You do not want to know how long I spent trying to rig a vertical stop motion set up this week. Duct tape was flying around everywhere, lights were falling and shattering from above, and I had to take at least one ‘cool down before I break something’ walk. Surprisingly, Google was unhelpful in providing useful solutions — though this may have had something to do with a confusion in terms (is it aerial stop motion? vertical? 90 degrees?) I never quite know what to classify it as.
Anyway, I’ve written this brief process post about how I set up everything. It worked great for me, but I do not intend this to be a “this is HOW you do it” type article. Classify this as a go-to “bootleg” option if you don’t have access to one of those crazy $10,000 rigs that lets you fly above your subject etc. If you are looking for a relatively easy and inexpensive way to complete this type of project, this is one way to do it. I’ll walk through the supplies and exactly what I did that worked best for me. At the end of the day, it’s actually pretty darn easy — but it’s always nice to get a peak at a successful process just in case you’re spinning your wheels. There probably is a better way to do this, but I couldn’t find one. (And do excuse the slightly blurry photograph above…unfortunately the camera that has the external flash capability was the one being photographed…)
And in case you have no idea what I’m talking about, this video is a GREAT example of this type of stop motion done extremely well.
Aisle One posted earlier on this incredible Wim Crouwel Archive. The Het Geheugen van Nederland has generously archived over 500 of the Dutch master’s works. Break out your printers, you could probably get some decent prints out of some of these. I have his book but a lot of these are completely new to me.
I didn’t realize the other day, when I mentioned Spike Jonze’s “I’m Here”, that the actual film had already been released. The trailer was exciting enough for me I guess. Now you can view the entire 30min film on the website. They limit the amount of viewers per day, so make sure to take a look when you can. I haven’t seen it fill up recently, but you never know. Props for a smooth web interface too — feels like a video game without being frustratingly slow or clumsy like most Flash pages.
The film itself is great; the opening sequence is especially well done. The music works really well with the visuals throughout, and of course the whole thing stars robots. They are remarkably expressive, what for being robots and all. I really like the combination of animation and lo-fi costumes; it works really well for this, just like WTWTA. The story is a nice one, a little sad/mopey, but I enjoyed it overall. I found myself more attracted to the uniqueness of the whole project rather than any specific aspect of the plot.
My favorite part is when the bearded guy in the car yells “You’re a ROBOT!!” into the main characters head. Awesome. Check it out here.
Over the past year I’ve been going through the process of scaling some of my posters for large format (e.g. the Knitting print: Old | New). Most of these were originally designed for 12×18″ format so they had to be re-created from scratch. It’s been a painstaking process at times, but it has also allowed me a chance to approach some of the designs from a fresh perspective. Something about stripping a design down to nothing and building it back up again gives you a clearer view of the essential nature of the piece allowing for more objectivity when making design decisions.
The latest print to be scaled up is the poster for the Terrabyte music festival (pictured above — view original). As you can see, I’ve made some changes and cleaned a few things up. I’ll be posting a process piece detailing the various earlier versions of the print and the transition from small to large format next week. The print is currently available as a giclee from the ISO50 Shop.
On a side note, if you’re partial to any of the older designs in the small formats now would be the time to grab some, they will not be reprinted. They can be viewed in the prints section at the shop.
I’m not going to try and explain how good is Hammock music video is, you should just check it out yourself, what great treatment and ideas behind each shot, David Altobelli should just go and do a movie now.
On the music player front Off The Sky reworks Rob Theakston’s cleverly named album I Am Waiting for You to Stop Being Mad at Me, a piece that touches on slow yet busy low level music that reminds me of walks on cold fall afternoons on very jagged terrian, you can download it FREE here.
Black Tambourine throws their hat in as who will put out the best post rock track in 2010 and with Pack You Up they have a very good chance in my book. Look for them and Soft Moon to make it to well versed goth kids mixtapes this year once they tire out the tempo of The Xx.
You would all tell me if my frequent posting on Washed Out was unhealthy right? well this is somewhat special since its a mix from his blog that you can download for free. Its really crispy and diverse like finding a damaged cassette mix from the basement of your favorite radio station that 25 years old and playing it.
Arch M – “Bedrm Band at Caf NVA (edit)” The Samps – “Magnetic Thys” Samiyam – “Wrap Up” Toro Y Moi – “Brubek” Koushik – “Homage” Osborne – “Afrika (Bullion Remix)” Iasos – “Inter-Dimentional Music” Jack Nitzsche – “Untitled (edit)” The Khalsa String Band – “Song of Bliss”
“This ad from the 70’s describes the Polaroid SX-70, a Land camera with complex optics and advanced features that brought immediate-results photography via the Polaroid system.”
Anyone got an SX-70 they’re going to dust off now that film is available again?
Witness the unchained creativity of Julien Vallée. I suppose this is a little more whimsical than my average post here, but I can’t get over how awesome his work is. The combination of hand-made elements, motion graphics, and unparalleled ingenuity create some stunning work. He also does a great job documenting his process — his behind the scenes videos are just as entertaining as the actual finished product. The last video above is a “Making of” for Danse Dance. You can view the actual interactive video here.
As he says in his Gestalten interview about his work, “I got bored with the computer technique and a pre-formatted way of working”. Good thing he did — it’s refreshing to see work like this that jumps off the page in more ways than one.
