Synesthesiatic Animation - a work in progress

Over the past couple of days I have been creating an animation for a song called "'We Once Were (Two)" by The Album Leaf.
I was inspired by the condition 'Colour Synesthesia' which is sometimes characterised by a person 'seeing' colours when they hear sounds.
Although I do not have Synesthesia, I find it hard to seperate music and visuals in my head, as my mind forms images to whatever music I listen to involuntarily.
These video's below show what I imagine in my head as I listen to the song. This is just the beginning of a larger animation, as I hope to animate the entire song in time. There are 2 versions, I'm not sure which I prefer, so opinons are welcomed!


Album Leaf Animation Test from Adam Brandon on Vimeo.


Album Leaf Animation Test 2 from Adam Brandon on Vimeo.

NightPlaying.

This week I have been by the coast, so decided to take my camera and play with some long exposure shots at night, using my newly purchased remote shutter switch.
Pretty self explanatory really, a few pictures below:




(If anyone wants to know what I used)...
Canon EOS 400D
Canon RS60-E3 Remote
Mini Tripod
Photoshop CS4 for a few tweaks ;)

Why Lazy Advertisers Deserve to be Shot. Yes, Shot.

I'm typing this in rage.
5 minutes ago I saw a new Land Rover advert on TV, completely ripping off the highly original 'Wolf and Pig' animation.
Words cannot describe how angry it makes me when i see great ideas ripped off by greedy advertisers. If they don't have any ideas of their own, they shouldn't be in the job in the first place.

The sad thing is, the Wolf and Pig animation will probably remain relatively unknown, whilst the Land Rover advert will be heralded as a masterpiece by Idiots who listen to Lady Gaga and think the Noisettes are a new band.

The absoloutly genius 'Wolf and Pig' animation:



The shameless rip off by Land Rover:



This has been a rather angry rant, but I hate the fact that big companies feel they have the right to plagiarize the work of true creatives.

SomeSummerBrief.

Below are a few images of development work for the posters I have been designing for the current summer brief for the classic film club.
I am not currently happy with any of these, as they are just development work and by no means final pieces, they still need a lot of work!

Playing with Gravity.

Today I've been working with Cinema 4D and getting to grips with the gravity feature.
I have created a small test animation using what I have learned. I was influenced by Universal Everythings animations and tried to follow a similar visual style. I also used advanced HDRI lighting Techniques to give more realistic detail to the textures and reflections.
It can be viewed below, or in high definition by clicking this link and selecting full screen mode.

Bouncing Balls from Adam Brandon on Vimeo.

I have also slightly modified this blog, with all posts now in categories which can be accessed via the section in the top left. I have also added a new header :)

While you make pretty speeches, I'm being cut to shreds.

I don't think words can describe how perfect this is, so I won't use any.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...

I recently came across this excellent video by London based Studio Field.
The video was made using a custom generative animation tool, and is created to represent various arctic landscapes.

Interim Camp from FIELD on Vimeo.

I think this is an amazing technical achievement and a great visual experience, I love the colours and the ambient sounds.

After looking at the Universal Everything website recently (another studio famed for their generative work,) I saw that they had created a video to enter into a short film festival in china:

Short Film / Onedreamrush / 42 Below Vodka / China from Universal Everything on Vimeo.

These videos are remarkably similar, which begs the question 'who copied who?'
It certainly seems as if Mr. Pyke of Universal Everything has been influenced by this, as the Field video was released 4 months earlier. However, it could of course be a happy coincidence, and even if not, is probably not intentional (designers often copy ideas without realising they are copying at all, the idea is just in their head.)
I love both videos, both the glitchy feel of Field's and the slick, polished fields of Universal Everything, and I hope to be able to make work like this in the near future.

More with C4D

Today I have been doing more experimenting with Cinema 4D and have created another design that can be seen below. I tried to create the illusion of many glass like blocks floating through the air, and have also taken my designers republic inspired typography and put it into a 3D contet.
My main inspiration for this work has been the amazing work of Ben Miners of Graphic Boutique, his showreel is simply amazing, and can bee seen here

Fun with 3D

Whilst working to improve my technical skills, I have decided to learn to use the 3D program 'Cinema 4D'
I've been figuring out some of the basic tools today and have created an image where I have used a logo of my initials and used various lights and textures to create a finished piece. This is my first ever Cinema 4D project, and I enjoyed it very much, so watch this space for more cinema 4D work in the near future...