If you’re of the view that that fan films are exclusively the domain of soulless, sub-standard knock-offs, the work of this week’s guests Simon Gesrel and Xavier Ehretsmann is going to massively shake your world view. Their John Carpenter inspired promo for electronic duo ZOMBIE ZOMBIE, Driving This Road Until Death Sets You Free, is the type of piece that transforms ordinary folk into aspiring filmmakers and life-long film fans.

ZOMBIE ZOMBIE: Driving Clip Materials
Stills

Showlinks
TOUT SANS COEUR MySpace
Zombie Zombie Daily Motion Page
JeanCarpentier YouTube Page
Zombie Zombie MySpace Page
Versatile Records
John Carpenter
The Thing
Adobe After Effects
G.I. Joe
Escape from New York
Nikon D70
Chalet Pointu

• ZOMBIE ZOMBIE: Driving Clip - Simon Gesrel & Xavier Ehretsmann
• DN EP 073: Moros Eros: On My Side - Jesse Ewles
• DN EP 072: 8 - Benjamin Ducroz
• DN Ep 035: Ten Thousand Pictures of You - Robin King
• DN Ep 034: Carlin - Brent Green

ZOMBIE ZOMBIE: Driving This Road Until Death Sets You Free (2008)
First non-official video clip made for Zombie Zombie, the electrifying French duo of Etienne Jaumet and Cosmic Neman. Directed by Simon Gesrel and Xavier Ehretsmann thanks to their favourite toys… the GI Joes! The video is an hommage to the director AND soundtrack composer John Carpenter, especially one of his masterpieces: THE THING.

• DN EP 106: ZOMBIE ZOMBIE: Driving Clip - Simon Gesrel & Xavier Ehretsmann
• Moros Eros: On My Side - Jesse Ewles
• 8 - Benjamin Ducroz
• _grau - Robert Seidel
• What We’ve Found Out About Stem Cells - Richard Fenwick

Despite not considering himself a fully fledged director, Runkid’s work has been picked up by D&AD and has brought forth tears from audiences. He joins us to discuss his animation His Own Image and life as a creative living in Lithuania.

His Own Image Materials
Original Postcards

Showlinks
Runkid
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Flash
Adobe Premiere
D&AD New Blood

• His Own Image - Runkid
• Filmstock #8
• DN EP 081: My Paper Mind - Javan Ivey
• DN EP 073: Moros Eros: On My Side - Jesse Ewles
• DN EP 072: 8 - Benjamin Ducroz

His Own Image (2007)
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him.

• DN EP 103: His Own Image - Runkid
• _grau - Robert Seidel
• Virtuosi - Marcelo Garcia
• To Shoot a Rurf - Shane & Paula Sheils
• Stumble Then Rise on Some Awkward Morning - Kurtis Hough

A recent animation graduate, Anne Wilkins has hit the ground running with her film Sun in the Night Time, a study of childhood and the transformation of relationships and roles in the shadow of loss.

Sun in the Night Time Materials
Stills, Character Sheets & Storyboards

Showlinks
Emily & Anne
anneimation
Arcade Fire
Twilight: Photography in the Magic Hour
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe After Effects

• Sun in the Night Time - Anne Wilkins
• DN EP 067: Four Eyed Monsters - Arin Crumley & Susan Buice
• Miss D 2007 Top Ten
• Filmstock #8
• DN LFF07: Water Lilies - Celine Sciamma

Sun in the Night Time (2007)
Cecily protects her mother from hysterical grief by maintaining the pretence that her dead brother is still alive and living in their house.

• DN EP 102: Sun in the Night Time - Anne Wilkins
• Carlin - Brent Green
• _grau - Robert Seidel
• ZOMBIE ZOMBIE: Driving Clip - Simon Gesrel & Xavier Ehretsmann
• White Red Panic - Ayz Waraich

Have a read and watch.

• SotW: I Love Sarah Jane
• SotW: Daylight
• Short of the Week Piece
• Auto Pilot, Distortion, Ping Pong & Biker Mike - Mike Chan
• _grau - Robert Seidel

Jossie Malis joins us to discuss the first two episodes of his shadow play inspired ten part animation series Bendito Machine, which explore the ever problematic universal issues of power, corruption and religion.

Showlinks
Zumbakamera
Bendito Machine
Shadow Play
Adobe FreeHand
Adobe Flash
AWN’s “Best of the Web” Showcase 2007

• Bendito Machine - Jossie Malis
• DN EP 076: Duelity - Boca & Ryan Uhrich
• DN Ep 024: Sunshine Indoors - Andy Gibson & Ryan Rogers
• DN Ep 020: Abigail - Tony Comley
• The West Side Episode 3

Bendito Machine (2006)
A primitive tale about power, corruption, religion and machines; as usual.

