motion graphics
I don't think I've ever stressed it enough about how I love motion graphics.
This isn't just CG, its the motion graphics of displays and abstracts. Like in StarWars the digital display of the wireframe deathstar was great, I loved it. I loved the genesis effect in Star Trek II, but more so my love of motion graphics is really rooted in the meaningless displays featured in anime. Gunbuster by far had the coolest displays to try and convey a sense of warp speed, time travel, orbital launches, astroid impact, incoming missiles, badness in sector 5. I loved those graphs that artists spend oodles of time on to make the shot look better. Final Fantasy is good example of a film filled and I mean FILLED with tons of meaningless displays. Incredible detail 3d holographic displays. Great stuff.
So much of the motion graphics trends these days, that is if you hunt for them, tend to fall into a few different areas: commericals, short films, and motion graphics. I've seen people give me trailers and say they are motion graphics. Those area trailers not motion graphics. To me motion graphics are more like those meaningless displays. Gotta have them. They inspire me to create. I find them relaxing to watch no matter how abstract they seem to be, that all seems to work for me.
Pleix Films creates some of the most respected motion graphics material on the web. Pieces like Beauty Kit and Plaid are unforgettable in my opinion. Truly amazing work. PLAID has a great sound track and is such a compelling big biz bad type piece. Beauty Kit had offended nearly everyone I've ever shown it to yet I find it refreshingly honest. Their latest piece is Futureshock, about mass consumerism, least thats my take on it... buy be happy be well buy...
If Pleix is the master of displays and graphs, Sukkoch is the master of the look. SukKoch is another oustanding source for inspiring motion graphics. I often study their work to get an idea of how my work should look and feel. Sukkoch is the king of motion graphics, Pleix is nearly as good but I want more. With Sukkoch there is alot to choose from. You've seen their work on the Scifi, and theres more after that.
In Replica, Sukkoch explore their usual haunt in mixing 3d and 2d and more. Sukkoch is like touring your favorite store for me. I always like what I see here.
Renascent is the next great force on the web for motion graphics. The man named Joost creates many amazing picture. Started out doing abstracts in 3d Studio Max and Photoshop his stills were incredible pieces. Eventually, like all of them, they stumbled upon after effectsa and well that is that. His work is essentially pretty simplistc. Not nearly as complicated as Pleix or Sukkoch but just as provoking. The best way to describe his work would be clean, to the finest detail of the word. Lately he's been exploring what looks to me like "living data visualization", and thats pretty damn cool. I like living data and visualized living data is pretty cool, even better is visualization of living data without the use of after effects but thru its native application.
These are merely three outlets I call upon to "kick myself" into doing more. I come here, I get inspired and I wash a floor of creative energy thru the core and hope something comes out.