omelette

A sweet little animated film for your Wednesday morning, celebrating the joy of cooking for those you love.

conneted

"Connected" is a lovely music video for your Monday morning, by singer-songwriter Luke Dick. It's a great song with a universal message that's brought to life through the cut paper illustrations of Benjamin Wright Coleman.


(Via Brain Pickings)

the silence beneath the bark / le silence sous l'écorce

Such a sweet, beautiful little animation, from filmmaker Joanna Lurie. Happy Friday!


(Via The Kid Should See This)

golden age of insect aviation: the great grasshoppers

Wayne Unten's film may only be 10 seconds long, but it sure packs a punch. Happy Friday, friends!


(Via The Kid Should See This)

Oliver Jeffers

I've been collecting children's books my whole life. As you can imagine, actually having a child of my own now has only matters worse, and the fact that he can't talk yet, much less read, hasn't been much of a deterrent - story time is as much of an important part of our day as playing and dinner.


My hunt for great new picture books is pretty much ongoing, and Oliver Jeffers is an author whose work I was very happy to discover over the past few years, and whose books I've been continually impressed by. This Moose Belongs to Me is my current favorite, but you really can't go wrong with any of his great titles. So for those of you who need an introduction, as well as those of you who are already fans but like short films that offer a glimpse into the creative process of artists as much as I do, here he is, folks, Oliver Jeffers, butcher, baker, picture maker.

Robert Löbel - wind

A fantastic short animation by German illustrator and graphic designer Robert Löbel, Wind tells the story of how a group of people living in a windy area have learned to deal with their unusual living conditions.


(Via BOOOOOOOM)

castello cavalcanti

This short film that Wes Anderson created for Prada is a great little set piece featuring Jason Schwartzman, race cars and 1950s Italy. Perfect.

beauty of mathematics

We all know that mathematics underlies our daily lives, but few of us truly grasp the systems at work. Beauty of Mathematics, by Yann Pineill & Nicolas Lefaucheu, looks to change all of that. Using the form of a triptych, this short film takes you through a lovely series of illustrated mathematical concepts, each of which is contextualized in a way that clearly showcases its beauty. Watch it in full screen!


(Via swissmiss)

the new york subway signs experiment

I saw this video last week and it totally made my day.

As Yosef Lerner explains of the project:

In New York City, subway conductors have to point at a black and white sign. At every hour of the day. At every stop. On every train. Like they're some sort of automated robot that just happens to go home to families and children and processes complex human emotion. They do this to show that they've fully arrived on the platform.

Conductors spend their whole day in that small booth, alone. It is incredibly loud, and they get minimal human contact. We decided to show our appreciation for their work.

The signs we used:
• You are not wearing pants right now
• You have taken a selfie while driving
• You have seen a passenger naked
• Shoot the target with your laser finger [bullseye]
• You are dead sexy
• You still love Thomas The Tank Engine
• Snape kills Dumbledore
• The 2nd Ave Subway is a lie
• NY is the greatest city in the world

Thank you MTA conductors for getting us there on time (mostly).

(Via A Cup of Jo)

skhizein

"Skhizein," by French director and illustrator Jeremy Clapin, is the story of a man who was hit by a giant meteorite that no one else saw - and ended up exactly 91cm away from where he should be. It may sound like a pretty kooky concept, but it's one that's expertly told thought this wonderful short animation.


(Via The Fox is Black)

half cut tea - Nick Olson & Lilah Horwitz

You can't help but admire people who have the tenacity to dream up and then actually follow through on big projects. Case in point, when photographer Nick Olson & designer Lilah Horwitz had a discussion during their first date about how incredible it would be to live in a house where the facade was made entirely of windows, it wasn't long before the couple both quit their jobs and set out to make it happen. A few dozen windows and some series DIY construction work later, Nick and Lilah found themselves the proud owners of their dream cabin in West Virgina. Filmmakers Matt Glass and Jordan Wayne Long of Half Cut Tea met up with the couple to learn more about this project and the incredible makers behind it in the video below.


