Saturday, 27 February 2010
Digital Analog
This was animated in After Effects and then each frame was printed out and then scanned back into the computer. The trip to the analog world created the rough scratchy effects, no digital effects were added.
Danish creator Steffen Bygebjerg explains: "I just printed it on an old photocopier. But I printed each frame quite small and enlarged them (a lot) when I scanned them. Yeah the process of making the video was kinda backwards but also similar to the way Troels Abrahamsen worked on his album WHT. He first sketched the album up digitally and then he recorded the things again with live instruments (drums, bass guitar, analogue synthesizers and such) and then fine tuning it again digitally. So the basis of my idea was to mirror his working process."
Similar to Kate Moross' videos for Simian Mobile Disco.
Friday, 26 February 2010
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Has the British media grown increasingly negative since 1945?
Here's my 1st year dissertation. Not sure whether anyone will actually read it, but hey, better than just leaving it rotting in a dingy folder on my computer. If you do read it, I'd love to hear your opinion on the subject in a comment. :)
Nowadays, we turn our televisions on or open our newspapers and there always seems to be another story about a car-bombing in the Middle East or a knife-crime in our local borough. (Keeble, 2001, p63) Looking back at old newsreels the reports seem so much more happy and up-beat: items about the first bananas arriving in Britain or the 1948 London Olympics going spectacularly well. But was that the media’s spin on things or was it really all rosy back then? Or do we simply have access to more bad news now? This essay will explore how much of a part the media plays in the way we perceive the world and how it has developed since the 1940’s.
After World War Two, British citizens needed to look forward and think positively, despite winning the war, life was grim. Many cities were bombed and everyone in the country was bound by strict rations. People needed to forget what they’d been through, as many were grieving. From 1925, most of the country had been able to access the news via The BBC’s pioneering wireless radio network. (www.bbc.co.uk, 2008) There was, of course, newspapers too plus a huge number of popular cinemas that showed daily newsreels. Looking back, these were extremely up-beat and gave the public stories to incite national pride, often through Government controlled propaganda, but the media, as always, gave the people what they wanted. Britain was incredibly patriotic, with war-songs and cartoons in newspapers mocking other countries, rarely Britain itself. (Walsh, 2001) Politicians back then had far more power and control over the country, (Andrew Marr’s…, 2005, TV) settling treaties with leaders across the globe within private meetings, with the newspapers waiting on their every word before printing the results.
As we reached the Nineties Britain had come out the other side of a long, battling Industrial age and a new American-style consumer market society had taken shape. Britain could now hit a period of depression via stock exchange cock-ups rather than a world war; the power had shifted away from the Governments and over to the consumer markets. Churchill had power as prime minister, but as a contrasting example, John Major gave Britain a sense of ‘no control’ after his plans for the country crumbled with the sudden financial crisis of ‘Black Wednesday’ in 1992. (Andrew Marr’s…, 2005, TV) British broadcast journalism was affected heavily by this swing in power: broadcasting has become far more commercial (McNair, 1994, p219) and moral issues are now dealt with in a far more public domain with the press highly involved before regulatory organisations like Ofcom can even make a statement (eg. ‘Ross/Brand’ situation). Negative issues are now more public and easier to hear about.
Editors are always thinking about what will sell their papers and with modern society especially focused around consumerism now, the answer has often ended up with ‘fear sells newspapers’. It always has: the day World War Two was declared sales of The Times hit a new record 278,000, a big jump from their average 150,000 a day. (Bogarde, The Times, p47) Paranoia has escalated to beliefs that, for example, The Iraq war justified by lies and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center were inside jobs. (The Power Of Nightmares, 2004, TV)
Politics and entertainment has become merged since Tory scandals in the John Major era and New Labour’s acceptance of media power, and the invasion into ‘celebrities’ personal lives has become commonplace. (Andrew Marr’s…, 2005, TV) Some would say this hunger for scandal and bad news has always been present in British media, (Stephenson, 1998) but not to this extent. As soon realised by Peter Mandelson and co, politicians can try and use the media but it’s harder to get away with things now, for example, Tony Blair may have been image conscious but he couldn’t act his way out of every situation. (Andrew Marr’s…, 2005, TV)
One could argue that the reason we seem to have more bad news now is because we have wider access to stories across the globe now, the British media has expanded a long way from simply newspapers. Since Tim Berners Lee’s invention and release of the World Wide Web in 1992 the world has changed. (http://websearch.about.com/, 2008) Now we can hear about something going wrong somewhere in the world almost instantly via 24 hour news broadcasted digitally in a range of formats. Technology has advanced in so many ways we can now analyse far more threats, from global warming to meteor strikes. We seem more vulnerable, but in many cases it may just be that we weren’t aware about certain things before.
