This visually rich and imaginative animated short film in the popular brief history style so beloved of attention deficit and time-starved digital consumers places skateboarding’s relatively short history in cultural context through a mesmerising assortment of layered
animation techniques. While the storytelling is concise and compact, the canvas is saturated & heavily suffused with bold graphic imagery, archive footage, wit, irony and occasional sideways glances at American political moments ...
This entertaining & thought provoking animated short by Anna Ginsberg explores the subject of female sexual pleasure or lack thereof. Interviews with friends, colleagues and random strangers provide a lively soundtrack edited into themed chapters. Brave, witty and at the same time, quite serious in its intent, the film is a winner combining humour, talking genitals and anonymous sexual insights.
London International Animation Festival; one of the largest and widest ranging festivals on the
Animation Circuit is at Barbican Centre in December 2016.
Sophie’s Story by Shroomstudio was selected as part of a 128 film programme from over 2,400 submissions and is screening on 10th December as part of a documentary animation strand along with a thoughtfully curated selection of international documentary-style
animated films with diverse subject matter.
I have ...
Yet another film I saw at Anim’est festival in Bucharest. With a distinctive illustration style and sensitive execution, this thoughtful film follows the exploits of a lumberjack who accidentally fells a tree, trapping himself and subsequently experiencing what it’s like to be a series of trapped animals. Ambiguous and with a subtle conservation message, the film left me with a slightly sad sense at the end, making me think about ...
This award winning horror/ fantasy animated film written and directed by Erik Van Schaaik was the last film I saw at Anim’est festival in Bucharest. It has an otherworldly quality from the start and follows the story of two estranged brothers; a farmer and a priest who battle over the destiny of their inherited orchard.
These Systems Are Failing by Moby /Are You Lost In The World Like Me by Steve Cutts
A fantastically laboured and bleakly beautiful homage to early Black & White cartoon
animation sets the style for this pop promo by Steve Cutts. Inhabiting a sometimes apocalyptic world of phone addicted sleepwalkers, our protagonist.. who looks a bit like Moby wanders the streets in desperation at the inability to connect with humans.
Another interesting film I saw at Anim’est in Bucharest was the charming stop-motion film, Made in Spain by Coke Rioboo. Using tiny railway model people, Coke constructs a playful version of a day in the life of Spain, exploring elements of bureaucracy, religion, bullfighting and of course the complex culture of the beach. It’s an abstract film with no dialogue which makes it even more captivating.
This intriguing mini film by Loïc bramoullé, that I saw at Anim’est festival in Bucharest, caught my eye for it’s sumptuous and beautifully lit, 3D
animation, it’s strange character and overall message. An advanced being explores the archaeology of a future Earth wondering why the civilisation failed.
Strange alloy is my second self produced short film.
Another short film from Anim’est Festival which caught my attention was the arresting and captivating short film Kaputt by Volker Schlecht – Drushba Pankow. The film is designed over audio interviews with former inmates at the main East German women’s prison; Hoheneck and documents their tortured experience making goods for the west under harsh and strict penal conditions.
Another film which caught my eye from the ANIM’EST festival in Bucharest is a charming underdog / outsider story by the talented Britt Raes / Creative Conspiracy. The film has a simple and effective design with striking animation, a delightful sense of colour and the story, about a girl with few friends who can’t keep her pets alive, finds solace in the relationship with her cat, Kitty who being a ...
I recently visited the ANIM’EST Festival in Bucharest as a guest where our short film ‘Sophie’s Story’ was screening. There was an incredible selection of International animation and I managed to squeeze in about 50 short films in addition to Trippy animation night curated by the charismatic wizard Michael Helmerhorst. I will try and post as many as the films, I can find online..
This documentary film by Shroomstudio friend and talent, MaX Pugh and Marc J. Francis, gains unprecedented access in the monastery and on road with the ‘Father of Mindfulness’ Thich Nhat Hanh.
Directed by Marc J. Francis (“Black Gold”) and Max Pugh (“The Road to Freedom Peak”) and narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch.
Cumberbatch, Oscar-nominated for “The Imitation Game” and an Emmy winner for “Sherlock,” said: “In my life I’ve been so touched ...
