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The animation was created by Janis Skulme for the music video of Olga Korsak’s Behind Closed Doors, and filmed at the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. The paintings and statues were brought to life using Crazy Talk 7 and an array of painting, video editing, and compositing software. To give you an idea of what’s involved in a project like this I have included his Video Effects Showreel 2014, which includes a number of instances of the original footage, and the steps they went through on their way to the final product. The fact that the song and performance are so powerful go a long way to making this a memorable video.

Olga Korsak – "Behind closed doors" from Janis Skulme on Vimeo.

Janis Skulme VFX Showreel 2014 from Janis Skulme on Vimeo.

The Studio Ghibli masterpiece Only Yesterday is finally being released in North America 25 years after its Japanese debut thanks to the folks at GKids. Rather than the fantasies of Miyazaki which Studio Ghibli is famous for, this one is one of the sumptuous slice of life presentations of co-founder Isao Takahata. GKids financed a whole new English dub of the film, including Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Daisy Ridley to voice Taeko, the heroine of the story. It is on the big screen today, January 1st, in NYC, and come February it will get a wider release to the rest of the continent. I can not think of a better way to start off the New Year than with a Ghibli film I have never seen; what a treat!