Wild time-lapse photography of the volcano by Sean Stiegemeier.

(Thanks, Saschka Unseld)

Gut-punchingly intense titles for Gaspar Noé’s Enter The Void, designed by Noé and Tom Kan. Motion graphics, experimental animation, labels as such are superfluous. These titles (music included) are fresh and exciting, and from what I’ve read about the film that follows, perfectly attuned to its tone and mood.

Trailer for Fixed Fluid Fragmented

How do you do something new when you’ve already made your own animated shorts, worked on features and TV shows,, and created comics, illustrated books, video games and toys? For the prolific and creatively restless Michel Gagné, the answer is Fixed Fluid Fragmented, a live performance piece that will debut at Vancouver’s Roundhouse Performance Centre on June 25th. The project was developed in conjunction with composer Barry Guy who will be leading an improvisational music group alongside the animation.

Gagné’s explanation of the idea sounds similar to VJing concepts albeit mixed with a filmmaker’s sensibility. He writes: “I’ve been developing techniques and technology that will go way beyond playing a movie on a screen behind performing musicians. In fact, I will PLAY the animation as if I was playing a musical instrument. I will be creating the final images, live, on stage, interacting with the musicians in a way that, to my knowledge, has never been seen before.”

Tickets go on sale tomorrow at this link. I’m intrigued and wouldn’t miss this if I were anywhere near Vancouver on June 25.

A masterpiece of timing and movement in four letters, 101 Yeahs is directed and animated by Ryan Junell and Phillip Niemeyer. The shocker: discovering that it’s created under-camera. Filmmakers say, “Dirty and old school. Stop motion animation of letters of four sizes silkscreened on transparency. The letters are backlit by a lightboard.” The proof is on Flicker.

(via Motionographer)

Florida-based filmmaker David Montgomery creates animated films entirely out of objects found in nature. The imagery found within these pieces, like Pollenating II above, is nothing short of mesmerizing. His latest piece, Carapace and Shell, a series of animated loops of seashells found on the beaches of Northeast Florida, will be screened at the Museum of Science and History (MOSH) in Jacksonville, as part of an ocean and marine-life themed exhibit. This Flickr page offers a hint of what I can only imagine is the intense amount of labor and organization that he invests into the making of each film. More of David’s work can be found on his website SilverfishCloset.com.

An elegantly layered visual representation of sound by Montreal-based Renaud Hallée. Sonar was made in Flash with keyframe animation (no scripting was involved).

(Thanks, Gene Fowler)

Tantalizing teaser for Glitch in the Grid, a forthcoming feature by Eric Leiser, whose earlier film Imagination was mentioned on the Brew a couple years back. I’m really digging Leiser’s eclectic mix of styles, especially how he applies stop-motion for site-specific landscape animation. Check out this article for more details about the film or visit Eric’s website AlbinoFawn.com to learn more about him and his work.

A man is shot and can only survive as a head and a body who exist independently from one another. The forgetful body desperately collects souvenirs, while the head is lost in a series of illusions.

Evelyn Lee made Kanizsa Hill as her graduate thesis film for the Experimental Animation Program at CalArts. It has screened at various festivals including Slamdance, AFI Los Angeles, Comic Con International and the Seattle International Film Festival. It won Best Animated Short at San Fransico International Film Festival and Most Promising Filmmaker at Ann Arbor Film Festival. And now this delightfully surreal short is online: