Brooklyn artist James Blagden created a terrific short film that animates former major league pitcher Dock Ellis’ entertaining narration of his infamous no-hitter for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the San Diego Padres in 1970 while he was “high as a Georgia pie,” or specifically under the influence of LSD. After retiring, he later worked as a drug counselor before passing away last December.

TINY RIOT PROJECT director Kris Lefcoe.

Sundance Channel recently sat down for an interview with Kris Lefcoe, the director of TINY RIOT PROJECT. What started as a music video for a small Canadian band ended up installed at some of the most prestigious art galleries and venues in the world suck as Art Basel Miami, Havana Biennale, and Galerie Tomas Schulte Berlin. Watch TINY RIOT PROJECT at Sundance Channel’s Digital Shorts.

What was the inspiration for TINY RIOT PROJECT?

Lefcoe : A few years ago I had a vision of an army of Care Bears and Coppertone girls attacking kids. I wanted to re-contextualize these sweet and cuddly icons as a bastion of corporate power. I ended up dropping the Coppertone girls and going for more of the Saturday morning cartoon plushies.

Why did you choose stop motion over other forms of animation, even live action?

Lefcoe : Stop motion is just so charming, so endearing. The viewer is drawn into this magical world, it’s irresistible. So it was the perfect medium, a surprising juxtaposition with the violence and political critique in the film. But it’s dangerously addictive. After shooting it, I wanted to shoot everything in stop motion.

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Cardboard creatures roams a foreboding urban landscape in this awesome stop-motion video created by Sjors Vervoort for a student graduation animation project. Well done, kid. The style does remind me of the past work of famous street artist Blu who I previously mentioned.

[Via]

While it’s not out until November 13th, there have been plenty of teasers and trailers and behind-the-scenes sneak peaks to keep us satiated until the much-aniticpated release of FANTASTIC MR. FOX. This one, courtesy of Wired, is appropriately tech-heavy and shows the intricate system of cameras and computers that allow production units in various locations to work with each other in real time. That means Wes Anderson, from his apartment in Paris, can see the set in London and even direct an animator to change the angle of a puppet’s head ever so slightly.

And if you look closely at the set that visual effects guru Matthew Kitcat uses an example in the video, you’ll see that the armchair configuration Mr. Fox has (with a board propped up over knees and across the arms of the chair) is a nicely done homage to Roald Dahl’s own method, pictured below. Nice touch.

I enjoyed the un-distilled and amateurish flickering animation in the video for Firefly Escape’s “All the jokes are on me.” It took a very dedicated and patient director David Mahler four months to illustrate the 1,640 hand drawn and water-colored frames used in the video.

Firefly Effect – All The Jokes Are On Me from Dave Mahler on Vimeo.

Argentine Esteban Diåcono created this beautiful video of weaving ephemeral bursts of colors resembling paint brush strokes for Ólafur Arnalds’ song “Ljósið.”Arnalds saw this and liked it so much that he adopted it as the official music video. Watch it as your moment of zen today.

Ólafur Arnalds – Ljósið (Official Music Video) from Erased Tapes on Vimeo.

I love the surreal animation style and slightly twisted humor in INSERT COIN by Vurup, an “animation collective…which comprises students from Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia.” The ending was also a complete surprise, so stick around for that because it helps illuminate the title of the film.

Insert Coin from vurup on Vimeo.

This music video remake of Bonnie Tyler’s hit song popular in karaokes all over the world, “Total Eclipse of the Heart” provides today’s moment of levity. I mean, who doesn’t appreciate a dramatic full choir and moody LEGO characters?!

Animator David O’Reilly is a 22-year-old filmmaker from Ireland whose unique raw style has garnered a lot of awards and opportunities. He created the music video for “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” by a little band called U2, and this trippy video PLEASE SAY SOMETHING that depicts “a troubled relationship between a Cat and Mouse set in the distant Future.” Take a look at this winner of the Golden Bear for best short film at the 2009 Berlinale. When I was 22, I think I was photocopying thousands of pages of legal real estate contracts for [insert censored name of meanest attorney ever], not winning film festival awards and directing U2 videos.

Please Say Something – Full Length from David OReilly on Vimeo.

Greg Johnson’s music video for his catchy single “I Got Opinions” from Seven Day Cure takes the viewer on a fun animated “down-the-rabbit-hole journey” through a plethora of trippy and whimsical landscapes. I really enjoyed the different animation and visual styles employed throughout the video, which was the result of eight different contributing artists from Watermark Illustrators, a collective of professional illustrators, that is responsible for this winning music video.

This video for Japanese ukulele duo, U900’s cover of “Walk, Don’t Run” originally by The Ventures features the cutest animated amigurumis or crocheted creatures ever. This is an improvement on the instrument which my sixth grade elementary school teacher used to strum while forcing, I mean leading us in a singalong. Also, check out this video recording of the The Ventures performing it back in 1960! If you like this ukulele business then enjoy the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Here’s their highly acoustic cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”