Director Winston Hacking (previously) and animator Philippe Tardif are back with another collaborative music video that propels us through an uncanny series of portals. For Foxwarren’s catchy “Listen2me,” the pair created a cheeky animated collage in which characters gab as we’re pushed closer to their faces. The result is a mesmerizing, surreal video that, to Foxwarren’s pleading lyrics, compels our attention.

Find more from Hacking on Vimeo.

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The disorienting effects of technology are on full display in the chaotic, action-packed music video for Corridor’s “Jump Cut.” Cut-paper collage, archival footage, and rapid, glitched movements dominate the energetic track and visualize the unending frenzy of contemporary life. The brilliant direction and design is by Winston Hacking, with Philippe Tardif on animation.

Watch the full video below, and find more from Hacking on Vimeo.

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Already more intricate than digital techniques, stop-motion animation typically involves sets and characters designed to make subtle movements so that filmmakers can capture minute shifts frame by frame. Directors Jack Cunningham and Nicolas Ménard, of Eastend Western, have chosen the even more involved process of replacement animation for their recent project.

Popularized by George Pal in the 1930s and ’40s, replacement animation involves creating distinctive models for each movement. Where Pal used wooden characters, though, Cunningham and Ménard opted for 3D-printed figures for their new anthology, TRIPLE BILL.

Comprising a trio of films all under two minutes, the collection spans “three genres to survey the atmospheric potential of the technique,” the directors say. The first is “BLUE GOOSE,” a western mocking the current state of social media, that features an enormous cowboy statue that leaves his post at the gas station. Just to have the figure walk across the set required eight unique models.

The second two are similarly labor-intensive. “CLUB ROW” is a dizzying film noir about data privacy featuring an endlessly spinning staircase, and “MYTHACRYLATE” is a fantastic glimpse at the battles we have with ourselves.

As the behind-the-scenes photos below show, each model had to be cut, sanded, and painted individually before being precisely placed in position. Ménard told It’s Nice That that elements like lighting, sound, and camera angles were particularly important to help convey emotion in TRIPLE BILL, which envelops viewers in a hypnotic critique of technology and its effects.

Find more from Eastend Western on Vimeo. For a similar technique, you also might enjoy these bears on stairs.

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Fantastical flowers burgeon and bloom in the digital animations of Zachary Corzine. The Portland, Oregon-based generative designer uses a variety of software like Cinema4D, Houdini, Substance, Octane, Redshift, and After Effects to create dynamic, atmospheric visuals.

Between projects for clients like Apple, Audi, Disney, Nike, and many more, Corzine explores new techniques and effects in projects like Faux Flora. Taking inspiration from real botanicals like sunflowers, pincushions, lilacs, and more, he animates each specimen as if recording a timelapse, embracing an otherworldly geometry.

“This series was a year-long passion project, driven by my desire to explore hyper-realized flowers that exist in a space where nature and technology entwine in a delicate, algorithmic dance,” Corzine says. Each specimen is flawless and unfurls with a slightly uncanny polish. He adds:

Each bloom was designed to evoke both familiarity and mystery—forms that echo the organic yet defy the constraints of the natural world. By viewing flora through a procedurally generated lens, we can reimagine the botanical landscape as an ever-evolving entity.

Faux Flora blossomed from the increasing tension Corzine observes between technology and nature—a disparity he finds difficult to reconcile. “As climate change and environmental destruction continue, this project is both a love letter and a means to explore how technology can be used not to replace nature but hopefully reconnect us with it in new and meaningful ways,” he adds.

Explore more on Corzine’s website, Vimeo, and Behance. You might also enjoy Hannes Hummel’s bizarrely beautiful Hybrid Species or Ondrej Zunka’s The Fleur.

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In late December 2004, at the Republica de la Cromagñon nightclub in Buenos Aires, more than 4,000 fans gathered for a performance by the rock band Los Callejeros. The space was well over the club’s capacity of 1,500, while a number of routes were padlocked or blocked to prevent people from entering without paying.

When a fan shot a flare into the air—something Argentinian fans regularly do at large events—the pyrotechnic ignited the interior’s decor, comprised predominantly of highly flammable materials like styrofoam. The building erupted in a blaze that claimed 194 lives and injured nearly 1,500 more. With few available escape routes, little to no fire mitigation systems, and a packed club, pandemonium broke out at Cromagñon.

The fire quickly turned into one of the most devastating tragedies in Argentinian history. To mark 20 years since the disaster, a stop-motion short titled “LONA” poignantly memorializes the community’s loss. The title refers to “canvas,” like sneakers, and Malena Martinez directed and animated the film.

Focusing on pairs of shoes that dance to cheerful music, the work evokes joyful gatherings with friends to let loose and enjoy a concert. As the camaraderie continues, flowers begin to sprout from inside each sneaker, blossoming into a vibrant reminder of the lives lost in the fire.

