animation

danny & annie

in ,

Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

Watching this film took me from giggling to having tears streaming down my face in
the span of under six minutes. It's an amazing StoryCorps animated short story based
on interviews about people of all backgrounds to share and preserve their personal
stories. This one is about a Brooklyn couple – Danny & Annie and the story of their
love. I was so incredibly moved and by this. You must, MUST watch it. 

Thanks to the friend who shared this with me. 

inspired title sequences : sherlock holmes

in , ,

 

If you haven't seen Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes yet, you must. I saw it with my sister over the holidays. What a great film, deliciously clever and sexy. I cannot say enough. As a designer, I was so struck by the title sequences at the end of the film. They are absolutely gorgeous –also a must see. Watch it here.


Images from Prologue Films

 

so fantastic, mr. fox

in , ,

I absolutely adored Fantastic Mr. Fox, it may be Wes Anderson's best work yet. Really. It may be my favourite George Clooney film too. What could be better than Anderson's dry humour delivered by animal puppets? Great cast, brilliant writing. Couple that with his extreme attention to detail of all aspects of the film – particularly the set and costumes – it's genius. The stop-motion animation is also a nice change from all the computer animated features of late (not that there's anything wrong with them...). I really appreciate the work that went into this film. One hilarious little detail was the iMac (complete with yellow sticky notes stuck to it) that sits in the office of Mr. Fox's lawyer, "Badger" (played by Bill Murray).
p.s. This film is kid-friendly too, plenty of laughs for everyone. Watch for the particularly clever use of the word "cuss." So freaking funny.
Just to give you a glimpse into what went into making the film, check this out and watch the video below. it's incredible.

Photos from Fantastic Mr. Fox website

Photo from Vanity Fair
The Making Of Fantastic Mr. Fox

 

animated brilliance: UP

in ,

 

This is THE best animated feature since Wall-E. I saw Disney/Pixar's latest film Up in 3D last night and it was beyond wonderful. It really wasn't until I saw and fell in love with Nemo (of Finding Nemo), that I even paid much attention to animated features. This one even opened this years' Canne Film Festival.
Not only was the story line and script writing totally brilliant (and HILARIOUS), the characters were well developed and compelling. It goes where other animated films have not dared to go as far as it's story-telling. It made me love each character, it made me cry. I also laughed so hard watching it (as were all my friends who saw it with me). The funniest lines were delivered by the dogs. In fact, my favourite character in the film is Dug the dog. Loved him. As with many animated features there are many elements both children and adults will appreciate. I really can't say enough about Up. I would see it again. Just go see it.