(Via Colossal)

adrift

I never imagined that fog could be so engaging, but Simon Christen certainly did. He's the filmmaker behind Adrift, a "love letter to the fog of the San Francisco Bay Area." Shot over a period of two years, Christen captured his remarkable time lapse video of the fog gliding in over the hills, the bridge and the city by waking up at 5am every morning to check that the weather conditions would be perfectly aligned. Attempting to evoke the same feeling of happiness that accompanied these stunning scenes, Adrift is an extraordinary work that represents a collection of his favorite shots from these excursions.

(Via Colossal)

fear of flying

FEAR OF FLYING from conorfinnegan on Vimeo.


A bird with a fear of flying tries to avoid heading south for the winter. Wonderful animation by Conor Finnegan.


(Via The Design Ark)

Bert Haanstra - glas

I've got some old-school Dutch glassblowers for you to marvel at today, courtesy of kottke. A short film by Bert Haanstra, Glas won the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject in 1959. Watching this makes me want to get back into the studio so badly!

best friends

Oh, Lena Dunham. You're everywhere these days, aren't you? Not that I mind, especially when she's directing short films like as this quirky little number for Rachel Antonoff's Fall 2013 collection. Keep it coming!

(Via Got a Girl Crush)

like knows like

I came across the Like Knows Like project through their latest short documentary about letterer Jessica Hische, someone whose work, and passion for it, I greatly admire. It wasn't long after checking out their website, however, that I found myself watching each and every one of their videos and wishing for more.




A project by documentary photographer Marije Kuiper and filmmaker Bas Berkhout, Like Knows Like is a showcase both the featured artist, all of whom are talented and inspiring in their own way, as well as the filmmakers themselves, who have done a beautiful job creating each short documentary.

The work the artists share on social media inspires us and makes us happy. But the digital world is often criticized as volatile and shallow. Sometimes, we miss the human touch. That’s why the idea was born to make documentaries about the people we admire. With our films and photos, we celebrate the bond between follower and artist. We meet our online loves offline. Through the documentary form, we gain deeper insight into the artist and satisfy our own curiosity.

See all of the Like Knows Like films and read more about the project on their website.

(Via BOOOOOOOM)

Annette Jung - lego dance

Being sick is never fun; being sick while you're nearly 8 months pregnant and are limited in your options for medication is a particularly lousy time.  So combine a stuffed-up nose with a cold and rainy Saturday, and it's no wonder that most of the the past two days was spent on the couch. Of course, it wasn't all bad. For starters, there was Annette Jung's Lego Dance to keep me company. It may only be 30 seconds long, but this Lego animation of some of Michael Jackson's signature dance moves certainly managed to make me smile, and I hope it does the same for you.

(Via Colossal)

Sivu - better man than he

For the music video for Better Man Than He, Sivu spent approximately 2-3 hours singing inside of an MRI scanner - a pretty neat concept with surprisingly beautiful results.

katachi and a gum boy

My super short animated film fest! v.2 may now be over, but that doesn't mean that the fantastic animations don't keep on coming! First up, Katachi, the latest stop-motion music video for the Japanese singer/songwriter Shugo Tokumaru (whose new album, In Focus? I totally want to purchase), by the animation duo Katarzyna Kijek and Przemysław Adamski. It's pretty much guaranteed to make you want to dance.

(Via Colossal)


And then there's the hand-drawn animation Kuchao/A GUM BOY, by Japanese animator and illustrator Masaki Okuda. With great visuals, fun music and wonderfully different animation styles, I think that that these two little films make for the perfect way to start the week. Enjoy!

(Via BOOOOOOOM)

isaac newton vs. rube goldberg

I don't know about you, but I always enjoy a good Rube Goldberg device, and Isaac Newton vs. Rube Goldberg, created by the Toronto-based creative team 2D House, is a particularly fun, gravity-defying example of the genre. Enjoy!

(Via Colossal)