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Rockets soar and sparks fly in Andrea Love’s animated tribute to a favorite New Year’s Eve tradition. In case you can’t make it to a live event this year, sit back and celebrate the launch into 2025 with the artist’s mesmerizing pyrotechnic show.

Love (previously) is known for her tender stop-motion portrayals of daily routines in her Cooking with Wool series, along with myriad felted scenarios for clients like Loewe, Michael’s, Hermès, and Netflix. Learn more about her work on her website, and explore all of her videos on YouTube.

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Anna’s next-door neighbor is a tornado. Constantly at odds with her surroundings, the young woman shields herself from chaos by staying inside, fussing over small details like the placement of books on shelves and adjusting crooked picture frames on the wall.

One day, strong winds leave Anna’s house askew, forcing her to venture just outside the front door. When the powerful vortex pulls both Anna and her keys into its mayhem, she must confront the reality of unpredictability.

“The Tornado Outside” is the creation of animation director Maria Tomazou, alongside a production team at the National Film and Television School in England. The award-winning short film came to life through stop-motion over the course of a year. According to Tomazou, nearly all elements in the film were animated while suspended in the air with rigs.

Watch “The Tornado Outside” on Vimeo now, and visit Tomazou’s website to explore more work. For behind-the-scenes clips, follow her on Instagram.

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What if succulents sprouted in squiggles? Or cacti turned orange and floated to the sky like balloons?

An imaginative animation by Hiroshi Takagishi pushes botanical specimens and their potential evolution to peculiar extremes. Inspired by contradictions and irregularities in nature, “Odd” is a digitally crafted film that envisions the ways various specimens could morph from one state to another. As cacti wiggle and wobble or burst into dainty green petals, their recognizable forms become strange and surreal.

Find more from Takagishi on Vimeo.

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“We might call that a cold case, right? There’s no evidence, there’s no murder weapon… It’s a crime scene, but the culprit—the criminal—has left.” Biologist Karen Lips’s opening words in the 2023 animated short film, “The Waiting,” portend a mystery with far-reaching implications.

Directed by Volker Schlecht and written by Alexander Lahl and Max Mönch, the award-winning film traces the mysterious disappearance of tree frogs in Costa Rica. Through a hand-drawn, mostly black-and-white style, rainforest creatures transform from plants, and tiny tadpoles metamorphose into full-grown amphibians.

In the 1990s, Lips undertook research in the Costa Rican rainforest, stationed in a small shack its resident scientists called “la casita,” where she monitored a group of fluorescent green tree frogs, Isthmohyla calypsa. The species possessed unique spikes on their hands that were used as weapons to physically fight for dominance within the habitat.

For nearly two years, she studied the Isthmohyla calypsa’s growth patterns, behavior, and habitat, before returning to the University of Miami to write up her research. When one final experiment prompted her to return to the forest, she arrived only to find that the frogs had vanished. “All of them,” she says.

At first, Lips wondered if the disappearance was the result of something she had done. Had they gotten scared? Had she bothered them too much? Perhaps there hadn’t been enough rain? “I thought… maybe I just need to wait long enough, and they’ll come back,” she says.

After waiting an entire summer, the frogs never reappeared. She was determined to solve the mystery, but no evidence remained to study. “There was no smoking gun,” Lips says. Eventually, she moved to another site to study a new set of frogs. But after a few days, her team began noticing unusual skin problems.

The malefactor turned out to be microscopic fungi known as chytrids, and it wasn’t limited to the mountainous cloud forests of Costa Rica. Researchers in countries across the globe reported similar findings when Lips shared her concerns.

Although it’s impossible to tell how the frogs initially came into contact with the fungus, humans bear the responsibility for their fate, and ultimately, that of many other creatures. The more we import and export food and other organic goods, the more likely invasive—and sometimes dangerous—organisms will spread. “We have made it super easy for infectious diseases of all sorts to leave the jungle and get to a major city in a couple of hours,” she says.

For frogs alone, the effects are considerable: “The estimate is somewhere between 150 and maybe 200 species have gone extinct in the past two or three decades,” Lips says. “Forty-one percent of all amphibians are in decline. And that’s worse than any other group of animals on the planet.”

Find out more about the film on Instagram.

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How does jealousy snuff out creativity? A stop-motion film written and directed by Ainslie Henderson (previously) follows three furry, felted creatures struggling with each other’s success.

“Shackle” centers on the gremlin-like trio as they conjure the forest’s magic to make music. As pinecones spin like a top, dreamy sounds emerge, and slowly, the creatures add other objects to the woodland symphony. Shape-shifting sticks offer a rhythmic line, while autumn leaves provide a soothing melody.

When one envious character tries to steal the unusual instruments for himself, though, a cloud of darkness reveals that greed is incompatible with art.

The short film is a BAFTA nominee and was recognized as the Best British Film at the London International Animation Festival in 2022. Henderson has also been awarded numerous Vimeo honors for his work, which you can watch on the platform.

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