• DN EP 089: Bendito Machine - Jossie Malis
• _grau - Robert Seidel
• ZOMBIE ZOMBIE: Driving Clip - Simon Gesrel & Xavier Ehretsmann
• What We’ve Found Out About Stem Cells - Richard Fenwick
• Virtuosi - Marcelo Garcia

It’s not often a director gets to come up with his own type of animation, but after experimenting with the Strata-cut method Javan Ivey combined his love of working with paper and developed a technique dubbed as Stratastencil on his experimental piece My Paper Mind.

Showlinks
Javan Ivey
Indie Mogul interview
Pratt Institute
X-Acto
Strata-cut animation
Tunnel Kids
Replacement Animation
The Principles of Animation
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Photoshop
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Corpse Bride
Persistence of Vision
Taking the Sea
Eliza Jayne

• My Paper Mind - Javan Ivey
• DN EP 060: Drift - Carl Burton
• DN EP 043: Mind Games - Peter Bunzl
• DN Ep 023 reposted: Virtuosi - Marcelo Garcia
• DN EP 076: Duelity - Boca & Ryan Uhrich

My Paper Mind (2007)
An experimental animation exploring the “Stratastencil” technique devised by director Javan Ivey. Inspired by the Stratacut technique, Stratastencil is an additive process. Stratacut removes material to reveal another layer, while this technique adds another layer while still showing the layer before it.

• DN EP 081: My Paper Mind - Javan Ivey
• _grau - Robert Seidel
• Virtuosi - Marcelo Garcia
• To Shoot a Rurf - Shane & Paula Sheils
• Stumble Then Rise on Some Awkward Morning - Kurtis Hough

Squint/Opera are well known for their work operating in the space between the film industry and architectural practice, realising commissions as hybrid visualisation/motion graphics pieces for their clients. Co-founder Jules Cocke joins us to discuss the company’s award winning piece for the 2006 Gardens by the Bay Master Plan Design Competition in Singapore.

Showlinks
Squint/Opera
Gardens By The Bay II
Will Alsop
Apple Final Cut Pro
Adobe After Effects
Design Event ‘07
3ds Max
Houdini
Autodesk Maya
Olympic Stadium
Fonejacker
Cloud City

• Gardens by the Bay - Squint/Opera
• DN EP 076: Duelity - Boca & Ryan Uhrich
• The Scent of Seth - Anita Shukla
• DN EP 065: _grau - Robert Seidel
• DN EP 060: Drift - Carl Burton

Gardens by the Bay (2006)
A film showing the development of the design ideas behind the winning entry to the landscape architecture competition in Singapore.

• DN EP 080: Gardens By the Bay - Squint/Opera
• Trusted Computing - Benjamin Stephan & Lutz Vogel
• To Shoot a Rurf - Shane & Paula Sheils
• Stumble Then Rise on Some Awkward Morning - Kurtis Hough
• Mr CityMen - Eric Lerner

Stefan Nadelman made a splash back in 2002 with his stills animated documentary Terminal Bar. Since then he’s gone on to create a host of personal, collaborative, and commercial work, and joins us to discuss his first outing into music videos with Menomena’s Evil Bee promo.

Menomena: Evil Bee Materials
Animatic

Showlinks
Tourist Pictures
Sundance Film Festival
Terminal Bar
Adobe Flash
Latin Alive
Resfest
VH1
Curious Pictures
Cinema 16
Apple Final Cut Pro
Adobe After Effects
Filmmaker Magazine
Menomena
Schatzi Marketing
Adobe Photoshop
PF Flyers
Food Fight

• DN Ep 029: Trusted Computing - Benjamin Stephan & Lutz Vogel
• Menomena: Evil Bee - Stefan Nadelman
• DN EP 076: Duelity - Boca & Ryan Uhrich
• DN EP 063: Flight - Andrew S Allen
• DN EP 046: The Raftman’s Razor - Keith Bearden

Menomena: Evil Bee (2006)
Stefan Nadelman reveals the hard life of worker bees in his promo for Menomena’s Evil Bee.

• DN EP 079: Menomena: Evil Bee - Stefan Nadelman
• Moros Eros: On My Side - Jesse Ewles
• Auto Pilot, Distortion, Ping Pong & Biker Mike - Mike Chan
• _grau - Robert Seidel
• ZOMBIE ZOMBIE: Driving Clip - Simon Gesrel & Xavier Ehretsmann

Directors Boca & Ryan Uhrich describe their creative relationship as an ongoing tennis match in which each of them pushes the other to create the best work possible. Their animation Duelity presents the two main arguments for the origins of man as separate films which come together in a third split-screen piece to debate the issues.

