Nike - Take It To The Next Level

You may have noticed that there are a lot less updates on my blog these days, and that's because I am currently out of country right now, but things should resume back to normal once I get back. Anyway, coming back from watching "Sherlock Holmes", I must say it was an extremely entertaining and well-made movie. Of course, a lot of credits goes to Robert Downey Jr.'s great acting, but I believe the real star here is actually the film's director: Guy Ritchie. That is why I'm posting a commercial directed by him a couple years ago for Nike. (in collaboration with The Mill) Ritchie has the viewers experience what it's like to live the life of a world-famous soccer player, literally through the player's own eyes. The whole commercial maintains the brisk pace and the fun actions also found in the movie.

有人可能會發現最近我的部落格都沒更新, 那是因為我人現在在國外, 不方便po文章, 請多見諒. 剛看完 "福爾摩斯", 覺得這片非常的精彩好看. 當然, 這原因之一是小勞勃道尼出色的演技. 不過我覺得最終還是得歸功於本片導演, 蓋瑞奇 (Guy Ritchie) 的功力. 所以今天打算po一個他幾年前導的一個Nike的廣告 "Take It To The Next Level". ("把他帶到下個階段") 瑞奇要觀眾用第一人稱視角感受一下當一個世界知名的足球名星的生活. 整個影片輕快的節奏和娛樂效果感覺都很像他其他電影的風格.

Alma

Merry Christmas everyone! Feeling the holiday spirit everywhere, I feel like I should post something relatable too. "Alma" is a high quality animation from the Pixar animator Rodrigo Blaas. The cute character designs, soft and beautiful lighting, and the great editing and cinematography definitely has that Pixar signature written all over it. However, don't let its cute exterior fool you, since the short is actually quite creepy and scary, like nothing you would see from the kids-friendly studio. It really makes you wonder if this is where all those mysteriously disappeared kids ended up at.

聖誕節快樂! 又感覺好像得po個應景的東西才過的去. "Alma" 是一個在皮克斯當動畫師的 Rodrigo Blaas 所製作的一個相當高品質的短片. 可愛的人物設計, 柔和美麗的光影, 和高水準的剪接與攝影, 都有皮克斯電影的味道. 但是, 別被這動畫可愛的外表騙了. 皮克斯可不會製作一個劇情那麼詭異又恐怖的故事. 這會讓我覺得那些離奇失蹤的孩子們是不是都跟影片裡的主角一樣, 被永遠封鎖在娃娃裡了?

Artificial Paradise, Inc.

"Artificial Paradise, Inc." is a slick piece of work from the Belgium director JP Frenay. The short has incorporated a lot of visual effects tricks like fluid simulations and procedural animation to create this cool yet eerie world. The creepy machines in the film literally look like devices made in hell, and yet they are used to display holographic imageries of a beautiful paradise, which is in direct contrast to their own scary appearances. As cool and provocative as this film looks, I certainly hope our future is not anything close to this.

"Artificial Paradise, Inc." (人造天堂公司) 是比利時的導演 JP Frenay 所製作的一個短片. 它運用了許多特效技巧如流體模擬和程序模型來製造一個很酷但是又很詭異的世界. 影片裡的恐怖機械看起來真的像是從地獄製造出來的, 但是它們卻是用來顯示一個虛幻的人間天堂. 美麗的影像和本身醜陋的外貌形成強烈對比. 雖然這影片很屌, 但我可不希望我們的未來是長這樣子啊.

Sixes Last

Just came back from watching Avatar, and like many of my friends and audiences there, I was thoroughly impressed by it. The visual effects and imageries are truly amazing and revolutionary. One of my favorite parts of the film is the alien yet beautiful environments in Pandora, which really reminds me of 1stAveMachine's earlier works involving moving plants, glowing flowers and extraterrestrial beings that are so seamlessly integrated with reality. Projects such as the MV for "Sixes Last", the spot for Quinns, and the ad for Samsung's LED TV practically defines the company's early identity.

剛剛看完 "阿凡達", 我的感想跟電影院裡許多觀眾相同: 真的挺讚的. 電影裡的特效, 畫面, 和3D立體效果真的是很了不起, 有革命性的進步. 其中我最喜歡的地方是潘多拉這星球裡美麗又奇異的環境, 讓我想起 1stAveMachine 早期的作品. 裡面常常出現會動的植物, 發光的花朵, 或外星的生物, 製作的非常真實. 像是 "Sixes Last" 的MV, Quinns 的影片, Samsung LED TV 的廣告, 這些作品可以說是定立了這家公司早期的品牌形象.

