Boulder Media Hits All The Right Notes
For as good as they are, I don’t think the Boulder Media gang brags enough about their work. So I’m going to have to do it for them. This Dublin-based animation studio not only provides service work for Flash series like Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends and El Tigre, but they also make time for creative exploration. The following three shorts all lean on their soundtracks for the majority of the audio experience, a refreshing departure from the often talky world of animated shorty. A tip of the hat to Robert Cullen, the creative director at Boulder Media, for helping pull this post together and for providing an environment where this type of work can flourish.
Carte de Visite is a melancholy story about carnival folks and the artists performing in a “freak show.” Directed by Paul O’Flanagan, the film is dialog-free, and driven by a beautiful score composed by Tom Lawrence. Dave O’Sullivan handled the art direction here, and I found myself lost in the lush exteriors and chilled by the bleak interiors. Paul and his team employed not just Flash, but also some 3D elements that are composited seamlessly.
Barbershop is a musically-driven short written and directed by Mick O’Sullivan, and co-directed by Catherine McIntyre. Crafty 1950’s character design, slick backgrounds (again by Dave O’Sullivan) and bouncy animation make this snappy short a highly entertaining watch. Animation direction was provided by Paul O’Flannagan and the animation crew included Gillian Comerford, Richard Kelly, Tim Dowling, Mark Flood, Adam Kelly, Peter Slattery and Monica Kennedy, who is up for an Annie Award this year for her work on El Tigre.
The Big Rock Candy Mountains, makes wonderful use of a 1905 Harry McClintock song, creating an inventive world that compliments the imaginative lyrics. The short was directed by Ian Kenny and animated by Tim Dowling and Roger Grogan. The gorgeous backgrounds were designed by Tom Galvin.
Tags: Boulder Media, Ireland
December 6th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Gotta love any shop as hard workin’ as this one that still makes time to create one-off shorts. Lovely stuff all ’round. Let’s see some more studio shorts!
December 7th, 2007 at 2:04 am
i loved the 2nd and 3rd one…gorgeous!
December 7th, 2007 at 4:37 am
this studio is too talented for their own good
December 7th, 2007 at 4:39 am
Big Rock Candy Mountain was awesome. Loved it. Well done. Ah, for the simpler days.
December 7th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
great stuff all round lads, im sorry i wasn’t here when you were workin on these i would loved to have been involved…how was big rock done? it lookes great!
December 7th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Boulder is great, I feel lucky to have had a chance to work with them. They really take care of their people; and how cool is it that they make shorts in the “downtime” between projects? I’d love to work at a studio that borrowed this model.
Keep up the great work Boulder!
-R. Laney
December 8th, 2007 at 1:53 am
Holy cow. These are great.