NEW MUSIC VIDEO "LET IT RIDE" by Locksley

After a long wait it's officially online!  Check out the stopmotion music video I directed for Locksley for their new single "Let It Ride."  Behind the scenes coming soon!



full credits here.

"Second Hand" by Isaac King

I'm on another busy hiatus but hopefully things will be cooling down soon.  Thanks to the power of technology I can blog from the comfort of my own laptop inside of a van crossing Indiana (thanks for the ride, Locksley!) and finally get some time to catch up.
I love the art direction of the video above, it's such a great combination of mixing digital mediums that you don't see enough of really.  I love the way he handled the translation of the character designs into the quasi-3D environment; very well done!
Until I get back to NYC, I thought I'd post a few links to a few [more] things I've enjoyed via the internet lately:

MUSIC:
Kanye West & Jay-Z "Otis" (WatchTheThrone.com) http://watchthethrone.com/otis/
DoomStarks "Victory Laps" (2dopeboyz) http://www.2dopeboyz.com/2011/07/11/doomstarks-mf-doom-x-ghostface-killah-victory-laps-madvillainz-rmx/
Nikki Jean "La Di Da Di Da" (iTunes)
Rock Creek Park EP oddisee (iTunes)
Ghostfunk EP Max Tannone x Ghostface Killah (okayplayer) http://www.okayplayer.com/news/okayafrica-audio-ghostface-x-afrofunk-mixtape.html

VISUAL:
John K's Evolution of Macaroni (John K Stuff): http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2011/07/evolution-of-macaroni.html
Beavis & Butthead Return (MTV): http://t.co/LnSNvlx
Boob Physics (Babe Lab NSFW): http://babelab.blogspot.com/2010/08/boob-physics-101.html

Locksley Taxicab Promo

For their upcoming release, my favorite friendband™ Locksley commissioned me to design a 15-second promo to be played on the displays in the back of cabs in NYC, Chicago & Boston.  It was a just under a two-day turnaround so I'm pretty pleased with how it came out, but I'm sure most people will be drunk when they see it anyhow.

UPDATE:  Here it is as seen in the wild:

Lost & Foundish: Concept Work for The Morning Benders

click to enlarge

I did this concept frame back in 2008 around the time I finished up the 88-Keys video for a group called The Morning Benders.  I was introduced to them via 88-Keys, who was a big fan and wanted us to work together.  Long story short -- I got the track, we passed a few emails back and forth,  I came up with a few pitch ideas and they never got back to me.  Ah well.  There are more frames and such I'd like to share but I think they could be used again in the future so I'll hold off for the time being.

They ended up getting pretty popular last year with their single Excuses.  Incidentally when I was writing this blog and looking at their site, I saw the video they decided to go with instead of my treatment.  Here it is!


The Morning Benders - "All Day Day Light" from Jack Ferry on Vimeo.


If only I had thought to dress them all aggressively hipster and then splash ugly randomly-colored text over the footage!  DAMMIT.  Real stupid, Mark!

The Critics Have Spoken

Our music video for Kevin Rudolf's song "You Make the Rain Fall" has seen nothing but glowing reviews on Youtube:

Kevin Rudolf "Rainfall" Music Video

As I mentioned earlier, I spent most of July working on this project at Lifelong Friendship Society as animation director.  With the time and budget we had, there were only a few instances where we could afford to go back and fix mistakes.  On a good day an animation station could crank out 3 seconds in a 10-hour shift, so keep in mind that everything changed animators' hands about that often when you watch it.  It all made for a very memorable experience, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  The music isn't my cup of tea, but then again I can't drink music now can I?

I just got back from vacation with loads of new sketches and such, hopefully I'll get 'em all posted by the end of the week!

If the link above doesn't work, feel free to check it out on the YOUTUBEZ.

Hats off to Yeezy and Graham Holleezy

If you haven't seen the director's cut of Kanye West's new single, POWER, check it out below!

Kanye West POWER by Marco Brambilla (Director's Cut) from ARTJAIL on Vimeo.

Ohhh... Kanye.

