Recent News
El Tabador, the short, dark and handsome savior of cell phone customers, has returned to spread the message of Koodo Mobile to the masses of Canada. Bent Image Lab and TAXI 2 have once again brought the mischievous Mexican wrestler to life with two new adventures that spread the word of Koodo’s superior cell phone services. Both spots came from the creative minds of TAXI 2’s Tal Wagman (Copywriter) and Craig Ferguson (Art Director) and co-directed by Bent Image Lab’s Rob Shaw and Solomon Burbridge.
Bent Image Lab recently cemented Visual FX Artist Jalal Jemison as its new head of compositing and lead colorist. Jemison whose previous work includes numerous Hollywood projects such as “Pineapple Express”, “Borat” and most currently “Get Him to the Greek” and the documentary “How to Die in Oregon” brings his mastery of post production tools and techniques to the world of commercials, television programs, music videos and motion graphics.
Bent Image Lab’s David Daniels just returned from Anima Mundi 2011 – the huge international animation festival in Brazil where he was a featured special guest, invited to teach classes in his unique animation inventions and to be honored with a retrospective of his career work.
Bent’s Carlos Lascano recently finished an emotionally powerful video for Amnesty International’s 50th Anniversary entitled Standing Up for Freedom. Produced in Prague, Lascano and team created a visual masterpiece utilizing multiple forms of animation and technical methods to achieve a metaphorical story of freedom over oppression. The video tells the story of a morbid, brick wall blocking all access to sunlight and freedom while animated characters play out war-torn scenes across its dark, barren surface. A red carnation, inspired by the Portugal’s Carnation Revolution in the 1970’s, is passed from the heroes of each scene to the next. The moving score was produced by Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe.
Portland, Oregon’s creative power house Bent Image Lab recently welcomed award-winning Director and Animator Stefan Nadelman into their fold. Nadelman whose recent animation work includes commercials for Nike Red Write the Future, The Ghetto Film School, the documentary American Teacher and the film Connected: A Declaration of Interdependence brings to Bent his imaginative style in motion graphics, music videos and animation.
Join Bent Image Lab’s David Daniels as he teaches the finer art of his invention, Strata Cut animation, at the Anima Mundi International Animation Festival! David’s master class will be held in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday, July 20th and Sao Paulo on Thursday, July 28th where he will discuss the mind bending world of Strata Cut. David will also participate in the festivals’ “Animated Chat” on Thursday, July 21st in Rio and again on Friday, July 29th in Sao Paulo where his innovative body of work from over the last 20 years will be showcased. If you are heading to Anima Mundi in Rio or Sao Paolo check out the class and the chat!
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Bent Image Lab has teamed up with agency Borders, Perrin, Norrander to create an emotionally uplifting and visually dynamic 30 second TV spot Plywood for the Oregon Lottery. This project focuses on the important impact lottery dollars can have on the delicate economy of a small town.
What’s Wrong With Virginia, the new film written/directed by Dustin Lance Black and with titles and Special FX by Bent Image Lab, was highlighted in an article in The New York Times about the tradition of personal and emotional films premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Dustin Black’s “…Virginia” stars Ed Harris and Jennifer Connelly. It’s opening titles and Special FX/Composting was done right here at BENT Image Lab. Dustin Lance Black previously won an oscar for his writing on Gus Van Sant’s, “Milk.” Read the full post
When Matt Briggs came to Bent for support on his environmental documentary “Deep Green,” Bent’s Executive Producer Ray Di Carlo didn’t hesitate to get behind his cause.
And Now, both the full length documentary and one of Bent’s animated shorts produced in concord with the film have won great honors at the 7th annual Artivist Film Festival.
Check it! Bent’s newest episode in the ad campaign for Tetra Pak has been released! Tetra Pak is a company producing drink cartons using renewable resources and sustainable harvesting practices. Join Bob the Rabbit as he gives a tour of Tetra Pak’s resource acquisition location to a pack of environmentally minded mammals (No, they’re not human).
