The Notorious B.I.G. spotted in Kentish Town

The Notorious B.I.G. spotted in Kentish Town, London.

Doritos King of Ads

Check out my entry for Doritos King of Ads:

We shot this last weekend.

Jeff Scher: While You Were Sleeping

Jeff Scher has another cool short film out "While You Were Sleeping". His chosen subject matter is as beautiful as ever and this film, like all his others, shows Jeff's sensitivity and wide-eyed awe towards whatever he explores in his work.

The music and sounds provided by Shay Lynch perfectly compliment the visuals.

I think this may be my favourite of all of Scher's films so far, because I too have always held the magical sound and visual splendor of rainfall very dear. Thanks for sharing Jeff.

Ralph on point again

Once again, Ralph Bakshi is so on point, tellin' it like it is!

The Quietus Mix

Check out this outstanding mashup by the pioneering dj/musician Osymyso. This 8 minute mix features 50 samples from the past 35 years of music. Nobody does mashups better than this guy. The Quietus Mix gives the seminal Intro-Inspection (also by Osymyso) a run for it's money!

For further listening, including Intro-Inspection check out Osymyso's archive.

Fly By Night (Jeff Scher)

Just spotted another animated gem "Fly By Night" by a Jeff Scher - a guy I blogged about not too long ago.

The film speaks for itself and I really urge you to go and watch the film right now. Jeff is quickly becoming one of my favourite contemporary (animated, if one must categorise) film makers - up there with Joanna Quinn, Barry Purves and Bill Plympton.

I only wish I could be as prolific as Jeff with my own films. I'm so glad he is because each and every one of them inspires me no end and gives me hope for the medium.

Watch Fly by Night here:
http://scher.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/fly-by-night/

Weekend!!!

BankholiYAY
Originally uploaded by Rafi Animates.

The week has been

TodayHasBeen
Originally uploaded by Rafi Animates.

Ralph Bakshi

Anyone who knows me, knows I make no secret of how much I rate Ralph Bakshi, so it's great to see him get some well-deserved props lately. Bakshi is up there with my all-time favourite directors and may possibly be my most favourite director in the animation medium.


This is one of many brilliant paintings featured in an exhibition of Bakshi's post-animation work (i.e. since retiring from the film/tv/animation industry he's gone back to painting). See more here.

Cartoon Brew hipped me to a recent radio interview with Ralph - essential listening!!

What I dig most about Ralph is his no-bullshit approach to whatever he does. There's sincerity in all his directorial efforts, a true original in the medium of animated features who sets an example with honest expression in his art. He also pulls no punches when talking about the animation industry, the state of art and where it's really at for fellow artists / animators.

This article he wrote for ASIFA last year confirms that even after all this time Ralph Bakshi's views remain on point and possibly the most relevant they've been to date.

Finally, a fantastic new book featuring tonnes of art from Ralph's career is out. I happen to have worked on the project, having helped out with preparing some of the cells for reproduction in the book:

R.I.P. Ollie

There's nothing I can say about Ollie Johnston that hasn't been said already by countless others.

But one more time Ollie - thank you.

Tosser.

"I understand the historics but it wasn't at the cutting edge of modern comfort" - London Mayor Ken Livingstone.

And YOU are??! You Arsewipe!!
Why am I pissed off? Read all about it here.

Pics

I'm having one helluvah busy Monday, so all I have time to blog today are a couple of dodgy photos I took yesterday with our non-digital camera.




We have yet to join the 21st Century. :)

Sold on the high street

Walked past a butcher's yesterday...

Have a great weekend!

Pancake Day

We woke up extra early this morning to make pancakes for breakfast before work.

Fi chose sweet:


I went savoury:


Bonus pancake doodles in Painter:


Happy Pancake Day!! Now go get some pancakes for yourself!

Conflicted

I hate rotoscoping. Back in college I found the process incredibly mind-numbing and creatively stifling. I've never found it an enhancing element to any film that employs the technique and actually feel that every example that I've seen of it in cinema has only been detrimental to the film in which it is being used (yes, even Snow White, but that is an exception for various reasons too long to go into now.)

I just find myself disconnected from rotoscoped scenes, simply because the results are just too distracting and jar with the appeal of a moving image (animated or otherwise). I'm not talking about the light saber type of rotoscoping, I'm refering to when it's used to deliver performance - i.e. organic movement and acting in characters. The result is neither animation nor live action, it's a weird component that doesn't sit well in my head and takes away from the impact of the scene. I find it adds unnecessary details, when really you want to go the other way.

But this morning I watched ‘L’Eau Life’ a short film by Jeff Scher and I absolutely love it. I've watched it several times now, and other than being completely inspired by the whole package of perfectly matched music to well-paced visuals, the timing in each sequence, the style and indeed the editing works beautifully to convey the sheer pleasure of the subject matter. I should also mention that every frame is done completely in watercolours, painted from video footage.

This is the single example of the rotoscope technique being used to effectively remove the superflous stuff and distill the action down to it's essence. Scher goes a little further too in this film, and gets the feeling of his subject matter across too, the way a painter would, but with specific emotional context as a film-maker should.

So I need to reassess this hatred for rotoscoping. Evidently it's not about the process itself but how it's used by the artist. It's just been used to mediocre effects thus far (I'm thinking of you Linklater) and been given attention for all the wrong reasons. 'L'Eau Life' is a tiny glimpse at what the possibilities could be. Go watch it now.

Brain gender

My sister aked me to do this blogthing quiz. It supposedly tells you what "gender" your brain is. Here's what it had to say about me:

Your Brain is 47% Female, 53% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female You are both sensitive and savvy Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

Yeah, I'm down with that pretty even split, not that the test holds any scientific merit!

Timing.

'nuff said.