Lou Romano's Art of UP

Lou Romano shares some of his beautiful conceptual art from Pixar's Up on his blog (image c Disney/Pixar).

Up was the number one movie at the box office this weekend, which is pretty unsurprising since many critics are calling it Pixar's best movie yet and because, well, it's a Pixar movie. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm looking forward to checking it out this week because everyone seems to be raving about it. If you want to see some absolutely beautiful conceptual art from the film, head over to the blog of Lou Romano who has put together a huge post featuring his design and production work from Up.

Pixar's next film is Toy Story 3, which is slated for release next year. A teaser trailer has just been released and it's predictably perfect (I imagine it's probably playing in theatres in front of Up).

Memorial Day Inspiration: Sita Sings The Blues

Sita Sings The Blues is an animated feature by Nina Paley licensed under Creative Commons.

Happy Memorial Day to all my American friends! (Here in Canada, it's just another Monday...)

Whether you have the day off today or not, find sometime soon to watch Sita Sings the Blues. It's a feature length animated 2D film that was written, directed, produced and animated entirely by Nina Paley on a single computer in her apartment(!). As if that wasn't cool enough, she's decided to release the film under Creative Commons for free and is trying to make money on the film through voluntary payments, ancillary products, sponsorships, public screenings, and limited DVD sales. According to some reports, her somewhat unorthodox distribution strategy has already made her money than a conventional film distribution contract would have.

You can download Sita Sings The Blues for free and learn more about the film at www.sitasingstheblues.com. If you enjoy watching the film, please show your appreciation and consider giving Nina a small donation for all her great work.

Monday Morning Inspiration: Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch inspired the world with The Last Lecture.

I made the oddest, most wonderful (and also tragic) discovery recently and I wanted to share it as this week's Monday Morning Inspiration.

When I first became interested in digital puppetry and started my Machin-X blog, someone told me about a program at Carnegie Mellon University called Creating Virtual Worlds. They suggested trying to get in touch getting with the professor who founded the program because he was incredibly passionate about things like virtual reality and real-time computer graphics. I eventually tracked this professor down online, pestered him a bit and he was kind enough to indulge a bunch of my questions and suggest some really good resources to look in to.

His name was Randy Pausch.

What I didn't know at the time - and actually only discovered a few weeks ago completely by accident - was that Randy was fighting a battle with cancer and was on the cusp of becoming an accidental celebrity. After he was told he had only months to live he decided to embrace Carnegie Mellon's tradition of doing "last lectures", a usually hypothetical exercise where Professors are asked to give the lecture they'd want to if they thought it would be their last. Randy knew that his "last lecture" probably would be his last, so he presented Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.

The lecture was given to 400 faculty and students at Carnegie Mellon, but Randy really did it for his three young children. The lecture - which is really about how to live your life - was recorded, posted online and became a viral sensation that was watched millions of times and generated a ton of media coverage. Randy even gave an abridged version of his talk on Oprah (I really have no how I didn't hear about all this sooner, except that possibly it was because I lived in Mexico at the time).

Randy sadly passed away last summer, but he spent the final months of his life inspiring millions of people around the world. He didn't let cancer slow him down and he kept living life. I didn't know him at all - we just had a very brief exchange of emails - but I wish I had. What an interesting, amazing guy. And what a great gift he left the world with.

If you have an hour or so to spare sometime this week, watch Randy's Last Lecture. You won't be sorry.

Monday Morning Inspiration: The Magic of Mystery

J.J. Abrams understands (and explains) the power of the Mystery Box.

I haven't checked the weekend box office, but I have little doubt that J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek movie was a massive hit. Friends have raved to me about J.J. Abrams for years, but I've been a late, somewhat reluctant convert to the cult of J.J...I don't watch Lost, didn't get Alias and I haven't seen enough of Felicity to truly appreciate it (I thought Regarding Henry and MI:3 were fine movies though).

