Ryan Woodward was a prominent Hollywood animator, designer and storyboard artist who honed his talents working on some of the most beautifully animated films in recent memory including Space Jam, Osmosis Jones and The Iron Giant.

Having become disenchanted with the relentless pressures of Hollywood, he took up the position of Assistant Professor of Animation at Brigham Young University, and launched into a side project that was perhaps deemed too expressionistic for a traditional film audience.

The result was the breathtaking short film, ‘Thought of You’ -  a combination of creative gesture drawing, experimental and traditional animation styles and contemporary dance, all set to the acoustic chimes of ‘The World Spins Madly On’ by The Weepies.

Although brief, the magnitude of this work cannot be overstated, with Ryan having to draw and refine over 4,000 individual frames to arrive at the finished product, and that excludes the several layers that make up each of these hand-crafted sketches. The distinctive colour palette, the texture of the backdrop, the rough edges and errors - all lead to an almost magical expressiveness and use of visual metaphor that really brings these brushstrokes to life.

All of a sudden the canvas becomes a stage, and the expressionless faces allow the rhythm of movement to tell this enchanting story of the complexities of intimate relationships, but without the distinct narrative that shepherds the viewer into one line of thinking; rather, each individual experiences something unique and personal that touches on their own sensibilities.

The story behind the film is captured in a short documentary where Ryan explains his idea, the challenges, and his approach at conveying a message through a new medium - animated contemporary dance, for which he was aided by the ever-talented choreographer Kori Wakamatsu.

With such charming work, it is of little surprise that ‘Thought of You’ has been showered in accolades including recognition at the Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood, Sedona International Film Festival, and the 2D or Not 2D Animation Festival, to name but a few. It seems as though Hollywood’s loss has lead to wider gains, and I for one am eager to see what Ryan creates next.

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‘LA Light’ is an arrestingly beautiful short film shot and produced by Colin Rich that readily captures the electric brilliance of Los Angeles at night. The film itself is composed of thousands of time-lapse photographs shot across a six-month period that have been colour-corrected and shaped together to form a narrative tale of the scale and perspective of the city and its monuments.

The wide-angle vistas make the city appear to be almost tranquil at night, but the more intimate shots of buildings, streets and intersections make you re-evaluate those opinions as you feel the relentless buzz of activity. The Cinematic Orchestra’s ‘To Build A Home’ provides the perfect musical accompaniment to do justice to these lovingly created visuals. As Rich himself notes:

Shooting time lapses is a labor of love and a study in patience.

I couldn’t have put it better myself.

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‘Be Your Own Souvenir!’ showcases blablabLAB’s interactive installation that resided at La Rambla, Barcelona during two weekends of January 2011. It encouraged the citizens of Barcelona to explore the relationship between being a spectator and performer, artist and tourist, observer and object by stepping into the ‘scanner’ and posing as a statue. The reward for your troubles? A small, three-dimensionally printed volumetric reconstruction of the person generated using three light scanners - something that’s just a little more memorable than a postcard or souvenir t-shirt.

This innovative project was deemed appealing enough to deserve an honorary mention in the ‘Hybrid Art’ category of the Prix Ars Electronica 2011, and it’s not difficult to see why. This playful piece of work showcases the vibrant spirit of Barcelona’s people, and Yeasayer’s ‘Ambling Alp’ provides a fitting, quirky, uplifting soundtrack that mimics the ingenuity and tempo of this diverse and creative city.

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A very revealing interview and profile of pioneering industrial designer, Dieter Rams, by Gestalten - an independent publishing house that lives on the cutting edge of visual publishing, culture, design and distribution. This video is a counterpoint to the recently published book, ‘Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams’, which explores and explains the principles of Rams’ work, who codified that ‘good design’:

1. is innovative
2. makes a product useful
3. is aesthetic
4. makes a product understandable
5. is unobtrusive
6. is honest
7. is long-lasting
8. is thorough down to the last detail
9. is environmentally friendly
10. is as little design as possible

These simple, understandable guidelines were formulated during his time working at Braun and Vitsœ, where he was responsible for designing some of the most iconic objects of the 20th century; my particular favourites are the Vitsœ 620 Chair and the Braun SK 6 Phonograph, both of which display his clarity of vision with a humble elegance that makes them look as innovative and appealing today as they did half a century ago.

