Describing his creation as a 'sonic film', director Rashad Haughton has released a very impressive teaser for his animated short film Love Like Aliens. Based on the visual work of iconic Japanese designer Sorayama Hajime this is quality stuff whatever you choose to call it.
Created by Entertainment Industry Veteran and Filmmaker Rashad Haughton, 6 and half Minute Animated Short Brings To Life The Iconic Works of Legendary Artist and Gynoid Creator Sorayama Hajime In A Way Never Before Seen In Film
April, 2012 -- More than a century after the Lumiere Brothers hired a pianist to accompany the first public showing of a silent film and 30 years after Billy Idol wanted his MTV, media start-up Wonderstanding is using technology to re-capture the creative purity of images and music with the release of their first sonic film, "Love Like Aliens."
Written and directed by Wonderstanding cofounder, music industry vet and filmmaker Rashad Haughton, the CGI-animated short brings to life the work of legendary artist and 'Gynoid' creator Sorayama Hajime. Music fans will recognize Sorayama's art from iconic album covers over the years as well has his famous design for Sony's robotic pet dog "Aibo"; but his work has never been animated due to the visual complexity.
"In the silent film era, images were created first with music performed at the screenings and in the music video era, music was created first. What we've done with sonic film and "Love Like Aliens" is a symbiotic creative process between the audio and visual" says Haughton.
The film's sonic component, which narrates the Sorayama-inspired alien landscapes, is the title track performed by Haughton's musical project Rad-6 - a rotating collective of producers and artists. The song was written by Haughton and produced by David Liang. Music for the opening credits were provided by Tom E Morrison (Underworld.)
Sorayama's work combines bots and flesh much like Haughton's vision for the technical creation of "Love Like Aliens." While using CGI and technology to create the film, Haughton avoided using motion capture and opted to shoot many live action sequences with actors. Then after painstaking storyboarding for the more elaborate set pieces, he directed the CG animators to capture the most emotional scenes and subtle human movement "by eye."
Created entirely in Japan, Haughton moved to Tokyo to create the film and working with producer Tomo Ishioka (Seven Shuffles) Studio 4C's Tatsuyuki Tanaka (Akira) and Japan's top CGI group Shirogumi (Space Battleship Yamato.)