Shroomstudio’s independent animated short film, a true life story of one woman’s incredible journey through crack cocaine addiction has been selected for RAINDANCE 2016. the UK’s biggest film festival. Sophie’s Story has also been selected for a number of other upcoming festivals including LINOLEUM, ANim’est, FULLBloom Festival..
The film directed by Alex & Christos
Hatjoullis in-house, was animated by a dedicated team of award winning animators uses edited interviews with ...
Another film by fost.org (future of storytelling), this rather lovely and simple
animation by Lazy Chief uses painted textures to describe the greenhouse effect.
On November 14, 2015, Planet.org launched a campaign for “Earth” on Facebook, in an effort to raise awareness on the issue of Climate Change. The Future of StoryTelling was asked to join a board of influencers to curate and create content for the page.
fost.org
2016 Future of Storytelling Speaker: Charles Spence
Professor of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University
This short film by Liam Saint-Pierre is an exploration of our multi-sensory world with Professor Charles Spence. Featuring some composite shots and
animation by Shroomstudio and some music by Outerground – aka Christos. Charles Spence’s research on multisensory experiences have changed the way we stimulate our senses simultaneously.
Another new short film by Liam Saint-Pierre, this time commissioned by The Guardian in association with Banyak Films about inventor and innovator Jim Reeves, exploring the development of his pulley system, renewable energy light for off-grid homes. A simple concept bringing much needed light to people living with kerosene lamps as their only, expensive and potentially toxic light source.
Tim Samuels is one of the most acclaimed documentary-makers in town.
London Town. We’ve known Tim for a long time and have worked with him producing
animation and graphics on a selection of the films on his site including the influential POWER to the PEOPLE series for BBC3, Hardcore Profits series and the Poles are Coming.
His films – broadcast across BBC One and Two – bring serious journalistic ...
This entertaining character portrait forms the 3rd in a series from Director Liam St Pierre.
Dr Elvis is a
London GP and in his other life he’s Elvis’ twin brother with a fascination with all things Presley, including a kidney shaped swimming pool, Like Elvis had.. Except his is in Surrey and is often full of leaves !
from 26th March the popular
animation suite which brought you Princess Mononoke and Futurama amongst others. A firm favourite of Studio Ghibli is going open source.. That means there will be a free version and a Deluxe premium version while Toonz will be concentrating on add-ons, customisation and training to bring this powerful suite into mainstream use for a new generation of animators.
This delightful short
animation by Joe Bichard is worthy of a mention on our blog for it’s eleganct simplicity, efficiency and delightful character animation !
Written and Said by Alain De Botton
Directed by Joe Bichard
Music and Sound by Skillbard
Additional Voice Talent by Sophie Koko Gate
Additional Animation by Joe Sparrow
Desk Space Generosity by Moth Collective, Studio AKA and Joe Sparkes
We’ve all got used to seeing amazing timelapse films so it can easy to dismiss them. This is different. With amazing camera rig manouevres and stunning scenery we see a day in the life of New Zealand from the break of dawn till early the next morning. This excellent film by Martin Heck, TimeStorm Films is episode one of 4 shot in 4k !
This inspiring short film directed by talented Director & Shroomstudio collaborator Liam St Pierre and produced by Luke Goodrich explores one man’s quest to stop plastic from polluting the Oceans. With Liam’s signature style and some nicely invisible effects work by Alex Hatjoullis @ Shroomstudio, the film also introduces Fred Schmidt, a young actor with a certain charisma whom I’m sure we’ll see gracing tv screens everywhere in the ...
For all animators and especially character designers, this enlightening short film by Tony Zhou features some of Chuck Jones’ most memorable moments and interview footage with Charles himself provides a unique insight into the mind of perhaps the worlds’ finest cartoon director. “If you want to make great films, be inspired by the world around you & give your characters a well defined motivation”.
Australian Animator Gwynn Earl (BAD-EYE-DEERS.) Gwynn worked as an animator/illustrator on the Dreamland music video for Sticky Fingers. The video clip for Dreamland is a hand-drawn
animation using similar techniques to old style Disney films such as Fantasia.
