Evil Bee Animation

November 8, 2007 10:00 AM

Evil Bee (embedded QT) is a gorgeous & interesting animated short about a worker bee in a factory who rebels; bonus points for awesome soundtrack by menomena.
posted by jonson (35 comments total)

awesome!
posted by meringue at 10:08 AM on November 8, 2007

There's some broccoli in yer candy, eh Seinfeld?
posted by davebush at 10:16 AM on November 8, 2007

Here's a direct download link, but given the nonces in it I don't know how long it will last.
posted by Nelson at 10:23 AM on November 8, 2007

thank you. that was awesome.
posted by rooftop secrets at 10:24 AM on November 8, 2007

Thanks! Menomena's 'Friend and Foe' is an amazing album BTW. Your favorite artist sucks and all that... but I've got to recommend this one. It's easily one of my favorites in the last few years.
posted by Bugg at 10:27 AM on November 8, 2007

Wow, that was top notch. Thanks for posting.

Menomena is a great band, btw. I've had the opportunity of seeing them live at SXSW (also known as hipster festival USA), and I'm going to get to see them again in a couple of weeks.

If anyone's interested, check out the tracks "The Pelican" and "Wet and Rusting" off their record Friend and Foe. You can see them perform the latter if you click on this link.
posted by King Bee at 10:28 AM on November 8, 2007

There's some broccoli in yer candy, eh Seinfeld?

Seinfeld and "Bee Movie" Overload.
posted by ericb at 10:29 AM on November 8, 2007

I'd never heard them before this, but I really like this song, so I'll check 'em out.
posted by jonson at 10:30 AM on November 8, 2007

That was fantastic. Great filmmaking.
posted by MythMaker at 10:33 AM on November 8, 2007

Oh man, that was extraordinary! Outstanding.
posted by jbickers at 10:39 AM on November 8, 2007

Unbelievable. Thanks for posting!
posted by Navelgazer at 10:52 AM on November 8, 2007

Does it say something about me that I can handle self-aware bees in a factory, but I couldn't grasp it when the bees started working with the birds and lighting up?
posted by Addlepated at 11:09 AM on November 8, 2007

Wow. Very nice indeed.
posted by itchylick at 11:14 AM on November 8, 2007

I'm mostly non-plussed by the animation posted but that was super-duper cool.
posted by meech at 11:23 AM on November 8, 2007

As good as superjail.
posted by gorgor_balabala at 11:25 AM on November 8, 2007

Wow, that's gorgeous. I can't quite put my finger on where I've heard that song before, though.
posted by arcticwoman at 11:27 AM on November 8, 2007

This bee... it grumbles?
posted by sparkletone at 11:29 AM on November 8, 2007

Soylent Honey is Bees?

Good song and nice animiation, point of storyline locked in mind of director.
posted by Muddler at 11:33 AM on November 8, 2007

I like that the animation looks different from things I've seen before.
posted by Nelson at 11:47 AM on November 8, 2007

I felt that they just abandoned their species for frivolous flower sex and light bulbs.

I was upset they didn't raise a bee army and crush their treaded bird slave overlords.
posted by Lord_Pall at 12:03 PM on November 8, 2007

Not the same as Menamena, I guess.
posted by notmtwain at 12:07 PM on November 8, 2007

I have no idea what I just watched...and I love it!
posted by Phatty Lumpkin at 12:11 PM on November 8, 2007

That was the most depressing thing I've watched since that damn Kiwi thing.

I envy all of the people who couldn't figure it out.
posted by dansdata at 12:27 PM on November 8, 2007

2nding menomena.

saw this on youtube sometime back and thought it was just the video for Evil Bee..? guess not.

Wet and Rusting and Evil Bee are really great tracks. for the life of me i cant figure out why they chose 'rotten hell' as the 2nd single from the album, as to me its one of the weaker tracks.

Air Aid and My My are two other really standout songs from this album.
posted by joeblough at 2:18 PM on November 8, 2007

Director interview.
Previous awesome Menomena video: Cough Coughing.
posted by progosk at 3:21 PM on November 8, 2007

...And here, I thought the ventilator-shaft-escape thing was just a fantasy of the dying bee. (See: Identical red-juice markings on Escape Bee and Dying bee, Escaped bee exploding in delight as Dying bee is shredded, etc...)
posted by Orb2069 at 6:24 PM on November 8, 2007

I was highly impressed with the animation on it's own, but when I read how it was made via progosk's link, I had to watch it all over again.

stefan : after i sketched out the storyboard and assembled the animatic, i met with friend and modeler kimi kaplowitz and she developed sculpted and created the bee character, complete with hair and a working abdominal lightbulb. i then took photos of the bee at every conceivable angle and under several different lighting schemes. in photoshop, i'd cut all parts out and then reassemble them in after effects. this allowed me to move it around like a puppet. the backgrounds and machinery were shot the same way. within after effects i created a 3D environment using 2D elements (the bee, walls, floor etc).

posted by spacelux at 11:10 PM on November 8, 2007

Menomena = Best band name. Ever.

Every time I say it out loud, I become 7 years old again.
posted by mrmcsurly at 6:31 AM on November 9, 2007

If you can get your hands on a copy, I recommend The First Menomena Album (I Am The Fun Blame Monster). The flipbook x4 is totally pukka.
posted by carsonb at 6:59 AM on November 9, 2007

carsonb, if i (mostly) like the new album, am i going to be into their first album?
posted by joeblough at 7:44 AM on November 9, 2007

It's always difficult to speculate on those things, joeblough, but if it's any help I loved IAtFBM the first time I listened to it. Two years later, took me a few listens to really enjoy Friend and Foe. I think their work between albums on live art installations, touring, &c. took their already complex sound to another level. You may know this already, but Menomena built their songs on a computer before learning how to play them on guitars, drums, etc. Then they recorded them.
posted by carsonb at 8:10 AM on November 9, 2007

true, true. i guess i'll check out IAtFBM... why not?

i think in one of the links above they mentioned how they use a sampler/looper to compose the music. that's pretty awesome, actually. from the finished (recorded) product i would have never guessed.
posted by joeblough at 11:49 AM on November 9, 2007

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge?
posted by rush at 1:59 PM on November 9, 2007

nice post joson
posted by baker dave at 8:39 AM on November 10, 2007

I agree with orb2069 and rush that it seems obvious that the whole escaping bees thing is just a fantasy of the dying bee.

And, also, having read the description of the animation technique, I'm even more impressed. Stefan Nadelman is really pretty impressive with After Effects.
posted by MythMaker at 10:50 AM on November 10, 2007