short film

Posts tagged
with short film

Animation

Elements: An Animated Film of Improbable Gallery Installations Composed of Two Billion Shifting Spheres by Maxim Zhestkov

Elements, an experimental art film by Maxim Zhestkov, follows more than two billion black and white spheres through a series of experiments within several enclosed spaces. Throughout the film the particles swarm through different white rooms, each labeled with subtle wall text that broadly defines the physics of each animation such as flow, diffusion, and pressure. Set to a score of hauntingly hollow tones, Elements is intended to express laws of nature and mathematics, visually representing the composition of particles found in each of us.

“The film is a trial to explore the idea that everything around us and inside us is made from simple elements or blocks which can be arranged in complex relationships and become compound structures,” says Zhestkov. “We could project this idea into emotions, behaviors, thought processes, relationships, life, planets and the universe.”

Zhestkov is a visual artist and motion designer based in Russia working in animation, design, and cinematography. You can see more of his short film projects and illustrations on his Vimeo and Behance.

Animation Design

A Stop Motion Examination of Endless Loading Screens

Director Rafael Vangelis transforms the unbearable task of watching an endlessly spinning wheel or loading bar into an entertaining and analogue study of self-produced loading mechanisms in his latest short film Analogue Loaders. Using stop motion techniques and traditional animation he turns clay, wood, 3D-printed objects, and even eggs into 3D loaders, dazzling the eye rather than enraging the mind.

Vangelis considers the short film an animated autobiography, as he spends a great chunk of his own life watching projects slowly load and computers crash. “The result,” says Vangelis, “is an homage to all the lost time we collectively spend in digital limbo in the hopes of sudden development on our screen.”

The video was just selected as a Staff Pick on Vimeo. You can see behind-the-scenes video of Analogue Loaders on Vangelis’s website.

Animation

Sublime Opening Titles to the Style Frames Design Conference Animated by Eran Hilleli

For the Style Frames Design Conference held last November in New York, Tel Aviv-based artist and animator Eran Hilleli was asked to create an opening titles sequence that would set the tone for the event and list the names of various speakers. The result is this short three-minute video of converging characters that’s almost too wonderful to describe. I’ve watched this at least 5 times over the last two months and every time it gives me chills. I wish this was a full-length movie, or more likely a video game, something more immersive to learn more about all the different creatures that appear so briefly. Music by Disasterpiece. (via Vimeo Staff Picks)

Art Photography

A Short Film Detailing the Miniature Replication of Nix + Gerber’s Post-Apocalyptic Studio

“Library” (2007), all images via The Drawing Room

Since 2005, artist Lori Nix and partner Kathleen Gerber have been producing dioramas that depict post-apocalyptic environments, everyday scenes that give the audience a glimpse of their world once nature has been left to take over. Nearly everything within the scenes is fabricated by the two under the name Nix+Gerber, with each scene taking approximately seven months from start to the final photograph. This means that the two take approximately two photographs a year, spending the bulk of their practice on miniature reproduction.

When deciding the last piece to produce for the body of work “The City,” Nix+Gerber decided to look inward. They choose to replicate their own studio, titled “The Living Room” (2013), which Nix explains actually looks like the end of the world, a disaster scene to fit within the dystopian series. For this particular project they had to work in an extremely meta fashion, scanning each CD that sat on their shelves and reproducing an even smaller replica of a subway train car that was sitting in their studio when they started production.

“It’s the little details that really make the scene come alive,” said Nix. “The fan in the back window, the paracords going everywhere, and the little items on the table.”

Despite the fact that most of Nix’s practice is focused on creating the props for each shoot, she still labels herself as a photographer rather than sculptor. “I’m not the type of photographer that is going to go out and find things to photograph,” said Nix. “I am going to create things to photograph.”

While crafting “The Living Room,” The Drawing Room produced a short documentary about Nix+Gerber’s practice which you can see below. You can also read more about the artists’ work on their blog, and see more of their miniature scenes on their Instagram and Facebook.

“Living Room” (2013)

“Church” (2009)

“Control Room” (2010)

“Anatomy Classroom” (2012)

“Laundromat at Night” (2008)

“The Subway” (2012)

“Chinese Take-Out” (2013)

“Museum of Art” (2010)

“Beauty Shop” (2010)