Gwynn (Hoags) Earl worked with Shroomstudio back in 2009 and we were impressed by his native illustration skills.
http://movieweb.com/movies/2015/animation/
movie web has a comprehensive list of
animated films upcoming for release over the next year. Pixar’s Inside Out, The Little Prince, studio Ghibli’s When Marnie was There and the much anticipated Peanuts movie are amongst the listings, which is interesting for it’s blend of signature Schultz cartoon drawings rendered in 3d.
This short music promo for Canadian artist Omar Linx by Peter Huang, explores ideas about violence in nature, the cosmos and sex. Magically rendered by the flexible medium of rotoscoping, it is thought provoking, entertaining and in it’s own simple way, challenging in it’s approach to our notions about nature & humanity. The simplification of the rotoscoping technique brings a stark look focusing on detail without backgrounds, adding to the ...
This is a great example of short form documentary using mobile technology by talented filmmaker Michal Dzierza. This short portrait piece about Fred the Barber shot in the sleepy town of Dubuque Iowa, also takes in his amazing collection of antique Barber’s equipment. Fascinating how many different razor sharpeners were used 😉
Filmed on an iPhone 6 in Dubuque, Iowa.
This festival favourite from the Flaminguettes displays an interesting and feminine use of composited motion graphics. Combining video, dance and
animation, the interaction of the dancer with the geometry gives the piece a futuristic feel, as if describing an as yet unknown Olympic sport ! CH
Cannes in a Van Best Motion Graphics Design Runner up, Ganador del Tercer lugar del Festival de Danza Agite y Sirva, México, Best ...
Archive.org hosts an amazing collection of vintage media in the public domain. This
animation collection contains lots of early studio animation from the 1920’s-1940’s including Popeye & Betty Boop from the the Fleischer brother’s Inkwell studios & some great Superman cartoons also by the Fleischers. The early experiments and innovations by Inkwell produced some of the first composited film and animation where the characters jump off the page and ...
THE MEANING OF LIFE – by DON HERTZFELDT 12 minutes of
animation at it’s most enlightening and thought provoking, whilst providing bags of entertainment value !(CH)
The Meaning of Life is a 35mm animated short film, written and directed by Don Hertzfeldt in 2005. The twelve minute film is the end result of almost four years of production and tens of thousands of drawings, single-handedly animated and photographed by ...
This is Len Lye:
animation in a most imaginative form and techniques we have been inspired by to design stage visuals for U2 and The Rolling Stones concerts.. just brilliant
A pioneer of direct-animation, Len Lye (1901-1980) was also a highly innovative painter, photographer and poet, as well as an important figure in kinetic sculpture.
Here’s a bit of
animation history. Imagine rows of paper cut out shapes hanging on invisible wires, each shape’s movement synchronised to the music of Franz List, photographed one frame at a time. To achieve the frame accurate timing, try slicing the musical score into tiny fragments without digital equipment, quite a technical feat for it’s day.
Joey Alexander. 11 years old jazz master. Although not strictly
animation themed, I just had to post this. Animation being the Jazz equivalent in moving image and with a long established relationship of jazz music and animation. Watch and listen to a legend in the making and hear the testimonials of some of the genre’s contemporary (adult) experts !
The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics, is a book written and illustrated by Norton Juster, first published by Random House in 1963. The story was inspired by Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, in which the protagonist visits a one-dimensional universe called Lineland, where women are dots and men are lines.
The story details a straight line who is hopelessly in love with a dot.
This is my kind of stop motion. A creative use of cut-outs, stacked to create interesting geometry and trailing effects with colour. Expressive and very satisfying to watch as it builds.
“Katachi” means “shape”.
The video is made with approx, 2000 silhouettes extracted from PVC plates using computer-controlled cutter.
Making of: kijekadamski.blogspot.com/2013/03/making-of-katachi.html
Director, Concept,
Animation – Kijek/Adamski
Production – Katarzyna Rup / Ab Film Production
Cast – Artur Cetnarowski
Gaffer – Heliograf, Blitz
Studio set – ...
Korea has long a history of producing high quality and entertaining films. This excellent short film written, directed and animated by Kyungmin Woo @ Alfredimageworks has so many good points I’m not even going to describe it here. Just watch it ! Inspirational animated storytelling with style and wit.
“It’s 2150
There are all sorts of Aliens living throughout space.
