Black Raven has come to the end of its international festival circuit with Barcelona being its final screening. Over all Black Raven was screened at 16 international festivals, Winning Best Video at 4 of them, and gaining 5 other accolades. Thanks to State of Mind and our team once again for making this a reality, your hard work was a journey full of stories reflected by its festival success. Its been 2 years since its completion, its now time for our latest project Atheum's Way to take over with its first International screening being at Siggraph LA this august.
Deathgasm NZ Premier /
A Film I worked on last year as 2nd Unit Director is having its New Zealand Premier this Friday. Deathgasm is Written and Directed by Jason Howden - "Two metal heads unleash a satanic riff that opens the gates of hell in this blood-splattered, heavy shredding comedy-horror."
It was a pleasure working with this awesome crew and I am seriously looking forward to seeing it and posting a review here. It's already screened internationally having its premier at SXSW. Buy your tickets now and come join the Brutalness. http://www.nziff.co.nz/2015/auckland/deathgasm/
Here is one of my shots to lookout for (the whole sequence is mega fun).
The Mecha Genesis /
Some more characters towards my IP "The Mecha Genesis". Finished the line work on this trio of transhuman mecha-punks. Will experiment with colour and shading one day.
Atheum's Way Heads to Siggraph 2015 /
I am proud to announce that Atheum's Way has been selected to screen at the 2015 Siggraph conference in LA, arguably the largest animation festival on the planet. We were also selected to present as part of their "Dailies" segment - "Whereas most SIGGRAPH content is focused on new techniques for creating images, SIGGRAPH Dailies! is focused on the imagery itself and the stories of the artists who created it."
"The SIGGRAPH conference and exhibition is a five-day interdisciplinary educational experience including a three-day commercial exhibition that attracts hundreds of exhibitors from around the world. SIGGRAPH is widely recognized as the most prestigious forum for the publication of computer graphics research."
3d World features Oliver Hilbert /
3d World recently did a write up on Oliver Hilbert from the Media Design School, my face manage to sneak in there. Check his work out. Oliver and I have frequently collaborated on various projects some which you can view on our site.
I was Director of Photography on the short film "Escargore". Directed by Oliver HIlbert at the MDS. Looking forward to seeing this one.
Welcome to the new Sakowski Studios /
Sakowski Studios has had a much needed website update. With new content and a new cleaner layout that works across all devices. It's been a busy month, with attending the Canadian Film Festival in Vancouver, visiting Zoic Studios, presenting at Chromacon arts festival and finishing up the Making of Atheum's Way, I can finally move on to the next project!
Black Raven will soon be coming to the end of its festival circuit with a trail of awards behind it. Taking over from Black Raven will be Atheum's Way. After many hours of work I have launched our making of page. Click on the image to go to our new page.
What next? Well after spending some considerable time working on Atheum's Way I have decided that its time to focus on my own films. I have a short, high-concept Sci-Fi script that I have written titled "Black Box" which will be my next film project. On top of this I recently got the final ingredient I needed to write my first feature script. This script is part of my Mecha Genesis Saga and will probably take some time to develop, but the ingredients are there and the chef is working on it.
I also plan to complete my 100 characters. I'm up to 60 right now and will soon be making more, revising the story, and hopefully publishing some copies in the future. All in the mean time I have been working at Mukpuddy Animation compositing their new animated TV show and watching all the entires flow in from across the globe to our festival The Vision Feast.
Thanks to all those in the past few months who have helped me get this far; my parents, my patient girlfriend who waited as I said "this tweak will only take 10 minutes" a million times - Love you bae. To all the artists who have contributed to these recent projects, Troy, Linhan, Liam, Loic, Jesse and James, I thank you, as Sakowski Studios is not just me, It's a whole team of people helping helping manifest my visions; and there are plenty of vision to come.
Aleksander
The Making of Atheum's Way /
Black Raven Wins in Amsterdam /
Black Raven heads to New York City /
Atheum's Way /
A father must confront an eternal storm to reunite with his daughter, and learn that man must tame his past before he conquers his future.
Made by 2 people over the course of 1 year, Atheum's Way is an animated music video by New Zealand based production house Sakowski Studios, to the music of Solstate. Directed, composited and animated by Aleksander Sakowski, illustrated by Linhan Ye, music by Troy Mckubre.
The eternal storm in Atheum's Way is representative of the hardest challenges we face in life. One can not wait for the storm to pass, because there will always be another brewing. Facing those challenges teaches us the most about ourselves, and in the last leg of our journey we will face our greatest obstacles.
The machine serpent is a reflection of this ultimate challenge. Generations ago, these man made monsters were created as tools of war; after we lost control of them they became their own masters. Now after years of battles and navigating the oceans, this one has lost its eyes and attacks anything that crosses its path. If our most advanced machines are guided to war, would it be no surprise that once they are intelligent, war is all they will know? Humans have trouble showing empathy for their own kind let alone other thinking creatures, and machines are a reflection of us. If we create them in the name of war, war is what we will receive. The father must confront this challenge, and tame the blind beast.
Thanks to Liam Williams, Loic Yearbury, James Aldous and Jesse Meha for lending a hand when things got heavy, and special thanks to Troy Mckubre for his insurmountable patience.