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Valerie Pirson - Pretty Cool People Interviews

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 05:21:21 -0500

There's no stopping the tidal wave of digital animation coming at us on the web, in the cinemas, and on tv. But there's also a counter movement (if you can call it that) of animators who use old school animation techniques, like stop-motion. Stop motion animation is the "slow food" of animation. It's hands-on, physical and magical. But also a lot of hard work and very time consuming. One of the rising stars of the new generation of stop motion animation directors is Valerie Pirson, born in 1981. She was "discovered" by Michel Gondry - one of the innovators of the visual language of music videos of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Gondry is probably most famous for his highly imaginative promos for Björk, in which he often combined live action and stop motion animation. When Gondry saw Valerie's graduation animation film Pistache, he liked it so much, he asked her to work on the The Science of Sleep - his second feature. The film is laden with original animation sequences that are a joy to watch. Valerie created the animations for “Stephane TV”, the imaginary TV show of the protagonist. “Michel Gondry gave me carte blanche. He just outlined the story,” notes Valerie, who was still in school, about to complete her degree course in Visual and Graphic Arts at the National School of Decorative Arts in Paris, Ensad, when she embarked on Gondry's project. Sounds like a best-case scenario for any young animator. Gondry also introduced Valerie to Partizan, the French agency that produces music videos and commercials. We spent a day with Valerie in Paris and filmed her at her studio, where she gave us a peek at the animation process. And we followed her to a meeting with clients at the Partizan headquarters. Watch 'Pistache' on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=Gm-jLxrbai4 Pretty Cool Crew: Commissioning Editor for SubmarineChannel/Sound: Geert van de Wetering, Director/Interview/Editing: Ben De Loenen, Camera: Paul de Heer.

An Evening with Michel Gondry and Friends film

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:00:04 -0400

This film was created by and edited in camera by Michel Gondry for the launch event of his new DVD, Michel Gondry 2: More Videos (before and after DVD 1). As the theater lights went down the audience got to see themselves on the big screen (as shot by Michel a few minutes earlier). The event was part of the Flux’s Cinema Tuesdays series at Nike Sportswear at the Montalbán Theater in Hollywood on Tuesday, April 14th. The evening included a screening of videos, Q&A with Gondry, live music jam with Jon Brion, Sebastian Steinberg, Seth Rogen, Mia Doi Todd and DJ set by Mathieu Schreyer. More info: http://flux.net/an-evening-with-michel-gondry-and-friends

Angelfish

Thu, 29 May 2008 17:58:28 -0400

Buy this song here! Music, video, effects and CG animation by Christian Miller (AKA Twilite Minotaur) with additional cinematography by Roberto Angel. Cast (in order of appearance): Mjrmajor - The Writer Christian Miller - The Modeler Nicholas Tilinghast - The Captain

Michel Gondry on Tilzy.TV

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:52:55 -0400

Josh Cohen of Tilzy.TV talks with Michel Gondry about the sweded videos he watches online and what people are watching on their computers in France.

Synesthesia Guitar Hero Version

Mon, 26 May 2008 23:14:14 -0400

Music by: Junk Magic (me on guitar and post) Video by: Christian Miller AKA Twilite Minotaur http://myspace.com/junkmagic Music by: Junk Magic (me on guitar and post) Video by: Christian Miller AKA Twilite Minotaur The video was inspired in part by the work of V.S. Ramachandran, Henry Markram, Jerry Edelman, Christof Koch, Douglas Hofstadter, and David Chalmers, among others. Synesthesia (from the Greek roots syn, meaning "together," and aisthesis, or "perception") is a condition in which otherwise normal people experience the blending of senses. For example, a synesthete might see "3" as blue, "4" as yellow, "5" as red, or see certain colors when hearing musical tones.

Rosie Perez on Tilzy.TV

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:52:55 -0400

Josh Cohen of www.Tilzy.TV talks with Rosie Perez about Michel Gondry, crazy people on the internet, and if she'd be online if she was just beginning her career now.

The Inside Reel: Episode 1 Spring 2008

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:37:44 -0400

IR goes behind he scenes with the cast of Atonement, put the spotlight on legendary director Francis Ford Coppola, get the buzz on Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind, and head to the Caribbean for the Barbados International Film Festival.

hipotecas

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:43:32 -0400

An animation I did a few years ago. Nico from Boolab (AABLAND in those days) shot the lego houses - in reverse and played backwards - When i showed the concept one of our designers, he said "Michel Gondry". I hadn’t heard of him before but his video for the White Stripes is worth checking out. I think he had a bigger budget than we did. I remember seeing some Lego TV ads in the 80's (I think) where they created a dinosaur and other figures all animated by hand - stop motion without CGI - That's where I stole the idea. Oh, I did this music but it was replaced with a professional soundtrack for the final. If it seems a little slow in parts, it's because this was intended to be used by a salesman and he had to fit his pitch in the spaces.