My friend and bowling partner Graham Holly was a lead flame artist on this project. His company ArtJail throw some pretty intensely fun art openings. Check 'em out!

New Project: Oddisee Music Video

I'm officially directing a new music video for a song featuring the UK artist Tranqill produced by one of my favorites, oddisee. It's for a track off of oddisee's last seasonal EP and won't be a hip-hop video in the typical sense. It'll be more or less (as my good friend Skylar put it) an animated version of something you might find in an Ezra Jack Keats book. Here's a couple of collages that I put together that will get the animated treatment:

... mmmm bleak!

Speaking of not-so-typical hip-hop videos, if you know me then you know I really enjoy Ghostface Killah of the Wu Tang Clan. A lot. I don't really know what I'd ever do if I met the man face-to-face (probably go buy a new pair of pants), but here's a classic from his 1999 album Supreme Clientele. Who else can eat an ice cream cone like that and still retain his... swagger?

Kid Sister "Daydreaming" Music Video

This is a video I worked on through LFS. We only had a couple of weeks from start to finish and I think the concept was simple and well-executed; props to the director Kim Gehrig for an overall smooth production (something that seems to be rarer and rarer with each passing project)!
Unfortunately my life outside of blogging (a.k.a. "life") has been a bit hectic in the last month due to putting some long hours in at the office, freelancing and the release of God of War 3 but hopefully I should be able to get back to posting more on here soon. I've been doing a lot more drawing as of late so there should be plenty to show from that bag o' tricks in the coming weeks. Until then, check out this work-in-progress that I've been doodlin' up on Adobe Illustrator:

There's a lot more detail to it! I'll post a much higher-res when I'm finished with it.

I Done Made Things Move: "Lions" Music Video by The Features

Directed by my friend Joshua Winkler, working on this video turned me onto this band -- they're quite excellent and I encourage everyone out there to buy their album, "Some Kind of Salvation." I was in charge of the portion involving the hand-drawn cut-0ut animation which starts at around 2:40.

Excellent work Josh!

Purple Brain Music Video aka How I Ended Up on the Internet After Blacking Out

One night at Lifelong Friendship Society we had a few friends over and more than a few beers between the lot of us. After shooting a few things on green screen I woke up at home the next morning with my shoes still on. Go figure.

Brian Close shot and directed this video which you can read more about here.

Purple Brain from Georgia on Vimeo.

The State of Locksley Music Videos These Days

First off, let me say that I've watched the brand new music video for Locksley's upcoming single "Darling It's True" and it's highly, highly enjoyable. With permission of the band I was able to download a screenshot and be the first to show you all a little sneak peak!

EDIT: AT THE REQUEST OF THE BAND I WAS ASKED TO CENSOR OUT ANY PORTIONS OF THE FRAME THAT MAY GIVE TOO MUCH AWAY.

How amazing does Kai look in that shot?!

In other Locksley music video related news (or LMVRN for short) the diorama is in its final stages of completion & the band was fitted for their animal costumes last week. Exciting! Check out the screen shots of the diorama below.



Also it's worth noting that if you're looking for some good music to jam to this summer, go out and buy (by which I mean click over to the iTunes store) and pick up the album Some Kind of Salvation by The Features. I just finished up doing a bit of animation for one of their songs (see previous entry) and I'm a sold man on their music. Great job!

Brooklynati's Finest: Tanya Morgan

Last year I caught wind of the group Tanya Morgan while listening to 88-Keys' mixtape, Adam's Case Files. Since I had just moved to Brooklyn earlier in the year I wasn't familiar with their local popularity but I enjoyed their sound. Shortly after completing the music video for 88-Keys some months later, Von Pea (one of the three gents who make up the group... no, there is no woman named "Tanya Morgan") hit me up on Youtube to get things rolling on the possibility of collaborating on a music video of our own. Unfortunately due to scheduling I wasn't able to work with them but I hope that soon enough we can be more than just Myspace friends!
If you're looking for some solid new hip-hop music, their latest album Brooklynati dropped today on Amazon and iTunes.

Get it! Got it? Good.

