Sam O’Hare, whose short The Sandpit gained inclusion earlier this year not only into SHOOT‘s “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery but then earned him a slot in SHOOT‘s 2010 New Directors Showcase, has now seen that same film selected for showing at SIGGRAPH‘s 2010 Computer Animation Festival, which runs from July 26-28 in Los Angeles.
O’Hare, whose spotmaking roost is Santa Monica-based Aero Film, directed, shot, edited, finished and funded The Sandpit on a modest budget. The short captures a day in the life of New York City as seen in miniature. Virtually all of the short was shot with a Nikon D3 still camera, usually at four frames a second. O’Hare deployed some slower frame rates on occasion. He lensed a total of more than 35,000 stills over five days and two evenings. Logistics played a key role, including being able to gain access to the proper high vantage points such as rooftops, penthouses and balconies. From a penthouse apartment on Park Avenue, for example, O’Hare captured the Metropolitan Museum of Art, giving a miniature feel to that historic landmark.
He is among several filmmakers with ties to the commercial production community who have work slated for screening at the Computer Animation Festival. For instance, The Making of Nuit Blanche, a behind-the-scenes look at what went into the elegant, poetic, surreal short film Nuit Blanche that explores a fleeting moment between two strangers, has won a Jury Award. The fantasy short and the making-of film were directed by Arev Manoukian who is handled for commercials and branded content via Spy Films, Toronto. Visual effects were by Marc-Andre Gray of Stellar Scene.
Also garnering a Jury Award is a Guinness commercial titled “Guinness World” directed by Johnny Green who at the time was with Knucklehead, London (and has since joined Gorgeous Enterprises, London). Visual effects for “Guinness World” were done by The Mill, London, for agency AMV BBDO, London. The spot shows how a pint of Guinness comes to life when poured, opening with a man striking a match and lighting a rocket as a hushed voiceover relates, “It’s time to bring this place to life.” What ensues is a fast paced journey, bringing barren landscapes to life across the planet.
Venturing outside the spot-related arena, other Jury Award honorees include Pixar Animation Studios for its short Day & Night directed by Teddy Newton. The short precedes theater screenings of Toy Story 3. Also earning a Jury Award was videogame work by Digic Pictures for Ubisoft Entertainment’s Assassin’s Creed 2. And on the long-form front, Scanline VFX, Los Angeles and Munich, copped a Jury Award for 2012–The Last Fluid Simulation, which shows the underlying technology that was used for more than 100 massive fluid simulation shots on the feature 2012.
And the Best In Show Award is being bestowed upon Loom, a short film directed by Jan Bitzer, Ilija Brunck and Csaba Letayat. The film was the final project of the trio at Filmakademie Baden Wurttemberg, Institute of Animation, Visual Effects and Digital Postproduction. Loom depicts a moth being drowned in one of nature’s complex cycles, meeting its demise in a spider web.
Rest of Fest lineup
Among the other Computer Animation Festival projects from studios and/or artisans active in the ad industry are:
— Several from The Mill in addition to the aforementioned “Guinness World.” They are: Barclaycard’s “Rollercoaster” directed by Nicolai Fuglsig of MJZ for BBH, London, with effects out of The Mill New York; AMF’s “Caterpillar” directed by Filip Engstrom of Camp David, Stockholm, for agency Forsman & Bodenfors, Stockholm, with effects from The Mill Los Angeles; Weetabix’s “Steeplechase” directed by Ringan Ledwidge of Rattling Stick, London, for WCRS, London, with The Mill London serving as VFX studio; the Grizzly Bear’s “Two Weeks” music video directed by Patrick Daughters of The Directors Bureau, with The Mill L.A. handling effects; and Ford’s “Pop Up” directed by The Mill London’s directing collective Bif (Jules Janaud, Fabrice Le Nezet and Francois Roisin) for Zubi Advertising. BIF was in SHOOT‘s 2009 New Directors Showcase on the strength of the short film Dix, which went on to win a Jury Award at last year’s SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival.
Also in this year’s Computer Animation Fest is Nokia’s “Focus Group” directed by David Masters of agency Jack Morton Worldwide, with the Mill’s lead video effects artisans being Bif’s Janaud, Le Nezet and Roisin.
— Digital Domain for its work on the Roland Emmerich directed 2012-Escape From L.A.; Gears of War 3’s “Ashes to Ashes”; and Audi’s “Intelligently Combined” commercial directed by Carl Erik Rinsch via Germany’s Markenfilm (Rinsch’s primary home is RSA Films) for Hamburg agency Kempertrautmann.
— Motion Theory for Disney’s “Parachutes” spot directed by Mathew Cullen and Christopher Leone (with 2D from DUCKSstudios, and contributions from Pixar/Pencil Test Studios); HP “Hands” campaign “Fergie” helmed by Cullen for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco; the Cullen-directed “Data Baby” and “Data Energy” for IBM; and IBM’s “Transportation” helmed by Cullen and Mark Kudsi (IBM agency is Ogilvy & Mather, New York ); and Tanqueray’s “3 Glasses” directed by Cullen and Jesus de Francisco for Wieden+Kennedy, Amsterdam.
— Blur Studio for the Leo Santos-directed Goldfish Crackers “In The Dark” for Young & Rubicam, New York; Tim Miller-helmed cinematics for the games Brink and Bioshock 2; and a Dave Wilson-directed project for the game Mass Effect 2.
— Framestore for the Mike Newell-directed Disney feature film Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time; an HD introduction directed by Marco Puig of Warp Films for the videogame DJ Hero; Pepsi’s “Flight of the Penguin” commercial directed by the Traktor collective of Traktor Inc. for BBDO New York; and Shelter’s “House of Cards” PSA helmed by Dom & Nic of Outsider, London, for Leo Burnett, London.
— Passion Pictures for the Gorillaz music clip “Style” directed by Jamie Hewlett of Zombie Flesh Eaters and Pete Candeland of Passion Pictures; and Harmonix’s “The Beatles: Rock Band” intro cinematic helmed by Candeland.
— Psyop for the California Milk Processor Board spot “Sad Princess” for agency Grupo Gallegos, Long Beach, Calif.; and The UPS Store’s “Gladiator” commercial out of Doner, Newport Beach, Calif. Both ads were directed by Eben Mears of Psyop.
— And The Ebeling Group for director Nico Casavecchia’s (a.k.a. boolab) Slamdance promo titled “Sweet 16.”
A total of some 100 films will be screened during the Computer Animation Festival, which drew entries from 49 different countries and five continents. Fifty-two of the accepted entries are international, and 18 countries are represented in the final selection. Some of the year’s top visual effects for theatrical films are featured in the Festival, including Avatar, The Last Airbender, Sherlock Holmes, Iron Man 2, Prince of Persia, 2012 and Alice in Wonderland.
