Old Tricks

If the older gentleman in this short film by Theodore Buckwald looks familiar that’s because you have recognized him from his many on-screen appearances.  If you are my age you will remember Joe Spano as Harry Goldblume on Hill Street Blues. Younger Kuriositas readers may have seen him as Special Agent Tobias Fornell on NCIS.  Here his character gets to grips with a hapless young burglar, played by Drake Zimmerman.

Viktoria Modesta: The World’s First Bionic Pop Artist

“The time for boring ethical discussions around disability is over. It's only through feelings of admiration, aspiration, curiosity and envy that we can move forward.” So says British pop singer Viktoria Modesta and, if you haven’t heard of her before, prepare to have your perceptions of altered beauty changed. This bravura video was made for UK TV’s Channel 4 and was directed by Saam Farahmand of Rogue Films. Riveting.

Nightfall: Epic Science Fiction Fantasy Animated Short Film

This is quite an extraordinary short film being completely computer generated to begin with but that is not quite what I found the most astonishing thing about it.  It would probably be wrong to call this a silent movie but it could be adequately described as a wordless one.  Not a single word is spoken throughout and this is something which adds to its power.

The software used to create Nightfall was 3ds max 8 (vray, mentalray), combustion 4 and Premiere Pro.  The film was rendered in HD 720p with 25 fps – which may be an issue if you have a slow running PC but it is worth being patient. Its running time is a surprisingly long 11:30 min and it is made up of over seventeen thousand frames.

There are (as you might expect) numerous influences at work here –from the concept of a ring world which has echoes of the Larry Niven novel among others.  Sure, we have a thousand queens and dark lords in the history of science fiction too.  The design of the spaceships too, seems to have drawn some inspiration from the like of Battlestar Galactica as well as the more obvious Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Babylon 5.  In fact, although the plot bears no comparison, it this reminded me of Babylon 5 more than anything, if only in its epic sweep.

Yet drawing inspiration from other sources is fine as long as one’s own finished product is original.  This is an epic tale drawing to its end and because so much is left to us, a marvelously enigmatic piece of filmmaking too.  Nightfall draws heavily from its sources but at its heart is something a little different and more grown up (certainly darker) than the usual science fiction and fantasy fan boy fodder with which we are presented.

"What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil." The quote at the film’s beginning – from Nietzsche -  places this work of animation very much in the grown up category.

The film is made by Valentin Schwind, a computer graphics artist and developer.  28 years old, he was born in Stuttgart, Germany and went to school in Esslingen, where he is still living today.  He graduated in 2008 from Stuttgart Media University where studied for his Media Computer Science Diploma.  Today he works as a freelancer for visual effects and game studios throughout Europe and also as a lecturer at the Stuttgart Media University.

The music is by Ivelina Nedyalkova.  A contemporary of Schwind’s at Stuttgart Media University she was persuaded by the animator to produce the soundtrack after he had heard her playing the piano.

Plot – so possibly spoilers:

The whole movie is like the end of some massive trilogy, but to put it in a nutshell.  A huge ring world, powered by an artificial sun is ruled over by a benign queen.  Yet a dark lord falls hopelessly in love with her and he desires her more than any other thing in the universe.  Surrounding her home world with an enormous space fleet he declares a war which will end a way of life which has endured millennia.  He has the queen to himself.  And the universe falls silent.

Even Pigeons go to Heaven

An old man, Moulin, has cut off the world and lives a miserly existence on his own.  One day he climbs a pile of books so he can reach a bottle of spirits and the stack collapses.  Fortunately a priest arrives to stop his fall but notices that the old man has brought something else to the ground as well as the bottle - a red sock containing all his savings.

The priest promises Moulin salvation if he signs over the money.  He has a device which will ensure his entry in to heacen but the old man wants to see more proof....

This extremely cool animated short directed by Samuel Tourneux was nominated for an Academy Award in 2007.