Also check out an article about the guys on okayplayer and listen to their new album for FREE on Myspace.com

88-Keys ft. Kanye West "Stay Up! (Viagra)"

My boy 88-Keys in his new video for his first single off of "The Death of Adam" with Kanye West. Highly enjoyable... 88's performance sells it for me.

Kid Cudi "Day 'N' Night" directed by So Me

These folks always do great work and Kid Cudi's new music video is certainly no exception. Also, if you haven't heard much of Kid Cudi yet DOWNLOAD HIS MIXTAPE HERE. It's great! That guy's gonna be big in a big way.

Illustration in 2009

When the new year came and went around a month-and-a-half ago, I decided to be more of realist when it came to making resolutions for 2009 and quickly shot down any personal goals of traveling more, wasting money on frivolous things and/or cutting back on my drinking. Instead I opted for two other ideas: learn the 3D program Maya and get back into illustrating on a more consistent basis. As my friend Mark Theriault has graciously reminded me, getting into Maya is a whole new beast in itself with a whole new world of technical issues & frustrating problems, so we'll see exactly where that taco will take me once I gather up the nerve to eat it.

Man with Finger Mustache ⓒ 2009 Mark Phillips

Illustration, on the other hand, is what got me into animation in the first place and was something that I did nearly every single day of my life until I was out of school. Drawing saved me from the hellish boredom of countless math classes & even earned me my first car. After perusing my website statistics on the fine internet service known as Google Analytics, I found that although it was the least updated of all of my pages, Marked Animation's illustration section actually received the most traffic out of any other page on my site. Thus, last week I began scribbling away again when I would get the chance and came up with some new material that will make its way onto the interwebz when I update everything soon.

Morning Breath featured in the March 2009 issue of Complex Magazine, which I receive in the mail for no reason since I never subscribed to it to begin with

Speaking of illustration, you should check out the work of the fine gentlemen at Morning Breath. They've done some amazing design work and chances are you've seen the various products of their labor floating around all over the place (one of the more recent pieces that comes to mind is the cover art for TV on the Radio's highly-acclaimed album, Dear Science). Earlier in 2008 LFS and MB were supposed to work together on a music video project for the group known as N.A.S.A. but the project unfortunately never materialized beyond pre-production. Regardless, I've kept in contact with them and hopefully a collaboration of sorts will come to fruition in the coming months!
... Plus I feel the need to prove myself to Doug (pictured on the right), who is one of the few people that I've met who can drink a beer faster than me in a casual setting. That, people, is called talent.

Chester French

The music video for their single "She Loves Everybody" premiered yesterday on MTV. It's a great song, take a listen if you haven't gotten the chance to yet.

Metronomy "A Thing For Me"

88 turned me onto this video earlier today, it's SICK.


A Thing For Me from Metronomy on Vimeo.

(sick in the good way, not the AIDS-y way)

"Landing Gear" in stores today!

A friend of both the Computer Beach Party family and hip-hop lovers everywhere, Devin the Dude's latest album Landing Gear hits stores today! One of the funnier rappers out there, longtime fans will be able to rest-assured that he mentions shampooing his testicles within the first 2 minutes of hitting the play button.


Here's a song off of his previous album, Waitin' to Inhale...

Computer Beach Party is LIVE

After roughly two years of talking, concepting, forgetting & procrastinating, the beta site for Computer Beach Party is finally online. CBP is a collective effort between Marked Animation, Mark Theriault of Partially Frozen & Skylar Wesby of Convivial Enemy. The site is in its infancy at the moment but be sure to check it for regular updates of new animation & visual effects work.

I'm also a little late on posting these, but the music video shoot for 88 Keys went relatively smoothly especially working under the hungover and sleep-deprived conditions that we subjected ourselves to! If all goes well, we'll start posting a few previews & test shots for it later this month. Here's a few behind-the-scenes* shots:









... other than that, Locksley's video for All Over Again is revised and back on the web with a vengeance. If you're not a regular MTV watcher like everyone else I know (lolz jk omg), be sure to check them out on the MTV site! They're artist of the week!



* "behind-the-scenes" = Mark trying to feel useful on set with a camera.