Today’s Fringe Fridays brings us to a dark and dusty room through the medium of stop-motion animation. The animator definitely owes a debt to such stalwarts as Jan Svankmajer and the Brothers Quay, but he brings something new to genre through his use of television clips. It’s a painstaking process, one that instills the movie with an unsettling atmosphere.
One of my favorite stories as a kid was ‘Peter and the Wolf.’ I had one of those tape-and-book sets of Prokofiev’s masterpiece that I would listen to, and read, over and over again. Twenty-plus years later, I’m pretty excited to catch these sneak-preview/making-of videos for a stop-motion version of the story set to premiere in March, on PBS. It looks marvelous:
So, maybe the the Super Bowl is all about the ads. Well, the awesome folks at GOOD Magazine have brought us another one of their amazingly great transparencies, this time taking on Sunday’s ad extravaganza. Check out what they have to say about the business of the ‘Bowl. Then tune in to Yahoo! Video beginning Sunday afternoon, for a giant-sized dose of instant commercial replays.
Just what is it that makes something truly worthy of Fringe Fridays? I ask myself that question often (at least weekly, usually on a Thursday). And honestly, I don’t know. What I do know is that the work of Impactist is truly fringe-tastic. Impatctist is the work of husband-and-wife team Kelly Meador and Daniel Elwing. They create commercials and music videos in a striking variety of styles. Check out what they’ve uploaded to us and then check out the amazing volume of work on their website.
The Type Writer is a beautiful homage to the Remington Steamliner:
Leo’s Song is a tale of music, aliens, and three-dimensional geometry set to music:
I’m really proud to have them on Yahoo! Video. If you like what you see, make sure to rate and review their work by clicking the links above each video. And did I mention the amazing quicktime videos on their website?
Here we are, another Friday, another fringe-y film. When I look for content for Fringe Fridays, I dream of finding something as weird, funny, and well-animated as what I found today. Be warned, my friends, this one is weird. If you’re at all squeamish about bugs, blood, or marital melodrama, you shouldn’t watch it.
I wish I knew more about the animator, Robin Fuller. But the film did win the prestigious Slamdance Film Festival’s prize for animation. And it’s the perfect video for the day before Edgar Allen Poe’s birthday.