Screenlife as the Driving Narrative Force of Animation and CGI
Animation is an immense world. It exists solely by virtue of human imagination and creativity. There are countless genres, drawing techniques and ways to tell a fascinating story. But like any other area of human endeavor, new trends are not immune to animation. Therefore, it’s no wonder that artists have been increasingly adopting the screenlife format to share their unique stories. From computer-generated artworks to hand-drawn short films and experimental commercials — screenlife proves to be a very powerful and effective tool that creates a profound impact on the audience.
Lovestreams
This short film by award-winning animator Sean Buckelew was originally conceived and produced as part of the second Late Night Work Club indie animation anthology based on the theme of strangers.
Lovestreams is a touching tale of two net-cross’d lovers in an online chat client one Sunday night in 2002; an ode to a lost age of Internet love. The interfaces of a bygone tech era are scrupulously recreated and hand-animated, which causes a strikingly bright and almost tangible feeling of falling in love with someone you’ve never seen or met. The film attempts to bring the controversial aspects of virtual relationships into the limelight, focusing mainly on the emotional qualities of the subject.
DESCENT
DESCENT is a digital artwork created by artist Peter Burr and programmer Mark Fingerhut, with music by Forma. It is available as a downloadable .exe file, but you can also watch a recording of the program running on author’s desktop.
The creators drew inspiration from both Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s 1562 painting called ‘The Triumph Of Death’ and the 1300s plague, commonly known as ‘The Black Death’. Artists describe their work as a ‘spiraling interdimensional narrative, a meditation on one of humanity’s darkest hours’. While hordes of rats swarm the user’s desktop, DESCENT gives a brief glimpse of a world descending into darkness in times of unrelenting plague. Yet, there is still light at the end of the tunnel, but to see it you must go all the way down the rabbit hole.
The Chase
Smith & Foulkes directing duo in collaboration with cinematographer Oliver Wood (The Bourne Identity Trilogy) have created a dynamic, action-packed spot to showcase the power of Intel’s new Core i5 processor.
Using a breathtaking mix of live-action and animation, the team managed to tell a remarkable story in less than 2 minutes. Filmed in Prague, the video wittily shows an action-movie style chase through a multitude of computer program windows and websites, such as iTunes, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and even Microsoft Office — all on a single computer desktop.
