Sundance Channel

EXTINCTION: It’s all around us

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 19:53:30 +0000

How long will it take a plastic bottle or bag to biodegrade? How long will it take for greenhouse gas emissions to raise atmospheric temperature 2-4 degrees? How long can we ensure the safe storage of nuclear waste? All of these questions are central to current environmental debates, and, of course, all involve consequences that none of us will live to see. The "seventh generation" approach to judging our actions gives us a sense of the long view, but may not ultimately provide a ton of motivation: we don't know those people, after all. Of course, not all environmental issues revolve around long-term impacts: it's taken a relatively short amount of time to create ocean dead zones because of increasing nitrogen pollution, or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch from larger amount of plastic in our waste streams. We'll see other species go extinct in our own lifetimes while we watch our own population balloon. Sure, we should consider the needs of future generations, but we can look around ourselves right now and see the consequences of refusing to consider ourselves a part of the greater natural order.

Driving in cars with dogs — A cinematic dedication

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:21:45 +0000

Dogs in Cars from keith on Vimeo.

As a person deathly allergic to cats, I've had it with all you cat lovers clogging my Internet sinuses with all your cat videos and image macro memes! The distinction between cats and dogs was best elucidated by Christopher Hitchens who passed away over the weekend. He wrote, "Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are god." It's about time someone let the dogs out (how terrible was that song by the way?) and New York filmmaker Keith Hopkin created just the thing to kick off the dog days of the Web with his latest short film.

BUNDLED, BURIED & BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: short doc about the physical landscape of the Internet

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:06:33 +0000

Bundled, Buried & Behind Closed Doors from Ben Mendelsohn on Vimeo.

I guess Senator Ted Stevens really was onto something when he described the Internet as a series of tubes. Ben Mendelsohn created this masterful short documentary, BUNDLED, BURIED & BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, that pulls back the curtains to give us a fascinating look at the actual, physical infrastructure of the digital "cloud" that we increasingly inhabit (and which permits the existence of lolcats). "He takes us inside 60 Hudson Street in New York City, a nondescript building that houses one of the major nodes of the Internet on the east coast." I've walked by this building many times throughout my eight years in NYC (Can I call myself a New Yorker yet?) - probably even while writing a tweet - but without realizing I was passing the main hub that makes this whole Twitter thing possible.

Must watch: The Internet Story

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:20:22 +0000

Internet Story from Adam Butcher on Vimeo.

After making the festival circuit the past couple years, Adam Butcher's short film, THE INTERNET STORY, was finally posted online - and it's caused quite a stir. Using a variety of techniques and media, it's an absolutely brilliant, must-watch ten minute experimental short film...

Four minute film about the LITTLE BOAT that could

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:14:00 +0000

Little Boat from nelson boles on Vimeo.

CalArts student Nelson Boles created this beautifully animated, four minute short film LITTLE BOAT. It has a tremendous visual and emotional depth for a deceptively simple concept, story and style. It starts off slow with a small sail boat that floats along and passes a variety of seascapes and environments, including some harsh conditions. However, the payoff near the end is worth the time.

Hurricane Irene short film

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 20:24:39 +0000

Irene NYC from Buffalo Picture House on Vimeo.

Nothing says a good filmmaking opportunity like a hurricane bearing down on your city, or in this case a Manhattan-bound Hurricane Irene for a couple of filmmakers from Buffalo Picture House, who created this short black and white film during the storm. They were a lot more productive than the rest of us New Yorkers who took the chance to stuff our faces with our "emergency" rations (two pizza pies may or may not have been consumed by yours truly). However, Irene also served to remind us "that perhaps life should not fly by in a New York minute." This sentiment seems to be echoed in their inspired film with shots of closed and empty subway stations, shuttered storefronts, and deserted streets.

Great short film made with smartphone

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:00:56 +0000

Splitscreen: A Love Story from JW Griffiths on Vimeo. SPLITSCREEN: A LOVE STORY, a short film directed by JW Griffiths, which has gone rapidly viral in the past week, was the winner of the Nokia Shorts competition 2011. As the film’s title suggests, it has a cute romantic story, however I was even more blown [...]

