Spy films has yet again created a masterpiece, they were approached by Sony to recreate “Nuit Blanche” (which is linked in this post) under the name “Two Worlds” and directed by Arev Manoukian. The goal was to bring colour and stereo 3d to the commercial. Ultimately it is an advertisement for Sony’s amazing new television with their new stereoscopic technology.

The original was quite an amazing short film and one of my favourite. The 3d animation is very nicely rendered out and blends into the scene effortlessly. The cinematography is beautifully done and it portrays the romantic classical Hollywood era, the slow-motion technique helped portray the emotion and overall concept.

Although many prefer the original over the more recent “Two Worlds” it still creates fantastic atmosphere. Sony and Spy Films went for a slightly different approach in this rendition; Leonard Cohen helped out by narrating over the cinematics with a poem he had written, which gave it quite a poetic feel. I relatively enjoyed the narration approach, which helped give “Two Worlds” a little bit more individuality. It is set in modern day times opposed to the classical Hollywood era.

On the technical side of things, all the scenery was meticulously 3d modeled to create the most physically accurate world; the quality of the photorealism in the renders is amazing. The actors were not 3d models, instead they were filmed behind a green screen and later composited into the final render. They filmed at around 500-2500 frames per second to create help the slow motion effect flow. Spy films used almost half a million watts of power to light up many shots.

The only downside of the clip is that they attempted to one up on the original “Nuit Blanche”, which is a seeming difficult task. Many fans of the original feel slightly offended, the original “Nuit Blanche” has such a powerful personal connection with people. I prefer the first personally, but it's great they got to re-explore this idea.

Overall I think Spy films reinvented “Nuit Blanche” quite well, obviously it will never surpass the original in many viewers opinion, but still created a great composite and told the story of love at first site brilliantly.

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ORIGINAL

Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

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MAKING OF

Making of Sony Two Worlds from Spy Films on Vimeo.

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Stuxnet: Anatomy of a Computer Virus “An infographic dissecting the nature and ramifications of Stuxnet, the first weapon made entirely out of code. This was produced for Australian TV program HungryBeast on Australia's ABC1”. Patrick Clair created the motion graphics behind this very intricate kinetic animation. Patrick from Sydney, Australia specializes in information design and visual storytelling. His videos focus on combining striking imagery with effortless viewer comprehension, he has worked on a variety of projects from TED talks to Ubisoft.

Stuxnet is a highly-sophisticated computer virus and that has an array of capabilities varying from controlling large scale industrial facilities like power plants, dams and waste processing systems.

Patrick took a whole month to create the 3 minutes of animated graphics. A lesson that I’ve learnt throughout my undergraduate studies and even through personal life is to have an appropriate goal in terms of time management and always leave time for error. As one gets more experience you start to get a better grip on how long a project will really take.

“Anatomy of a computer virus” was created using primarily after effects for most of the project. Maya was also used for occasional 3d model and animation such as the microscope. The animation was very complex yet at the same time very clear and used a similar aesthetic to “What Barry says” by the knife (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rlas5Wm0ZYM).

There was a lot going on within the background but the viewer was still able to focus on the intended subject matter. To say the least it was amazingly put together and flows so well.

It can be hard to just watch graphics flying at you for such a long period and still take in the information; I think Patrick and the team at HungryBeast did well in terms of keeping the audience interested and not constantly fatiguing.

Overall an amazing piece, Patrick has added an extra dimension to kinetic animation and told the story of stuxnet pleasantly.

“Oh, the places you’ll go at burning man” is an inspirational short Directed and edited by a small studio that goes by the name of Tedshots run by Teddy Saunders. “Based on Dr. Seuss’s final book before his death, this is a story about life’s ups and downs, told by the people of Burning Man 2011”.This short Won Best Short Film in the New Media Film Festival in Los Angeles.

Burning man is an annual event that lasts a full week, it is held in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada located In the United States. The event coincides with Labor day in the States, around the end of August to the start of September.

The script belonged originally to Dr. Seuss, who was a children book author and wrote about life in a playful and lyrical way, this aided children to further understand the concept. “Oh, the Places you’ll Go” is a book about taking control of your own life when facing difficulties in life such as loneliness, fear and confusion and ultimately is about believing in yourself.

This film was shot using three Canon 7D's on rotation throughout the day, because of the abundance of sand and dust in the Nevada desert. The audio was recorded with a Zoom H4N. The production took the Tedshots crew all seven days at Burning Man to shoot.

Although there isn’t amazing motion graphics or 3d compositing involved which is a rarity and never necessarily guarantees quality, Teddy took a more traditional approach and used great shots and editing to convey the story of Dr. Seuss’s “oh the places you’ll go”.

Teddy chose appropriate scenery to match up with the characters personalities; I also found he appropriately matched up the cast to the script quite well. The imagery was very clear and visually appealing; the location of the production also added quite a nice aesthetic, being a dessert many warm colours were present.

Overall this is one of my favourite short films. Teddy Saunders put quite a lot of thought in his short, resulting in an inspirational film which is visually pleasing and poetic.

Oh, The Places You'll Go at Burning Man! from Teddy Saunders on Vimeo.

