This short film from Patrick Jean and One More Production was originally listed at Daily Motion I think. I caught site of it at Motionographer. This is one of those concepts that is so original in its design and execution that you can watch it over and over and not really tire of it (at least from the perspective of a curious artist). It incorporates both video (obviously) and motion graphics / 3D to create a barrage of 1980s and 1990s video game “bits” that convert to pixels a modern city an ultimately the planet. Fantastic stuff! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
…because they’re getting screwed by Hollywood it seems, despite their work being almost omnipresent in any succcessful film you see today, critically acclaimed or otherwise. Tim Clapham (of Cinema 4D and FXPHD fame) Tweeted this morning about an open letter to James Cameron (creator of movies like Titanic and Avatar, which have had enormous box office success and which rely as heavily on CG and VFX as much as they do upon a good story being told).
To my amazement (I have no Hollywood connections so rarely hear about these issues), Visual Effects Artists and CG production people still do not get paid royalties for these amazing films! Executives, actors, writers, musicians… they all (rightly) receive royalties, but somehow the system is so screwed up that the people who create the very worlds and characters that make a movie like Avatar possible, do not get paid royalties. This is borderline criminal IMHO, and well past the boundaries of unethical.
Sometimes the big shots who make the rules in Hollywood need to have their bells rung a little and reminded that we -the people who pay their salaries by going to the theater, buying DVD and Blu-Ray discs and buying PPV movies from our TV providers – care about this issue. But the larger problem here is most people don’t know how badly VFX and CG artists are being shorted here, even creative professionals. That’s why I’m posting this on my blog; I encourage you to do the same or at least Tweet about it. It’s the least we can do, given all the amazing experiences these artists have given to us.
FXPhD instructor and Luxx founder Tim Clapham has some cool videos up on Vimeo, including a look at a piece that he did for 3D World Magazine, which is something I just learned about for the first time. And here I thought all the C4D learning avenues out there were on the web!
Thanks to Motionworks’ John Dickinson for linking up to what I think is one of the more inspirational motion graphics portfolios that I’ve seen in a while. Seems between this chap, Alex Roman and others it’s been quite a motivational week. Nothing like snapping out of the holiday funk with some real projects to get your creative energies flowing! The portfolio in question belongs to French MG shop Gkaster. Here’s the Gkaster Vimeo Index, and their 2009 Reel, seen below.
The thing that really strikes me about this work is the attention to small details in the textures and particles, and especially the lighting. Further proof that as in photography and cinematography, lighting can be everything in motion graphics and is everything in 3D. There’s a lot to learn from here and is further motivation to look into technologies like Vray for C4D if you haven’t already.
I was making the rounds early this morning on the web and found a really cool animation being profiled at Motionographer. Called Givin’ Up, it’s this kind of work that shows you just how far you can take simple shapes and color combinations in After Effects. It’s not always necessary to use fancy plug-ins or 3D elements; a good story with simple visual elements will usually trump a mediocre story concept with beautifully done, fancier elements. Enjoy.
Andrew Kramer over at VideoCopilot.net has been busy updating some of their cool After Effects plugins over the last month or so. The best part about these plugins is that they make certain types of complex motion easier to achieve, and in the case of VS Sure Target and VC Reflect, they’re free! Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. Best of all when Adobe releases the 64-bit version of After Effects down the road, Video Copilot will update their plugins to work in that version as well. Also Andrew has some really cool tutorials he’s posted over the last couple years, for doing all kinds of cool stuff in After Effects, including particle effects, text effects and even green screen stuff. Definitely bookmark his site and check it out if you haven’t yet!
Stand Up for VFX Arists...
…because they’re getting screwed by Hollywood it seems, despite their work being almost omnipresent in any succcessful film you see today, critically acclaimed or otherwise. Tim Clapham (of Cinema 4D and FXPHD fame) Tweeted this morning about an open letter to James Cameron (creator of movies like Titanic and Avatar, which have had enormous box office success and which rely as heavily on CG and VFX as much as they do upon a good story being told).
To my amazement (I have no Hollywood connections so rarely hear about these issues), Visual Effects Artists and CG production people still do not get paid royalties for these amazing films! Executives, actors, writers, musicians… they all (rightly) receive royalties, but somehow the system is so screwed up that the people who create the very worlds and characters that make a movie like Avatar possible, do not get paid royalties. This is borderline criminal IMHO, and well past the boundaries of unethical.
Sometimes the big shots who make the rules in Hollywood need to have their bells rung a little and reminded that we -the people who pay their salaries by going to the theater, buying DVD and Blu-Ray discs and buying PPV movies from our TV providers – care about this issue. But the larger problem here is most people don’t know how badly VFX and CG artists are being shorted here, even creative professionals. That’s why I’m posting this on my blog; I encourage you to do the same or at least Tweet about it. It’s the least we can do, given all the amazing experiences these artists have given to us.