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Bent Image Lab

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BENT IMAGE LAB (or Bent) is a production company and animation studio specializing in commercials, music videos, short films, and visual effects for feature films. Located in Portland, Oregon, the company was founded in 2002 by partners David Daniels, Ray Di Carlo, and Chel White.[1] In 2006, Tsui Ling Toomer joined the company as Head of Production.

Techniques

Bent Image Lab is known largely for its stop-motion animation projects. One notable example is "Blue Christmas" (a.k.a. "Santa and the States"), a parody short for Robert Smigel's Saturday TV Funhouse on Saturday Night Live. The short, airing December 18, 2004, was directed by Bent co-founder and director Chel White and is a parody of the 1964 holiday TV special "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." produced by the Rankin/Bass productions company.[2] An earlier SNL short also directed by White, titled "The Narrator That Ruined Christmas," (season 27) aired December 15, 2001, and features the voices of SNL cast members Chris Parnell, Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler, Doug Dale, Erik Bergmann, and Robert Smigel.

In 2007, Bent Image Lab again replicated the Rankin/Bass stop-motion animation style of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" in a television advertisement for Aflac, directed by Paul Harrod. Other Bent stop-motion productions include commercials for Lux, Officemax, Kelloggs Alltel,[3] Tinactin, and an anti-smoking campaign geared towards children for the Washington Department of Social and Health Services.

The company is also known for its CG (computer graphics) animation, as seen in commercials for Coca-cola, Pert and Hewlett Packard.

Directors

Bent Image Lab co-founder and director David Daniels invented an animation technique he termed Strata-cut,[4] a form of clay animation in which internally packed "loaves" of clay are animated in thin slices, revealing the movement of the pre-sculpted images within. The technique of strata-cut was used in animated segments of the Pee Wee's Playhouse[5] series during the mid-90s, and in the music video for Big Time[6] by Peter Gabriel (1986).

Bent co-founder and director Chel White is an independent film director. Since 1999, three of his short films have screened as part of the Sundance Film Festival[7] ("Dirt," "Choreography for Copy Machine," and "Passage"). Other festival screenings include the Berlin Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, SXSW Festival, Ottawa Animation Festival, Annecy Animation Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival, and Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Chel White's film "Wind" was commissioned by the climate change awareness group, Live Earth.[8] Narrated by Alec Baldwin, the film uses a poem by Spanish poet Antonio Machado[9] a metaphor for contemporary society's lack of planet stewardship. The English translation of the poem was by Robert Bly. The film features a solo piano rendition of Tschaikovsky's "Morning Prayer" performed by Pink Martini's Thomas Lauderdale,[10] as well as time-lapse photography by Mark Eifert.[11] Along with eight other Live Earth commissioned films, "Wind" made its world premiere in the opening night program of the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival with keynote speaker Al Gore.[12]

Bent Image Lab co-founder and executive producer Ray Di Carlo got his start in the film industry working on special effects in feature films. His first project was The Abyss (1989), where he came on as Lead Man for Donald Pennington. More recently Di Carlo produced visual effects for "I'm Not There"," "Paranoid Park"[13] (2007), and (2008) "Milk".[14] He has been Executive Producer for Bent Image Lab since its inception. He has also co-directed several of the company's commercial productions.

Bent director Jun Seo Hahm's[15] work is showcased in a series of odd and original micro shorts called "Karnival,"[16]

Awards

Bent Image Lab and/or its directors have won Clio Awards, AICP Awards, Mobius Advertising Awards, Promax BDA awards, Daytime Emmy's, Telly Awards, a Rosey, and several awards from the Chicago International Television Awards.[17] One commercial directed by David Daniels and two commercials directed by Chel White (OfficeMax "Santa's Helper," and Fila "Mashburn")[18] were included in the program "The Art and Technique of the American Television Commercial"[19] and are included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art} in New York.

Film festival awards include Best Short Film from the 1998 Stockholm International Film Festival for Chel White's "Dirt," and the Grand Jury Prize for Best Animated Short for White's "Magda" from the 2004 Florida Film Festival.

Two music videos by Bent Image Lab directors were awarded Best Music Video in the SXSW Festival. These are Daniel Garcia's music video "Me-I"[20] for TV on the Radio (SXSW 2008), and Chel White's video "Harrowdown Hill"[21] for Radiohead's lead singer Thom Yorke (SXSW 2007).

Visual effects

Bent Image Lab has created visual effects for feature films since 2006. The company was in charge of visual effects for film director Gus Van Sant's films Paranoid Park[22] (2007), "Chacun son cinéma ou Ce petit coup au coeur quand la lumière s'éteint et que le film commence (segment: First Kiss)" (2007), and "Milk" (2008), as well as title effects and animation on director Todd Haynes' film, I'm Not There (2007). Chel White acted as Visual Effects Supervisor on all three Van Sant films, as well as Visual Effects Supervisor on "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" (1993), prior to working with Bent Image Lab.