MTV HD "Crow"

Psyop (the maker of "Coke: Heist") has created this beautiful and elegant commercial for MTV HD channel. The whole spot looks like a traditional Chinese ink painting coming alive. In it, the creatures constantly transform back and forth between trees and crows. the whole ad is rendered in black and white, with no other colors, which creates some rather artistic imageries.

Psyop (製作 "Coke: Heist" 的公司) 為 MTV HD 策劃了這則相當惟美又優雅的廣告. 如果傳統中國墨水畫動起來的話, 大概就是像這樣子吧. 在影片裡, 漆黑的烏鴉們緩緩的飛翔, 一下子蛻變成樹枝或森林, 一下子又變回原來的樣子. 整體的顏色就只有用黑與白, 完全不用其他色彩, 讓畫面感覺相當有傳統藝術的美感.

Shrek Forever After Trailer

For some reason, a whole bunch of trailers for some highly anticipated movies next year suddenly came out today and yesterday. One of those is our very own "Shrek Forever After", pictured above with an over-weight Puss in Boots. I did not work on this movie, (Currently doing "How to Train Your Dragon" instead) but I did see the early screening. And I got to say that this one is a lot better than the third one, and could be better than second one too. Some of the other trailers include Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland", "Clash of the Titans", and "Iron Man 2". Oh, if you haven't seen "Tron: Legacy", it's definetly worth checking out too.

不知道為什麼, 昨天跟今天突然冒出了一堆明年動畫特效大片的預告片. 其中一個就是我們公司的 "Shrek Forever After". ("史瑞克-快樂4神仙", 好爛的翻譯...) 可以看到裡面的貓劍客似乎變胖了點. 雖然我沒加入這電影的製作 (目前正在趕 "訓龍高手") 但我還是有看到早期的劇本. 目前可以透露的是我個人認為比第3集好看很多, 也很有可能比第2級精采. 其他的預告還包括提姆波頓的 "魔境夢遊", "鋼鐵人2", 和 "超世紀封神榜". 沒看過 "Tron: Legacy" 的人也趕快看看吧.

Nokia: Get Out and Play

Although this commercial is rather old, it still puts a smile on my face every time I watch it. Nokia is really good at making some pretty cool ads.(Remember "The Journey Starts Here"?) "Get Out and Play" is a stop-motion video created to promote their N-Gage device. For those of you who once owned a Nokia cellphone, the game "Snake" must undoubtedly ring a bell. For those of you who haven't, it is a simple game where you guide a snake to eat dots. The more dots it eats, the longer it grows. This ad takes the idea from the game and aims to create the biggest snake in the world using humans. It's fun to see this snake "grows" from one person to a line of hundreds of people by the end. Watch Behind the Scenes here.

雖然這則廣告有點舊了, 不過每次看到都還是會讓我會心一笑. Nokia 的廣告真的都很酷. (還記得 "The Journey Starts Here" 嗎?) "Get Out and Play" (出門玩樂去) 是為 N-Gage 所打的一個逐格動畫廣告. 曾用過Nokia手機的人大概對 "貪吃蛇" 這個遊戲不陌生. 如果你沒玩過的話, 這遊戲是要你領導一條蛇去吃食物, 而吃越多它就長越長. 這廣告則延伸這概念, 試著用人群來做出全世界最長的"貪吃蛇". 看著這條蛇從一個人"成長"到數百人真的是很有趣. 按這裡看幕後製作.

World Builder

"World Builder" is a touching story from Bruce Branit about a man building a virtual world that feeds into the mind of his comatose lover. This short was originally submitted to various film festivals, but was under-appreciated by the judges. Surprisingly, it found its life in the internet world when Bruce uploaded it on to YouTube, and became one of the most popular videos. However, as sad as the story is, the holographic building device is pretty damn cool. I'd love to try one of those things to build my own little world.

"World Builder" (創世著) 是 Bruce Branit 製作的一個感人的短片. 述說一個男子為了他那昏迷的愛人, 創造出了一個虛擬的世界傳送到他愛人的頭腦裡. 這短片原本被送到各個影展秀出, 但都得不到評審的青睞. 令人訝異的是, 這短片卻在網路上找到了新的生命. 當Bruce上傳這短片不久後, 點視率就大增. 雖然短片本身算是個悲劇, 但是主角使用的立體建模程式真的是太酷了. 可以的話, 還真希望也搞一個來玩玩看, 創造屬於我的世界.