Duelity Materials
Proof of Concept Films
Script
Moodboards/Lookframes
Storyboards

Showlinks
Duelity
BOCAMOTION
ryan.borys.tv
Vancouver Film School
Typographics
Google Analytics
Adobe Illustrator
Royksopp - Remind Me
Envisioning Information - Edward Tufte
Nova - Origins
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe After Effects
3ds Max
Illustrate!
Adobe Flash
PopVox Awards
Webcuts
The Elans
Thank You - Motion Graphics
Normal Design

• DN Ep 029: Trusted Computing - Benjamin Stephan & Lutz Vogel
• DN EP 080: Gardens By the Bay - Squint/Opera
• DN Ep 023 reposted: Virtuosi - Marcelo Garcia
• DN Ep 020: Abigail - Tony Comley
• The Scent of Seth - Anita Shukla

Duelity (2007)
According to the records of the General Organization of Development labs (GOD) it took a mere six days to manufacture a fully-operational universe, complete with day, night, flora and fauna, and installing Adam as its manager to oversee daily functions on Earth. That’s one story.

If thou shalt believe the Book of Darwin, t’is five billion years after The Big Bang that we behold what the cosmos hath begat: the magma, the terra firma, the creeping beasts, and mankind, whose dolorous and chaotic evolution begat the gift of consciousness.

Duelity is a split-screen animation that tells both sides of the story of Earth’s origins in a dizzying and provocative journey through the history and language that marks human thought.

Watch CREATIONISM [left-side] & EVOLUTION [right-side] at www.duelity.net

Via Cool Hunting

• DN EP 076: Duelity - Boca & Ryan Uhrich
• _grau - Robert Seidel
• Vote for Duelity!
• Virtuosi - Marcelo Garcia
• To Shoot a Rurf - Shane & Paula Sheils

Past guest Robert Seidel (DN065) puts his experimental approach to animation to work on a canvas worthy of his talent. In his own words: “processes: living paintings” is a 35 by 16 meter full facade projection with a corresponding light choreography, ambient music and synced sound effects shown on the 2/2/2008 in Jena, Germany.

Not satisfied with a continuous repeated loop, Seidel created a 17 minute ambient soundtrack that shifted constantly to create singular experiences with each viewing. Clever stuff!

The stills and videos look great, but do make me feel a pang of jealousy at not being able to stand out front and experience the piece first hand.

• _grau - Robert Seidel
• DN EP 065: _grau - Robert Seidel
• Vote Yes to Mind Games
• Virtuosi - Marcelo Garcia
• To Shoot a Rurf - Shane & Paula Sheils

Director Adam Procter joins us to discuss his use of open source software to create 'open' animation films shared with the creative community.

Doljer Materials
Doljer Files

Showlinks
whasname?
meanwiki
Adam’s YouTube Channel
Filmstock
Blender
Blender Artists Forums
BlenderNation
Creative Commons
Context Free Art
L-system
The Knife
Apple Mac Pro
Apple Motion
Apple Shake
Winchester School of Art
The CarbonNeutral Company
Yuri Norstein
Filmelab Programme
Seth Harwood.com

• Doljer - Adam Procter
• Filmstock #8
• DN EP 080: Gardens By the Bay - Squint/Opera
• DN EP 076: Duelity - Boca & Ryan Uhrich
• DN EP 043: Mind Games - Peter Bunzl

Doljer (2007)
A raccoon runs through an endless forest.

• DN EP 075: Doljer - Adam Procter
• Trusted Computing - Benjamin Stephan & Lutz Vogel
• To Shoot a Rurf - Shane & Paula Sheils
• Stumble Then Rise on Some Awkward Morning - Kurtis Hough
• Mr CityMen - Eric Lerner

A tip off from past guest Robert Seidel led me to the work of animator Max Hattler, who has been described by Dazed and Confused as one of “three of the world’s most exciting young animators”, next to PES and Model Robot. He joins us this week to discuss his experimental piece Drift.

Showlinks
Max Hattler
Goldsmiths College
Dazed and Confused
Goodbye Lenin
Royal College of Art
Camberwell Composers Collective
Bermuda Shorts

• DN Ep 020: Abigail - Tony Comley
• Drift - Max Hattler
• DN EP 065: _grau - Robert Seidel
• DN EP 060: Drift - Carl Burton
• DN Ep 025: Sweet Salt - Katerina Athanasopoulou

Drift (2007)
A blue planet and some ‘air.