Santa’s Flying Christmas Tree

A good dose of silliness at any point in the year never did anyone any harm.  Yet it is this time of year which tends to bring out an especially virulent form.  Otto Dieffenbach has one of the best jobs on the planet – he creates and flies aerial images for promotional purposes so a little silliness is not outside his JD.  Here he does his best to encourage a little festive cheer with a flying Christmas tree, Santa and a little Harry Potter thrown in for good measure.

What if Everyone in Manhattan Disappeared?

It is something that we see in science fiction movies and Manhattan seems to be a popular choice in presenting this sort of dystopic nightmare.  One of the fascinating things about such an exodus is seeing the sight of an empty city.  Everything looks normal except for one thing – the complete disappearance of the entire population.

Yet this kind of thing is happening in our world right now – in Syria.  The Assad regime and the rise of ISIS have forced ten million people out of their villages, towns and cities – that is, staggeringly, half the population.  Out of this number more than 3 million are under the age of 16.

This video was created for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) by Purpose and the Hamdi Foundation to raise awareness of this appalling situation by giving us the image of Manhattan emptied of people – perhaps something we know might better help us understand the enormity of the issue.  It is - put simply - the largest refugee crisis since the Second World War.

Where did these missing millions go?  Syria’s neighboring countries have taken in the biggest numbers yet these are not wealthy countries and the strain is becoming intolerable.  Lebanon has, for example, seen its population grown by 36%.  At the last count the UK had taken in just 54 people.

The international community is failing to respond to their needs meaning millions do not have enough to eat, fuel to keep warm or a safe place to lay their heads. Visit http://www.unhcr.org for more information and to pledge your support.

We have the United Nations for many reasons but to help our fellow human beings who find themselves, through no fault of their own, in dire circumstances, is pivotal to it existence.

This issue needs to be addressed but we cannot simply stand by and expect our governments act – as sometimes they need to be prompted.  As a private citizen you can help by persuading your government to unlock crucial funding for UNHCR or indeed make a donation to the Syria Emergency Winter Crisis Alert appeal..

Watch George Clooney in Downton Abbey: The Full Episode

George Clooney and Downton Abbey? Thanks to UK charity Text Santa (which raises money for a variety of good causes), the Hollywood star made his first (and probably last) appearance in Downton Abbey as the Right Honorable George Oceans Gravity, Marquis of Hollywood in a nine minute pastiche of the long-running drama.

Owing a little more to Dickens’ Christmas Carol than your average episode (although writer Julian Fellowes has made homages before, including an outrageous spin on Mrs Minniver in the first series) we have Lord Crawley losing the family fortune (again!) and wishing he had never been born (riffing It’s a Wonderful Life in to the bargain). In for a penny, in for a pound as they say!

So appears an angel played by the lovely Joanna Lumley who whisks him away to see what life would have been like without him.  This enables the new Lord, played by Clooney to make his appearance and, well, anyway, here’s the whole episode.  It’s a massive plug, of course, for the Text Santa (and rightly so) which this year made over £5 miliion.

The Incredible Hulk Hands

If you like your comedy in the ilk of Airplane! or The Naked Gun then it’s highly probable that you are going to love this 4:26 slice of delight.  Written and directed by Ali Fararooy (who I suspect spent his younger years watching movies like those I mentioned above) this may not be a Christmas movie but it certainly raised my spirits.  The story may also be one that is a little trope-tastic but it does not suffer from any of the associated fatigue you might imagine: rather it feeds off them. 

A nerd, on his early morning run, finds himself in the usual kind of trouble, the sort that always happens when his kind dares to venture on a football field – he attracts the attention a group of jocks looking for a little pre-prandial entertainment.  Once his pain is done he quickly finds the means with which to exact his revenge (the clue is in the title so this is hardly a spoiler).  Cue vengeance and retaliation (or should that be the other way around?).

The use of music in this comedy short is inspired as are the blink and you miss them physical puns and, of course, the VFX.  So, yes. You might say I like this.

