Yesterday I had a Conversation with David Torno and Brandon Parvini about Flight of the Conchords' 'Ladies of the World' video they just completed.

It's incredibly funny and has a cool 70s style to it. They rotoscoped the faces of The Conchords onto stunt skaters. They talk about the challenges they had with the project and how they used lots of digital tools to make this really impressive video.

Labels: Interview, Music Video

This is part two of an ongoing series with Dirty Trousers filmmakers, as we follow them through the post production process.

In this interview we specifically talk about shooting green screen and the keying process. Daniel Land gives us some insight on what it is like to work on a film filled with effects with a limited amount of time and budge, and what it takes to bring their vision to the big screen.

• Part 2 of the interview
• Part 1

Labels: Film, Interview, Movie Trailer

Yesterday I spoke with Daniel Land, co-director and vfx artist on the film Dirty Trousers. This is interview #1 in the series we'll be doing on the film, following it down it's post-production path.

Dan talks about the premise of the film and what obstacles they are encountering in post-production. They are using tools from Imagineer and Red Giant Software in post.

Labels: Interview

Seth Hancock is the Production Manager for the Convention and Visitors Bureau for the city of Indianapolis. He produces an amazing video podcast called 'Doing Indy' and most recently he directed a music video/branding piece for the city with Indiana crooner Jon McLaughlin titled For You From Me.

Seth and Michele Yamazaki from Toolfarm discuss the finer points of green screening and Seth gives some terrific tips on getting the perfect time lapse.

Labels: Interview

Yesterday I had the great opportunity to chat with Tomer Bahat, a music video director, producer, post-production (he uses After Effects extensively!)... basically, he is the jack-of-all-production trades. Tomer is an extremely talented artist with some very clever tricks up his sleeve. He discusses working on music videos from concepting to the final edit. See several examples of his incredible work, too.

Labels: Interview

Jerome Olivier, friend and filmmaker is featured on the Director's Notes podcast. Jerome discusses his decision to move to Japan, being a filmmaker, and his film Missing Pages

Director's Notes Episode 048: Missing Pages - Jerome Olivier

Subscribe now at iTunes

I interviewed Jerome for our Toolfarm Inspirations interviews way back in February 2006. The guy is so talented. His work blows my mind.

Labels: Interview, Podcast

Jamie Slomski, managing director of Bombastic, steps up to answer Five Questions at Studio Daily.

I had the honor of interviewing Jamie Slomski and his partner, Robin Horlick, in April 2006. They did the Jon Stewart Show package and also the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame graphics. Quality stuff.

Labels: Interview

Aussie designer Stephen Watkins is on the verge of hitting it big in San Francisico.... next week! Before his cross-continental relocation, he took time to chat with me about some of his projects that lead up to the big cross-planet move. We chat about how he experiments with textures and 3D cameras to come up with whimsical, organic compositions with natural movement. He gives a great tip on working with multitudes of layers in Adobe After Effects.

Labels: Interview

June is 'Creativity Month' at Toolfarm and we're kicking it off with an interview with Matthew Collings, a musician and videomaker living in Iceland. Matthew talks to me about the creative process and visualizing music and we get into a pretty deep conversation. We discuss synesthesia and Matthew tells me some very interesting techniques to give video organic noise and feedback effects.

Read this Toolfarm exclusive interview with Matthew Collings

Labels: Interview, Music Video

The Wonder Pets! is an adorable animated series that airs on Nick Jr./Noggin, aimed at the pre-k audience. It was created by the award-winning team at Little Airplane Productions. Toolfarm chats with Jim Geduldick, who is a Senior Editor but wears a lot of other hats in the production of the show.

Gather the kids around the computer and spend some quality family time! Read the interview and see some cuter-than-puppies-wrapped-in-kittens screen shots.

Labels: 2D, Interview, Television

This morning I chatted with Niclas Bahn from Noise Industries, about FxFactory a plug-in package for Final Cut Studio that works in Final Cut Pro and Motion. He explains how the plug-in utilizes the FxPlug architecture on the Mac, as well as Quartz Composer. And, did I mention how fast it is!

What really sets this product apart is that users can create their own plug-ins, making it infinitely expandable. There is a community set up where users have contributed FxPacks, some for free and some for a price. Users do not know how to program to use the plug-in.

Labels: Interview

We're looking for a few good animators, editors, students or even just fans of visual effects to contribute to this blog. Not HTML skills necessary, but a good eye for the most ground-breaking and rule-breaking techniques and styles out there. We want eye candy! Yes, we do.

Interested? Drop me an email and tell me why you should be considered. You would be expected to make one post per week, but you can post more, as long as they're quality videos. You're welcome to add your thoughts and opinions about the video, too.

Labels: 2D, 3D, Bizarre, Commercial, Demo Reel, Documentary, Experimental, Film Short, Interview, Movie Trailer, Music Video, Podcast, Stop Motion, Student Work, Television, Titles

Unsettling Title Design for The Number 23 Bryant Frazer at Studio Daily (a part of Studio Montly) interviews Michelle Dougherty on Imaginary Forces' Agitated, Blood-Red Vision... the opening title sequence of the new Jim Carey Film, 23.

View the interview and see samples

Labels: 2D, Interview, Titles

Postworks chats about the lively and quirky new children's show, 'Come on Over', which premieres this Saturday. Postworks edits the show and develops the playful motion graphics and whimsical Flash website. We discuss the development and workflow of the episodes and how they overcame production issues. The whole show is just loveable.

Read the interview with Postworks.

Labels: 2D, 3D, Interview

Jerome Olivier is a mograph artist who has worked in Tokyo for many many years. His reel is terrific - lots of variety, interesting edits, cool music. Those of you working on your own demo reel... take notes!

You may recognize his name from the film Missing Pages, a unique short film that has won film festival awards all over the world. I interviewed Jerome in February 2006.

Labels: 2D, 3D, Demo Reel, Interview

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

I recently did an interview with Bombastic, Inc., a design and motion graphics firm in NYC. They do all this slick work for VH-1, MTV, Sony, and other big clients (they did the intro to the Jon Stewart Show!!!)

They're totally cool people and really down to earth and are truly talented people.

Labels: Interview

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