Kiwi!

"Kiwi!" is a Dony Permedi's master thesis animation at The School of Visual Arts in New York. Since its upload in 2006, the short has garnered more than 24 million views on YouTube... now that is some crazy internet viral effect going on here. The cute short tells the story of a kiwi, a type of flightless bird originating from New Zealand, trying to fulfill his life-long dream of flying in the air. Even if the rendering and lighting in this student short is simple, with almost no texture or effects, the animation is still very fluid and well-made. Not to mention it's got a story that's both very sweet and sad.

"Kiwi!" 是 Dony Permedi 在紐約的 The School of Visual Arts 製作的畢業動畫. 從他2006年上傳到YouTube至今已經有2千4百萬的點閱率. 這個可愛的動畫述說著一隻奇異鳥, (一種紐西蘭原生, 無法飛行的鳥) 試著達成他一生的夢想 - 在天空飛翔. 雖然動畫本身的光影畫面非常樸素簡單, 也沒什麼材質或特效, 但是人物動作很生動流暢. 更何況這故事真的挺感人又感傷的.

The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon

Fed up with the overload of Hollywood slasher movies involving unimaginative weapons such as guns, knives or chainsaws? This hilarious short with an unusually long title from Richard Gale has the nemesis killing a guy with a... spoon. And the bad guy doesn't even try to stab or jam the spoon in, he just keeps tapping him, for years. As I watch the film, I can really imagine the pain and agony the victim's feeling, as I would be much happier if I were killed in a more instant and normal way. The opening of the film says it all, "Some murders takes seconds, others takes hours. Now, this murder... takes years!"

受夠了好萊塢的驚悚片了嗎? 殺來殺去大不了就是用槍啊, 刀啊, 或電鋸那些亂沒想像力的武器. Richard Gale 的爆笑短片 "The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon" ("一個用極為沒效率的武器所進行的恐怖漫長謀殺", 真的是我看過最長的標題) 是利用一個... 湯匙來殺人的. 而且兇手可不是把湯匙刺進身體裡喔, 而是不斷的,日赴一日的輕輕敲打. 看著這影片我好像可以感覺到被害人的痛苦, 換做是我的話我還寧願用平常一點的殺人方法死掉還比較輕鬆. 影片開頭就說了, "有些謀殺只需幾秒, 有些要花上數小時. 現在, 這個謀殺... 可是要花上好幾年!!"

The TV Show

This little gem from Sugimoto Kousuke called "The TV Show" is sort of like a compilation of all the great classic Japanese anime and shows back in the 70's and 80's. The video constantly transitions from one part to the next as if the previous part is merely on a display devise of the next part. Each segments are different and have their own distinctive and quirky Japanese drawing styles, while the music is very catchy and works great with the animation. The animation gets crazier and funnier with each cycle, and ultimately ends up being a huge chaotic mishmash.

杉本康介製作的這個動畫 "The TV Show" (電視節目) 有點像是70和80年代所有日本經典電影和卡通的大集合. 影片不斷從一個段落轉換到下一段, 而上一段的影片則變成了下一段裡的某個電視畫面. 每幕都很不一樣, 都有那種獨特, 又有點怪怪的日本畫風. 音樂也很有節奏, 和動畫相當的搭. 這動畫會慢慢的越變越瘋狂, 越來越搞笑, 直到最後好像全部的東西都亂七八糟的混在一起了.

Peripetics

The use of computer animation in the realm of fine art is quite rare. That's why "Peripetics", a unique piece of animated art, is so intriguing. Created by the London-based group Zeitguised, (the guys who did "Sweetheart" with Universal Everything) this is a six-act short for the opening exhibition at the Zirkel Gallery. According to Zeitguised, "It entails six imaginations of disoriented systems that take a catastrophic turn." The imageries in the animation and the sound affects seem like abstract representations of human bodies and organs, strange architectures, and alien machineries.

