LIAF’s annual wrap-up of high-end, high-concept digital splendours from one of the great motherlodes of the form – ‘Siggraph USA’ and ‘Siggraph Asia’.
‘Cours toujours’ (Elise Garcette & Olivier Barre, 2010)
Some pretty fancy high-speed scooter work and a screeching flock of crazy birds provide the momentum for this wild ride.
France, 1’48
‘Nuit Blanche’ (Arev Manoukian, 2009)
A fleeting moment between two strangers, revealing their brief connection in a hyper-real fantasy.
Canada, 4’39
‘Get Out’ (C Boisson, J Fourvel, P Han-Kwan, T Reinarz & F Roche, 2009)
Gary has, as they say, ‘issues’. He may, or may not, be living in a beautiful aquarium but it looks like he’ll never see the outside because he has an all-consuming phobia of doors.
France, 7’49
‘White Drawing’ (Kurt Adams, 2009)
An intricately crafted, ghostly and stark rendition of a gradually collapsing countryside.
France, 5’34
‘Flyman’ (Shu-Wei Chang, 2009)
A deep reservoir of crazy-brave courage and a working knowledge of steam-powered ornithopter engineering is not always enough to keep one safe in the dangerous skies.
Taiwan, 2’50
‘Suiren’ (Tomoya Kimpara, 2010)
The ocean is a symbol of life where seeds are born with purpose for their lives. So what if it’s a machine?
Japan, 3’03
‘The Wonder Hospital’ (Beomsik ‘Shimbe’ Shim, 2010)
An intensely intriguing journey through a mysterious hospital that specialises in altering the perception of physical beauty.
South Korea, 11’34
‘The Sandpit’ (Sam O’Hare, 2010)
An extraordinary act of ‘re-animation’ using more than 35,000 individual photos to re-imagine everyday New York street scenes as something akin to a model train set.
USA, 5’30
‘Mobile’ (Verena Fels, 2010)
A lonely cow decides to make friends with some sheep, a dog, a couple of chickens, a pig and a budgie on the other side of the room. There’s just one little problem…
Germany, 6’24
‘Mem’ (Ilija Brunck, Jan Bitzer & Csaba Letay, 2010)
A transfixing glide through a world on the other side of the magnifying-glass.
Germany, 1’48
‘Amazonia’ (Sam Chen, 2010)
The dangers of the jungle floor are not all that they seem to be when the lights come up and the applause begins.
USA, 4’50
‘Un Tour De Manege’ (N Athane, B Chevillard, A Liddell, F Losito & Mai Nguyen, 2009)
All pastel hues and soft focus. A very magic roundabout safely transports a family across some dangerous divides.
France, 3’40
‘Animation History of Poland’ (Tomasz Baginski, 2009)
A millennium tour of Polish history. A visceral 3D visual history of Poland’s wars, rulers, triumphs, disasters and ever-changing landscape.
Poland, 8’52
‘Loom’ (Ilija Brunck, Jan Bitzer & Csaba Letay, 2011)
Astounding! An up-close visualisation of the battle-royale between spider and prey as life and death plays out on the strands of a web.
Germany, 5’20