A clever short animated film based on the idea of not smoking ! It reminded me of a more innocent 70’s era children’s tv show, not only in the gentle voiceover by Michael Somerset Ward, but also the slow pace and simplified character style.
The Boy Who Turned Yellow was created for Now Will You Listen!, an illustrated audio visual book of short horror stories and surreal poetry from musician/writer ...
This imaginative and thought provoking
animation by Aron Bothman uses a clever blend of 2d, 3D and stop motion to tell an intriguing tale of a geologist exploring Mars’ past as part of a a terra-forming experiment. Great use of dialogue and crisp sound production add a professional layer of production. The models are nicely made and animated and the use of camera and effects lends an otherworldly feel ...
Upcoming film maker and Hackney based creative, Mallywini visited the Studio over a couple of days recently, to get some inspiration & learn about the
animation process. Her brief; to create a character based intro for her films. This is what happened.. read all about her experience at Shroomstudio in her own words at Mallywini’s blog below !
PROJECT OMOTE IS A COLLABORATION BETWEEN JAPANESE MEDIA ARTIST NOBUMICHI ASAI, MAKEUP ARTIST HIROTO KUWAHARA AND FRENCH DIGITAL IMAGE ENGINEER PAUL LACROIX.
This short video shows real time projection mapping on a moving human face with reflection, mirroring and modelling.. the close ups shows how the technology works in detail and we think it’s rather beautiful !
a nice little allegory about humans told by beautifully rendered tin ROBOTS
It’s not a secret we love robots here at BLR, so we wanted them to be the heroes in our latest promo clip. Luxury cars with powerful engines to drive through roads under severe speed restrictions, cable TV that allows us to pay to watch all kind of sports, all from our comfortable sofa, and of course, hyper expensive ...
A brilliantly surreal and lovely imaginative piece of
animation all done in 30 seconds by jonstudio.. this needs no further description, just watch !
The Tale of the Fox (1930)
The world’s first feature-length stop-motion
animation
Adapted from Goethe’s fable – about a fox whose carnivorous cunning, deplored and feared by the rest of the animal kingdom, brings him into legal conflict with the lion king – this vintage animated film impresses, first of all, by the sheer virtuosity of its stop-motion puppet work.
This film (full version below) is a great example of traditional
animation skills by Richard Williams and is a must see for animation students. Packed full of incredible signature techniques & styles. Although unfinished, the film is nevertheless a fascinating and brilliant animation and the story of it’s production is worth a read. *by C.H
The Thief and the Cobbler is a British animated fantasy film directed, co-written and ...
Clip from the ‘The Iron Giant’, 1999 American animated science fiction comedy-drama film using both traditional
animation and computer animation, produced by Warner Bros. Animation, and based on the 1968 novel The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. The film was directed by Brad Bird, scripted by Tim McCanlies, and stars Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick, Jr., Vin Diesel, Eli Marienthal, Christopher McDonald, and John Mahoney.
Extended sequence from the Ghibli Classic ‘My Neighbour Totoro’ where Totoro calls the catbus who comes to the rescue. This
animation sequences is one of the early moments of inspiration for Alex and led his interest towards the path of animation ! The film which was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize and the Mainichi Film Award for Best Film in ...
This fascinating piece of
animation describes a chapter from the book “Imagining the Tenth Dimension” by Rob Bryanton. It elegantly illustrates the concepts presented in chapter one of the book.
This entertaining short film by Liam St Pierre (The Way of the Dodo) continues his series of entertaining & intimate film portraits. This time it’s Dominic Wilcox; innovative Conceptual Inventor and author of Variations on Normal. Shroomstudio worked with Liam to provide a graphic feel to the film by adding
animation sequences / titles & credits using Dominic’s artwork.
In the near future, crime is patrolled by a mechanized police force. When one police droid, Chappie, is stolen and given new programming, he becomes the first robot with the ability to think and feel for himself.
Robocop meets Short Circuit in South Africa ! with great performances & music from Die Antwoord as Gangster Mommy & Daddy to the newly born A.I
Written – directed – animated by Kaleb Lechowski (C) Kaleb Lechowski, The film starts with the voice of a machine speaking. It is interrogating an alien. The alien comments rudely, and the machine says this response is “inappropriate”. It electrocutes the alien a few times, and mentions a “rendezvous”. The alien’s backstory is revealed, showing that his race was at war with the machines they created.