In 2006 Chel White directed the music video for Thom Yorke's song "Harrowdown Hill." Along with his team and co-founders at Bent Image Lab, White pioneered the Smallgantics technique that was used for the first time in the "Harrowdown Hill." video. An incarnation of Smallgantics was also used in the Bent production of "Hidden Formula," a commercial for Coca-Cola (directed by Daniels and DiCarlo)

Music videos by Bent Image Lab directors

Commercials produced by Bent Image Lab

  • Coca-Cola - "Hidden Formula" (directed by David Daniels and Ray Di Carlo)
  • Coca-Cola - "Pemberton" (directed by Chel White) (2008)
  • Lux - "Provocateur" (2006) (directed by Chel White)
  • Aflac - "Rudolph" (2007) (directed by Paul Harrod)
  • BC Dairy Foundation - Must Drink More Milk (web shorts, 2008) (various directors)
  • Washington State Department of Health - Park and Rec Room (2005) (directed by Chel White)
  • Guitar Hero - "On Tour" (2008) (directed by and Rob Shaw)
  • Hewlett Packard - "Flea Circus" (2006) (directed by David Daniels and Ray Di Carlo)
  • OfficeMax - "Santa's Helper" (2005) (directed by Chel White)
  • Tinactin - "Monster foot" (2007–2008) (directed by David Daniels)
  • Alltel - "Christmas campaigns" (2007–2008) (directed by Chel White, Rob Shaw, Paul Harrod, and Sol Burbridge)
  • Reese's Pieces - Center of Attention (2003) (directed by David Daniels and Chel White)
  • Tractor Supply Company - "The Stuff You Need Out Here" (series of ads) (2006) (directed by Paul Harrod)
  • Bing - "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (2011 Christmas campaign)

Bent Image Lab's roster of directors

  • Official website
  • "Alltel's Puppet parody Rocks". Adweek.
  • "Frozen In Time". Adweek.
  • "Stop Motion Gains Speed". Adweek.
  • "Sedgwick Rd. Gets 'Gross' to Curb Smoking". Adweek.
  • "Behind The Scenes". Adweek.
  • "Rubberband Man Make Officemax Deliveries". Adweek.
  • "M/R Scents of Oregon Lottery Game". Adweek.
  • "Picking Up the Pieces". Adweek.

References

  1. ^ "Three Artists Get Bent (The Formation of Bent Image Lab)". digitalcontentproducer.com. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  2. ^ "Chel White". Independent Exposure. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  3. ^ http://www.adweek.com/aw/esearch/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003685211, David Gianatasio,2007-12-31, Retrieved on 2009-03-17
  4. ^ http://www.stopmotionworks.com/stratacut.htm, Stop Motion Works, copyright 2000-2004. Retrieved on 2009-03-17
  5. ^ "history of strata-cut". dic.academic.ru. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  6. ^ http://ocssummerblogs.blogspot.com/2008/08/i-have-david-daniels-baby.html, Tim Reckart,2008-08-26, Retrieved on 2009-03-17
  7. ^ "Sky Society Biography". www.skysociety.com. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  8. ^ http://entertainment.msn.com/green/liveearthfilmproject/, MSN, list of films commissioned by Live Earth, Retrieved on 2009-03-17
  9. ^ ["translated by Robert Bly (originally in Spanish)". http://www.geocities.com/williamwchow/poem/machado.htmas. Retrieved 2009-03-17. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); External link in |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |publisher][dead link‍]= ignored (help)[dead link‍]
  10. ^ "Sky Society Press Kit for "Wind."". www.skysociety.com. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  11. ^ http://www.skysociety.com/epkwind.html, Sky Society Press Kit for "Wind." accessed on 2009-03-17
  12. ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/26/entertainment/main2730075.shtml, Anonymous Author,2007-04-26, Retrieved on 2009-03-17
  13. ^ "2007-06-25". wweek.com. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  14. ^ http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/452305/Milk/credits, NY Times, full credit list, 2008, Retrieved on 2009-03-17
  15. ^ http://www.qbodp.net/
  16. ^ http://www.karnival.tv/
  17. ^ "2007 List of Winners at Chicago International Television Awards". www.chicagofilmfestival.org. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  18. ^ http://www.skysociety.com/tvc.html, Sky Society, List of Notable works by Chel White, Retrieved on 2009-03-17
  19. ^ "The Art and Technique of the American Television Commercial: The AICP Show at MoMA, 2005". MOMA. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  20. ^ "List of Winners at South by Southwest Film Festival". March 2008. Retrieved 2009-03-17. [dead link‍]
  21. ^ "List of winners at South by Southwest Film Festival". 2007. Retrieved 2009-03-17. [dead link‍]
  22. ^ "List of Credits for "Paranoid Park"". Retrieved 2009-03-17.
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