Sharing a beautiful sunset

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 21:43:18 +0000

Untitled from jasperelings.info on Vimeo. Dutch artist Jasper Elings created “Sharing a Beautiful Sunset,” a one minute crowd-sourced video of a sunset compiled from hundreds of photos collected from Google image searches of sunsets from around the world. Viewing a sunset is probably one of the most universal experiences humans can have. [Via]

Vimeo of the Week: Symmetry

Bradford Shellhammer — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 19:53:44 +0000

Symmetry from Everynone on Vimeo. Symmetry, a film created by Everynone, comes in at under 3 minutes long. This is a remarkable thing to note as the film has such an powerful emotional punch. The film’s split screens shows the dualities of life. A muscled torso sits side-by-side with weights, cookies with milk. Cops and [...]

The History of Title Design

Bradford Shellhammer — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 19:41:19 +0000

A Brief History of Title Design from Ian Albinson on Vimeo.

Ian Albinson's A Brief History of Title Design was created for the SXSW "Excellence in Title Design" competition screening. In it the title designs of television shows and movies are woven into a study of font and style. For font and movie nerds alike, it's a fun film to watch. So many are instantly recognizable. My fave: DR. NO. Included are:

NPR: Why Can’t We Walk Straight?

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 23:44:46 +0000

A Mystery: Why Can’t We Walk Straight? from NPR on Vimeo. Watch this wonderfully animated short film from NPR that explores the puzzle of the “profound inability in humans to stick to a straight line when blindfolded or when there is no fixed point.” This is true for swimming as well. It’s a really interesting [...]

7 minutes with The Sartorialist

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 23:25:17 +0000

This is a thoughtful and beautifully executed (much like his photos) 7 minute documentary and behind the scenes with Scott Schuman aka The Sartorialist. It’s a treat for any fan of his work. I especially liked the moment in the short film when he asked to take a photo of a fashionably dressed woman. You [...]

Vimeo of the Week: The Art of Drowning

Bradford Shellhammer — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:57:31 +0000

The Art of Drowning from Diego Maclean on Vimeo. In the above video, THE ART OF DROWNING, filmmaker and animator Diego Maclean brings to life the poem of the same name written by Billy Collins. Collins also reads the verse here on the film, a tale of what one sees when their life flashes before [...]

IDIOT WITH A TRIPOD

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:44:15 +0000

NYC auteur Jamie Stuart recorded the recent blizzard that hit our city and transformed it into “IDIOT WITH A TRIPOD,” an artsy gorgeous short film that had critic Roger Ebert proclaiming that it “deserves to win the Academy Award for best live-action short subject” for the following reasons: This film deserves to win the Academy [...]

Dueling Cameras

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 23:35:01 +0000

Dueling Cameras from lonelysandwich on Vimeo. Apropos of nothing other than what it is, Noah Kalina and Adam Lisagor face off in this video “Dueling Cameras.” Believe it or not, no special effects or CGI were used in this video. [Via]

Kilian Martin in “A Skate Regeneration”

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 18:07:55 +0000

Brett Novak directed “A Skate Regeneration,” a fantastic video of Kilian Martin displaying some remarkable skateboarding tricks. Novak adds a layer of expressiveness that gives it a more “meaningful” quality.

History of stop motion

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 22:19:43 +0000

I love stop motion from chloe fleury on Vimeo. San Francisco based French artist Chloe Fleury created this neat paper-craft stop-motion video about the history of…stop motion video, which is a favorite around these SunFiltered part of the woods.

Done in 60 seconds

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 21:44:52 +0000

Mark Wong and Chris Slaughter won Empire Magazine’s 2010 “Done in 60 Seconds” short film competition with their terrific reenactment of TOP GUN in 60 seconds. In such a short amount of time, it does an excellent job of capturing all the main scenes from that movie. Makes me wonder whether it’s necessary for it [...]

