Archive for the ‘Video’ Category

Trafalgar Origins (Channel 4) The Trailer

Trafalgar Origins – Channel 4 from Preloaded on Vimeo.

Twestival Global 2010

Here’s an animation we have just completed for Twestival Global (2010)... see twestival.com for more details. There’s a blog post coming up shortly, which details more about the collaboration process (which was a fantastic experience), but for now we wanted to get it out there and promote the cause.

Creative: Crystal English, Leynete Cariapa, Animation: Sliced Bread, Music: EliasArts, Audio: Green-Shoot, Recorded at Dammit Ltd., Voice: Lawrence Sheldon, Twestival Bird: 383 Project, Video Footage: charity: water, Thanks to What Talent Ltd., Produced by Connect the Dots Foundation, Photography Courtesy of National Geographic (c) James P. Blair/ National Geographic, Gabriele Gaspardis, Justin Sangani, Brooks Walker/ National Geographic, Johannes Ehrhardt, James P. Blair/ National Geographic images

What is Twestival™?

On Thursday 25 March 2010, people in hundreds of cities around the world will come together offline to rally around the important cause of Education by hosting local events to have fun and create awareness.  Twestival™ (or Twitter Festival) uses social media for social good.  All of the local events are organized 100% by volunteers and 100% of all ticket sales and donations go direct to projects.  If you would like to get involved, please Register your City, Register your School, or Volunteer and we will get in touch.  Organizers will be given a handbook and invitation to our collaboration workspace.  Follow @twestival for updates.

The Glory Days – I’ll remember, but will YOU?

We recently compiled a DVD for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission using supplied assets and some good ‘ole Boyce Dungood animation (by us). Sponsored by The Mirror and Mirror Football it has been sent out to over 28,000 schools over the past week to coincide with Remembrance Day.

Glory Days – Football in Times of War is a short film aimed at engaging teachers, students and football fans of all ages with the website of the same name at cwgc.org/glorydays

Introduced by David Beckham and enthusiastic football manager Boyce Dungood, Glory Days tells the stories of some of the footballers who gave their lives for their countries and how they are remembered. It explores how the two world wars affected football teams and how football played a part in times of war as entertainment, for boosting morale and for propaganda.

Psyop giving strength to milk

Great news post from Motionographer on Psyop’s awesome Milk commercialfor the California Milk Processor Board and agency Grupo Gallegos. What is it with Milk marketing work that attracts such quality work, first there was Get the Glass and then Got milk and now this lovely rendered and animated piece. Check out the ‘making of movie’ links underneath the image.

This is a study in the art of narrative compression. Each spot feels like fully realized fairy tale—and yet nothing is rushed. From the lush mattes to the tiny dancing mouse at the end of “Sad Princess,” each frame feels like a pitch board packed with detail.

One technical note: Scrub through the snakes-to-hair transformation at the end of “Medusa.” While a cross-disolve might have done the trick, the snakes are actually morphing into hair. Despite not registering on a conscious level, labor-intesive details like that are what separate Psyop from the herd.

Making of movies:

Princess’s Ocean:
http://www.florianwitzel.com/com/milk/

Ocean Lighting& Rendering:
http://www.florianwitzel.com/videos/Milk_LightingTheWaves_MakingOf.mov

Wave Rig:
http://www.florianwitzel.com/videos/Milk_RiggingTheWaves_MakingOf.mov

G-Force trailer with a 3D secret!

I wrote a draft post about this some months ago (see below) but held back until the release was confirmed. Now an official release has been sent via Kotaku, its now Ok to reveal that Disney are now releasing 3D games titles (with glasses) and we helped them. Back in the Summer of last year I was ask in to consult (for free!) on how to get the 3D (anaglyph) looking right, and in early March of this year I was shown the complete G-Force game with the 3D capablity. The strength of the 3D came into question against health and safety concerns, watching a minute piece is OK but for hours of playing time, this can be an issue (Disney ran a couple of focus groups to deal with this). When I was there to see the final piece I really thought the developers had done a superb job, the 3D was at the right level against the concentration of gameplay, where the cuts scenes also made full use of the 3D effect.

From Kotaku:

Guinea Pig sporting action title G-Force and Wii mini-game collection Toy Story Mania will both ship with 3D support, the developers announced tonight.

G-Force, a game based on the upcoming 3D movie, did have the 3D display on show this evening. Both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game will support 3D graphics, which can be switched on and off on the fly.

The 3D graphics used in the game requires gamers to sport a pair of cardboard blue and red lensed glasses and uses a type 3D known as off-axis, the developers said. The effects seen in motion were surprisingly good, The guinea pig lead stood out on the screen, enemy shots seemed to blow out of the television and the world felt more realistic, though with slightly muddled colors because of the graphics.

Though not the first game, by a long shot, to sport 3D graphics the game certainly seems to put a shine on the red/blue technology.

Draft post not sent [Jan 5, 2009]>>

Not a particularly ‘animation’ post this one, nor am I entirely sold by the trailer. However, I do have a little insider knowledge on the G-Force Wii game that is due to be part of this, where I know they are definitely doing an anaglyph (with glasses) version of it. How do I know this? Well back in the early summer of last year I was invited to Disney HQ in London to consult for a couple of hours as they were having an issue getting the 3D working. There are so many permutations to getting it right, and of the few projects we have done, we have always come across various issues – but the end result is always rewarding.

Its interesting that the anaglyph approach has become fashionable once again (remember Jaws in 3D?), I think it has something to do with the upcoming Monster vs Aliens by Dreamworks which will be the first ‘proper’ 3D release on their new-fangled screens (no need for glasses here). Apparently its based on the same technology as our ‘special’ 3D monitor.

There are no hard and fast rules on getting the 3D right for use with glasses (although you should ensure you have the right type of glasses), but having some knowledge on distancing and targeting objects does help (there are a number of Maya and After Effects tutorials online that can assist). That’s was mainly the problem at Disney, and thankfully the game developers had given them some tools so that we could adjust aspects in situ. Its a thoroughly satisfying experience to be able to pass on the (little) knowledge that we have and I’m sure the end result will look amazing. Although, I  am slightly concerned about people playing an anaglyph game for hours on end – but we’ll leave that for another day!

Video 50 times more likely to hit first page Google

I find Twitter a great resource for information relating to the industry, the bite-size stream can quickly pull you in quickly to interesting links. The extract below came from original source:

“A video is 50 times more likely to rank on the first page of Google search results than any other content. It is therefore imperative for every product, brand, and marketing campaign to have a social video element.”

Dr Silvia Pfeiffer, Vquence’s CEO and former CSIRO research scientist

In addition, other social video networks such as MySpace.TV, Dailymotion, or Vimeo should also be included in marketing campaigns since their audiences are more focused and a video can thus reach its target more easily.

Thanks to @lilipip for the link reference

Update! Product visualisation showreel

An update from our previous product visualisation showreel. Client work includes; Shell, Carling, Southern Comfort, Kodak, Sony, Manga and Adidas. A mixture of agency and direct client work.


UPisodes

Here at Sliced Bread we are really enjoying these UPisodes from the forthcoming Pixar feature movie ‘UP’. I’ve said before this movie looks like it could be a ‘hit’ or a ‘miss’, but these little snippets are a great way for potential audiences to start to ‘bond’ with the characters. Click image to view.