A big nod to the cast too – The Jasons and Momma Outta Bullets combining their talents to great effect

The Shot

I am not including The Shot on Kuriositas because it tells a profound tale which will change your life. Rather, I am doing so because I found the performance of its young star, Samuel Belbin (pictured), very, very funny indeed. It’s not often that I have laugh out loud moments online (he said sadly, bless the poor old bugger) but this provided me with two over the space of its three and a bit minutes.

So, what provoked such mirth? The Shot tells the story of a kid left alone in the car by his mother while she pops in to a shop. In the few minutes that she is away he does something that he cannot quite believe himself. Produced and directed by Chris Thomas and written by Richard Standen, The Shot will, I hope, put a smile on even the most cynical of faces!

Peter and the Wolf Animated

If you are a fan of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf then this is going to be a huge treat for you.  This is part of Emmanuel Linderer’s work for a TV special created by Camera Lucida.  Although not the complete tale you do have the essentials – it’s like a précis.  The characters are all there – the duck and the little bird, the cat and of course Peter and the menacing wolf but the animals are created in a surprise way.  This is lovely work.

We Were Not Made For This World

Based on the story by award-winning cartoonist Paul Hornschemeier, We Were Not Made For This World is the story of a robot that searches for its creator in the desert outside the city where it was created.  It was created by Colin West McDonald as part of The Robot Scriptures, what will be a three part narrative film about the origin, evolution and exodus of artificial intelligence.

Sunday Short Movie: A Long Walk

You will probably not see a short film as moving or gripping as this for quite a while. This story is based on true events and focuses on an American neighborhood in the 1970s. It was written, produced and directed by the über talented Chinonye Chukwu.

A father humiliates his son by parading him through the streets in women's clothing in front of all the other kids on a summer day. The impact of that decision ripples through his family and best friend's lives for years to come.  The Long Walk is earnest and very clever film-making at its best with some standout performances, wonderfully evocative period detail and - just so you can't say you weren't warned - heartrendingly sad.

Can This Scaredy Swan Ever Become one of the Seven Swans a Swimming?

Life can present us with all kinds of issue.  For a swan, just about the biggest would be a fear of water – and this scaredy swan has just that phobia in this short by Burcu & Geoffrey.  Even though he shows a certain willingness to try, when it comes to the point of entry he doesn’t seem keen at all.  Yet will he overcome his scarediness and become one of the seven swans a swimming? Watch and find out!

The Geminid Meteor Shower: From Phaethon to Earth

Here is the Geminid meteor shower of December 2014 from a slightly different perspective! Shane Gehlert of Blue Dog Films filmed some time lapse images over two nights in December 2014. Intrigued by the Geminid meteor shower, he decided to make a short film with additional animation to explain (very simply) how it comes about from its origin on Phaethon to its impact with Earth.

Amsterdam Light Festival 2014-15

In November 2014 freelance filmmaker Jack Fisher was invited to the Netherlands to make a time-lapse of the Amsterdam light festival. It was the most challenging film he had made to date as he only had seven days to plan, film and edit this hyperlapse whilst battling wind, rain and everything in between.  However, I think that you will agree that the result is wonderful: the festival end of 18 January 2015.

Angels' Carol

It’s almost Christmas so that means it’s time for a flying giant white rabbit.  Of course. In fact this is Trunk Animation’s take on what should accompany John Rutter’s Angels’ Carol.  As it should be, it’s all about getting home in time for Christmas with everything you would might expect (driving snow, treacherous roads, and the warmth of strange woodland creatures) plus a nod to studio Ghibli’s Totoro.  Noëltastic.

A Little Amsterdam Love Story

This is just about as sweet as it gets, following a tiny denizen of the Dutch capital as he makes his way to that important first date.  Yes, that is pretty much it but this is delightful work by Andrey Koval with some lovely touches throughout guaranteed to put a smile on your face.  It makes you wonder what goes on in cities all around the world which we fail to notice. 

The Story of R32

When, in the future, old robots are discarded as they are replaced by more advanced versions, what will become of the obsolete?  Although the subject is touched on in a number of movies, this short focuses on one robot who just wishes to fulfill its primary function – to look after someone. Yet when the opportunity comes along, is it too late?  Directed by Vladimir Vlasenko, this short features some superb CG and enough pathos to pull even the most hardened of human heartstrings.

