articulate things through animation

A few weeks ago, i eventually watched The Nightmare before Christmas. I know that it's weird to have postponed the moment so much, and it was actually the only Burton related movie i hadn't watched, but well. I guess it's better later than never :). And what i also did a few weeks ago was to read Neil Gaiman's Coraline, the wonderful and terrifying adventure of a little girl who enters a parallel version of her own life. The connection between the two, apart from them both being very enticing stories ? Director Henry Selick, who had successfully directed Tim Burton's piece, and is currently working on the first 3D stop-motion animation movie based on Gaiman's tale. Reading more about Selick, i got more and more intrigued and, among other things, i found Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions - the animated short that attracted Burton's attention in the first place and basically obtained Selick the Nightmare before Christmas proposal. I particularly liked the use of cut-out animation.

tales of mere existence

I have just come across (and immediately fallen in love with) Tales of Mere Existence. They're simple, they're witty, and they make a lot of sense (and they also made me laugh because they reminded me of an earlier post from brilliant Tom Fishburne).

week animated treat

I've just finished an eye-opening meeting with the director for our new campaign, and the guy managed to completely change our optics and add a lot of value both to the ideas, and the executions. Which feels good and relieving, especially since this is happening after last week's horrid experience with some executions gone completely bad.

Sometimes it's really amazing how different your perspectives get when you sit around and discuss the details of a final execution, especially with an outsider. He gives you hints, and then each member of the team starts to make connections and visualize the details of the spot in a particular manner, that depends highly on the cinema references the person has experienced. And obviously, the more you've seen, the more perspectives you have. Which is why Anim'est is a complete thrill - the festival brings a very interesting blend of different animation styles, some of which focus on expressing a certain concept in an intriguing manner, just like some others focus on offering visually striking imagery, while others focus on "paying forward" a feeling, no matter how minimalist the way. After last year's edition, i felt completely resetted and refreshed, and i'm expecting no less from this year's edition. As a slight preview, here's the trailer for René Laloux's famous Fantastic Planet (La Planète Sauvage, 1973). And if you like it, you'd better come to the festival, cause they've got an entire Laloux retrospective among other loads of goodies that will probably confirm, as Laloux said, that "That which suggests is superior to that which shows. Movies today show more and more. It's paranoid dictator cinema. What we need is schizophrenic cinema."

doercast episode 2: mihai mitrica

with a nasty delay caused by holidays, the second episode of Doercast is now up and about. It features Mihai Mitrica, of Este'N'Est, "the man behind Anim'Est", who talks about animations and how he ended up organizing an animation festival here in Bucharest, as well as future projects, such as Fest'Asia (an Asian film festival) and Sibiu Film Fest (which will bring together silent movies and a live orchestra). The recording is in Romanian.

My voice is obviously horrid, and we still know very little about doing such interviews, but it's really exciting, so i'm sure we'll learn in time :).

holiday cheer

i have just realised that i haven't been talking about anything related to planning and brands on this blog for like ages. must add some posts really soon.

In the mean time, it's time for some holiday cheer, which i dedicate to Bogdana, since she bought presents for everybody except herself. Don't worry, that's just a preview for the "real" present i'm gonna get you :). And i also dedicate Hardrock, Coco & Joe in particular to Diana (dunno if you're reading this), for the sake of old times :).

Probably this is meaningless to everybody except old-fashioned me, but i really am fascinated by animations, and their history, and these little videos have a great sentimental value for me. "Frosty the Snowman"(first animated representation ever) , "Hardrock, Coco and Joe" and "Suzy Snowflake" are three animated classics which were produced back in the 50s and were regularly broadcasted on WGN-TV.

stop motion dialogue exercises