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And now for some animation

Here are some interesting links related to animation - not 3D animation in games: animation as a visual medium.

  • Darkstrider.net has a great gallery of clips from Eastern European animation. I think most people are like me and may have heard of Jan Svankmajer (who is not even found on this page) or may have seen some strange cartoons as a child growing up in Western Europe. This is mind-blowing stuff, reminding me how artifical limitations on subject matter and visual style can be.

    Be sure to check out the clips from The Golem in the sidebar, which use a style I have never before seen.

  • If you liked that, you may like the Quay Brothers. Here is one of their animations. If you're old enough to have seen the first few years of MTV Europe, you will probably be familiar with their short films, as MTV used them as interstitials.

    Be sure to check out Institute Benjamenta, their first 'live action' movie, unless incomprehensibility offends you. I recommend watching it late at night. (I just noticed they did a sequence for 'Frida'.)

  • I quite liked "Moo!", an animated movie by Cyriak. Slightly disturbing, but very zany.

  • Someone has gone through the trouble of assembling the original illustrated catalog of ACME products. It reminds me of Cliff Hanger, a game released in 1986 by New Generation Software for the ZX Spectrum and other, lesser machines. Here is a video of the Commodore 64 version.

    When I was working on casual games at JoWooD Vienna in 2002, we seriously considered doing a remake of some sort. In the end we didn't, but it did have some influence on Neighbors From Hell.

  • Cartoon Modern is a blog and a book about the visual style and design in animation from the fifties. I love this style.

  • Bruce Bickford. Mind-blowing. Goes well with marihuana. Here is the trailer for 'Monster Road', a documentary about his work and his life. Lots of videos can be found on YouTube, especially of his work with Frank Zappa. (Thanks to Michael B. for introducing me to Mr. Bickford's work.)

(Some links via Boing Boing's web zen.)