James Houston is an filmmaker and artist from Glasgow, Scotland. He has been featured throughout numerous print publications and his work has appeared on hundreds of different blogs. Many of his films are characterized by a colorful, retro aesthetic. Mr. Houston was kind enough to answer a few of our questions regarding his films and filmmaking process.

Your degree is in graphic design; traditionally, most people would associate this with print/web design. I have seen some prints you have made, but it seems that film dominates the work found in your portfolio. What initially sparked your interest in film and how long have you been actively creating films?

I almost failed my penultimate year at art school. I didn’t have a great love for creating typography or layout although I’ll always have an admiration for the work of others who do it well. I asked my tutors (Steve Rigley & Jo Petty) if I could go off on my own and try some video experimentation. Luckily, they welcomed the idea and I haven’t opened InDesign since. That was in 2008, the same year that I created the Radiohead video. I owe a lot of thanks to Steve & Jo at GSA for allowing me to take that risk.

What inspired you to create Big Ideas (don’t get any), and what exactly did the conceptual process entail?

It was never intended to be a Radiohead project. Dr. Roland Shregle from Ganjatron.net wrote a tutorial back in the dark ages of the Internet on how to replace a default sound file that’s inside every HP scanner. The original file is Fur Elise and was intended as an Easter egg for early technology enthusiasts. I couldn’t help but notice the excellent bass sound and so the next logical step was to find other instruments that would accompany my bassist. Look Around You probably inspired the final treatment.

Sebastian Lange is a German motion-graphics artist. He is best known for his widely viewed, self-described “experimental kinetic type animation” animation, Flickermood 2.0. The piece is collected, sophisticated and vivacious, but retrograde with its soundtrack and film-like dust and scratches. The Journal corresponded with Mr Lange over the last month and asked him about his project:

What got you in to motion graphics?

I think it started since I have been able to draw and paint, and when I was at school I got a book about Walt Disney animation techniques from my father. From that point on, animation was always something very fascinating for me – I used to draw a lot of flip-books at that time. I also did a lot of music and band-playing. There has always been a huge admiration for cd-covers, artist posters and music videos. After finishing school I didn’t really know what to do: studying or making music?

Sorry I’m Late is a fantastic short animation by director Tomas Mankovsky. This was shot at the Amadeus Centre in London in December of 2007. The film was shot with a 1:1 ratio, successfully shattering my expectations of the limits of film and animation. Documentation on the creation of this piece can be found at the film’s website.

These films come from the Korean artist and animator Choi young-hoon under the moniker NXK. The still frame Vimeo had for RUN.RUN.RUN was enough to draw me in. It exhibits bold and detailed line drawings combined with a very quick frame rate. It’s reminiscent of old 2-dimensional adventure games in many ways including even the music. I can’t help but feel bad thinking of my dust-covered Sega Genesis when watching this.

Upper First is a motion graphics firm with offices in Sweden and Spain. They have only been around for about a year, but they already have an impressive reel.

From Upper First’s website:

Built on a foundation of creativity, credibility and freedom of thought, our productions entice the imagination beyond the expected. Through the value of awe and entertainment our communication aim to increase brand value and awareness. Every project will stretch our limits, challenge convention and result in a high-end visual experience.

Motion graphics artist Tomas Nilsson made this short animation for a school project to reinterpret the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. It is visually simple while containing complex information. Its a fun, unique take on the classic story. Enjoy!

Vincent Moon has been producing an exquisite series of videos for three years now called “Take Away Shows” on his site also known as La Blogotheque. These caught my interest late last year and I’ve watched through almost all of them (I believe there are over 100 now). Most of these are indie-esque bands and are shot in locations all over the world. I had forgotten about this series of films until today when I noticed a post on Pitchfork about Phoenix (a magnificent French electronic-indie-rock-etc.-etc. band). I was really excited since I have been really into the band lately and that this filmmaker has finally put together some films featuring them.