Thor!

Saw the new Thor film last night, was absolutely stunning in the visual effects department, marvel studios have really outdone themselves this time.

The mixture of cgi and 3D animation is astonishing, and it makes you realise how limitless the possibilities of animation are, it inspired me very much! The way the cgi is so fluid and lifelike but still holding on to that marvel feel which many fans of the Thor series will appreciate

yellow sticky notes

Jeff Chiba Stearns is a canadian film maker who made a short animation using the very sticky notes that drove his life crazy with countless to do lists, he won a series of awards including:

• 2009 Prix du Public Labo (Audience Award Lab Competition): 31st Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival
• 2009 Golden Pencil Award for Best 2d Animation: 2d or not 2d Animation Festival
• 2009 Best Animated Short Film: Beloit International Film Festival
• 2008 Best Animated Short Film: Calgary International Film Festival
• 2008 Best Animated Short Subject : Canadian Awards for the Electronic & Animated Arts
• 2008 Platinum Remi Award Winner for Best Animated (Classic Cel Animation): 41st WorldFest - Houston Remi Awards
• 2008 Golden Sheaf Award for Best Animation and Nominated for Best Director Fiction: Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival
• 2008 Special Mention for Animated Short: Fantasia Film Festival
• 2007 Animasian Award for Best Animated Film: 11th Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival

His work isn't really aimed at a particular audience, its more like a self reflecting short animation possibly getting the audience to relate to him, so it could be aimed at people who similarly obsess over making countless to do lists ignoring the world around them.

My Animation of the week this week is a short film called 'gentleman's duel' by Blur Studios.

Started in 1995, Blur Studios has been creating many visual effects, animation and design. Focused mainly on computer 3D animation there are still a wide variety of elements involved including Character rigging, Large Format - Film, Location based entertainment, game cinematics and many more.

I love this animation for its kind of steam punk feel and the 3D aspect of it, the lighting and character animations are fantastic.

the reason why i like this so much is due to the fact that i tried to animate using 3DS Max and Maya and found it very hard to get realistic lighting and even harder to rig characters.

also you can tell its intended audience is young adults due to some of the comical scenes used and exaggerated expressions. but also keeping the action based story line of two males fighting over a female, which in many young adults they can relate to it, feeling closer to the characters.

Hello!

This is my first entry into my personal professional practice blog. I thought it was appropriate to start with one of my favourite animations of the week! Created by Simon Cartwright and Jessica Cope, the animation was featured in over 70 festivals around the world and has broken screen Yorkshire's record as their most successful animated short film! The reason I have chosen this animation is due to the style it encompasses and the emotional connection it creates with the audience due to the questions it can create in ones mind.

   But it's not only the narrative that speaks to my interests, it's the style of the animation, I really like stop motion animation and the sets that are created. Similar to the dark style of 'The Maker' directed by Christopher Kezelos which I will do a separate post about.

   It's a great foundation to lay down at the start of the year to express the typical style of animation that I love which gets the fire in my belly going! And I hadn't seen it before I went to the Bradford film and games museum where I saw the set and it caught my eye more than anything!