Student Film

Johnnie Walker. “Dear Brother”.

Not to be a downer during the holidays, but the video below while quite beautiful, does have a bit of a dark twist to it. The story however, rings true to what Johnnie Walker’s brand stands for.

The ad was produced as pure spec work by two students, Daniel Titz and Dorian Lebherz, who are currently studying at Film Academy of Baden-Württemberg. What they have produced is a hauntingly beautiful piece of cinematography that captures the Scottish landscape while weaving a story that draws you in, building up to an unexpected finally.

This is the kind of work that just goes to show how much the game has changed in the last ten years. 2 students, with no real budget, and a small crew produced an epic spot for Johnnie Walker that rivals and or beats anything a big budget agency would have produced for an outrageous amount.

In the video you see two brothers walking across the foggy terrain of Scotland’s Isle of Skye, what feels like their childhood home. As the progress a poetic voiceover tells their story and connection. The script and the voice over lead you into the narrative as the two brothers climb over rocky hills and mountains to the destination of an abandoned farmhouse. The product makes a brief appearance as the two have a drink before continuing to the edge os a cliff and the dramatic conclusion. The spot is memorable, and ties directly into the bonding that happens with family over a drink, at the outcome of a stressful event. Powerful stuff. Great work.

This dropped on YouTube 3 days ago. It already has more than 2 million views, and with good reason.

Actors: Robin Guiver, Mathew Lewis-Carter
Voice Actor: John “Bang” Reilly

Idea: Daniel Titz & Dorian Lebherz
Director: Dorian Lebherz & Daniel Titz
Producer: Madlen Folk & Johann Valentinitsch
DoP: Jan David Günther
Editor: Raquel Caro Nunez
Visual Effects/Compositing: Daniel Titz & Dorian Lebherz
Film Music: Renée Andre Abe
Sound Design: Marvin H. Keil

“Hound” a Student film from Olivia Blanc and Marion Delpech. Watch It.

It’s Labor Day and I have spent a chunk of the early afternoon perusing the internet, specifically Vimeo. While looking for inspiring animation, and illustration styles I came across “Hound” by Olivia Blanc and Marion Delpech. This is their 2013 graduation short from EMCA. I’m gonna say it onne more time, French schools like EMCA and Supinfocom continue to turn out some of the best student work I have seen. If I were a student interested in animation, film, motion graphics, 3D, or any related field, I think I would be applying to go to school in France.

“Fat” an Amazing Student Film from Supinfocom.

Every time I see a graduate project from the students at Supinfocom in Arles France, it makes me want to take a sabbatical and go back to school. This animated short film came out a couple of years ago, but I just found it this morning on Vimeo. Great story telling, character design, 3D modeling, animation, sound design and post production work. This is why this is one of the top schools in the world for learning this kind of thing.

Direction // Gary Fouchy – Yohann Auroux Bernard – Sebastien De Oliveira Bispo
Help // Bastien Letoile – Lucas Morandi – Danyang Wang
Music // Noah Sacre

Rollin’ Safari.

the video below is one of a series of short animated films created by Kyra Buschor, Anna Habermehl, and Constantin Paeplow, that won “Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project”, at the Visual Effects Society Awards. There are 4 of these short films that can be watched here, along with a complete break down of character development and story development. Each video is fairly short, so do yourself a favor and take the time to watch all of them.