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Marieke Verbiesen’s Animated Sci-Fi Promo for Baskerville’s ‘Reloaded’
12.05.2010
12:02 pm
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I have a liking for 1950s sci-fi monster films - Them!, Tarantula, The Beast from 50,000 Fathoms, you get the idea, that’s why I’m rather enamored with this fun little promo for electronic Dutch duo Baskerville’s track “Reloaded”, in which “a scientific experiment goes terribly terribly wrong.” It was written and directed by Marieke Verbiesen and the puppet design is by Neeltje Sprengers. You can keep the music, just gimme the fabulous monsters.
 

 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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12.05.2010
12:02 pm
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Has the acid kicked in yet?
12.04.2010
05:25 pm
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Artist Will Sweeny makes the leap from designing club flyers, t-shirts and illustrating graphic novels to animation and the result is gorgeously psychedelic.

This video has been selected for the Guggenheim Museum’s YouTube Play biennial of creative video. The inaugural event showcases the most innovative online video from around the world and the judges including Stefan Sagmeister, Darren Aronofsky, Takeshi Murakami and Laurie Anderson.

Directed by Steve Scott.

Music: Birdy Nam Nam’s “The Parachute Ending”
 

Via bigactive.com

Posted by Marc Campbell
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12.04.2010
05:25 pm
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The magical visions of animation pioneer Richard Williams
12.02.2010
10:20 pm
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Canadian animator Richard Williams is best known for his work on Roger Rabbit, but he’s been making inventive commercials in the UK and USA since the late 1960s.

Animation maestro Richard Williams (The Thief and the Cobbler, Who Framed Roger Rabbit) found great success doing animated commercials in the UK, but his greatest goal was to learn from the great animators of the past, like Ken Harris, Art Babbit, Grim Natwick and Milt Kahl, and pass their knowledge on to his own studio and the animators of tomorrow. Richard was successful in doing this and many animators who worked under the brilliant, mad perfectionist went on to found their own studios, and to work on the great Disney films of the late 1980s and 1990s.

Richard never quite finished his dream project The Thief and the Cobbler (viewable on Youtube in a Recobbled Cut), as it was eventually financed by Warner Brothers, who went cold on the idea and took the film away from him.

These days Richard is known for having written perhaps the best book ever written on animation- The Animator’s Survival Kit. Every animation student should have one, and probably does.

Enjoy these wonderful animations from Richard Williams.
 

 
Lots more groovy animated fun after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Marc Campbell
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12.02.2010
10:20 pm
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Marty Feldman died 28 years ago today
12.02.2010
09:45 pm
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One of the funniest human beings to ever walk the earth Marty Feldman died 28 years ago today. He was only 49. Heart attack.

Dream sequence from the 1970 British comedy Every Home Should Have One starring Marty Feldman. Animation by Richard Williams.
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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12.02.2010
09:45 pm
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Live action Wiley E. Coyote and The Roadrunner
12.02.2010
04:24 pm
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This live action take on Wiley E. Coyote and The Roadrunner cartoons by Apache Pictures is fun. The actor playing the Roadrunner actually looks a bit like the original.

I don’t know if this is part of a showreel or the beginning of a viral campaign for an energy drink. Whatever it is, it works.

Shot on location in Moab, Utah
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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12.02.2010
04:24 pm
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Alex Heller’s Beautiful Film for Scala & Kolacny Brothers’ Version of Radiohead’s ‘Creep’
12.02.2010
03:09 pm
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This is kinda wow. Alex Heller‘s beautiful film of one lonely doll’s desperate attempt to be accepted by a group of Barbies, may not sound like a winner, but trust me it is.

It’s made from 1,554 images, shot on a Nikon D60, and bound together by the blissful sound of Belgium’s Scala & Kolacny Brothers - which, I might add, is an odd title for a choir of female singers, who are conducted and accompanied by two brothers, Stijn and Steven, and hence, no doubt, the name.

As for Ms. Heller, well her biog on Vimeo says:

Seventeen. Trapped in the suburbs. I root for the underdog.

Well, I root for you, Ms Heller. You’re talented and deserve all success.
 

 
With thanks to Seamus McGarvey
 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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12.02.2010
03:09 pm
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‘The Ethical Governor’ and the Genius of John Butler
11.28.2010
12:26 pm
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According to the dictionary, the definition of the word genius includes:

n., pl., -ius·es.

