Dvein – Barcelona’s masters of photo-real magic – just released this relaunch clip for Spanish and Portuguese documentary channel Odisea.

“The aim was to take advantage of the semantic richness that ‘documentary’ implies: adventure, experiment, discovery… We tried to link all these with the channel’s logo, inspired in the natural organic world (conches, constellations, whirls) and the great human inventions (propellers, mills) but adding an emotional bond.”

Watch Odisea Channel promo

Check the BTS here

The kooky San Francisco directing duo of Encyclopedia Pictura are back with this self-promo titled “How Will You Create The Universe”. Inspired by Spore-like evolution simulated video games, this labor of love project was animation byTippett Studios.

Watch “How Will You Create The Universe”

Toronto VFX and post shop AXYZ turn in subtle but soulful (and beautifully integrated) character work for Sons and Daughters director David Hicks and DDB Canada. Pour on the mournful croon of Mr. Bolton and the near-genius tearful payoff and this spot is elevated to award-winning (even with the pack shot and way-too-happy family at dinnertime).

Client: Knorr, Agency: DDB Canada, Toronto, Director: David Hicks, Production: Sons and Daughters, Editor: Brian Williams, Panic and Bob, Music: “How am I Supposed to Live Without You”, Michael Bolton

Watch Knorr “Salty”

Two videos experimental realized by the artist Shawn Knol. First is “Ferrofluid”: a colloidal suspension of particles reacting to magnetic fields. The second met in scene of oil, versed in water, and is entitled “Oil in Toilets” on a music of Bonobo.

Watch on Vimeo

Oil in Water

Watch on Vimeo

DUMBO-based Santa Maria’s inventive and charming visuals placed against the pitch-perfect VO from Helena Bonham-Carter had me reaching for my checkbook with a lump in my throat. The PSA for Ronald McDonald House Charities mixes hand drawn and 3D animation, matte paintings, photo-collage, claymation, life-size props, miniature scale-models and hand-crafted sock puppets. Agency: Leo Burnett.
Watch Ronald McDonald House “Better Together”

From Australian director Ben West, comes this new ident for Max Music Channel released on Australia Day 2009. With character animation by Geoff Valent and lighting by Ben Malter, the work takes the cute and cuddly Max characters  to new heights in the heart of Summer at Bondi Beach.
Watch Max2.

Brian Cox brings the rumbling VO and our favorite Glaswegians (Axis Animation) bring the CG to the latest cinematic trailer for Sony and Guerilla Games’ Killzone franchise. The three-minute clip, directed by Stuart Aitken at Axis, is one continuous camera move.
Watch “Killzone 2″

Nexus directors Smith & Foulkes (just back from the Oscars) continue their tradition of smart, grandly-scaled and smile-inducing productions with a series of isometric 3d/2d clips for Comcast.

Smith and Foulkes: “With the music as our starting point we thought it would be fun to create a world where the whole community lives to the rhythm. We decided there would no cuts and the environment would be totally isometric. It was fun for us because we got to shoot the cast performing. We even make a cameo if you look close enough. Using an arresting illustration style our 3d team built Comcast Town to comp the live action into. We liked the idea that whilst the real cast get on with their ordinary daily business there is a plethora of incidental strange animated characters that not only reinforce the song lyrics but have a lot of fun doing so.” Agency: Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, director: Smith & Foulkes, post/animation: Nexus Productions, live action: Bright Pictures.

Watch the 60 “Anthem” here
Watch the 30 “Hi-def” here

Designer: David Trautrimas
Image Credits: David Trautrimas Trautrimas’s digital prints of forlorn structures, complexes and communities begin as photographs of castoff, abject, superfluous objects like old coffee pots, electric razors, oil cans and waffle irons, which he then repositions by re-imagining them at vastly different scales. His Electric Razor Co-operative, for example, looks like a modernist high-rise apartment complex. → trautrimas.ca

Curious Pictures’ Ro Rao created an ambitious series of shorts for Nike Women’s “Be Transformed” campaign running in the Asia/Pacific region, masterminded by digital agency AKQA:

• Jump Rope
• Meteor
• Punching Bag
• Bike

The series employs two distinct styles. For “Meteor,” “Punching Bag,” and “Bike,” Ro worked with Tampa-based Humoring The Fates to create anime mini-epics. To create the 3D neo-psychedlia of “Jump Rope,” Ro teamed up with Zoink Animation in Sweden.

Credits

Director: Rohitash Rao

Production company: Curious Pictures
Art Director: Rohitash Rao
Animation: Zoink Animation, Goteborg, Sweden
Lead Animator: Klaus Lyngeled
Live action producer: Shannon Lords
Post production supervisor: Paul Schneider
Executive Producer: Mary Knox
Head of Production: John Cline

Agency credits include:
Creative Director: Neil Robinson,
Associate Creative: Director: Steve Clements
Senior Copywriter: Bob Hall
Copywriter: Ellen Karas, Stephanie Kodeck
Art Directors: Ian Aldous, Jimmy Soat
Executive Producer: Mazen Haddad, Nancy Cardillo