Motion Theory and kozyndan's Grand Opening
Words: Holly Willis
Photo: kozyndan
Every iteration of RESFEST has featured a new identity created by a leading artist. For the upcoming festival, we invited Motion Theory and kozyndan -- two accomplished creative teams featured in this year's RES 10 -- to work together. Motion Theory, a directing team, has built a reputation for pushing the boundaries of moving imagery. Meanwhile, kozyndan, the husband-and-wife team of Kozue and Dan Kitchens, has become known for a series of illustrated and often whimsical cityscapes. The idea behind the pairing was to create a fluid collaboration between the two groups, with illustration, live action, 3-D animation, and music combining to create a new form suited to represent some of the most cutting-edge films in the world.
The collaboration began with a series of caffeinated brainstorming meetings, with a surfeit of ideas being tossed up for consideration. Motion Theory and kozyndan left the meetings, withdrew to their respective corners, and returned with a new batch of drawings, animations and ideas. These formed the foundation for another round, and so on for several weeks. The general idea was to create a serious and silly surreal panoramic journey that linked places, current events, cultures and ideas from around the world. Here you see initial notebook sketches, as well as a sketch by kozyndan and the 3-D model version of the sketch by Motion Theory.
After extensive storyboarding and planning, Motion Theory shot for two days, taking a motion control rig to four locations around Los Angeles. One of the locations was Hama Sushi in Venice, where the MT team carefully choreographed a panoramic shot that opens on a fish tank, crosses an array of unusual characters, and ends on the drummer who seems to be pounding out part of the piece's soundtrack. At another location in downtown Los Angeles, a cast of more than 60 people was asked to react to greenscreen markers, which Motion Theory would later replace with animated characters. The final two locations -- a strange suburban house and a colorful used-car dealership -- incorporated the same motion control technique, creating the possibility for a piece based on a single camera move, as well as greater interaction between the scenes.
The motion-control technique demanded precise choreography to ensure that the timing and locations of the various animated and live- action pieces would fit together. When completed, the trailer will interweave dozens of characters, ranging from a purely 3-D-animated Mexican wrestler to a flesh-and-blood hairless rat. The docile rat, the house mascot of one of the crew members, was a congenial participant in the live action shoot and despite being half-blind, managed to hit his marks like a pro.
The final iteration of the RESFEST 2004 opener is by far the most complex opening sequence for the festival to date. Thanks to the incredible energy and creativity of Motion Theory and kozyndan, the sequence reveals new details with each viewing, and is a testament to the wealth of talent and creativity currently infusing the intersecting worlds of animation, live action filmmaking, illustration and design.