Longboarding short film

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 22:52:43 +0000

Longboarding: Slide from Benjamin Dowie on Vimeo. Benjamin Dowie created this short film “SLIDE.” It focuses on longboarding, which is a mixture of skateboarding with surfing. I have a longboard myself but I can only do about 1 percent of what these guys can. The idea behind it was to marry some slow motion longboard [...]

Watch this: Animated video of when Herzog rescued Phoenix

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:13:23 +0000

Werner Herzog narrates this short film, which utilizes papercraft animation with what looks like construction paper, about the time he randomly rescued Joaquin Phoenix from a car crash on January 26, 2006. Side note that only I will care about: January 26 is my birthday.

Stop motion film: miniature graffiti

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 22:00:24 +0000

Tumblingerstraße from yo man on Vimeo. This is an impressive stop-motion video using miniature toy cars and figures to create a scale model of Tumblingerstraße, which is a street in Munich where graffiti is legally permitted. A hipster Ken could hang out on this street.

Funny short film about a couple resigned to their Zodiac Killer fate

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:45:13 +0000

Something Left, Something Taken- Full Version from Tiny Inventions on Vimeo. Max Porter, a regular reader of our SUNfiltered blog and one half of the talented married duo behind Tiny Inventions (a Brooklyn-based animation firm), wrote in to share a funny independent short film he created with his wife Ru Kuwahata. SOMETHING LEFT, SOMETHING TAKEN [...]

Short film: street art seeks romance

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:04:23 +0000

Gabriel Psaltakis created and directed this sweet and funny short Greek film titled THE GIRL ON THE WALL. Mixing live action with stop-motion animation, a bored office man helps a love-struck street art character woo a disinterested girl across the street.

FANTAISIE IN BUBBLEWRAP

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:45:50 +0000

I was just recently enlightened of this short animated film that portrays “the final minutes of a society of vocal bubblewrap as it faces its apocalypse.” Created and voiced by Arthur Metcalf, FANTAISIE IN BUBBLEWRAP was his first film ever and it ended up picking up quite a few awards at various film festivals. This [...]

Stop-motion Mario

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:57:12 +0000

A Japanese student combined two of the Internet’s favorite things, stop motion animation and Mario, in this video. What makes this even more impressive is that everything was created with just sticky notes and a whole lot of time. According to the Google translation of this Japanese website, it took him about 2 weeks to [...]

Carl Burgess’ Tales of the Unexpected

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:52:46 +0000

Tales of the Unexpected from More Soon on Vimeo. Carl Burgess created this strangely captivating short film titled “Tales of the Unexpected” on commission from a store in Denmark. The video is like acid kaleidoscope on fast forward. Just when you think you grasp and understand what image you are seeing, it quickly shifts, expands, [...]

NATURE BY NUMBERS

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 28 May 2010 14:26:06 +0000

NATURE BY NUMBERS is a short film by Cristóbal Vila, which is “inspired on numbers, geometry and nature.” It’s mesmerizing visualization of mathematical concepts and how their patterns are revealed in nature. Relatedly, earlier this spring, the New York Times published a neat online series by Steven Strogatz, a professor of applied mathematics at Cornell [...]

Skateboard animation

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 22:07:52 +0000

Skateboardanimation from Tilles Singer on Vimeo. Tilles Singer created this brilliant little short film that combines stop-motion with a paper craft aesthetic to produce a wonderful style and effect, which I’m sure will be aped in car commercials attempting to market to a “hip” audience. Singer succinctly explains that this took “a ton of digital [...]

Short film: PLAY

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:58:02 +0000

Without giving away too much, David Kaplan and Eric Zimmerman’s splashy PLAY envisions a society in which a gaming singularity is achieved where technology has advanced to permit portable yet fully immersive virtual realities in which the line between “video games” and reality is blurred to the point of nonrecognition. Things quickly spiral into a [...]

