I Have PSD. Clever Short Film Shows How To Photoshop Your Life.

If you use Photoshop as frequently as I do, you find yourself wishing you could use the same set of software tools to edit, undo or re-do many aspects of your own life. Undoing a crazy night, editing blemishes on your skin, altering the color of your wardrobe, even lightening your over-toasted bread.





Julia Vakser Zeltser and the folks over at Hyperakt did just that with their fun "I have PSD" short film, which shows what it would be like to apply Photoshop tools to your real life.





Photoshop dexterity (PSD) is a skillset acquired by proficient users of Adobe Photoshop, the world's most ubiquitous digital tool for creating visual ideas. Qualities of PSD include supernatural powers of imagination and an overwhelming desire to constantly make the world more beautiful. PSD affects people from different walks of life. In fact, there is a high probability that you have PSD.

CREDITS
Hyperakt
Julia Vakser Zeltser, screen writer, director, producer
Deroy Peraza, co-director
Jason Lynch, senior designer
Catherine Catanzaro, interactive designer
Eric Fensterheim, junior designer

Friends:
Justin Weinstein, film advisor
BJ Formento, photographer, Formento + Formento, fandf.org
Richeille Formento, stylist, Formento + Formento, fandf.org
David Dimeola, animation, The Brigade, brigade.tv
Joe Beshenkovsky, editor
Shawn James Seymour and Yoshimi Tomida, music, Lullatone, lullatone.com
Joshua Formento, gaffer
Craig Keirce, gaffer
Tyrone Rhabb, grip
Jeremiah Boncha, junior designer

Actors:
Johan Matton, lead actor
Nikki le Villain, Egyptian
Ezili, boa constrictor
Lily la Vamp, pin up girl
Chris, gangsta
Kate Hasting, makeup, French maid

Special Thanks:
Whitney McCleary & Adobe Systems
Lenny Zeltser
Jenna Shapiro

Follow PSD:
twitter.com/​hyperakt
ihavepsd.com
facebook.com/​Photoshop

Stop Motion Laser Burnt Toast For OK Go's Last Leaf Video.

The latest video for OK Go's "Last Leaf" is a lovely and sweet stop motion animated video featuring the illustrations of artist Ge­off Mcfetridge on actual toast.



The charming video was made by burning toast with a laser and shooting still images of each piece of toast. It took 15 still shots for every second of video and 2,430 pieces of toast were used. And if you're wondering.... all 215 loaves of bread were past their sell-by date & rescued from certain disposal for the shoot.



Di­rect­ed by OK Go, Nadeem Mazen and Ali Mo­ham­mad of Serious Business Design. Produced by Shirley Moy­ers, the piece was made in part­ner­ship with Sam­sung NX100 iFn, and Create Your World.


above: Los Angeles quartet OK Go

See more videos by OK go here
An­i­ma­tion art by Ge­off Mcfetridge, Cham­pi­on Stu­dio



Be sure to check out how you can burn your own image on a piece of toast here

What's That Weird Hand Dance Video? Meet Irish Dancers Cleary & Harding.

This wacky and mesmerizing video has been rapidly climbing the viral charts since its debut on YouTube four months ago. A strange song accompanies a man and a woman at a table in front of an oddly decorated wall engaging in a choreographed 'hand dance.'




What is it? Who are these people? If these questions have plagued you like they did me, read on.

  

It turns out that this video, We Speak No Americano, is from Up & Over It, self-described as "Irish Dance for the Post-pop generation." A collaboration between Suzanne Cleary, Peter Harding and Jonny Reed, Up & Over It aims to stretch the concept of Irish Dance to its limits.

 

The duo spent four years with Riverdance, after which they toured with Magic of the Dance where they were quickly appointed artistic directors. They now perform as Up & Over It for live audiences and has created a series of videos of their performances as well as some multimedia films produced by Puck Productions.

Here's a few more of their videos for you.

Cleary & Harding live in Cardiff 2010, Music: Frankmusik - 3 Little Words:




A multimedia production for Up & Over It Spring 2010:




Here's a reel of behind the scenes, outakes and 'bloopers' if you will. Compiled by Johnny reel they call it their "Best Bits" and it really endears you to Suzanne Cleary and Peter Harding:




Up & Over It

Here Lies Love By David Byrne & Fatboy Slim

HERE LIES LOVE by David Byrne & Fatboy Slim

Here Lies Love – A Song Cycle deals with the life of Imelda Marcos, co-ruler of the Philippines in the 70s and 80s, as well as the life of Estrella Cumpas, the woman who raised her.



Through a series of songs written by David Byrne, with musical contributions from Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook), Songs from Here Lies Love presents Imelda Marcos meditating on events in her life, from her childhood spent in poverty and her rise to power to her ultimate departure from the palace.



In particular, the production looks at the relationship between Imelda and a servant from her childhood, Estrella Cumpas, who appeared at key moments in Imelda's life.




To be released April 6th 2010 on Todomundo/Nonesuch Records

“The story I am interested in is about asking what drives a powerful person—what makes them tick? How do they make and then remake themselves? I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be great if—as this piece would be principally composed of clubby dance music—one could experience it in a club setting? Could one bring a ‘story’ and a kind of theater to the disco? Was that possible? If so, wouldn’t that be amazing!”

—DB, from the introduction

The album is available in multiple formats (MP3, FLAC, Apple Lossless, and CD/DVD).