The official music video for Modest Mouse’s, “The Whale Song,” has had over 370 thousand views on the two sites combined. We want more! Produced right here on Bent’s stage by the amazing artists who inhabit our studio every day, “Whale Song” is a testament to imaginative filmmaking and the incredible ambition to create lasting imagery. Utilizing a myriad of techniques, the music video marries live action footage of Isaac Brock with stop-motion animation, CG, motion graphics, high-speed footage and more. Check it out for the first time, or the third. You’re sure to see something you missed the first time.
Strategy Magazine has named five brands for the honor of “Brand of the Year.” Koodo’s “El Tabador” campaign, produced by Bent Image Lab in conjunction with Taxi 2, was named as one of these five winning brands. Watch the Campaign and Read the article Here.
Studio Daily recently interviewed Rob Shaw to ask about Bent’s new spots for the canadian cell phone company Koodo, what it’s like to work with a 4-inch tall wrestler, and what projects are in Rob Shaw’s future.
Rob Shaw’s short film, “The Machine” takes home the Jury Prize from the 2010 Atlanta International Film Festival for BEST ANIMATED SHORT.
“What’s Wrong With Virginia,” a new feature film that Bent created the titles sequence and visual effects for, makes its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Back in 2007, Creative Director Dilly Gent was in charge of commissioning environmental short films for Al Gore’s Live Earth project. Wind was among the 60 chosen from more than 500 film concepts. Recently Dilly mentioned a few of the films for that project, including mine, in Videophiles, a curated collection of video clips on the NYT Culture blog.
UPDATE (March 4, 2010): See Rob’s interview on the Channel Frederator Blog.
Channel Frederator is what happens when one of the guys who came up with Comedy Central creates an internet channel dedicated to edgy new animation. (It also goes by Cartoon Central.)
Frederator’s a regularly updated, no holds barred, indie animation nerd fest and we love it. The “channel” works half like a TV station, four shows with distinct subject ranges, and half like Youtube, with all site’s shows available for streaming and sharing.
This week Frederator Show features Rob Shaw’s “Machine”.
We recommend checking out the whole site. The aptly named — and not worksafe – Cartoon Hangover show is great for giggle…
“Walter Ate a Peanut,” a film by Bent Director Robin Willis, is part of the lineup of the Bagdad Theater’s January 19th NW Filmmakers Night.
Doors open at 6 p.m. and the film starts at 7 p.m.
UPDATE (January 7, 2010): “I Exist” made number 3 on Shoot Magazine’s list of Top Spots of the Year.
Shoot Magazine’s editors have chosen “Unbelievable,” a Diet Dr Pepper spot we did with Deutsch LA , as one of 15 finalists for their Spot of the Year honor. Now it’s up to a public vote to decide the winner. Click here to vote.
Read on to watch the spot below.
Rob Shaw’s short is nestled in among the Kayne’s picks in music, fashion, architecture and design.
Have a look: Rob Shaw’s “The Machine” on Kayne’s blog.
The Portland Advertising Federation recognized two of our projects at this year’s Rosey Awards. We also took home a prize in the Advertising & Design Club of Canada’s annual awards.
Looks like the Verizon spot we did with McCann-Erickson tapped into some strong feelings in the social media world. “Misfits,” a :30 spot that sees a smart phone end up on the Island of Misfit Toys because of 3G issues, quietly went up on YouTube last week.
347,000 views and 370 comments later, it turns out Rudolph resonates as strongly as ever with audiences, and people REALLY care about their cell phone service.
Bent now has a presence on Vimeo. Excitting! Enjoy the comments and embedding features of the site.
Jun Seo Hahm’s Karnival series continues to collect accolades through festival aqcceptance, this time into the ever-intriguing Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival.
BENT cleans up at The Bessies (Canada’s big advertising awards) with its shorts for the British Columbia Dairy Foundation.
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BENT’s live-action director Robin Willis’ film, “Walter Ate a Peanut,” has been included in the online section of 2009′s Cannes Film Festival.
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Mr. Barsamian is a kinetic artist whose work, when seen in person, is so jarring that one can begin to question the laws of physics that we have known as truth since very early in life. He is an animator whose work is not confined to a screen, but exists in the real world, in all three dimension where you can stand right next to it (But don’t touch).
