article about The New York International Children's Festival, stating that, smaller/indie studios like Bent Image Lab make stunningly animated and incredibly enjoyable films that are not just for children and can really entertain adults and teens as well.  Hmm... Shocking! Rob Shaw’s stop-motion animation from the American IFC television series “Portlandia,” in which rats write an insulting book about people. The festival, whose 2014 edition opens on Friday and runs for four consecutive weekends at six Manhattan theaters, with a hundred films, has always tried to attract tweens and teenagers as well as 3-to-10-year-olds. They’re an audience underserved not only by many children’s film festivals but also by commercial studios. Between the time young people sit down for their first animated Disney feature and the moment they encounter their first Scorsese film, Hollywood offers them mostly fantasy, comic-book heroics and action movies, often

"APRIL 15, 2014: Director  Graham Annable  will discuss character development, story development — as well as the creative process at LAIKA during a keynote address at TIFF Kids in Toronto.  Following the talk,  Mark Shapiro  will present a behind-the-scenes look at the studio.  The full-day conference at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) Kids will feature panel discussions and breakout sessions with international filmmakers, producers and other notables from the children’s entertainment industry." Check out the full guest lineup for TIFF 2014 here:  http://tiff.net One of  Animation Magazine 's "Rising Stars of Animation,"  GRAHAM ANNABLE  makes his directorial debut -- directing with Anthony Stacchi -- on  The Boxtrolls . Graham began doodling at an early age and never stopped. Classically trained as an animator at Toronto's Sheridan College, he spent ten years at LucasArts animating on various video game projects. He worked as a storyboard

It's BAAAAAACK!  Dawn Brown's House of Monsters is back, (as if you didn't just read the first sentence) she is trying to raise $20,000, so go check out and watch the Kickstarter video to learn more about it. "The $20,000 goal is to fund the first episode of the web series. It's called  "Fun In The Sun"  and it's about our neighborhood vampire finding a creative way to kick up some trouble in the daytime." Kickstarter page:  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/houseofmonsters/house-of-monsters-the-stop-motion-web-series?ref=discovery House of Monsters Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/houseofmonstersmovie Dawn Brown's Twitter:  https://twitter.com/MonsterShopInc

Rohitash Rao ShadowMachine, the company behind the upcoming Hell & Back and Pinocchio , have hired Rohitash Rao to work on a project for the recording artist Beck and Capitol Records at ShadowMachine. According to Shootline: "Commercial animation director Rohitash Rao has joined ShadowMachine for exclusive U.S. spot representation. His credits include commercial and music video projects for Crunch, Nike, Snapple, Volkswagen and The Great Big World. Rao has completed his first assignment since coming aboard ShadowMachine: a six-spot animated musical campaign for Arizona community DMB/Verrado via Cecillian Worldwide. He is currently working on a project for recording artist Beck and Capitol Records via ShadowMachine." Which is pretty cool and interesting.  Though I just hope that we will get some news about a feature from ShadowMachine, it doesn't even have to be Pinocchio !  It's just sad to see a company as amazingly talented as ShadowMachine stopped

This bit is by Bent Image Lab .  They're projects include Portlandia 's  Zero Rats episode, Brisk Iced Tea commercials, Bing commercials, Fruity Pebbles spots, and much, much more. The piece shown here has a very interesting concept on what a phone does when your not watching it.    It's beautifully animated and paced.  Definitely check it out below! Link:  http://vimeo.com/88274254 E-Comm 9-1-1 from Bent Image Lab on Vimeo .

Link:  http://vimeo.com/noahharris/peppermint Julio Bashmore - Peppermint from noah harris on Vimeo .

Link:  http://vimeo.com/85852923 Kangaroos can't jump backwards from motiphe on Vimeo . Director: Rafael Mayrhofer Script: Katharina Pichler, Rafael Mayrhofer Voice Actor: Beau Stephenson ( beaustephenson.com/ ) 2D Animation: Katja Flachberger Sound Design: Irad Lee ( iradlee.com/ ), Rafael Mayrhofer

Frederator Studios, has been around making some of the best animated cartoon since it was founded in 1998.  Some of their work include The Fairly OddParents , Adventure Time , Bravest Warriors , and the recent Bee & PuppyCat .  They make 2d cartoons but, they're work is so awesome that I feel I should mention them.  Not that I need to though, they have over a million subs on their YouTube channel .  And have one of the highest grossing Kickstarters to date.  Now, with this video they've given us an inside look at the studio.  Also, there's some Lego Stop Motion involved.  That's all I'll say. Link:  http://youtu.be/OTHOfHCvPtk Frederator Studios' website:  http://frederator.com

Yet another stunning peek at The BoxTrolls.   Laika's  The BoxTrolls hits theaters September 26, 2014. Link:  http://youtu.be/CQ_geARV7b4

to be honest, the effort Tippett Studio put into Jurassic Park is insane ! Whether you loved the film, or hated it so much that you punched the big inflatable t-rex outside the theater, I think we can all agree that it was film history being made.  Other times being The Wizard of Oz , Star Wars , Who Framed Roger Rabbit , and Avatar , which are the other films that broke the box-office and the special effects barrier. These tests were also the first film to push the Stop Motion bar up a notch with inventing the DID (direct input device).  The DID system is a motion capture system that links Stop Motion up with computer graphics technology.  So that the moves are programmed in before anything was actually filmed.  A very ingenious design.  But we also have to thank good ol' DID for all the CGI effects in blockbusters today.  Whether you loved or hated it here you are, the Stop Motion/Go-Motion tests for Jurassic Park ... Link:  http://youtu.be/c1IaR4RCZ2I Tippett Studio's

Paddington Bear, the fictional charter, based on the children's book series by Michael Bond stars in the upcoming StudioCanal film Paddington . We all remember the lovable Stop Motion bear from the 1975 television series.  Well, at one time Stop Motion, now CGI.  StudioCanal, after releasing their  official teaser trailer  earlier today made it clear to us that this will be a live action children's film with slick, snazzy,  computer generated  bear.  Do I hold anything against them for doing this?

"What would you do with 8 Ikea boxes, 5 cereal boxes, 18 LED torches, 47 batteries, 2 cameras and 900 hours?" Link:  http://vimeo.com/88030126 Heart for the Homeless from Lume on Vimeo . BTS:  http://vimeo.com/heartforhomeless/itsyourmovebts Behind the scenes of the "#CardboardCity: It's Your Move" made for Heart for the Homeless from Heart for the Homeless on Vimeo .

I saw this a little over a half a year ago.  It's a really beautiful short film, check it out below. Link:  http://vimeo.com/ainslie/iamtommoody I Am Tom Moody from ainslie henderson on Vimeo . Ice Cream Timelapse:  http://vimeo.com/38891606 Ice Cream Timelapse from ainslie henderson on Vimeo .