Coldplay: Ink - Official Fans' Cut of the Interactive Video

A few weeks ago Coldplay released their first interactive music video.  Now based on Coldplay’s fans’ engagement, the makers of the video, Blind Inc, have been able to bring us the compilation which represents the most popular variation (out of a possible 300) that the video presented.  I am so happy they did this – I like the interactive version but really wanted to see which one came out on top!

Owl

A series of uncanny dioramas set in the English countryside. Owl is a mixed-media animation combining CG visuals, Infrared film photographs and marker pen sketches to unique effect. The final animation represents a collaboration between Thomas Beg and the haunting music of Collectress, a quartet of long-term musical collaborators based in the UK who have recently released their debut album Mondegreen.

Miss Alissa – A New Superhero

If you were given two weeks to create a new superhero, what would you do? Here is Martin Woutisseth’s take with influences from Harley Quinn, Bruce Timm, Faster pussy cat, Kill! Kill!, Kill la Kill, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Robert Valley, Queens of the stone age Go with the flow, Eagles of Death Metal Wannabe in L.A, Dizzee Rascal Fix up! Look sharp and Jamie Hewlett.  I think we should have an entire animated series of Miss Alissa’s adventures!

How to Pass GCSE English

In my other life I am a teacher so I thought I would share with you one of my latest videos.  I am obviously not in the same league as the animators that we feature on Kuriositas but I hope that the videos I make (based on PowerPoint presentations) find an audience and allow people to improve their English skills.

This one is for GCSE English which is an exam taken by 16 years olds in the UK, although many adults take it too for one reason or another (usually missed opportunities previously in the life).  This video covers the questions featured in the OCR exam board Information and Ideas exam which is difficult to pass if you don’t know what the examiners are looking for.  I hope this helps a few people get through an exam which the UK government is making a little more difficult each year in the mistaken belief that making it harder will raise standards!

12 Dogs on 12 walls in 12 cities in 12 days

As Christmas approached the rush to be ready and get all the presents sometimes precludes a little thought.  Charities like Dogs Trust in the UK are faced with the annual prospect of rescuing hundreds of homeless or abandoned dogs whose prospective owners simply did not take time out to think through the responsibilities involved with creating a forever home for a canine addition to their household. So, how to try and get people to think things through a little more?

This is certainly one way.  The pair of (self-described) gonzo artists more than willing to take a punt at pretty much anything who go under the collective name of id-iom has recently been on a road trip of the UK.  While in each of the dozen cities they visited they painted a dog on a wall for Dogs Trust.  As a memento paw-i (probably too bad a pun to have included here, but it’s almost Christmas) they included the real reasons Dogs Trust was given when those reluctant to see through their commitment delivered a dog to the charity’s doorstep.

Where There’s Muck There’s Aluminium

Plastic-aluminium laminates have been troubling recyclers for years, in as much as they could not be recycled commercially.  Before now packing containing these laminates would end up in landfill or simply incinerated. Now, however, Cambridge University and its spinoff company Enval have invented a way to turn your old drinks cartons and toothpaste tubes in to aluminium and fuel. The eureka moment?  A bacon roll and a microwave oven.

Boy Meets Girl

10,000 years in to the future, what will have happened to us? Rick Barcode’s latest short film allows us, like any grown-up science fiction should, to make up our own minds.  Yet when boy meets girl there will always be consequences.  Beautifully shot, this melancholy short film is complete in itself but I hope I am not alone in wanting more. Mr Barcode is currently in film school at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas.

Musical Recordings from the Realm of the Dead

Four separate individuals at the dawn of wireless technology unknowingly become accidental collaborators of a musical composition that is pieced together through radio waves. Let’s face it, any video which features Elisha Gray, Ralph Dunstan, Guglielmo Marconi and, particularly, Nikola Tesla, is going to find its way on to Kuriositas. Directed and animated by Troy Morgan this is haunting, atmospheric and like its subject, unique.

