This was our Feature of the Month for March 2006

This short film produced by Chage (of the Japanese mega group Chage and Aska) and Jerome Olivier, Missing Pages was created entirely using still images. That doesn't sound very interesting, but each photo is taken apart and moved as you've seen with the Ken Burns documentaries. According to the artist, Jerome Olivier, the technique is called "Fotomation" and was shot entirely with a digital still camera.

Labels: 2D, Music Video

Apple has a very cool new spot called '1000 Songs'. It features CD covers whizzing though the air and assembling into a a vast urban 3D skyline, then funnel into an iPod Nano. It features the song 'Cubicle' by the French electronic duo Rinôçérôse.

There's been chatter on the AE List about how this was done. After Effects? I doubt it. They'd still be rendering. Haha. Just kidding. They could've done it in AE with loads of planning. The staggering number of layers and the quality of the images

If anyone has any info or would like to discuss it, you can hit our Expert Forum or add a comment below.

Update: The spot was directed, animated and edited by Logan.

Labels: Commercial

Motionworks, motion graphics' artist John Dickinson's website, has the 2006 image spot for Fox Classics, and it is impressive. The effect is unique and the orange in the color scheme pops so beautifully. The whole spot was executed so expertly.

John used After Effects 7 and treated each bit of old film footage using Levels, Gaussian Blur and some Tinderbox 3 fitlers. He used Photoshop to clean up the background plates by taking a bunch of frames and cloning them. The roto work took about 6-7 hours per shot, all done using AE's Pen tool and rotobezier function. He rotoscoped each actor at 5fps and created the echo by applying Time Blend.

John says, "I then placed the recreated scene on the front of a cube behind the actor in 3D space. It's pretty effective, especially with the Robert Redford shot where he looks as if he's walking out of the cafe door and the My Fair Lady dancing shot. I particularly like the Planet of the Apes shot where the water wraps around Charlton Heston as he kneels in the sand." On the AE-List, he elaborated, "Charlton Heston was probably the most challenging clip to "fit" into the style I chose. I had to include some of the sand around his hands in the roto otherwise he looked like a multiple amputee :)"

The music is called "The Day Brings" by Brad and I quite like it.

Labels: Commercial

We have a new addition to our growing library of visual effects resources; Interviews. The Inspirations page has been there quite a while, showing you a variety of what's new and interesting in motion graphics, but now we're adding a series of interviews hosted by me, Michele Yamazaki. We want to offer fresh content and explore the many capabilities of the diverse software application.

Our first discussion is with Jerome Oliver, a motion graphic artist based in Tokyo, Japan. He runs Speaking Pictures, a design firm with high profile clients such as Nike, Louis Vuitton, and Miss Universe Japan. Last year Jerome worked with Chage, a well-known Japanese pop singer, to create an unconventional film using digital still photography. The result is a stunning and extraordinary piece that manages to captivate the audience while giving them a feeling of disassociation at the same time. Jerome discusses the project, his technique and workflow, as well as the challenges in working to entertain across cultures.

His film has just been accepted to the Ann Arbor Film Festival, which happens later this month. A big congratulations to Jerome is in order. This guy is going to be a well-known filmmaker before you know it.

Labels: Interview