Influences part 18: TV adverts

I just realised how they made the advert [above] for the Honda Insight (Hybrid) a couple of weeks ago, and it really impressed me, so I've finally decided to post something about some of my favourite TV adverts...

United Airlines: Rose
Created by the amazing Russian paint on glass animator Aleksandr Petrov (The Old Man And The Sea, My Love), I think this is one of his most artistically impressive pieces.
Even though Petrov's films are vibrant and uniquely stunning in equal measure, I think his morphing painterly style works even better in these very short commercials - none more so than in The Night (another United Airlines commercial - shown in the image below)...
This second United Airlines commercial by Petrov is available to view at this website and is located on the right hand side, four pictures from the bottom.

Nike SB: Paul Rodriguez
It's a really simple 30 second advert for the Nike skateboard team, but the effective use of a basic digital/optical effect makes it stand out and live on in my memory.

Miss Dior: Cherie
From the calm summery pastel colour scheme, to the Frenchyness of the song Moi Je Joue (by Brigette Bardot); this whole advert (directed by Sofia Coppola - Lost In Translation), just has a wonderfully beguiling quality to it that I appreciate whenever it is broadcast.

Ladyhawke: self-titled debut album
I love the artwork of Sarah Larnach (Ladyhawke's illustrator), and the music video for Ladyhawke's My Delirium is one of my favourite music videos ever: so this advert (which is basically a 30 second showreel of them both) is, for me, simply stunning!

Honda Accord: Cog
This advert is probably responsible for me beginning to pay so much attention to adverts, and it also inspired my favourite college project, Die Skateboard (which I created for Sculpture during the 1st Year general course at Edinburgh College of Art in 2005/2006).

And finally of course, how could I forget that cheeky wee meerkat?

Influences part 14: Rembrandt

I appreciate the realism of Rembrandt's paintings, and it was a style that I always wanted to achieve with my own work, but while writing my final college essay (in December 2008) I decided that realist painting styles are never as satisfying as the real object, therefore artistic interpretations of reality (such as Impressionism) should provide a more satisfying aesthetic in any visual medium.
Despite this resolution to my essay (which can be applied to all visual mediums including painting, animation, sculpture, computer game graphics...) I still greatly appreciate the realism of Rembrandt's paintings, but it is a different aspect of his work that I have found so influential over the past year - the lighting and colouring.
My favourite element of Rembrandt's work is the strong dark and light contrast in his paintings, which it is something I began incorporating into my own paintings last March. Below is a painting of Scarlett Johansson in Lost In Translation that I made in March 2008. After that painting I tried to incorporate my influences from Rembrandt's work into my animation work, but it never got as far as I would have liked... After creating the painting of Scarlett Johansson I began work on my first major Paint on Glass animation sequence for Johanna Wagner's Masters film The Inner Shape. Below is a still from my Paint on Glass sequence for the film, which I created in black and white over a coloured background. This sequence is not particularly influenced by Rembrandt, but there was going to be a second Paint on Glass sequence showing a close-up of a woman talking to the camera, which I had hoped to create in the style of Rembrandt - however that shot was cancelled during the storyboard stage...

Despite not being able to incorporate my influences from Rembrandt deeper into my animation work, I think that there are a few shots in the storyboards for my graduation film that utilise strong light and dark contrast (which were initially influenced more by The Old Masters than by Film Noir), and which I am trying to keep in the final animation.

Influences part 2: Aleksandr Petrov

Russian animator Aleksandr Petrov is an artist whose work you either know or you don't know: his style is so stunning and unique that it's almost impossible to mistake for anyone else.
He won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film in 1999 with The Old Man And The Sea, and has been nominated for the same award in 1990, 1998, and 2007 for The Cow, Mermaid, and My Love. (He also made a Chirstmas advert for Coca-Cola featuring Santa taking a drink of Coke - but that is his least stunning piece of work!)

Petrov creates his films by painting a frame of animation onto a single pane of glass and then editing the painting with his fingers to create the next frame of animation, and so on, and so on, for about 3 years at a time... The results are astonishing, and if you were to only ever see one piece of animation, I would suggest something by Petrov.

I first heard of Petrov's work last year, but I was instantly charmed by the quality of his painting style (an Impressionistic form of Romantic Realism), the quality of the animation movement, as well as the dynamic camera movements and morphs that occur throughout his films to both condense time and create more interesting transitions between scenes. His films have a brilliant and unique visual style that deserves to be seen by everyone, but I think his commercials are even greater! Pascal Blais Studios in Canada have some of his commercials available for viewing on their website. (Follow this link to their website, click 'Directors' and go to 'Alexander Petrov', then click on the various thumbnails along the bottom to view each astonishing clip - I would particularly recommend the United Airlines The Night clip to the right of the Coke Santa thumbnail).

Check this short clip of Aleksandr Petrov's latest film, My Love (2006), to realise why he is my favourite animator (if not one of my favourite artists).

For those that are interested, here are some of his films available to view on YouTube:
My Love (2006)

The Old Man And The Sea (1999)

And here are some interesting links about Petrov and his work:
Wikipedia entry about Petrov:

AWM article titled: The Old Man And The Sea: Hands Above The Rest?

Article titled: My Love: Animation Urges into Psychology

An interview with Petrov for Animation World Magazine (AWM)

Article in RussiaToday titled: Oscar-winning director reveals secrets of his art

Article in RussiaToday titled: Russian animator up for second Oscar