I didn't get seriously interested in checking out the man's work until I saw the Cloverfield trailer and then again when Andrew Kramer mentioned on his blog that he was working on the opening titles for a cool new show called Fringe. That in turn led me to J.J.'s inspiring TED Talk about "the mystery box", which drops some big clues about the "secret sauce" that makes his work so captivating to so many people. This month's Wired Magazine includes an essay that further explores his thoughts on the power of mystery.

Thanks to the internet, these days the answer to almost every question is literally at our finger tips. As more and more becomes known to us I wonder, will the unknown - the "magic of mystery" - become even more compelling than ever?

Monday Morning Inspiration: The Hunt For Gollum

Fan filmmaking get taken to the next level by The Hunt For Gollum, a remarkable movie made "by fans, for fans".

The Hunt For Gollum may be the greatest fan film ever made. In fact, I hesitate to even call it a "fan film" because it's just so well done; there are professional movies and TV shows that don't look this good. The 40 minute production was inspired by the appendices of JRR Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings and acts as a bridge between the Tolkein's The Hobbit and the LOTR Trilogy. It looks absolutely stunning and was shot on a budget of just £3,000 (about $4,500 US). Although it has a few weak points - mostly some of the acting in the early scenes - it's an incredible achievement for so-called "fan cinema".

If someone can make this for less than $5,000, what's preventing you from making the movie you want to?

Monday Morning Inspiration: Sock Zombies

Erin Glaser makes adorable-looking Sock Zombies.

Alright, how adorable are Erin Glaser's Sock Zombie puppets? Very I think. Get one of your own in her Sock Zombie Etsy shop.

Monday Afternoon Inspiration: 279 Days To Overnight Success

Chris Guillebeau is the author of The Art of Nonconformity, a blog about personal development, entrepreneurship and unconventional work. Last year Chris set himself the goal of becoming a full-time, self-employed writer and launched his blog. His "overnight success" took less than a year to achieve and he expects to have a (mostly) passive income of over $40,000 this year. And he's done it without running ads on his site, posting on Digg or doing all the other things that the "experts" say you have to do to have a successful website. And no, it's not some kind of gimmick or get-rich-quick scheme (the real secret is a lot of hard work, dedication and patience).

Chris has written a really interesting manifesto called 279 Days to Overnight Success that tells the story of his website, how he's making his living and offers free advice on how to be successful with your own project if you're an artist, entrepreneur or just a little unconventional. Also worth checking out is his World Domination Manifesto (also totally free). Both contain lots of good, unconventional advice about doing unconvenntional work in unconventional times.

Via Seth Godin.

Monday Morning Inspiration: Jamie Caliri

Stop motion animator Jamie Caliri creates distinctive, beautifully crafted stop motion animation for film and television.

In my current "day job" I design opening credits and title sequences. When I'm searching for inspiration I often watch the work of one of my favourite animators, Jamie Caliri. His amazing credits include the title sequences of Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (see previous post) and The United States of Tara. He's also helped pioneer the development of Dragon Stop Motion, a stop motion animation software package I'm dying to try (a free 10 trial version of Dragon is available to download).

Monday Morning Inspiration: Form and Contrast

Designer Chip Kidd reads Pslalms 23 in the voice of the Wicked Witch of the West as one of his 5 Experiments in Form and Contrast.

Garfield Minus Garfield served as Monday Morning Inspiration here a few years ago (see previous post). It's a web comic that "remixes" Garfield comics by removing Garfield and his thought bubble quips, leaving his owner, Jon, talking to himself. By simply changing the context in which Jon's lines are delivered the strip creates an entirely different story, a "journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb".

The Lasagna Cat videos take the "Garfield Minus Garfield" concept one step further, re-enacting Garfield comics as live action, which in turn becomes a surreal music video. On a similar note, designer Chip Kidd - probably most famous for creating the cover of Jurassic Park - created a video on YouTube called 5 Experiments in Form & Contrast where he reads a famous piece of prose in the voice of a completely different character.

