Don't look don't look the shadows breathe
May 20, 2010 1:57 PM   Subscribe

Haven't had your fill of creepy machinery? Watch John Nolan Films' 2010 animatronics showreel video (quicktime version).

There is more spirited fare if you're not keen on the creepy stuff.
posted by cashman (18 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
It's things like this that make me wish I had devoted more/any time to figuring how electronics work, instead of whiling away my time being sexy. I would love a pair of those giant hands, which I would use to hold large things.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 2:32 PM on May 20, 2010 [2 favorites]


Whoa. Creepy.

And amazing and fascinating. Really clean looking infrastructures, and the variety of expression....wow.
posted by Xoebe at 2:32 PM on May 20, 2010


Second video: Stop touching the bear. No really, STOP rubbing the bear. OMG STOP MOLESTING THE BEAR!
posted by Muddler at 2:39 PM on May 20, 2010


argh I want to smash them all but I'm afraid it will be like that scene in Alien with the gunk and the head
posted by Solon and Thanks at 2:42 PM on May 20, 2010


Awesome.
posted by brundlefly at 2:45 PM on May 20, 2010


[make THAT voice in your head]

"I ain't sayin' nothin' 'bout dat mouth thing."
posted by Drasher at 3:12 PM on May 20, 2010


Can't sleep . . . Horrible robot mouth will get me . . .
posted by The Bellman at 3:18 PM on May 20, 2010


Seeing the mechanical owl again was perhaps the only wholly unspoiled bit of the Clash of the Titans remake. Please please please get this guy some work in the Dark Crystal sequel.

Yay though I walk through the showreel of the uncanny valley of John Nolan, I shall fear no what the HELL is that?!?!
posted by adipocere at 3:19 PM on May 20, 2010 [3 favorites]


Actually, I would have been happier if Bubo had been left out of the Clash remake entirely instead of the half-assed, jokey few seconds of screen time he ended up with.
posted by brundlefly at 3:24 PM on May 20, 2010


It's okay little bear, you are safe now. Show me on the child where the bad man touched you.

That video would fuel 10,000 nightmares for my wife. The creepiest part was the baby, which was almost as creepy as an actual newborn.
posted by BrotherCaine at 4:07 PM on May 20, 2010


Really good stuff!

Anyone catch the name of the music?

I sometimes wonder if you could describe an arbitrary language for some of this, then have a cnc machine construct it on the fly.

If you want to re-create that scene from alien with the white stuff everywhere, simply have a Big Lebowski party where everyone tries to match him, drink for drink.
posted by poe at 4:44 PM on May 20, 2010 [2 favorites]


The song is "Medusa's Path," by The Prodigy.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 5:19 PM on May 20, 2010


The robot in the second link looks like it's just bearly barely concealing it's annoyance at being grabbed, poked at and rubbed.
posted by magnificent frigatebird at 5:51 PM on May 20, 2010


AAAGH. Concealing its annoyance.
posted by magnificent frigatebird at 5:53 PM on May 20, 2010


Breathtaking stuff! And a song from the Prodigy album I don't have! Awww yeah.

One of the many gadgets I've always wanted to build is a Halloween mask with an articulated face that does whatever my face does.

Another one is a pair of giant robot arms that mimic my arms and convey touch sensations back to me somehow, so I could really convince my brain that they were my arms. Then I met someone who once worked at a lab that actually had those. I don't think I hid my jealousy very well.
posted by Xezlec at 6:46 PM on May 20, 2010


The interesting thing about that bear it that it actually contains the absorbed the soul of a former human, and that soul can only express its unending agony through futile arm waving and occasional grunts and squeaks, and of course through its surprisingly expressive face.
posted by anazgnos at 7:37 PM on May 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


WTF? they also made the merry go round for in the night garden? That's the creepiest bit of all.
posted by dowcrag at 7:12 AM on May 21, 2010


Utterly cool. I remember when "animatronics" meant Abe Lincoln speaking. In Disneyland.
posted by kinnakeet at 10:20 AM on May 21, 2010


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