This is a short film that was directed by the French
animation collective H5, François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy + Ludovic Houplain. It was presented at the Cannes Film Festival 2009. It opened the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and won a 2010 academy award under the category of animated short.
One of our favourites, the entire film is composed of over 2,500 corporate logos
Official taster from mutinymedia for the new documentary, Time Traveller: The Strange World of Bernard Fevre – a film about the esoteric and influential electronica pioneer.
Black Devil Disco Club, is an electronic disco music project by Bernard Fevre, a French musician who also released synthesizer compositions on library music albums under his own name and under the alias Milpatte.
Shroomstudio in-depth interview with ROOms Magazine’s intrepid Ellie Kirby all about
animation, technology, the future and what does it all mean ?
Founded by the Hatjoullis brothers, Shroomstudio is a company specialising in animation, a family affair. This band of brothers lead the creative team to inject the animation industry with a touch of nostalgia and forward thinking.
Working with Paul Twivy @ The Partners & Gloria Abramoff @ Tonic Productions we produced this short film all about pensions for auto enrolment specialists., CreativeAutoEnrolment who do ‘the whole shebang’ for you. With 500 pages of guidance from the regulator there is a lot of information to digest. With a target audience of time starved SME owners and financial advisers the messages had to be punchy and distinct with ...
Short film by Liam Saint-Pierre about Hackney legend – Umit Mesut, film buff, super 8 saviour, shopkeeper / projectionist and film historian.
“His wife thinks he’s obsessed, but rewind boy Umit isn’t convinced. The film follows Umit Mesut, a colourful East
London shop keeper, as he fights to keep his passion for celluloid alive in an ever changing digital world….He strikes switch, then the lamp and the show begins.”
Directed & ...
East
London Design Show poster and tickets & flyer design by Shroomstudio.
A major annual event in the capital’s design shopping calendar, come and experience
a hugely refreshing alternative Christmas shopping experience to the humdrum conformity of the high street.
Over one hundred of the best independent product, interior and jewellery designers,
all under one roof, just before Christmas.
Britain & The Sea – BBC1 David Dimbleby.
Titles design and
animation for this BBC1 Series. David Dimbeleby sets out on his boat, Rocket, to explore Britain’s relationship with the sea and discover how the waters around our shores have inspired art and literature for centuries. The animation for the titles is inspired by the automata of a 19th Century Eidophusikon; representing Phenomena of Nature”, the Eidophusikon can be considered ...
Jordan Crisp vs Nana D ‘Ngoma’
Animation & post production by Shroomstudio with collaborator Nana Dankwa aka NANA-D for this promo shot in Tanzania. Exploring a personal journey for NANA-D going back to his childhood home, he involved the local community in the making of the promo to bring together elements of tribal ritual, contemporary street dance and symbols.
Shroomstudio Design Animation sequence for the pre-titles of Culture Show Special.
Alan Yentob witnesses the birth of an idea at the hands of the designer, creator, and some call ‘inventor’ – Thomas Heatherwick – whose recent triumphs include the remarkable cauldron for the 2012 Olympic Games and the provocative redesign of the
London double decker bus.
BBC Culture Show TX@ 10:00 PM, Wednesday 31st July 2013
Gaining a reputation as ...
Laika the Space dog
Laika (Russian for ‘Barker’) is the name of the first dog proudly sent into space by the former U.S.S.R. This project is an animated promo telling Laika’s story that “you’ve never been alone until you’ve felt like Laika.“
Album Launch
The video was produced by Shroomstudio to coincide with the Album launch of Vronsky’s debut album – Throat Specific Mixture at the Slaughtered Lamb in Clerkenwell,
London.
Vision 2020
Launching the Mayor’s office Vision for
London 2020, this short film animated by Shroomstudio & produced in association with Atomized Entertainment forms an integral part of the message delivery for the campaign, aimed at engaging Londoners and decision makers in the plans for London’s future development which includes an improved public transport system.
The Key Message
Crossrail and tube upgrades, cycling superhighways across the city, plans for the building ...