Crowded

The denizens of Crowded amble through their ever-expanding habitat seemingly oblivious to their mutating landscape – while the voyeur sits back and inhales the swarming scenery. The convivial tone veils the dystopian message of the narrative.

Cranes, trains and automobiles instil a sense of constant industry – as the populous swells upwards, outwards, downwards and inwards – contorting and adapting – forcing the inhabitants to recast themselves. Crowded was directed and animated by Andrew Khosravani and Cristina Florit Gomila.

The Last Time I Saw Richard

It’s the time of year when scary stories seem all the more frightening – and The Last Time I Saw Richard fits the desire for a few December chills perfectly. Jonah is a loner at the teenage mental health institution in which he is incarcerated until the arrival of Richard. Yet despite the growing bond between the teenagers, there are darklings hiding in the shadows of the night. Written and directed by Nicholas Verso this short movie is guaranteed to give you the wibbly-wobblies.Viewer discretion advised.

Dogs on Ice

Dogs like nothing better than when something a little out of the ordinary happens. So, when the world has turned white one morning and the water has gone hard and slippery, you can’t blame a dog for getting a little excited, can you? After all, when the going gets cold, the dog gets going. Our sibling site, the Ark in Space has a great collection of dogs on ice pictures for you today…

Image Credit linuskenstam

The Dinosaur Graveyard of East Berlin

They lie, dead, struck down where they stood by a global event they could neither forecast nor understand. Extinction came quickly: in a matter of years the dinosaurs were no more. Yet this is no reference to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event which led to the extinction of the majority of dinosaur groups at the end of the Mesozoic era.

Image Credit Flickr User Extranoise

Image Credit Flickr User Extranoise

These dinosaurs (as you may have suspected) are rather more modern – as was their downfall.

The DVRSE App: Black Friends When You Need Them

If you're white and want to look cooler but don’t actually have time to befriend black people then this new app might just change your life. The team at DVRSE have created an amazing app which could increase your cool factor by a quotient – not to mention your ability to get jobs in progressive companies and – perhaps – even get lucky a little more often.  Best let the team, directed by Marvin Lemus, to explain.

Captureland

Tocky has had something on his mind and he has made a huge decision.  This short film by Nabil Elderkin was inspired by the words of the late Nelson Mandela: I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as sinner who keeps on trying.  It also draws breath from the song Capture Land by Jamaican artist Chronixx. Made in partnership with the Tribeca Film Institute and the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Captureland will, perhaps, confound your expectations and lift your heart.

The Day the Sea Turned to Gunk

It was as if the ocean has been turned in to a giant cup of cappuccino, a particularly frothy one at that. This display of nature’s occasional freakiness had people scratching their heads in Cape Town, South Africa.  Sea Point Beach on the outskirts of the city was transformed in to a foamy mess when the sea suddenly frothed itself into a frenzy.

Yet what caused this lather?  It seems that a variety of impurities in the seawater combined at just the right amounts and, shaken and stirred up by the powerful motion of the waves, formed bubbles. The bubbles bonded together and before long it was as if some sort of chain reaction had taken place, back in 2012. It was everywhere.

Little Tombstone

Once upon a time in the west two grizzled gunslingers face each other for their final showdown.  The townspeople run for cover as the good (looking suspiciously like a certain Mr Eastwood) and the bad (who looks very, very bad!) prepare to draw their guns.  All the townspeople, that is, apart from the local undertaker – who takes a professional interest in what is going on.

This is a very cool take on an old genre, with its tongue firmly in its cheek but great respect for the spaghetti westerns of the 1960s and 70s.  It was created by a group of ESMA (Toulouse campus) students.  Directed by Directed by Frédéric Azais, Théo Di Malta, Benjamin Leymonerie and Adrien Quillet, with a great soundtrack composed by Alexandre Scuri. Find out more about how this very cool animated short was made on the Little Tombstone website.

The Walk Home

This is not for the faint-hearted but then London based artist Steve Cutts’ work rarely is.  A young boy, beaten and bloody, makes his way home through a nightmare inner-city.  This really is a vision of Britain that will resonate with anyone who has been to certain areas in the dead of the night yet the discovery that the boy is about to make turns this animated short in to something quite extraordinary.

