Renaissance Revisited

Coming Soon

The Duel - Radon Entertainment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnbYIS_hPdA

This is a homemade clay animation that I found on youtube, and it is probably the best one I have seen. It is very fluid, with consistent lighting and realistic body movements. While the dialogue isn't great, the sound effects, especially the punches and sword clashes are very accurate

Dot - Aardman Animation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD7eagLl5c4


Aardman, known for their famous Wallace and Gromit films, create the World's smallest stop-motion film ever, with a 9mm character called 'Dot'. They animated this film with tweezers and a microscope, and it was filmed on a Nokia N8. The microscope used, a Cellscope device, is usually used to take pictures of skin and blood cells.

I chose to include this film because it features a tiny character in a human sized World, in which she must use our objects in totally different ways, including a flower for a parachute, or clothes pins for knives.

A Colour Box - Len Lye

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3y1offmJ4Y&playnext=1&list=PLBD9038E7DA7C4CB9

Len Lye (1901-1980), was a New Zealand born filmmaker and artist, who was a maverick in experimental film. He would often paint, dye, and scratch patterns, shapes and lines directly onto celluloid film, to create vibrant visual experiences. His work has inspired other filmmakers such as Norman Mclaren, Stan Brakhage, and more recently Edgar Wright's 'Scott Pilgrim vs the World'.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - Edgar Wright

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbEsSsiozNU

Edgar Wright's 2010 film features a phenomenal opening credits sequence, which combines a hard-hitting rock song, len lye like colour visuals, and impressive editing. If I had the chance, I would definitely create a  credits sequence like this. One of the characters, 'Knives', is also shown to hear this band play for the first time, and her expressions of pure awe to hear this band play is something I would like to create.

The art of the title website has a section dedicated to the creation of this title sequence:

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2011/01/03/scott-pilgrim-vs-the-world/

Almost Famous - Cameron Crowe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu6y-ZnO06U

Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical 2000 film shows the coming-of-age story of William Miller, who becomes a journalist for Rolling Stone magazine in the 1970's. This particular scene shows William's first discovery of rock music, and is very influential to my project, as my future film will contain a similar discovery. I feel the combination of music, image and editing in this scene creates feelings of sentimentality, awe and wonder.

Luxo Jr. - John Lasseter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvCWPZfK8pI

In Pixar's 1986 short film, the narrative features two lamps, a parent and child, who simply play and discovery together. The expression is done purely through body movement, as there is no dialogue, or facial expression. This would be similar to my own film, as there is no spoken word, all that is said is done through simple body and facial expression.

The Wrong Trousers - Wallace and Gromit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk6zbY8i4_8&feature=relmfu

The Wallace and Gromit series follows the adventures of an eccentric inventor and his mute, but highly intelligent dog. The highlight of this Aardman animation is the accurate emotions that Gromit portrays, only through his body language. As he also doesn't have a mouth, his eyes are the main source of his expression.

Morph - Sweet Showdown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqeKgF-eWgw&feature=relmfu

In this 'Morph' episode, Morph and Chas play pranks with gloves. Morph begins by scaring Chas by hiding inside a glove and startling him, in which Chas retaliates with a boxing glove to the face. They used our 'human-size' objects to their advantage.

Clay Animation Ideas

Darkness, Light, Darkness - Jan Svankmajer (1989)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuBwXfg3Mr4

In this short film, Svankmajer reflects the deep philosophical message of the evolution of man through the use of a funny and simple clay animation. Beginning with a hand, then eyes, ears, a head, tongue, brain, penis, etc, the human form slowly evolves and progresses, until the body eventually outgrows its environment.

Drear and Fesire: A Journey to the Heart of the Surrealist Ethos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXEwlVdiAWI

This is my new surreal short film, starring actor and friend Shaun Wood. It is highly influenced by Kenneth Anger's 'Fireworks' and David Lynch's 'Eraserhead' and 'Mulholland Drive', which deal with the themes of sleep, dreams, split personalities, homosexuality, fear, evil, and desire. This film was shot over a period of two months, and edited on final cut express.

En Passant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FXWfBG_iB4


Before I upload my new film 'Drear and Fesire', take a look at my previous film if you haven't seen it. It was filmed in February 2010 and completed in the following March. It stars Matthew Bingley as a disillusioned writer, Chloe Green as his newly found girlfriend, and Alistair Carvell as a chess opponent. It is made in the style of French New Wave, especially Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut. It also draws inspiration from Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and Wong Kar Wai.

Drear and Fesire: Completion