Postmodern Times is a new series of short animated films presenting “ideas about global consciousness and techniques for social and ecological transformation.” The first episode, “Toward 2012,” introduces the project, explaining concepts from Daniel Pinchbeck’s book, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, in the author’s own voice. It’s an unlikely visual delight, combining motion graphics with performance capture and live-action in an inventive graphic package.

Future segments will focus on shamanism, sustainability, alternative energy systems, the Mayan Calendar, quantum physics and synchronicity and human sexuality, and a host of other subjects. The director of the series is Joao Amorim, who works out of Curious Pictures in NYC. The Postmodern series is developed by Amorim, Daniel Pinchbeck, Nikos Katsaounis and Fellipe Barbosa.

Like the Yamamura short I just posted about, Amorim’s Postmodern Times is a work of animation that aims for a purpose beyond entertainment. Don’t get me wrong, entertainment is a calling of the highest order, yet the art of animation is far too often stereotyped as a medium that is capable of only providing cheap laughs and nothing else. As filmmakers like Yamamura and Amorim demonstrate, animation (in all its many forms) is one of our most powerful and accessible forms of contemporary communication. It’s exciting to see filmmakers recognizing the medium’s potential and taking full advantage of its expressive qualities.

I was half-expecting to see something like HornyManatee.com when I clicked on the site WhaleLove.org, but it turns out that it’s a legit Japanese site by Greenpeace about saving whales. Even better, the site has a new 2-minute animated short by the hand-drawn animation master Koji Yamamura (Mt. Head, The Old Crocodile). The piece, entitled Man and Whale, is a simple elegantly told story about a school principal and his students who help rescue a beached whale. There’s also an interview with Yamamura in which he talks about why he agreed to make the film:

Yes, I am interested in environmental issues including global warming. But they are not simple problems. When human beings live and act, you use electricity, and that’s ruining the environment. I try to save electricity at home. Also, when you think “what else can you do to solve the problem?� I thought the best thing I can do is to convey the message by making animation films for that purpose.

(via Michael Sporn’s Splog)

Process Enacted is an inventive student film by Jordan Greenhalgh created at Rochester Institute of Technology as his sophomore final. The short can be viewed on his website TheChaseFactory.com. A few technical details about the film from its director:

I used Polaroid 600 film to capture all of my imagery. During the development phase of each image the Polaroids were manipulated to create lines and shapes as well as pulling some emulsion completely off. After shooting all of the Polaroids (987 to be exact) I re-shot them in black limbo with a Canon digital SLR. The end result is my film Process Enacted. There is no digital compositing or computer trickery … just what was in front of the lens.

Here’s a very short but eye-catchingly ambitious piece of Flash animation: Frenopatic Parade by Santiago Agustí. Agustí tells me that until recently he was working at the Spanish animation studio Keytoon, but he’s taking time off to raise his new child and managed to complete this piece in his spare time. Check out more of his work at Saponia.com or his blog.

I’d heard good things about Claude Chabot’s Apnée but unfortunately missed its screening at Platform. Luckily the film is posted online over HERE. While the film is little more than a graphic gimmick, it’s a well done piece proving that even photorealistic CG can be effective when applied in the proper artistic context. Also worth noting: it’s been pointed out that Apnée bears more than a passing conceptual resemblance to a 2001 animated short: Daniele Lunghini and Diego Zuelli’s Le Foto Dello Scandalo. You can judge for yourself by watching that film on YouTube.

What if Hitler were a cupcake?

For those who were wondering why they don’t make World War II propaganda cartoons like they used to, that lunatic luchadore cartoonist from South of the Border, Makinita (Andres Silva), provides an answer:

I love the work that came out of Zagreb Film in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. These years were responsible for some of the funkiest and most inventive cartooning produced by any animation outfit. The Zagreb animators managed to break every rule in the book, largely because they didn’t know the rules. It was a bunch of artists experimenting fearlessly and without inhibition. Sometimes they failed, sometimes they were successful, but the results are almost always fascinating.

Boris Kolar is among my favorite designer/directors at Zagreb. I’ve seen a lot of his work but had never run across Woof, Woof! (1964) until I saw this copy posted onto YouTube. As was customary with many of the studio’s shorts, a single artist (Kolar) directed, designed and animated the entire film (the credits also list an animation assistant). Also like many Zagreb films, Woof, Woof!’s daring visuals are complemented by an equally trippy sound design. It’s a fine effort that still holds up well. And if you like this one, don’t miss Vlado Kristl’s Don Quixote (1961) and Nedeljko Dragić’s Tup Tup (1972).

Have a happy Fourth of July.