I have recently started watching the new TV series by the creator of Six Feet Under, Alan Ball, entitled True Blood. It's based on some novels by Charlaine Harris and is about vampires in the southern states of America. I highly recommend it! Anyways these are the opening credits. I really love the cinematography, showing the more sinister side of the Deep South.
First off I had to post this video made by Jane and Jonathan starring me! It's quite possibly the funniest thing ever.
I also found this website that allows you to make stop motion animations using your webcam. Check out the recent videos page for some cool inspiring animations, but beware of the porn! I think this could be a great tool for making some quick videos when working on projects. Nevermind being helpful, heres me and Jane with beards!
I really loved the movie Juno and I finally found out that Shadowplay Studio did the animation for the title sequence. They also uploaded an album on flickr showing how they did it all by hand.
Great new video for the song 'Young Love' by Mystery Jets. Its ever so charming and fits the song perfectly. I love the subtle use of typography. Heres what the director James Copeman had to say about it:
"I had a lot of contrasting ideas: retro performance video, synchronised swimming, split screens and typography.
Then my friend Dan Sutherland showed me references from a mood board. One of the images was of a guy lying on the floor shot from really high up. It made think. Blaine the lead singer has difficulty walking without crutches. This way the the whole band could move and dance and perform together.
At first I only intended to see the band members, and tried to avoid seeing the 'helpers'. But when it became obvious we would see them I decided to give them more of a role, like dressing the set, or even holding instruments and mics for the band.
A welcome side affect of shooting down on the floor was the band members and Laura couldn’t see us, so they relaxed infront of the camera and started to be silly and have fun, and I was able to capture a really natural and fun performance from them".
Doug Fishbone's videos were some of the funniest things at the exhibition. They really appealed to my sense of humour, which is probably quite dark haha. Two videos were shown - 2004's 'Everybody Loves A Winner' and 2005's 'Towards A Common Understanding'. The videos are entirely made up of a sequence of images with Fishbone talking over the top. The full length 'Everybody Loves A Winner' is more like 8 minutes long but this 3 minute preview is a pretty good excerpt.
'Aiwa To Zen' is a video piece created by the South African artist Candice Breitz. After visiting Japan she realised that she only knew really simple words, the majority of which were already well known to foreigners, and brand names. She uses some friends from Japan to act out a random story but the things they say are made up from the words she knows rather than actual Japanese. It was really funny and well put together. The context in which you view it is very important too. Instead of the normal seats found in the video rooms of the gallery, they have installed a traditional Japanese floor with cushions and you are encouraged to take your shoes off to watch the film. You can download it from her website here. Sega, Aiwa, Pikachu!
A couple of videos by the band Good Shoes for the songs 'All In My Head' and 'Never Meant To Hurt You'. The first uses the idea of a Victorian zoetrope/kaiserpanorama to create animation through photography whereas the second is more traditional in the sense that it takes the form of illustration.
This is latest video by Metronomy for their song 'Radio Ladio'. I saw these guys last year at The Cockpit when they supported Foals and have loved them ever since. Considering we've been looking at colour a lot lately, I think this is more than appropriate. Directed by Daniel Brereton and art direction from Colin Henderson.
Omg omg omg omg! My lovely mother just bought me a Wii! I am so happy! I cannot wait to go home and play it! I am mostly looking forward to reliving my childhood Sega loving by playing the new NiGHTS game.
OMG I've just started watching this amazing TV show called Dexter about this guy who works as a blood splatter analyst for the police but by night hes a serial killer who kills serial killers. Its so addictive and Michael C. Hall is just great as the title character. He was so good in Six Feet Under too (another programme with a beautiful title sequence). So anyway here are the titles for Dexter - they reflect his existence so very well.
Last night I watched a film called Stranger Than Fiction. It features a lot of narrative which is visually presented on top of the video. The information graphics were designed by an agency called MK12.
A couple of video interviews with Kate Moross. I just find her work fascinating and I found that these give a good insight into the way she thinks and her working practice.
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'Aiwa To Zen' is a video piece created by the South African artist Candice Breitz. After visiting Japan she realised that she only knew really simple words, the majority of which were already well known to foreigners, and brand names. She uses some friends from Japan to act out a random story but the things they say are made up from the words she knows rather than actual Japanese. It was really funny and well put together. The context in which you view it is very important too. Instead of the normal seats found in the video rooms of the gallery, they have installed a traditional Japanese floor with cushions and you are encouraged to take your shoes off to watch the film. You can download it from her website here. Sega, Aiwa, Pikachu!