MEMOIRS OF A SCANNER

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:43:51 +0000

Memoirs of a Scanner (Pillows Edition) from Damon Stea on Vimeo. USC film student Damon Stea made this funny short film MEMOIRS OF A SCANNER which depicts the antics of a typical company’s office through the lens of their scanner. This short, which picks up around the 0:25 mark, was fittingly shot entirely on a [...]

Stop motion video: T-shirt war!

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:29:58 +0000

This video combines two of my favorite things: No, not raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, although those are pretty awesome. I’m talking about stop-motion video and t-shirts! This video by Rhett and Link depicts a battle between two guys and their t-shirt armament in nothing but stop-motion glory!

Pes, KABOOM!

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:48:22 +0000

Boing Boing surfaced this impressive colorful stop-motion video KABOOM! from the popular artist PES (previously mentioned here). There’s a disconnect in the experience between the artist’s repurposing of common innocuous items into weapons of war.

Stop-motion: VIDEOGIOCO

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:54:48 +0000

videogioco-loop experiment from donato sansone on Vimeo. Utilizing a similar technique to the previously posted Parkour paper-and-ink stop-motion video that I previously posted, “VIDEOGIOCO” by Milky Eyes depicts a slightly-NSFW, yet hilarious and surreal fight in this must-watch short film. [Via]

Short film: HEART

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:35:41 +0000

heart from laurent clermont on Vimeo. A lonely heart roams the urban cityscape looking for some companionship in this sweet and short film by Laurent Clermont. It’ll warm even the heart of the biggest cynic and grouch out there.

What’s your secret?

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:19:07 +0000

PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death and God from Frank Warren on Vimeo. Frank Warren created the popular website Post Secret where people could anonymously submit their secrets on a 4 by 6 inch postcard. In this short film Warren asks strangers to reveal a secret on camera.

Tilt-shift Hulkmania

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:31:15 +0000

Hulkamania from Keith Loutit on Vimeo. Keith Loutit (previously) is back with another terrific tilt-shift video from a Hulkmania wrestling tour featuring Hulk Hogan and Rick Flair fighting to the music of The Wolverines, “Hip Square Dance.”

DOCK ELLIS & THE LSD NO-NO by James Blagden

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:40:51 +0000

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 [...]

Interview with the creators of THE CAPTIVE

Sundance Channel — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:38:04 +0000

Sundance Channel recently sat down for an interview with Karin Diann Williams & Stuart Hynson Culpepper, creators of THE CAPTIVE. Watch THE CAPTIVE now at Sundance Channel Digital Shorts. What was the inspiration for The Captive? Karin: Believe it or not, we started with just the idea that we wanted to make a web series. We had an inkling that the microseries was about to find its audience and really explode as a popular form. Stuart: We saw all the activity blossoming on YouTube and sites like it and knew a huge audience was there and they were wanting something beyond the user-generated content, something thoughtful and well produced. So we took the plunge. Part of the idea for the themes and action in The Captive came from studying the kind of person we thought were going to engage: someone fairly tech literate and independent in their thinking.

Muzorama

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:13:26 +0000

Muzorma “is a short 3D animation film based on the universe of french illustrator Muzo,” and is surrealist mayhem at its finest. There are a lot of more light-hearted moments, such as the snail bike, that made me chuckle. However, keep watching until the very end, where the film concludes on a slightly creepy note. [...]

All the right stuff for a lonely bear

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:17:59 +0000

While masses of hipsters, indie music fans, and even the HOVA hisself Jay-Z and Beyonce crowded into Williamsburg, Brooklyn to hear the Grizzly Bears perform live on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon this past weekend, another bear lives a decidedly less glamorous lifestyle as explored in the short film AND EVERYTHING WAS ALRIGHT. This film is [...]

Will Hoffman’s MOMENTS

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:39:35 +0000

Will Hoffman’s short film MOMENTS juxtaposes and stitches together isolated moments of everyone’s life into something more meaningful where the whole of all those experiences is greater than the sum of the individual parts. This film definitely sums up how I felt when I took my first bite the other day into a burrito bowl [...]

