XYZ BLOG

Sesame St ‘Incarceration’ directed by XYZ’s Stephen Watkins.

XYZ — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 08:22:46 +0000

Being the first non-American to direct for Sesame Street is no mean feat, but we think our Director Stephen Watkins totally nailed it! This touching and insightful piece is brought to you by the letters X, Y and Z, for the Sesame St Workshop NYC. The beautiful character design was done by our own Celeste Potter. Check out the full piece.

Welcome our new Executive Producer- Garett Mayow!

XYZ — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 06:09:00 +0000

We are super psyched to announce Garett Mayow as Executive Producer of XYZ Studios! Garett has a wealth of industry experience having worked with The Guild and Prodigy Films in Melbourne and at Bunker Media in New Zealand. He is now back in Melbourne and immersed in creativity and innovation as part of our crew here at XYZ.

Check out Campaign Brief’s spot!

CELESTE POTTER REPRESENTS XYZ & PARTIZAN AT PICTOPLASMA 2013 BERLIN!

XYZ — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:15:57 +0000

We are super chuffed to have our very own Director Celeste Potter speaking at Pictoplasma, the world’s most famous character design based festival, this year being held in Berlin. Celeste was picked out by our founder Tim Kentley when he spied an illustration she did for a friend on facebook and promptly put her to work as a illustrator in the studio. Now working the world over as a director, her most recent work was ‘Overslept’ for creative agency Mother London. Proud of you Celeste!

XYZ director Mat Landour’s ‘The elaborate end of Robert Ebb’ is online for you to view!

XYZ — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 00:39:00 +0000

Mat’s latest short film, co-directed with Fx Goby and Clement Bolla, did a nice tour around the world in festivals and bagged a few awards: “Canal Plus Award” at the Clermont Ferrand Film Festival, “Best Artistic Direction” at Clap 89 FESTIVAL, “Best Screenplay” at FEST’ival International du Court-Métrage FEST’ and an “Audience Award” at the Utopiales Sci Fi Festival.

Today it’s released on Vimeo for your viewing pleasure, check it out here!

XYZ ranked 5th in the world via ‘SHOOT 2013 Winter Top Ten Chart’

XYZ — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 04:59:30 +0000

Lovely, whilst celebrating 10 years of crazy we received this little accolade “2013 Winter top 10 animation & VFX” via Shoot for work done with Mother London on Acer.

Well done to directors Celeste Potter, Mat Landour and the team involved, and cheers to our European chaperones Partizan.

XYZ ROCKS 10 YEARS OF CRAZY!

XYZ — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 02:59:30 +0000

Friday night, the sun hit the hills and the day closed in on 10 years since XYZ was founded by our CRAZY leader, Tim Kentley. And then the night began… MASSIVE thanks to all the family, friends, freelancers, clients and furry animals that have walked the walk with us – it’s been one hell of a stroll. See you all over the next 10 and in the meantime, check out a nice little story Little Black Book penned about us here.

Eran Hilleli directs ‘Numbers’ for ING Direct via Droga5

XYZ — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 07:18:34 +0000

We are very proud of this sentimental spot for ING Direct – it just makes you feel great! XYZ director Eran Hilleli teamed up with illustrators “The Project Twins” from Ireland to craft this wonderfully nuanced spot for Droga5 Sydn$ey. Enjoy the ride here!

Potter and Landour direct ‘Overslept’ for Acer via Mother London

XYZ — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 03:57:12 +0000

We are super chuffed to announce our first production with Partizan is down the hatch! Celeste Potter and Mat Landour teamed up with Mother London to illustrate and direct this super cool Acer TVC ‘Overslept’. Check out the beautiful character and set art direction here!

DANIELLE CONROY APPOINTED AS GM OF XYZ, CRAYON & WHEELBARROW.

XYZ — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 02:17:00 +0000

Tim Kentley, founder of Animation Studio: XYZ, Post House: Crayon & Digital Interactive Studio: Wheelbarrow, is very happy to announce that Danielle Conroy has been appointed as General Manager of the 3 companies, housed in the South Melbourne Headquarters.

Says Tim, “It’s a great thing when your ideas develop into a business, and that business then becomes big enough to attract such talent as Danielle running the show”.

Danielle has been working in the USA in Los Angeles and New York for the past 20 years and her experience spans visual effects, animation and previsualization for feature films as well as live action commercials and feature production from such places of Sony Pictures Imageworks and The Third Floor Previsualization Studio.

Says Danielle, “I began my career, fresh out of school, right here in Melbourne as a production assistant under EP, Helene Nicole and Director, Peter Corbett. It’s just great to come back full circle to where it all started for me and join such an incredibly talented and dynamic team of complimentary businesses Tim has built”.

Pictured: Crayon EP Sophie Woods, Founder/Director Tim Kentley, GM Danielle Conroy and XYZ EP Katie Mackin.

SWEET NEWS: Partizan now represents XYZ for UK/EUROPE.

XYZ — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 01:14:14 +0000

XYZ is super rapt to announce the signing of our studio to Partizan’s European roster.

Since its launch in 1991, Partizan has become one of the world’s leading producers of content, winning many awards including over 40 Cannes Lions — from music videos and commercials to documentaries, feature films, animation, digital and branded content.

Says XYZ founder and director Tim Kentley “At XYZ, we are squarely focused on character design and story telling from an always original foundation. This passion has seen the studio develop a well respected footprint around the globe as an animation leader, and we look forward to partnering with a leading studio like Partizan to go on many new amazing creative adventures together.”

Please contact Nicholas Deigman, Directors’ Representative for Animation at Partizan to chat further.

View our 2012 showreel here, and keep updated with all the news by following our facebook and twitter pages!

XYZ for ABC!

XYZ — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:00:51 +0000

XYZ director Celeste Potter was recently approached by ABC to design and illustrate a mythical bunch of creatures for their new website Splash - a world-class education website for Australia, packed with 100s of games, audio clips and videos. Lots of fun!

XYZ creates environmental graphics for re-opening of Hamer Hall.

XYZ — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 03:00:25 +0000

The Arts Centre Melbourne commissioned XYZ to produce “The Nautilus”, a 7m wide motion wall situated behind the bar (we like that) to celebrate the re-opening of the iconic Hamer Hall.

Directed by good friend of XYZ Bobby Dazzler and produced by EP Katie Mackin, the piece utilises projection mapping and filmed elements in conjunction with digital animation to create this film – exploring the Hall’s architectural themes and it’s use of the “Golden Ratio”.

A very unique project ‘The Nautilus’ is currently screening free, everyday, in the stalls bar at the Hamer Hall, St Kilda Road, Melbourne. More info here!