As LOST draws to a close, we Losties are left struggling to find a purpose. I mean, what will I do with myself? Ok, I’m being (a tad) dramatic. But anyone who has devoted hundreds of hours over the past 6 years to LOST as we Neuhausians have can relate to the forthcoming feeling of loss. Here is a great little video and subsequent photoshoot with some of our favourite LOST characters from the past 6 seasons who met their demise along the way. We have a feeling that after Sunday’s series finale this list will be a wee bit longer.
There is something to be said for doing things by hand. Whether you’re talking about silkscreening, thumbnailing, inking, painting or operating a letterpress, there is always that feeling of getting lost in your work. That feeling that what you’re doing is the most important thing in the world, that feeling of being fully absorbed. Our industry is a very fast-paced one, and perhaps the quickest evolving industry on the planet. Sometimes it’s good for us to take a step back and revisit what led us into this field in the first place. This little documentary was floating about the office today, and it captures the spirit of sign painting in an absolutely honest and poignant fashion. You can literally see the worry lines on the faces of these artists as they struggle to find relevancy in a digital world. In Winnipeg, more specifically the Exchange District, we are particularly lucky to have remnants of these hand painted signs littering the walls all around us. This film was a welcome breath of fresh air, and for me, this line from the film sums it up perfectly. “They print in little dots, blue and yellow make green. But we paint green.”
Fritz Lang’s Metropolis has been released in its entirety for the first time since it premiered in Berlin in 1927. I’ve been waiting to view this film for a very long time, and when it is released on DVD later this year I intend to finally view it in all its storied glory. Granted, I could and should have seen it years ago, the prospect of seeing it as it was intended to be seen has made me make the mental commitment to follow through. You can read more about the exploits of this film through the decades here.
First of all, I love all things vintage. Vintage packaging, however, is my absolute achilles heel. I find it rather serendipitous that I stumbled onto a fantastic collection of vintage European matchbooks this morning a few months in advance of our journey to Europe this fall. My fiance and I are already small time collectors of matchbooks (among other things) and I find myself constantly amazed at the simple solutions artists and designers alike are able to fit on such a small amount of real estate. Truly graphic design in its purest form. If you like matchbooks, here’s a little video by Navigators I found sometime late last week which fits nicely into the “match” theme.
Remember when you were 7 and you’d grab a big bowl of cereal and plop down in front of your favourite cartoon on Saturday morning? No logos, no product placement… just clean innocent childlike hilarity? Well, this animated film is pretty much the antithesis of that. Fun, violent, and amazingly creative, it speaks for itself. This Academy Award winning film was directed by the French animation collective H5, François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy + Ludovic Houplain. Enjoy!
After a long talk with a friend about fun and inspiring title sequences I decided I’d try to to make one of my own. The song is from the Fantastic Mr. Fox OST which was very inspiring
This is purely awesome. Until yesterday I hadn’t heard of Ramona Falls or their video, but our photographer told us to look them up. I can’t imagine how many hours were spent in AfterEffects, but it was completely worth it.
Who here likes motion graphics? If you raised your hand, then count yourselves among us here in the office. Anytime we have the opportunity to make a pixel or two fly across a screen, Tyrone, our resident web/motion graphics expert gets giddy. Of course you wouldn’t realize he’s giddy given that he doesn’t talk much. But you can see it in his eyes. They get this glint in them whenever someone mentions the words “graphics” and “motion” in the same sentence. Unless of course the sentence was “Man, this would be a great project if we could use motion graphics but we can’t so don’t even get your hopes up Tyrone.” Anyhoo, that wasn’t the case with this project. We did use them. And it was fun. And Tyrone was happy.
I know I’ve commented on this before, but I am incredibly excited for the new Wes Anderson animated feature, Fantastic Mr. Fox. There has been some controversy surrounding the film (reported feuds between the head animator and the director leaked a few weeks back), but with favourable reviews pouring in and a track record of great films behind him, I think Fantastic will be one of Mr. Anderson’s finest. Head to Apple to see another making-of-featurette to tide you over until the weekend.
This isn’t the first time I’ve stumbled onto the SyFy material, but it is the first time I’ve seen their beautiful motion graphics. Rebranded by London’s Proud Creative, the SyFy channel boasts a new look and creative energy. Check it out, you won’t be disappointed.
