David OReilly (born 1985) is an Irish artist, film maker and game developer based in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
,
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
,
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.
Work
Animation
OReilly began his animation career at the age of 14, where he worked at
Cartoon Saloon.
Aside from a 1-minute film entitled ''Ident'', from which he draws his logo, the earliest work available on his website is ''WOFL2106''. This short draws equally on original designs and popular
internet meme
An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...
s to create a disturbing landscape of serenity juxtaposed with chaos. This film sets the tone for his entire œuvre, though the direct inclusion of outside memes disappears in his later work.
He created several animation sequences and props for the 2007 film ''
Son of Rambow'', as well as animation for the "guide" sequences in ''
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is a Science fiction comedy, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), radio sitcom broadcast over two series on BBC ...
'', with
Shynola.
He created the first video for Irish rock band
U2's single "
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight".
The video was released on U2.com on 21 July 2009.
In 2007, he produced the surreal short film "RGB XYZ" which tells the story of a young man kicked out of his parents' house to work in the big city, while using
low poly graphics,
compression artefacts,
text to speech voices, jarring colour palettes, and discordant tones.
His short film ''Please Say Something'' was awarded the Golden Bear at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival, Best Narrative Short at the 2009 Ottawa International Animation Festival and several other awards.
His short film, ''The External World'', premiered at the
67th Venice Film Festival and the 2011
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023.
The festival has acted ...
, and has since won over forty awards on its festival circuit including the
IFTA for Best Animation.
He wrote, directed, produced and animated the ''
Adventure Time'' episode "
A Glitch Is a Glitch" for
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...
, becoming the first guest director in the network's 20-year history.
In 2013 he worked on the
Spike Jonze
Adam Spiegel (born October 22, 1969), known professionally as Spike Jonze (), is an American Filmmaking, filmmaker, actor, musician, and photographer. His work includes films, commercials, music videos, skateboard videos and television.
Jonze ...
movie ''
Her'' as animation director on the sequences where the characters are playing video games.
Octocat Adventure
On 13 March 2008, a YouTube user named ''RANDYPETERS1'', a 9-year-old boy from Chicago, submitted a hand-drawn animated video about Octocat, a red cat head with eight long legs looking for his parents. The videos featured crude
MS Paint animation and a loud, high-pitched, childlike voice narrating. On 7 September, the fifth, final episode was released, but featured an unexpected twist – at about 25 seconds in, the crude sketchy animation switched to intricately crafted 3D with an orchestral soundtrack; the whole Octocat story (and as such, the Randy Peters persona) was revealed to be by David OReilly.
Video games
David announced his first game ''
Mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...
'' at MOCA Los Angeles in June 2014, and released it the following month in partnership with
Double Fine Productions for personal computers and mobile devices. ''Mountain'' features little interactivity but allows the player to create and watch a solitary mountain floating in space as it offers its thoughts to the player, and as random objects collide and become embedded within it. It was generally praised by critics, noting it as a subversion of what one normally expects for a video game.
In 2016, OReilly announced a second game, ''
Everything'', a "simulator of everything", on which the player can play as anything, from bacteria to galaxies. Everything was released on 21 March 2017 on PlayStation 4, with Windows and Mac versions to follow on 21 April 2017. Everything became the first realtime project to qualify for an Academy Award.
Style
OReilly's work is often characterised by the use of intentionally stripped down 3d graphics. He is known for popularising the use of low-poly 3d and the use of 3d software as a personal and artistic tool, as outlined in his 2009 essay "Basic Animation Aesthetics". He was an early adopter of glitch effects and uses elements of the software used inside his work. "
avidhas been the man to lead animation through a conceptual blockage—3D animation was being dominated by commercial aesthetics....he deconstructed 3D to the point of absurdity."
Video games
* ''Everything'' (2017)
* ''Mountain'' (2014)
Short films
*'' The External World'' (2010, 17 min)
*''Please Say Something'' (2009, 10 min)
*''Octocat Adventure'' (2008, 6 min)
*''Serial Entoptics'' (2008, 10 min)
*''RGB XYZ'' (2007, 12 min)
*'' Wofl2106'' (2006, 4 min)
*''?????''
Music videos
*"
Szamár Madár" (
Venetian Snares, 2005, 4 min)
*"
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" (U2, 2009, 4 min)
References
External links
David OReilly's Websitefeaturing clips of his work.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oreilly, David
1985 births
Living people
Irish animators
Irish animated film directors
Irish expatriates in the United States
Irish film directors
People from Kilkenny (city)
Artists from County Kilkenny