You can find lots of other examples of "form and contrast experiments" all over the web (another of my favourites is Jonathan Coulton's folk music cover of Baby Got Back). Isn't it interesting how you can completely reinvent something by simply changing the way it's presented to an audience?

Monday Morning Inspiration: Minilogue's Animals

The video for Minilogue's Animals blends live action with the unique animation of Kristofer Ström.

I really love this video for Minilogue's Animals. It's a fantastic fusion of animation and live action directed by Swedish animator Kristofer Ström, who first gained a lot of attention on YouTube for his white board animation. Visit Kristofer's Vimeo page to see more of his great work.

Via Smashing Magazine.

Monday Morning Inspiration: "Home Slice" Puppets

Scott C.'s collaborated with Russ Walko to create puppets for his recent show Home Slice.

Scott C. (aka Scott Campbell) recently staged a gallery show called Home Slice at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, California. The show featured some great-looking puppets designed by Scott and built by Russ Walko, one of the puppeteers on the upcoming Team Smithereen.

Via Drawn!

Monday Afternoon Inspiration: Do The Right Thing

Do The Right Thing is a very powerful film about racial prejudice and some of Spike Lee's best work.

I first saw Do The Ring Thing as a teenager in a high school film class. It's one of my favourite movies. A few weeks ago On Animation posted a really interesting analysis of how Spike Lee told the film's story using cinematic language.

I really need to see this again sometime soon.

Monday Morning Inspiration: Bryn Oh

Bryn Oh is a virtual artist/avatar inside the online world of Second Life (photo credit: )

Lately, I've been really intrigued by the work of Bryn Oh, one of a number of ground-breaking artists who are creating virtual art inside Second Life (SL). Bryn Oh creates steampunk-inspired statues and three-dimensional environments that are really well-thought out and designed to make you deeply engage with them. If you spend some time exploring her work you're often rewarded with a story, a poem, or other special, secret hidden surprises.

One of the most interesting things about Bryn Oh is that she isn't real. She's a sort of "ghost artist"; the online avatar of a Canadian oil painter. Yet despite not being "real", Bryn Oh is increasingly gaining notice online that is totally separate from her creator, who prefers to remain anonymous. A book featuring Bryn Oh's work has already been published (Bryn Oh and the Tinies by Aiko Aichi and Ritva Nybacka) and there is even a Bryn Oh photo pool on Flickr where fans of her work post photos.

I never completely bought in to the hype about Second Life, but seeing work like Bryn Oh's makes me think that just as Friendster paved the way for Facebook, SL is blazing a trail for some sort of future online interactive virtual world where all sorts of things - including puppetry - will be transformed and reinvented in ways we can't possibly imagine.

If you're already a Second Life user, you can see Bryn Oh's work for yourself by visiting Immersiva. Non-SL users can watch Bryn Oh's Machinima videos of her work on Blip.tv (don't miss Ferrisquito, which is my personal favourite).

Tuesday Morning Inspiration: A Visit to Roro Art

RoRo Art makes all kinds of sock-related awesomeness, including sock puppets.

RoRo Art - a previous source of inspiration on PuppetVision - was recently featured on Steven and Chris, a popular daytime talk show here in Canada. In the segment (it kicks in at the 23 minute mark in the video), the show visited the studio of RoRo's proprietor Robin Polfus so she could demonstrate how she makes sock monkeys.

Robin is one of the world's best sock monkey makers and makes all kinds of sock-related things, including sock monkeys, sock T-shirts, sock puppets and custom makes any kind of sock animal you her customers can imagine. She's also a really good puppeteer too, so you know she's good people.

Family Day Inspiration: Coraline

Coraline maybe just be the best 3D film ever made.

It's the long Family Day weekend in most of Canada (and President's Day for my American friends). If you're still looking for something to do with your family I highly recommend going to see Coraline, preferably in 3D if you can. Coraline has been a source of inspiration here a couple of times before (see previous posts here and here) and much has already been written in the blogosphere about how wonderful it is.