The Band:
David Byrne – guitar, vocals
Joan Almedilla – “Imelda” vocals
Ganda Suthivarakom – “Estrella” vocals
Paul Frazier – bass
Graham Hawthorne – drums
Mauro Refosco – percussion
Thomas Bartlett – keys
Production:
Mark Edwards – Production Manager
Terry Pearson – Sound
Kris Umezawa – Monitor

Contributors:
David Whitehead – Manager
Frank Hendler – Project Coördinator
RZO – Business Management

From Bleak To Beautiful: The American Dollar's 'Anything You Synthesize'. A Time-Lapse Tilt-Shift Changing Landscape.

take a look at this beautiful music video from Dutch studio Onesize for The American Dollar’s “Anything You Synthesize.” One of the first to use the "tilt-Shift" technique, the time lapse video focusies on a changing landscape, from bleak to beautiful, for the band The American Dollar's "Anything You Synthesize" video.



Some screen grabs for you:










As quoted from the production company, Onesize:

•After listening to the song over and over, we came to the conclusion that the track felt like “landscape-music” to us.
•Seasons, mountains, time-lapsed skies, day, night, drama, decay, cinematic, slow-paced, out of the ordinary… to name a few keywords.
•We finally decided to build a looping landscape that would decay during the track. Very simple, but never the less a challenge to us, because we'd simple never done such a thing before.
•A simple camera movement traveling from left to right during the song, and while it travels we see the landscape decaying from a beautiful fresh mountain-view-landscape into a dead, flat desert.
•Also, during this trip we would see all 4 seasons of one year go by, even day and night. So, it actually is a non-linear and a non-chronological time-lapse of a decaying landscape.
•We had split-up the track in 9 pieces, equally in length. Each piece is one loopable landscape, panning from left to right. Then we also cut the song into 4 seasons and in addition, to make it more complex for ourselves, we also needed 3 smooth transitions from day into a short night.
•After preparation we started the actual production. Because of the fact that this was a “personal” Onesize project, we had to work on this during our spare time and in between projects.
•The idea was to add some live action (in-camera) effects, like rain, snow, lens flares, dust, etc. but we ended up with a fully CG production.

Funny thing is, once they were just about done with the piece, they looked at it and decided it worked better in reverse, so now it begins as a decaying landscape that becomes a flourishing one. Either way, it kept me in rapt attention.

CREDITS:
Audio: The American Dollar
Director: Kasper Verweij
Design & Animation: Menno Fokma, Harm van Zon, Reinier Fleas, Heerko Groefsema, Kasper Verweij, Rogier Hendriks
Post: Rogier Hendriks
Production: Onesize

Britney Is Back. She is SOOOO Back.

She may be a mom of questionable capability. A trashy dresser. And have an addictive personality. But she's still one hell of a pop star.


credits:
•The song was written and produced by Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco, released December 2008.
•The music video was directed by Francis Lawrence who previously directed the video for “I’m A Slave 4 U” as well as the 2007 film “I Am Legend”.

Charlotte Gainsbourg: Fine, Fashionable & French.

If you don't know who Charlotte Gainsbourg is by now, it's time you did. Good thing you found your way here.

Getting raves for her recent performance in I'm Not There, with an album (5:55) on many of best of 2007 lists and having already garnered a Cesar Award (the french equivalent to an Oscar), it's time you met this talented beauty.


Above: On the set of "I'm Not There" with director Todd Haynes.

Who is Charlotte Gainsbourg?
Charlotte Gainsbourg (born July 21, 1971) is a French actress and singer. She was born in London, United Kingdom and raised in Paris, France. Her father is Serge Gainsbourg, and her mother is Jane Birkin. She made her motion picture début playing Catherine Deneuve's daughter in the 1984 film Paroles et musique. In 1986, she won a César Award for "Most Promising Actress" for L'effrontée, and in 2000 she won "Best Supporting Actress" for the film La Bûche. In 1994, she made her stage debut in David Mamet's Oleanna at the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Montparnasse. Gainsbourg has sung the title song in three of her films and has released two albums. In 2004, she sang a duet with French pop star Étienne Daho on his single "If". She is married to the French actor and director Yvan Attal, and they have two children, Ben and Alice.

The video below was created during a photo shoot by Peter Lindbergh for Vogue Paris. Charlotte Gainsbourg wears items from Balenciaga’s Fall Winter 2006 collection, styled by Marie-Amélie Sauvé.



The music is the instrumental version of "The songs that we sing", taken from the latest album "5:55" by Charlotte Gainsbourg.

The album team includes Jean-Benoît Dunkel and Nicolas Godin, the two composers of Air; Jarvis Cocker, lead singer of Pulp; and Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck) as producer.

The album 5:55 was released in April of last year in the US and was one of Amazon's top picks for 2007.




Play the song with lyrics here.

mog.com

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Buy the album here.

Beautiful Animated Video for Kwoon's I Lived On The Moon

This lovely animated video by Yannick Puig for Kwoon's first video, 'I Lived On The Moon' has already been viewed by record numbers of people on you tube, myspace and more. Now it's your turn to see it.

In Yannick's own words:
In "I lived on the moon", a father speaks to his son. He explains how was his life on the moon. A place filled with flying snakes, fireflies and three tailed monkeys. A beautiful place, safe and far away from the human culture. A place for imagination, a place in which you'll find the entrance only if you open your mind.






above: The actual lyrics


above: Animator/designer Yannick Puig

See Yannick's Creation of "I Lived On The Moon" complete with storyboards and more here.

Buy the CD here.
Kwoon Music