Malcolm Sutherland, THE ASTRONOMER’S DREAM

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:41:07 +0000

The Astronomer’s Dream (2009) from Animalcolm on Vimeo. Malcolm Sutherland’s latest animated short, THE ASTRONOMER’S DREAM is a trippy whimsical space odyssey with a unique art style. When a hungry astronomer falls asleep while working on a problem, he discovers a solution not in outer space, but in the surreal food-chain of his subconscious mind. [...]

Movie created using only iPhone

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:00:29 +0000

THE FIFTY FOUR is a short little film created by Richard Hernandez entirely on his iPhone. He gave himself fifty four days to shoot fifty four images with his iPhone during his daily commute on the 54 bus in Oakland for this project. The Fifty Four from richard hernandez on Vimeo.

THE LEMON TREE by William Campbell

Matthew Rodriguez — Sat, 30 May 2009 19:52:49 +0000

The Lemon Tree from William Campbell on Vimeo. An eerie short film created by William Campbell filled with visual effect eye candy. He explains: The Lemon Tree is a short experimental narrative. It addresses our constant hunt for perfection. The closer we think we are the more distorted our memory of it becomes.

GARY, a short animated film

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:43:59 +0000

An animated French short by by Clément Soulmagnon, Yann Benedi, Sébastien Eballard & Quentin Chaillet with a kind of wonderful and magical story. Gary from Gary on Vimeo.

Short film: Your life in 42 seconds

Andrew Hearst — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:40:37 +0000

This lovely short, LAST DAY DREAM, takes 42 seconds to explore one man’s entire life through his own eyes. The film was written and directed by Chris Milk for the 42 Second Dream Film Festival in Beijing. Last Day Dream [HD] from Chris Milk on Vimeo. Full credits are on the Vimeo page. [via Daring [...]

Louis Clichy, A quoi ca sert l’amour

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 12 May 2009 19:07:08 +0000

Cute minimalist animated short film, “A Quoi ca Sert L’amour” (To what end is love?) from the ever talented Louis Clichy about a boy who meets girl, boy then loses girl, boy gets girl back, boy then loses girl again, but girl finds boy and finally boy gets girl. Note the visual double entendre in [...]

The longest film you’ve ever seen

Annie and Lisa — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:45:29 +0000

This is a weekly column written by Annie Howell and Lisa Robinson, two filmmakers and film professors who are wondering where modern storytelling is heading. What’s the shortest film you’ve seen that’s been satisfying as a story? In turn, what’s the longest screen story experience you’ve ever sustained? I’m flashing back to my long long movie-going experiences … a five hour documentary on Cassavetes, A CONSTANT FORGE—THE LIFE AND ART OF JOHN CASSAVETES, dir. Charles Kiselyak, at SXSW in 2001. (After the movie, my husband Michael and I bonded with the five other people in the theatre, including Blaine Thurier of The New Pornographers, a Cassavetes fan and the winner of that year’s Best Narrative Feature for his film, LOW SELF-ESTEEM GIRL.) The work of Hungarian director Béla Tarr. (Okay, that wasn’t me that endured the 7.5 hour SATAN’S TANGO, it was Michael again, and he stayed for the whole thing at Brooklyn Academy of Music -- even after Gus Van Sant left.)

Xavier Chassaing, SCINTILLATION

Matthew Rodriguez — Sat, 02 May 2009 15:11:41 +0000

SCINTILLATION from Xavier Chassaing on Vimeo. A mesmerizing short by Xavier Chassaing. This stop motion film was pieced together from over 35,000 photographs!

James Jarvis, ONWARDS

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:34:28 +0000

Onwards from AKQA on Vimeo. In collaboration with Nike, UK artist James Jarvis’s short animated film ONWARDS imagines a kind of magical non-linear world through which a funny little stick figure character enjoys running. I thought the evening sequence towards the end was particularly brilliant. Jarvis adds: The film was inspired by certain personal experiences [...]