Extraordinary intellectual and creative power.

That’s good enough for me, for by this definition, digital animator John Butler is a genius.

If you don’t know John’s work, then here’s a good place to start - an article Richard Metzger wrote up for Dangerous Minds, taken from an interview carried out with Butler earlier this year.

John is that rare and distinct thing, a creative talent with a unique and powerful vision - one that informs his analysis of current events into original speculative fictions. Underpinning this, John uses the terms and language of the military and financial sector, subverting them to reveal their true meaning.

All of which can be seen in his latest presentation The Ethical Governor, described as:

This presentation demonstrates a prototype of the Ethical Governor, a key component in the ethical projection of unmanned autonomous force.

In an exclusive interview with Dangerous Minds John Butler talks about the ideas behind The Ethical Governor and how they reflect today’s political, corporate and military world.

“I’ve been very interested in all aspects of what is now branded as the Long War, which I see as a war between Finance and Humans, rather than East versus West, Capitalism versus Islam, or whatever. 

A military invasion to secure resources and a financial austerity package to placate bondholders are all part of a unified process. It’s just that force is applied in a somewhat cruder manner in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Africa.

What I’ve done is transposed the action to the Homeland, where it will eventually arrive anyway. The Drones are Chamber of Commerce assets, part of the elite Milton Friedman Unit.”

What is the inspiration for the presentation?

“The piece is based on actual systems being developed in universities right now in anticipation of fully autonomous war fighting. What I’ve done is resynthesised an academic presentation to reveal it’s true intent.

The language comes from the Military Educational Complex, but has been rewritten by the Butler Brothers to fictionalize it, and therefore make it more effective.

Concepts like the “Ethical Adaptor” actually exist. I liked that aspect most of all, the calibration of guilt, and the option to override the Ethical Governor when convenient.

I think that says it all about battlefield ethics. I like the idea of robots being “in Harm’s Way”, one of my favourite phrases.

How does this relate to what’s happening just now in the world?

“The anti IMF riots in Greece and the protests in Ireland and here are attempts by Humans to react to the Process.

Young people in Britain have no access to home ownership now, which is a detail that might have been overlooked, so they seem to have less to lose that Thatcher’s generation.

What are you working on next?

“Thinking up a companion piece just now, provisionally called Triage. It would be great to project this somewhere soon, as part of a Forum for the Future.”

Update

John Butler has forwarded Dangerous Minds an article on War Machines: Recruiting Robots for Combat from the New York Times, which confirms much of The Ethical Governor‘s theory, including:

“A lot of people fear artificial intelligence,” said John Arquilla, executive director of the Information Operations Center at the Naval Postgraduate School. “I will stand my artificial intelligence against your human any day of the week and tell you that my A.I. will pay more attention to the rules of engagement and create fewer ethical lapses than a human force.”

Dr. Arquilla argues that weapons systems controlled by software will not act out of anger and malice and, in certain cases, can already make better decisions on the battlefield than humans.

 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds

An Interview With Avant Garde Animator John Butler


 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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11.28.2010
12:26 pm
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Mental disorders illustrated by Winnie the Pooh and his friends
11.23.2010
02:41 pm
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This is sort of a dark and depressing take on mental disorders by Winnie the Pooh and characters. I don’t know about you, but these kinda gave me a serious case of the sads.
 
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More after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Tara McGinley
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11.23.2010
02:41 pm
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Los Cabelleros Del Sobaco!
11.22.2010
04:04 pm
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I know little to nothing about Japanese manga comics and even less about Mexican/Spanish TV. That doesn’t keep me from enjoying this goofy scene from TV show ‘Los Cabelleros Del Sobaco’ based on a manga created by Masami Kurumada.
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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11.22.2010
04:04 pm
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The bizarre world of Jean Lecointre: Pastry porn and punk rock fruit
11.17.2010
02:21 am
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Inspired by vintage fashion and sci-fi magazines, cook books and advertisements, collagist and animator Jean Lecointre created a bunch of indescribably hilarious short films for French TV called ‘Turkish Delights’ and ‘Oasis More Fun’. If you dig pastry porn, the noirish world of palmiers and psychotic fruit, you’ll love this.
 

 
More weirdness after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Marc Campbell
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11.17.2010
02:21 am
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