很少會看到用電腦動畫表達的抽象藝術, 這也是為什麼"Peripetics", 一個相當獨特的動畫藝術, 是那麼的耐人尋味. 由倫敦的Zeitguised所製作, (他們曾經和Universal Everything合作過"Sweetheart") 這短片共分6幕, 是Zirkel Gallery開幕展覽的其中一項作品. 根據Zeitguised的說法, "此作品為6個純屬幻想的結構, 轉變成了混沌凌亂的型態." 動畫的視覺和音效感覺像是在用抽象的方式表現人體結構和內臟, 奇形怪狀的建築, 和一些外星儀器.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized

Ever wondered how this global economic melt-down ever got started? You probably heard a lot of detailed and lengthy explanations involving confusing analogies and foreign terms such as "sub-prime mortgage", "CDOs", and "credit default swap". And if you are as financially clueless as I am, those words probably did nothing but made your head hurt, and still ended up knowing nothing. Luckily, Jonathan Jarvis noticed people like us and created this informative animation that clearly explains everything. the graphics he used are very simple and diagrammatic. Combined with the power of animation, Jonathan was able to break down a complex subject and made it easy to understand for everyone.

有沒有想過這個全球性的金融危機到底是怎麼開始的? 你們大概聽過很多又臭又長的解釋, 令人頭腦錯亂的比喻, 以及一些像是火星語言的辭彙如 "次級房貸", "債務抵押債券", 和"信用違約交換"等等. 而如果你跟我一樣是金融白痴的話, 那些解釋只會讓人一頭霧水, 到頭來還是什麼都不懂. 很幸運的, Jonathan Jarvis 為了我們這種人製作了一個動畫, 把一整個情況解釋的清清楚楚. 他利用簡單概要的圖像, 配上動畫的力量, 用視覺的方式把一個複雜的課題分析得讓每個人都可以輕鬆明瞭. 終於知道那些在華爾街的傢伙是怎麼把經濟搞垮的了.

Thanks, Lolay!

Absolut Dissection

Mass Market, Psyop's sister company (the one who did Coke "Heist") , has created this gorgeous TV spot for Absolut Vodka. In this ad, the vodka bottle disintegrates into thousands of tiny pieces, revealing the clear liquid within. The water you see here is real, not CG. The studio used an 8000 fps camera to shoot the moment when a balloon full of water explodes when being poked. They then combined the ultra slow-motion footage of the water with computer generated glass shards to create this video. I love the attention to details in this ad, especially how in the end when the glasses piece themselves back together in meticulous and intelligent motions.

Mass Market是Psyop的姊妹公司, (之前做可口可樂廣告的那個) 他們幫絕對伏特加所做的廣告真的很漂亮. 在裡面, 玻璃酒瓶被分裂成數千個小碎片, 裸露出裡面晶瑩剔透的液體. 在這裡看到的水可是真的, 並不是電腦CG. Mass Market用8000 fps影格速率的高速攝影機拍射了水球被刺破的那一瞬間, 然後把超慢速的水體影片與電腦特效製作出的玻璃碎片合併在一起, 製作出了這效果. 我很喜歡他們對小細節的處裡, 尤其是最後當碎片重新組合在一起時, 他們的動作很細膩, 感覺好像有智慧似的.

Pigeon: Impossible

"Pigeon: Impossible" is a fun little short from Lucas Martell involving the battle between a rookie government agent and a pigeon. It asks the question, "what to do when a curious pigeon gets trapped inside your multi-million dollar, government-issued nuclear briefcase?" If you watch the behind the scenes, you would learn a fun little fact of how the animator spent 4 years making this film, and had $5000 dollars of budget, but spent it all on the music for the film.

"Pigeon: Impossible" (不可能的任務: 鴿子版) 是Lucas Martell製作的一個挺有趣的動畫, 有關一位菜鳥特務跟一隻鴿子的對決. "當一隻鴿子跑進政府給予, 價值百萬, 能夠控制核武的手提箱時, 你該怎麼辦?" 令我覺得還挺搞笑的是, 幕後製作裡有提到作者雖然花了4年製作這動畫, 但他把$5000美元的預算全部花在本片的音樂上了.

MUTO

Blu's ambitious animation, "MUTO", is best described as street graffiti meets stop-motion animation. The magnitude of the work is breath-taking, especially when you consider the artist has to paint and repaint over many times to generate the effect. Furthermore, the scale of the images ranges from the size of a poster to the entire wall of a building, and you begin to wonder how can one person and his assistant achieve something like this. The animation was made in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina.

Blu是一位街頭畫家, 而他的新作"MUTO"可以形容成是街頭藝術遇上逐格動畫. 這個動畫十分了不起, Blu不但需要一格一格的畫到上百幅壁畫, 而且這些壁畫的面積從海報大小到一整面大樓的外牆都有. 很難想像這是單單靠一個畫家和他的助手完成的. 動畫是在阿根廷的首都Buenos Aires裡某條街上完成的.