Personally, what I really like best about it is that it's the first movie written by Neil Gaiman that actually feels like a Neil Gaiman movie. I've been really fascinated by Coraline's filmmaking process too. The AV Club has a great interview with Coraline's brilliant director Henry Selick. There is a also a lot of the intricate, handcrafted work from the film popping up online. Check out the work of miniature knitter Althea Crome, who made Coraline's ridiculously tiny clothes and sculptor Damon Bard, who has pictures of the maquettes he made for the film on his web site www.bardsculpturestudio.com.

Update: Over at Cartoon Brew Amid was kind enough to put together a playlist of videos shot at Coraline production artists panel at Gallery Nucleus last week in L.A.

23/2/09 Update: Drawn has put up a great post containing links to the work of several more fantastic artists who contributed to Coraline.

Monday Morning Inspiration: Scott McCloud and Family

Scott McCloud explains his “four tribes” theory of comics at the TED conference.

Scott McCloud is one of my heroes. I was considering getting out of puppetry altogether back in early 2003 when I read his book Reinventing Comics and discovered his Morning Improv Blog (sadly, no longer updated). When I first read his arguments about the traditional difficulties cartoonists faced and how the internet could transform comics by opening up all kinds of creative opportunities for cartoonists I felt he could have just as easily been talking about puppeteers, and that was one of the things that led to PuppetVision.

TED recently put online a video of a talk Scott did that explains some of his theories about comics. It's a little short (TED only gives speakers 17 minutes to talk), but a great example of what a great presenter Scott is. You can also check out Scott on The Sound of Young America podcast.

Brilliance seems to run in the McCloud family. Not only was Scott's Dad a scientist, but his daughter Sky seems to be a chip off the old McCloud block. I also really enjoy reading Scott's wife Ivy's blog.

Special thanks to the always-helpful C.B. for not only sending this in, but introducing me to Scott's work in the first place about six years ago!

Monday Morning Inspiration: 50 Incredible Stop Motion Videos

Watch 50 incredible stop motion videos, compiled by the good folks at Smashing Magazine.

Smashing Magazine has put together a fantastic list of 50 incredible stop motion videos. My favourites from the list include Human Tetris, Sia - Breathe Me and the previously-blogged Process Enacted. I also thought that the Super Mario Bros. 3 Lego animation was very cool, but it's not actually stop motion (the video's description explains how it was faked).

Monday Afternoon Inspiration: Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

Canadian animator Michel Gagné is adapting his Insanely Twisted Shadow Puppets as a video game (image ©2008 Shadow Planet Productions LLC).

I think I first mentioned Michel Gagné's Insanely Twisted Shadow Puppets way back in 2005. They were originally a series of shadow puppet-inspired interstitials originally created for Nickelodeon, but now Michel and top-notch crew of developers are hard at work on a video game adaptation called Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet! You can watch the Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet trailer and read more about it on Michel Gagné's web site.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is tentatively scheduled for release in mid-2009.

Monday Morning Inspiration: Interview with Pixar’s Andrew Stanton

Wall-E director Andrew Stanton recently had an in-depth chat with Creative Screenwriting Magazine.

Creative Screenwriting Magazine recently posted an exclusive audio interview with the director of Wall-E, Pixar's Andrew Stanton that makes for a great listen. The Creative Screenwriting Magazine podcast has a bunch more of these that are definitely worth checking out.

Via the Disney Blog.

Monday Morning Inspiration: Incredible Full-Scale Star Destroyer

Some seriously dedicated Star Wars fans have built an incredible full-scale Star Destroyer set for the fan film Tydirium.

This morning's inspiration was going to be an amazing 60,000-Piece Lego Star Wars Hoth Diorama (complete with LED lights!), but never mind that. Who wants a Star Wars diorama when you can build a full-scale Star Destroyer interior for yourself instead? This incredible set was built for a long-in-development German Star Wars fan film called Tydirium.

Links via Gizmodo and Fan Cinema Today.