Rival Schools » Animation

Flash…Back

alf — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:12:53 +0000

Most of my work is done with Flash, I teach Flash, I breathe Flash, I am Flash. So here I am sitting at my desk at the Rival Schools wondering what will be the future Flash.

Steve Jobs said:
“Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.”

So if you take Flash out of the equation does the Flash guy die?

Perhaps, or maybe he’s morphing into Superman. I believe Adobe needs to rethink or even translate Flash into HTML5. Thank God for me, I am not just a Flash Designer. I believe my title is “Señor Interactive Developer”. What does that mean? I make things, digital things, things that are interactive. If HTML5 or Flash Redux is the future, I am comfortable with that. One of the things that characterize Rival Schools is “Versatility”.

Lalala and Peace out.

Music and the Mind

dave — Fri, 28 May 2010 18:06:37 +0000

We’re currently working on a project for RIZ MC, a London based rapper / actor whose new album MICroscope melds together the conscious and subconscious, the government and the resistance, the music and the mind. It all takes place in a dark shadowy underground government agency – whose sole purpose is to investigate and document human neurological responses to different musical sequences. HEAVY DUTY AWESOMENESS.

Produced and Written by Swarm. Directed, Designed and Animated by Rival Schools.

www.RizMC.com/lab

Bio-rad gets Whimsy

roy — Tue, 25 May 2010 05:48:30 +0000

Earlier on this year we put together an video that told the story of Bio-rad’s history. The brief was to use a timeline to show the evolution of their products as a response to the needs of their customers.

Our first thought - it’s about time that the electrophoresis business saw a little more whimsy. To us, there isn’t any point in making people watch things they don’t want to watch. The folks at Bio-Rad, being the excellent clients that they are, agreed. The result was a successful exploration of design and storytelling. And it’s fun, too.

The original timeline concept request from the client took to new heights in revealing Bio-Rad’s achievements. If I were to push it a bit, I’d say it’s a classic retelling of the hero’s journey, except with a timeline pointer as the hero.

Proxipedia – Technical Animations

roy — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:43:27 +0000

Here are some sweet 3D animations made by proxonic for their medical and scientific animation project, “Proxipedia“.

This Neigbourhood Is Boring – An Emotional Experiment

roy — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:56:11 +0000

I just started up an album on Vimeo called “Emotional Experiments“. Neil was talking about starting one up and I’ve been itching to shoot and edit my own videos for a while. But as we all know, committing time to any self-motivated project can be tough to do sometimes.

It isn’t a masterpiece, but its an exercise on what I can shoot, edit, composite, color-correct and encode in about 4-5 hours. I didn’t use the steadycam, so the footage is pretty shaky. Shot on an HVX200 and used Final Cut, After Effects and Motion.

Check it out. I added a little surprise.

Cinema 4D Music and Motion Test

roy — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:48:17 +0000

Here are a couple motion tests I did a while back using Maxon Cinema 4D. I’ve been using C4D whenever I need to dive into building anything that requires 3D rendering or animation. I love the program and it’s been fairly easy to pick up due to the fantastic GUI. The star of the show has got to be the stacking layer system, allowing users to easily add modifiers, shaders, properties, etc to objects and keep track of them through the intuitive tree view.

Puma Urban Motion "Cinematic" Mini-Game Finally to Market.

dave — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:53:57 +0000

After 6 months since we sent out our Goldmaster for duplication, I’m proud to announce the Puma Urban Motion Mini Game is finally released to the European markets. Make sure to grab your promotional copy along with a bottle of Puma Urban Motion Fragrance at your nearest retail store.

Agency: Maxx Marketing
Client: Puma
Creative / Production : Rival Schools
Choreography: Kim Sato / Project Soul Productions

Nice Type on Vimeo

roy — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:39:47 +0000

Nice Type is a collection of videos on vimeo that was created by Matthew Buchanan. Great set of animations that range from title animations to student work.

Live at Siggraph

roy — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:39:01 +0000

Currently at the Vancity Theatre enjoying the intro part of the presentation. It’s the presentation for Watchmen Revealed brought by Siggraph. The just mentioned the OperaBot contest and how to enter. Great place to promote a contest geared towards animators of all types. Can’t wait for the panel to start!

OperaBOT Animation Contest

roy — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:24:08 +0000

The Vancouver Opera is doing an online animation contest called “OperaBot”. Rival Schools did the character design for the OperaBot mascot and also has the opportunity to participate as a member of the judges panel for this contest. I must say that it is a great honor for us to be on the same panel with representation from Pixar, Bardel, EA and Rainmaker.

The contest has already started, so you can start submitting for it. The last day for submission is November 1, 2009. The prizes are great and well worth the exposure if you’re into animation.