This totally stunning piece of animation, produced by Psyop, for MTV’s new HD channel, has really caught my attention. The concept, design, art direction and animation are incredible, along with killer post work and music. It’s apropriate that this was produced for MTV, since it seems in today’s animation scene the most original and artistic work is usually found in music videos; experimental techniques and unusual styles are considered acceptable, or even desireable, in getting the attention of music video viewers, and the combination of record company money and a band’s hunger for artistic relevance can often result in quite amazing work from studios and animators.
Fittingly, this station ID was produced for MTV’s new venture- a dedicated HD channel to showcase the best high definition, 5.1 surround-equipped music videos - and just the thought of seeing this spot in HD is enough to want to sign up.
I love the really bold use of composition and contrast, and that it plays on the balance between detail and realism, and abstraction and expressionsim. And I’m always a fan of the seemingly-one-shot technique, it gives such a visual flow and cohesive logic to the whole animation, and takes advantage of the flexibility within animation and 3D to use space, time and the image frame in ways that traditional film and video cannot.
Thanks to this article at dexigner.com for the images. The complete animation can be viewed or dowloaded as a 20mb Quicktime file here. Too bad it’s not in HD though! It’s also worth checking out Psyop’s website, where there’s loads more inspiring animation, composition, motion graphics and effects work. Man, I think I might actually have just gotten a bit inspired to do some 3D work this year!
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