This is my favourite example of reverse augmented reality gathered in my research so far…

APPARATI EFFIMERI Tetragram for Enlargment from Apparati Effimeri on Vimeo.

Our societal Coulrophobia–the fear of clowns–continues around the Carousel, an epic maximalist time-slice short from Adam Berg to showcase Philips new Cinema 21:9 televisions. Distilling a modish SWAT team/clown melée (reminiscent of Batman: The Dark Knight, and reminding me of John Woo’s Hard Boiled), this showcase short offers a masterclass in sensationalist micro-cinema.

Even more impressive is the smoothly executed Philips micro-site which has an interactive video that includes embedded hotspots where the director, DoP, and VFX supervisor give insights into the production.

Time slice has been around for a while, but Berg manages to make it so much more than a technical demonstration. Kudos must go to Philips for being far-sighted enough to not craft naff branding into the piece, letting it stand in its own right, and so take the reflected glory from the fine execution.

More info at Stink.

Congratulations to Smith & Foulkes who’ve just been nominated for the 2009 Best animated short Oscar for This Way Up. You have the opportunity to see the film as a free download from iTunes as part of a Sundance Film Festival tie-in until 25 January.

I’ve been a huge fan of the output of Nexus Productions and Smith & Foulkes (since their Vehicle days), since featuring their work in the early days of onedotzero. The artfully animated comedy short is a Burtonesque crowdpleaser.

Obama ’08 – Vote For Hope from MC Yogi on Vimeo.

Archangel‘s How To Lose Your Best Friend by Director Eduardo Benchoam through the Guatamalan-based Colectiva arts production company.

Refreshing how a simple idea done right can add some zest to a lo-fi, rough around the edges, video: a simple interactive site allows you to rearrange and follow five characters – remixing the video yourself in a satisfyingly easy and immediate way.

• Linear version | Interactive version

[Via Promonews]

Sans Soleil, Asprovalta, music video from Jonathan Howells on Vimeo.

Synecdoche is:

• a term denoting a part of something is used to refer to the whole thing, or
• a term denoting a thing (a “whole”) is used to refer to part of it, or
• a term denoting a specific class of thing is used to refer to a larger, more general class, or
• a term denoting a general class of thing is used to refer to a smaller, more specific class, or
• a term denoting a material is used to refer to an object composed of that material.

CR Blog has an exclusive first-look at maxi-promo/short film for The Cinematic Orchestra, directed by Up the Resolution. Poignant, beautifully shot short film hybrid. Elegiac memory fragments, punctuated by black fade lacunae.

We were initially approached by Vez, commissioning on behalf of Ninja Tune, to submit two separate animated treatments for The Cinematic Orchestra tracks, To Build a Home and Breathe.

We’d worked with Vez and Ninja Tune before on the promo for Coldcut track, Sound Mirrors, and that video persuaded them we’d be right to pitch something on these tracks which have a similar mood and atmosphere. The difference was a much tighter schedule, and whilst Sound Mirrors was done in down time over a year, both these videos had to be delivered in a fraction of the time so a different approach was called for. We also needed to come up with something different stylistically so we wouldn’t repeat ourselves; working on such low budget six minute promos can only ever really be a labour of love, but they can also be good opportunities to suggest new styles or ideas to clients who are receptive to taking chances.

Nagi Noda RIP.

Would have loved to get her work in Remixing Music Video, but things didn’t come together. Glad I programmed some of her earlier work in the UK though, bringing it to a new geography/audience. She had a tough time as a female creative director in Japan, but managed to break through and create some amazing shorts, and music videos.

[via Tokyo Mango]

Am wondering why more music videos don’t use this milieu, it feels like an area ripe as a visual playground. Jonze sets the bar high as ever, but there’s still plenty of opportunity to make a mark here. Nearest I’ve seen in this territory recently is Roel Wouters with zZz is playing: Grip, which is a live trampoline shoot.