Sydney-based animation studio Mighty Nice and JWT Melbourne teamed on this typographic journey through book genres for the Melbourne Writers Festival, which began last week and runs through Aug. 30. Given a straight brief to animate type as it is read by a voiceover, Mighty Nice’s Darren Price directed a beautiful and sophisticated rendering of evocative pieces of writing. Using the animation technique “kinetic typography”, where a change of subject is illustrated by a change in type, Mighty Nice talent let their imaginations run wild to stunning effect.
The voiceover was read by writers appearing in the festival and their work spanned the entire spectrum of the literary rainbow, from horror, to romance, to science fiction and war/military drama.
Filmed in HD and transferred to print, the film has been shown at cinemas and on the huge screen in Melbourne’s Federation Square throughout the festival. The brilliant illustrations–little girls turning into skeletons, shadows from trees turning into a fearful gothic scene, zombies, disembodied hands, a lovebird, even crayon renderings that serve to enhance scenes–are a seamless flow of words and pictures that create the major drama and impact needed for the big screen.
Mighty Nice is part of the worldwide roster of talent assembled by U.K. studio Nexus. In fact Nexus and Price, who was Nexus’ one-time head of 3D, co-founded Mighty Nice.
The JWT ensemble included art directors James Orr and Harsh Kapadia, writers Chris Andrews and Carly Williams, and producer Sherry Cheesman.
Price’s colleagues at Mighty Nice were producer Trish Knapp, designer Softly Dunstan and compositor Peter Nizic.
Does “Hundreds of Beavers” Reflect A New Path Forward In Cinema?
Hard as it may be to believe, changing the future of cinema was not on Mike Cheslik's mind when he was making "Hundreds of Beavers." Cheslik was in the Northwoods of Wisconsin with a crew of four, sometimes six, standing in snow and making his friend, Ryland Tews, fall down funny.
"When we were shooting, I kept thinking: It would be so stupid if this got mythologized," says Cheslik.
And yet, "Hundreds of Beavers" has accrued the stuff of, if not quite myth, then certainly lo-fi legend. Cheslik's film, made for just $150,000 and self-distributed in theaters, has managed to gnaw its way into a movie culture largely dominated by big-budget sequels.
"Hundreds of Beavers" is a wordless black-and-white bonanza of slapstick antics about a stranded 19th century applejack salesman (Tews) at war with a bevy of beavers, all of whom are played by actors in mascot costumes.
No one would call "Hundreds of Beavers" expensive looking, but it's far more inventive than much of what Hollywood produces. With some 1,500 effects shots Cheslik slaved over on his home computer, he crafted something like the human version of Donald Duck's snowball fight, and a low-budget heir to the waning tradition of Buster Keaton and "Naked Gun."
At a time when independent filmmaking is more challenged than ever, "Hundreds of Beavers" has, maybe, suggested a new path forward, albeit a particularly beaver-festooned path.
After no major distributor stepped forward, the filmmakers opted to launch the movie themselves, beginning with carnivalesque roadshow screenings. Since opening in January, "Hundreds of Beavers" has played in at least one theater every week of the year, though never more than 33 at once. (Blockbusters typically play in around 4,000 locations.)... Read More