How to be a Supervillain

If you have always fancied being a supervillain then you should know that there are some steps to take before you can achieve world domination. 

Fortunately for you, however, we have a guide, courtesy of Alkanoids, a design studio based in Milan, Italy.  So, sit back and take it all in – perhaps in the near future the world will tremble at your name, after all.

Star Wars Episode VII: First Day on Set as a Jedi

It’s an actor’s first day on the set of Star Wars Episode VII. Will it be everything he hopes and dreams of or the dark return of the prequels menace?

You might be able to guess but this short by Owyn & Co, a British comedy collective based in London has a surprise up its sleeve for those who day to mess with the Star Wars legacy.

Pumpkin Spring – The Grand Canyon’s Arsenic Pool

Below the rim of the Grand Canyon runs the beautiful Colorado River.  Many take trips down its length but among the majestic scenery is something which they do not quite expect – a huge, enormous gourd-like squash. Jutting out from the canyon wall and perched above the river, this highly unusual formation is known as Pumpkin Spring.

Photograph by kind permission of Flickr user Roger Steeb

The Garden

A lonely chimera comes across a beautiful garden and seeks entry.  Yet little does it realize that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  This is an incredible piece of animation made by a group of students for their graduation project at Bellecour.  As well as being visually exciting it also offers us much food for thought.  France, as ever, continues to offer some of the best animation programmes in the world.

Sunday Short Movie: What Happens When the Mutant Generation Reach a Certain Age?

It happens to us all, it is inevitable. The ravages of age catch us and it is our fate, often, to end our days in a care home. However, when you’re a mutant that doesn’t mean that your superpowers have completely deserted you.

When one group of Ex-Men find themselves together in a retirement community then it isn’t long before The Care Home Wars break out. Directed by Alec Birkbeck this is a gentle riposte to the overblown nature of many (most!) superhero films.  One couldn't even call this The Last Stand as, bless 'em, most of the Ex-Men here can't even do that...

Dystopic Utopias: A Movie Montage

Clara Darko, a 33 year old Spanish film lover and video editor has outdone herself with this one – and I loved every second of it.  She has put together a montage of dystopic utopias but before proceeding on this project she laid down a few ground rules.  First of all, there had to be some sort of organized society, so purely post-apocalyptic films were dismissed.

Next, the oppressed had to be humans, not aliens or androids.  Society had to be controlled by humans, not aliens or artificial intelligence.  Finally, society must have evolved only through human ways, not biological.  With those rules in place you might wonder how many films that she had to choose from, but fear not there were plenty enough to make this visually enthralling movie montage.

If you want to know which each movie featured is (in order) then here you go.  The montage starts with Starship Troopers and proceeds to feature Minority Report, Death Race 2000, Running Man, Death Race, Gamer,  Surrogates, The Island, Zero Theorem, Snowpiercer, Wall•E, Idiocracy, Fahrenheit 451, The Purge, Total Recall, Repo Men, I, robot, Soylent Green, The Lorax,  Demolition Man, Elysium, The Giver, Serenity, Metropolis, Aeon Flux, Logan's Run, Divergent, A.I., Babylon A.D., Blade Runner, Cloud Atlas, THX 1138, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Sleeper, Escape from L.A., Dredd, Total Recall (2012), Freejack, The Hunger Games, Fortress, Gattaca, Code 46, Never let me go, In time, 1984, Brazil, Scanner darkly, Equilibrium, V for Vendetta, A clockwork Orange and Johnny Mnemonic – 51 movies all told.  Time, now, to get my breath back!

Ritual

A young girl must leave her parents behind and journey by boat to a wild and untouched island.  Once this ritual is complete she will receive a bracelet which signifies her transition in to the adult world.  In order to do this she is given a teacher – a somewhat grumpy island monster.  This most charming creation, one of the sweetest rights of passage animations you will come across, was created by students at Bellecour in France.