The Monster Engine

Here's another still-images post for a change. "The Monster Engine" is a book and art exhibition project by Dave Devries that begs a single question, "What would a child’s drawing look like if it were painted realistically?" The idea and the works are quite similar to my previous post "Untoon". Here, various professional artists turn children's simple sketches into masterpieces by adding in realistic lighting, shading, and textures while keeping the same shapes and forms. The result? a series of super cool but also super creepy paintings that may scare the same kids who drew the original drawings.

今天又決定來介紹一些非影片的作品了. "The Monster Engine" (怪物引擎) 是 Dave Devries 所開始的一系列展覽計畫, 目的就只是要回答一個問題: "如果把一個小孩的塗鴉拿來畫得非常真實, 那看起來會是怎樣?" 這個概念和作品感覺跟我之前介紹的 "Untoon" 有異曲同工之妙. 在這裡, 不同的職業畫家把孩童的塗鴉拿來當底圖, 加入了相當真實的光影, 材質, 以及鮮明的顏色. 結果呢? 產生了一群非常有趣卻又有點恐怖的畫作. 那些畫出原來底圖的小孩們看到這些畫可能會被嚇到做惡夢吧?

Polar Bear

Probably not the best feel-good video to post on a TGI-friday, but it's still got good intentions. PlaneStupid has taken the environmental message to the extreme by producing this shocking advertisement "Polar Bear". It shows a bunch of polar bears falling to their death, and then goes on to tell us that it's equal to the weight of greenhouse gases an average flight emits. If the goal was to make the viewers remember to recycle next time, then it's definitely more effective than anything else I've seen.

如果你想要維持星期五的好心情的話, 那最好還是別看這個影片. 不過, 我們還是不能互略這個影片要傳達的訊息. PlaneStupid 把提倡環保運動帶到了一個駭人又悲哀的境界, 製作了這篇稱為 "北極熊" 的宣導短片. 影片裡殘酷的秀出一群北極熊, 從高空中直體落下, 狠狠的摔死到地上, 血液四濺. 短片最後寫: "平均一架飛機載一個人需要製造超過400公斤的溫室氣體, 那大約是一隻北極熊的重量". 如果這影片是為了要觀眾記得自源回收的話, 那我覺得它比我看到其他的廣告都有效多了.

After You

As I was surfing the net the other day, I came across this rather old animation by Christopher Cordingley, and a wave of nostalgia hit me. This was the clip that our professor showed us in my very first 3D animation class back in college. I was still a junior back then, and didn't know jack-sh*t about animation. Looking back at this now, there really are a lot of great animation principles in this clip such as the way characters convey their personalities, the way characters interact, and a simple, focused story.

某天在網路隨便亂逛的時候, 偶然看到了這個算蠻舊的動畫. 這個由 Christopher Cordingley 製作的作品讓我突然變得很懷舊. 在我還是個大學生, 對動畫製作毫無頭緒時, 我的第一個動畫教授上課第一天就是秀這部片給我們看的. 還記得那時候對這片印象深刻. 現在再看一次, 發覺它真的有許多不錯的基本動畫元素, 像是如何傳達角色們的性格和感情, 人物的互動, 和一個簡單明瞭卻又趣的故事.

I'm Here

A friend of mine sent me this short film by Spike Jonze. (director of "Where The Wild Things Are") This is a cute yet sad little tale about a lone robot living in our society, falling in love, and eventually sacrificing himself for his loved one. The use of robots as characters seemed gimmicky to me at first, but eventually turned out to be interesting plot element and important part of the storyline. The story definitely touched me, but if you're not ready to spend 30 minutes on this, here is a 1 minute trailer of the film to look at.

我的一個朋友寄了這個由 Spike Jonze 所導的短片. 關於一架孤獨的機器人, 生活在我們的社會中, 愛上了一個人, 最後為了它的愛人犧牲掉自己. 算是個蠻溫馨卻有點悲傷的故事. 本來一開始我覺得利用機器人當主角有點像是在賣弄噱頭, 並不是那麼重要. 不過, 我發現其實這劇情元素對後來的故事發展很重要, 而且讓導演可以因此安排一些有趣的細節, 讓短片整體感覺和一般愛情故事不大一樣, 但是同樣的感人. 如果你沒時間把一整個半小時的短片看完的話, 那就先看看這個一分鐘的預告片吧.

Thanks, Lolay!

This Too Shall Pass

Ever heard of the "Rube Goldberg Machine"? According to Wikipedia, it is " a deliberately over engineered machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction." And this is exactly what the band OK Go created in their music video for "This Too Shall Pass". What I really like about it is that sometimes, the machines would play the melody as it goes along, thus integrating itself with the music. I really can't imagine how many painful trials they must have gone through to make whole process runs perfectly.

有聽過 "Rube Goldberg Machine" 嗎? 根據维基百科的說明, 那是一種過度複雜的機械組合，以迂迴曲折, 類似接龍的方法去完成一些非常簡單的工作" 而 OK Go 樂團耗費相當大的工程, 為他們的新 MV "This Too Shall Pass" 製作出了一個這樣的機器. 其中我很喜歡的是, 當這機器組合在跑時, 有時候會敲打出和背景音樂一樣的音調, 把自己和這支單曲融合在一起. 真是無法想像要讓這機器完美的自己跑完, 那些辛苦的幕後人員是重複試了不知道幾百次才成功的.

Masterpieces in 3D

I never really enjoyed classical art that much, probably because i find them rather boring compared to the more contemporary ones. However, this hilarious video promoting the Samsung 3D TV really spiced up the art masterpieces by adding a third dimension to them. Apparently, when you view these art works from an angle that's never been seen before, it can reveal some secrets that were hiding behind the frames and the figures. These hidden surprises are actually pretty funny, and nothing short of awesome.

我從來都不是很喜歡古典藝術, 可能是因為我覺得和現代藝術比起來, 有些作品真的有點無聊. 不過, 這個用來推銷 Samsung 3D TV 的影片可是為了這些古典藝術加了不少料. 很明顯的, 當你把這些2D畫作多加一個D, 變立體之後, 再由另一個全新的角度去看它們時, 你會發現一些不為人知的秘密. 這些之前被邊框和畫像擋住的事物使得這些畫作突然變得格外爆笑, 感覺好像沒那麼無聊了.

Chegg.com

Chegg.com is an online service that rents those expensive textbooks to college students cheaply so they don't have to buy them and go broke. Buck has made a series of advertisements for Chegg, and all of them are hilarious and full of style. According to Buck, "For every amazing business idea there is an equally ridiculous advertising campaign." Each of the 4 ads are: "Buttload", "Arm and Leg", "Gandhi", and "The Bird".

Chegg.com 是一個專門便宜出租教科書給大學生的網站, 所以那些窮苦學生不用因為貴得嚇死人的教科書落到每晚吃泡麵度日的境界. Buck 為 Chegg 製作了這一系列的廣告, 每一部都非常搞笑, 也很有風格. 根據 Buck, "每一個高明的生意點子都會產生出一則同樣誇張的廣告." 這4個廣告分別為: "Buttload" (一屁股), "Arm and Leg"(手臂與腿), "Gandhi"(甘地), 和 "The Bird"(小鳥).