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‘Alma’ is an exceptionally animated short film directed by Rodrigo Blaas, telling a dark, creepy tale of a shop that lures children inside, only to turn them into toys. The production qualities are almost irresponsibly high, with everyone from the art director to the animators working seamlessly to craft an impossibly charming tale that shimmers and dazzles, but with an elegant, understated warmth that helps to give shape to the characters and leaves the audience suitably enchanted. Such beautiful animation deserves an equally fitting score, in this case provided by renowned Spanish musician and composer, Mastretta Rodríguez. It is little wonder that ‘Alma’ came away as the winner for Best Animation at the L.A. Shorts Fest 2009.

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Simple, beautiful and captivating music video directed by Rimantas Lukavicius of KORB, showcasing Mario Basanov & Vidis’ enchanting single, ‘I’ll Be Gone’. The simple concept of using computer-generated seismometers to expose how a song’s component parts come together to form a cohesive, textured melody is very smart work that always manages to keep focus on the music.

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‘Pixels’ by Patrick Jean is a wonderfully creative CGI-enhanced video showing New York City being invaded by creatures, monsters and oddities from some of the most beloved video games of all time. Each video game character goes about dismantling the city with the same verve they brought to such classics as Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, Pong, Pac-Man and many others, with the resulting effect being a playful, imaginative deconstruction that is a real visual delight.

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Excellent, engaging short film about seizing the everyday opportunities we have to connect with those around us. Elegant performances by Yoyao Hsueh and Nasim Pedrad subtly drive the story forward, moment by moment, and each scene is beautifully framed by director Ted Chung. He describes his film-making process, and outlines his motivations in this short, but sincere interview with MTV Iggy - a thoughtful read.

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‘A Short Love Story In Stop Motion’ is a thoughtful, imaginative and enchanting piece by Argentinean director and writer, Carlos Lascano. In his own words, he describes the story as:

A couple of pencil-outlined birds escape from a little girl’s drawing, leading us through the life she dreams of.

I’m particularly impressed by the range and texture of the film, with hand-crafted miniature models seamlessly interlaced with real video, computer-generated imagery and mixed media illustrations. There is something very humble and sincere about the whole production that manages to tell a simple story with an always-attentive level of care. The process of creating this visual feast is explained on Lascano’s own site in consummate detail, and I’d encourage you to take a look.

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I recently stumbled across Sam O’Hare’s enchanting short film, ‘The Sandpit’, chronicling a day in the life of New York City, in miniature. The film was created from a series of 35,000 still photographs that were edited and image-stabilised before the depth-of-field effects were added. A more thorough explanation of the process and workflow can be found in this interview he gave to Aéro Film. It is truly remarkable that a single man could create such an expansive, imagination-capturing piece of work - I’m very happy that his creativity was recognised with the prestigious Prix Ars Electronica Award of Distinction 2010. The suitably-fitting, melodic, upbeat soundtrack is provided courtesy of the team at Human.

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‘The Crisis of Credit Visualized’ is a beautifully animated explanation of the financial crisis by interaction and media designer, Jonathan Jarvis. He defines his motivations below:

The goal of giving form to a complex situation like the credit crisis is to quickly supply the essence of the situation to those unfamiliar and uninitiated.

Although the final video is perhaps a shade longer than what is strictly necessary, it does provide a refreshing level of depth to outline the situation, whilst still maintaining the clarity of explanation. Narration is provided courtesy of John Levoff, and the bustling soundtrack comes from the ever-talented Brandon Au a.k.a. DJ SKwint.

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Thoughtful and creative video from the team at Everynone trying to capture the essence of how one could define ‘Moments’. The allegory of instances pictured range from a stolen kiss to clinking glasses, from a puff on a cigarette to fumbling with a bra clasp, and manifold interpretations in between. This curious montage of experiences is beautifully directed by William Hoffman and the fitting soundtrack is provided courtesy of Icelandic band, Parachutes.

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Exceptionally beautiful music video taken from The Naked And Famous’ upcoming debut album ‘Passive Me, Aggressive You’, directed by Campbell Hooper and Joel Kefali of Special Problems.

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