• Drift - Carl Burton
• _grau - Robert Seidel
• Virtuosi - Marcelo Garcia
• To Shoot a Rurf - Shane & Paula Sheils
• Stumble Then Rise on Some Awkward Morning - Kurtis Hough

I first discovered the work of director and artist Jesse Ewles last year when I stumbled across the video he created for Grizzly Bear track Central and Remote. He joins me this week to discuss some of his pieces along with his approach to building a sustainable, creative career based on mutually beneficial collaborations and personal progression as an artist.

Central and Remote & On My Side Materials
Stills

Showlinks
Jesse Ewles
Cameron Tomsett
Todd Julie
Rasterform
Dean Tzenos
Grizzly Bear
Autodesk Maya
Michel Gondry
Jonathan Glazer
Spike Jonze
Orson Wells
Etsy
Lowbrow / Pop Surrealism
Marcel Dzama
The Clayton Brothers
2001: A Space Odyssey
Ten Kens
Michael Zapruder’s Rain of Frogs
Of Montreal

• Moros Eros: On My Side - Jesse Ewles
• DN EP 072: 8 - Benjamin Ducroz
• DN EP 067: Four Eyed Monsters - Arin Crumley & Susan Buice
• DN Ep 025: Sweet Salt - Katerina Athanasopoulou
• 8 - Benjamin Ducroz

Moros Eros: On My Side (2007)
An urban hunter works their way through the city’s back alleys pouching balloon versions of endangered species.

• DN EP 073: Moros Eros: On My Side - Jesse Ewles
• 8 - Benjamin Ducroz
• DN EP 072: 8 - Benjamin Ducroz
• Auto Pilot, Distortion, Ping Pong & Biker Mike - Mike Chan
• _grau - Robert Seidel

Artist and director Benjamin Ducroz has in the past associated his work with media bondage and saturation, he joins us this week to discuss his improvised approach to tactile stop frame animation along with the balance between passion projects and paying commissions.

8 Materials
Stills

Showlinks
ducroz.com
Videodrome

Via No Fat Clips

• 8 - Benjamin Ducroz
• DN EP 073: Moros Eros: On My Side - Jesse Ewles
• Moros Eros: On My Side - Jesse Ewles
• DN EP 067: Four Eyed Monsters - Arin Crumley & Susan Buice
• DN Ep 025: Sweet Salt - Katerina Athanasopoulou

8 (2007)
The shape that moves in space, through time changes its form and returns to its original state and place.

The shape that represents measurement statistics and swiss cheese.

Nothing practical, nothing didactical, just another formal experiment.

No political, environmental, commercial or social motive, just another pointless animation by Benjamin Ducroz.

• DN EP 072: 8 - Benjamin Ducroz
• Moros Eros: On My Side - Jesse Ewles
• DN EP 073: Moros Eros: On My Side - Jesse Ewles
• _grau - Robert Seidel
• ZOMBIE ZOMBIE: Driving Clip - Simon Gesrel & Xavier Ehretsmann

Along with the great selection of films you’d expect to see, the Times BFI 51st London Film Festival, presented Power to the Pixel - The Digital Distribution Forum for Independents. Festival Director Sandra Hebron, introduced lead advocates and practitioners of digital distribution, along with filmmakers currently making digital distribution work for them. Perhaps the most well known example of a film utilising the possibilities afforded by the digital revolution on all fronts is Four Eyed Monsters, I dragged the film’s creators Arin and Susan away from the post conference party for a Directors Notes’ interview.

Showlinks
Four Eyed Monsters
Four Eyed Monsters YouTube
Four Eyed Monsters MySpace
Spout.com/foureyedmonsters
London Film Festival
Power to the Pixel
Panasonic AG-DVX100
Apple Final Cut Pro
Workbook Project

• Four Eyed Monsters - Arin Crumley & Susan Buice
• Filmstock #8
• DN EP 099: The Super Noble Brothers - Mark Escribano
• DN EP 086: Extraordinary Rendition - Jim Threapleton
• DN EP 073: Moros Eros: On My Side - Jesse Ewles

Four Eyed Monsters (2005)
Four glittering eyes, two pink mouths, and eight limbs wrapped around itself taking up two seats on the subway.

• DN EP 067: Four Eyed Monsters - Arin Crumley & Susan Buice
• We Dreamed America - Alex Walker
• Tokyo Cowboys - Daneeta Loretta Saft & Patrick Jackson
• The Super Noble Brothers - Mark Escribano
• Sugarhouse - Gary Love

Whilst many filmmakers fall in to the trap of creating pretty pictures for their own sake, the best artists produce films in which each frame is infused with meaning and a personal perspective unique to them. Robert Seidel is one such artist who’s experimental piece _grau, is a journey through his memories that uti