All. I. Can is a documentary all about skiing some of the steepest slopes in several of the most remote locations such as Morocco, Chile, Greenland and Alaska being just a few.

Sherpas cinema has done a brilliant job of editing and selecting their shots. They took 2 years to film and edit the totality of the film and used a variety of filming equipment, from the large resolution of the RED cam to the many frames per second Phantom HD Gold; and of course many others such as the GoPro helmet cams and  the canon 7D.

The lengthy filming period allowed Sherpas to create some jaw dropping time-lapse cinematography; the pulse and breath of the earth become more noticeable, seasons change in the blink of an eye, plants bloom and shrivel.

In addition we see clips on the other side of the spectrum shot in super slow motion 1000 frames per second, to give us an insight of the invisible world that’s occurs behind our human visual limitations, and the minute intricate movements that separate master skiers from novice.

I found the opening sequence to be one of the most amazing composites of time-lapse shots. Throughout the opening sequence Sherpas cinema present to viewer aspects of the world as it is today; from earth going through the seasons to industrial factories creating circuit boards. There is a slight environmental message present throughout the whole film, but lacks a clear message.

Being predominantly a skiing film showcasing the best talent in the world of snow sports, it still provoked deep thought. Coming to the end of the film we are left to ponder over a message “to do more instead of less” which can be taken in many ways but overall great advice.

Overall I think the amount of detail and thought went into the whole film is phenomenal.  I am not the biggest fan of skiing and snow sports and I still thoroughly enjoyed watching the entirety of the film from start to finish, which is a rarity. The trailers are great, but I highly recommend watching the whole documentary.

From the creators of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: the tale of three brothers animation, Director Ben Hibon and his crew created a short opening sequence for the film Mirror Mirror, which was released in 2012 (this year).

The opening sequence was created via 3d animation opposed to traditional 2d animation, which really helped give it a unique style.

The story was told so well through just the animation it was memorizing, I think the choice to utilize only a track and no scripted voice overs really created the atmosphere. The atmosphere and transitions into different scenes really made the piece.

It was a visual poem in a sense and was beautifully told with words. I found myself overwhelmed by the simplicity of the story with such simple scenes, although you need to watch it a few times to really appreciate how intricate the story is and how well thought out the transitions are. The clip demonstrates perfect pace which helps the feel to the story.

The style of the animation was also very simplistic, the characters have a static pale porcelain feel to them and show no real emotion throughout the clip, this means the clip relies on the scenery and music to create the atmosphere. The emotionless faces seen in the clip is one of Ben Hibon animation traits, you often see this in his style. Ben started off his professional career after his award winning short film 'Codehunters' for MTV was released.

The 3d animation was very well done. Everything was animated to be very fluid in movement, especially when transitions occurred. In terms of software used I am unsure, but most probably Autodesk was involved; either maya or 3ds max was used to animate, alongside with others.

Overall the animation had its own unique style thanks to Ben Hibon and his imaginative aesthetic. The sequence was beyond memorizing, I could never really take my eyes off the beautifully rendered out frames which seemed to all transition with ease, in the case with both the characters and background scenery. Very inspiring piece and motivates me to further hone my own animation and style.

MIRROR MIRROR / opening sequence from Ben Hibon on Vimeo.

I recently found this short film and was very impressed with the concept. A short futuristic film with a hint of horror by Eran May-raz and Daniel Lazo created for their graduation project. The short incorporates the concept of apps/ games and blends it together with futuristic eyeball implantable user interface. I feel the way apple and its many apps and games are getting increasingly popular, it seems probable as a concept. Alternative to using an iPhone as the medium; the whole world is the medium and the "sight" (eyeball interface) creates another layer to persons vision, which seems to assist in household chores and replacing the need for television and even to further impress women.

Many film makers try to grasp what the future may have in store for society, and many go overboard. I feel the creators of ‘Sight’ have grasped augmented reality well and still kept it in the realm of a probable situation.

Although it’s set in the future, ultimately the movie is about gamification and obsession for "achievements". The guy disposes of the whole cucumber only to acquire a perfect score in the fruit ninja-like game, similar situation with the girl as she was hard achievement on the wingman app. It seemed the main character had an obsession with perfection and to create somewhat of a perfect score of a night.

On the Technical side of things, it seems they have used after effects or similar post production software to create the effects (perhaps nuke, although that’s more for 3d compositing) I feel they executed the effects brilliantly.

The great special effects compliment the storyline well, and even the acting was above average; in comparison to many other graduation projects.

Overall ‘Sight’ had a great concept as a foundation and also very well executed. One of the best short films I've seen in ages. The content was original, very high quality and attention to detail was quite magnificent.

Sight from Sight Systems on Vimeo.

ZOMBIU MAKING OF from UNIT IMAGE on Vimeo.

From Halo 4 live action trailers to ZombiU, E3 2012 showcased many upcoming games.
Way too many great games to mention. Click on the link and see for yourself.

The greatest impediment to progress is the word Can't. Can, on the other hand, makes things happen. Can helps us move forward. Whatever you want to achieve, CommBank's technologies and know-how will help to get you there. Discover the power of Can.

A campaign from Solidarites International using water writing... obviously grabbing the attention of everyone in Paris.