Fox Retro

We’re loving this rad promo PUNGA did for FOX Retro, an Italian-only network that rebroadcasts classic American television. The tight, fluid animation with its seamless transitions from 2D to 3D (and back again) are a real treat to watch and the accompanying music/sound design by Daniele Carmosino perfectly compliments the visuals. It takes lots of talented folks to pull off something this polished, click here to see a complete credit listing. Enjoy!

[ Fox Retro ]

This City Will Eat Me Alive

Kid Zoom/Ian Strange is an Australia-born, Brooklyn-based artist who combines a graffiti/street-art sensibility with photo-realistic draftsmanship. His work is super-ultra-dope; it’s quietly contemplative one-moment but big-and-loud the next, equally engaging from far away as a whole or up-close where you can get lost in the details. This video is comprised of footage shot between May 2010 and January 2011 in NYC and LA for his This City WIll Eat Me Alive show. The first three minutes are upbeat, showing Ian at work (both indoors and outside) but the mood shifts to chill for the second half when Boards of Canada‘s excellent Kid For Today provides the ambiance for a private stroll through the gallery and an introspective encounter with his work. Enjoy!

[ KID ZOOM - This City Will Eat Me Alive ]

Change

“How will I ever change, if I am willing to just stay the same?
And if I make a change when will it feel like I’m not just the same?”

Yes, please. Mellow dub grooves of CHLLNGR? Check. Operatic psychedelia-laced abstract sci-fi fantasy visuals (as directed by Chad Turner and Ryan Todd) that leave a pleasing 2001-esque aftertaste on one’s spiritual palette? Check. Turn down the lights, load the bits full screen, turn up the volume and get comfortable; I watched this three times in rapid succession and odds are you might, too.

Special mentions are due to Mike Rodriguez, Efrain Luna and Laura Southard who, along with Chad, did a fantastic job on the animation: top-flight work, y’all.

[ CHLLNGR - Change ]

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, friends! I first saw this very-apt-for-the-site bit of animation on December 27th of last year and have been saving it ever since to share with all of you today. It’s from a series of five short idents created by Matt Layzell, Bishoy Gendi, Michael Gendi, Jonathan Harris and Daniel Boyle of Treat Studios for E4, “to surprise people with something really anti-christmas, and transform something boring into something amazing.” All of them are fantastically bizarre and definitely worth a watch:

Oh, and a big thanks to both Harry Peppit and Sam Lillard who sent these our way via our suggestion box and Facebook wall this past September. Cheers, guys!

[ Reindeer ]

Dan Dan

Whoa. The needles on our patent-pending Dope Meters™ were pinned deep in the red for the entire duration of this fantastic music video for Misteur Valaire as directed/created by Corentin Bachelet, Gilles Cortella, Augustin Clermont, Adrien Jalade and Juliette Grandjonc, a.k.a. Paf Paf, a group of independent French CGI designers. Full screen and headphones, dawg; this one deserves your undivided attention.

Wait, it gets better: Misteur Valaire’s complete discography is available for whatever you feel like paying. So, you know, grab some spare change out of the cushions of your couch and pick up some great ‘choons. Enjoy!

[ MV (Misteur Valaire) - DAN DAN (Création collective) ]

Sparks

“No matter gain or grim, it’s those tiny little sparks,
In daily life that makes me forget my wounded heart.”

I can’t recommend Röyksopp enough; whether it’s their ‘choons or their videos, it’s always a treat. Enjoy the mellow, drift away on the chill.

If you’re diggin’ this one I recommend watching Eple next.

[ Röyksopp - Sparks ]

Accumulonimbus

“Natural and man-made objects on a spin cycle accumulate, disintegrate, and multiply. Created by stop motion animating clay on glass, the film is a meditation on motion and the life cycle of matter.”

Some very nice abstract, morphing stop-motion animation and sound design from the talented Andy Kennedy. If you’re interested in seeing how he put everything together then be sure to check out the making-of page on his website. It’s populated with lots of broken images but the process videos and text still load properly though so it’s definitely worth checking out.

[ Accumulonimbus ]

Pelican

“To have it all, to have it all, to have it all, and still want more;
One thing’s for sure, one thing’s for sure, one thing’s for sure, we’re all getting older.
So we take a lover, so we take a lover, so we take a lover, waitin’ in the corner,
And before you know it, before you know it, before you know we’re pushing up the daisies.”

David Wilson Creative is teeming with talent. Their music videos are consistently top-notch and this one, a trippy, bisected journey through the wormhole of life – from birth to death and then back again – for The Maccabees, is no exception.

They also uploaded a super-rad making-of video that’s full of fascinating tidbits – like how it was shot entirely in one day (!!!) – as well as insight into their tools, process and inspiration. This quote, from David himself, shows how intentionally he approached each detail of the execution, “What was really important in terms of the edit…was essentially the percussive nature of the track. There’s lots of really nice accents and I really wanted to accentuate that…so we spent a lot of time finessing and working on the objects pulling apart to really make an impact on both the guitar parts and the drums throughout”.

Click here to see more David Wilson Creative work that we’ve posted to the site (Our favorite? Zero hesitation: Let Go) or here to check out their Vimeo account, a treasure trove or rad watchables. Their in-progress Advent series is especially nice. Enjoy!

[ The Maccabees - Pelican via Gizmodo ]

Changing Education Paradigms

“An aesthetic experience is one in which your senses are operating at their peak; when you’re present in the current moment; when you’re resonating with the excitement of this thing that you’re experiencing; when you’re fully alive. Anaesthetic is when you shut your senses off and deaden yourself to what is happening and a lot of these drugs are that. We are getting our children through education by anesthetizing them and I think we should be doing the exact opposite; we shouldn’t be putting them to sleep we should be waking them up.”

I was first introduced to Sir Ken Robinson via his super-popular/awesome TED talk on how schools kill creativity, originally posted back in 2006. This more recent lecture at the RSA covers similar ground and will resonate with anyone who has found themselves profoundly bored while sitting behind a desk, waiting desperately for the bell to ring. The accompanying time-lapse white board animation (created by Cognitive Media and a signature of the RSA Animate series) is an excellent complement to Sir Ken’s rapid-fire delivery, helping to drive home complex points with an ease anyone can follow. Time to get your learn on…

[ RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms ]

Bronx Sniper

“No one gets out of here alive,
In the melee there are many ways to cry.
Who knows where the gunshots are coming from;
Those who’ve been picked off aren’t saying much.”

File under: LOLWAT

Sub Pop Records: Purveyors of fine tunes and rad music videos. Corey Adams and Alex Craig bring the bizarre with some fantastic direction that channels Mister Heavenly‘s signature ‘doom wop’ vibe. It’s deliciously whacked-out-weird. Enjoy!

[ Mister Heavenly - Bronx Sniper (OFFICIAL VIDEO) ]