Motionographer is run by Justin Cone and a full cartel of contributors. The site has daily updates of cool videos, humorous commentary and interesting motion graphic work from all over the interweb.

Animated video t-shirts that look amazingly real in this video is what makes this video Ping Pong by Portugese "post punk electronic rock power trio" X-Wife so very interesting. It was directed by Kalle Kotila and the Malakias at Las Palmas Films in Helsinki.


Get this video and more at MySpace.com

I thought this tune sounded familiar. I frequent several mp3 blogs and downloaded this track a few weeks ago. Love the sound.

There's a flash video and downloadable videos that are large and do not stream, but are excellent quality. Maybe it's just their site that is slow because their home page preloader takes days. I have no patience for gratuitous animation.

Labels: Music Video

Matthew Frederick Davis Hemming created this beautiful experimental video, Organica Islam, (15MB, pops) after watching a documentary about Islamic tapestries. The colors are beautiful and harmonious and it gives you the feeling of falling through 3D space. The Middle Eastern music is a perfect fit. The piece is called "Blue"; the band is Syntax Error and the vocalist is Astra Ozols. I don't know what the Islamic version of Zen is called, but this is pretty close.

Matthew says, "It's one 6 second loop of a simple animated mask reiterated many, many times applied as tinted difference layers, moving through 3D space while the camera wobbles around." He made a step-by-step tutorial explaining the process. He used Trapcode's Starglow to enhance the end.

Check out Matthew's website, MFDH.ca.

Labels: 3D, Experimental, Music Video

Liquid Liquid, a legendary NYC band from the early 80s, was part of the 'No Wave' movement (minimalist disco). In 1983, Grand Master Flash and Melle Mel sampled the funky bass line and melody for the hit song, White Lines (Don't Do It). White Lines was also covered by Duran Duran.

This psychedelic video was directed by Liquid Liquid's bass player, Richard McGuire and first aired in December 1997. McGuire has also done work for the Sea and Cake. The animation is highly inspired by a 1927 film called Seelische Konstruktionen (Spiritual Constructions) by German filmmaker and painter Oskar Fischinger.

Labels: Experimental, Music Video

I had a chat with Stephanie Argy and Alec Boehm last week of Mental Slapstick, a film production company in Los Angeles. They've just completed a film called "Gandhi at the Bat", an incredible short film that has the look of an old newsreel. They discuss the technical aspects of the effects and how they created such a convincing period movie on a small budget. They're such nice people and overflowing with talent. They give a few tips and tricks too!

Don't miss the great 'Before and After' pix.

Labels: Film Short, Interview

This fresh piece called The Seed of Change was inspired by the music and by the conflict of man vs. nature. The theme of using technology in harmonious ways with nature was the goal of the piece.

Animators, Martin Thoburn and Aaron Mustamaa were responsible for the compositing. Traditional animator Mike Bielenda created the flash-based character animation, including the dramatic exploded robo-hand midway through the video.

The video was composited in After Effects 6.5, combining heavily-manipulated digital photos with graphic elements from Photoshop and Illustrator. The growing florae were created using a unique masking technique to achieve their organic and fluid motion. Textures such as wood, watercolor paper, and dirt were used throughout, as well as a strict color palette to establish the overall visual style.

The team's main inspiration, however, came from the music track: Hoarse by electronic artist, Cepia. The video was completed at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan.

Labels: 2D, Experimental

A little trip down memory lane... This AE 3.0 Promotional piece is an infomercial-type video from 95 or 96 with appearances from Trish Meyer, Tim Sasson, Lynda from Lynda.com and others. Classic. Oh, how far we've come.

Thanks, Matt, for sending it to us!

Labels: Demo Reel