Flights have been cheap enough in the last twenty years for Britons to travel easily and we’ve become far more connected with other societies across the globe. (Andrew Marr’s…, 2005, TV) London is currently the most linguistically diverse city in the world (http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/, 2008) and Britain is one of the most multi-cultural countries, so we as a nation have a wider interest in global affairs - bad news in New Zealand could make the news in Britain. Even as early as 1964, Halloran commented:
“The alleged effects and the alleged extent of the influence of mass communication in general and of television in particular are fiercely debated topics which are rarely out of the news. Charges, counter charges, assertions and denials are frequent. Mass communication is alternately blamed for increased crime, violence, immorality and escapism, and praised for it’s educational achievements and social usefulness.” (Halloran, 1964)
Censorship has a big part to play when comparing 1940’s Britain to Britain today. For example, during World War Two every photograph had to be passed by the Press and Censorship Bureau of the Ministry of Information before it could be used in a newspaper. At best, photos were released with instructions to black out backgrounds or secret radar equipment; at worst they were never returned. (Bogarde, The Times, p53) Now though, with the internet a popular yet uncontrollable medium, the public have a new meaning to ‘freedom of speech’ – anyone can publish their view online for others to witness. People are harder to silence and therefore bad news is harder to hide. (Herbert, 2000)
“If news instinct as born were turned loose in any newspaper office without the control of sound judgement bred by experience and training, the results would be much more pleasing to the lawyers than the editor.” (Pulitzer, 1904)
A key example that illustrates the differences in the way the media reports on events is the London Olympics of 1948 and soon 2012. The 1948 games took place 3 years after the end of World War Two and must have been quite low budget and not much of a spectacle, competitors stayed in school halls and decommissioned army barracks not a glamourous ‘Olympic Village’, yet it was branded a triumph in adversity. On the other hand, the 2012 games are currently still 4 years away yet is constantly making negative headlines: the logo design, the costs of the new arenas, not being on schedule, redevelopments not in keeping with the locations. (http://www.london2012.com/, 2008)
In conclusion, looking at the evidence present, British media seems to have taken on a stereotyped pessimistic approach to news, under a jokey entertainment label. (http://www.independent.co.uk/, 2008) A quick flick through the radio times will show you regular sarcastic panel shows and ‘moany’ programmes such as Grumpy Old Men and Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe (even being negative about negative media sometimes!), and a check on the latest review of the England football team will inevitably show you a dull scoreless attempt as the media pile ‘the pressure of a nation’ on the shoulders of 11 men in a field. (http://www.independent.co.uk/, 2008) The media does appear far more negative nowadays, but maybe that’s how we want it?
Bibliography
Books
KEEBLE, Richard. Ethics For Journalists, Routledge, 2001.
WALSH, Ben. A Modern World History, Hodder Murray, 2001.
STEPHENSON, Hugh, Tickle The Public: Consumerism Rules, Longman, 1998.
MCNAIR, Brian, News And Journalism In The UK, Routledge, 1994.
HERBERT, John, Journalism In The Digital Age, Focal Press, 2000.
HALLORAN, J.D., The Effects Of Mass Communication, Leicester University Press, 1964
Journals
BOGARDE, Snowdon, The Times: Past Present Future, 1984, p43-47.
PULITZER, Joseph, North American Review, 1904.
Television Programmes
Andrew Marr’s History Of Modern Britain, writ. Andrew Marr, television programme, UK, 2005.
The Power Of Nightmares, writ. & prod. Adam Curtis, television programme, UK, 2004.
Websites
http://www.bbc.co.uk/heritage/story/index.shtml, 2/12/2008.
http://websearch.about.com/od/whatistheinternet/a/usewww.htm, 2/12/2008.
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/london/multicultural.htm, 2/12/2008.
http://www.london2012.com/blog/2007/11/15/memories-from-the-london-1948-games.php, 2/12/2008.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/minghella-bemoans-jaundiced-british-for-cultural-negativity-566588.html, 2/12/2008.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/internationals/mcclaren-accuses-media-of-trying-to-split-england-424299.html, 2/12/2008.
Nowadays, we turn our televisions on or open our newspapers and there always seems to be another story about a car-bombing in the Middle East or a knife-crime in our local borough. (Keeble, 2001, p63) Looking back at old newsreels the reports seem so much more happy and up-beat: items about the first bananas arriving in Britain or the 1948 London Olympics going spectacularly well. But was that the media’s spin on things or was it really all rosy back then? Or do we simply have access to more bad news now? This essay will explore how much of a part the media plays in the way we perceive the world and how it has developed since the 1940’s.
After World War Two, British citizens needed to look forward and think positively, despite winning the war, life was grim. Many cities were bombed and everyone in the country was bound by strict rations. People needed to forget what they’d been through, as many were grieving. From 1925, most of the country had been able to access the news via The BBC’s pioneering wireless radio network. (www.bbc.co.uk, 2008) There was, of course, newspapers too plus a huge number of popular cinemas that showed daily newsreels. Looking back, these were extremely up-beat and gave the public stories to incite national pride, often through Government controlled propaganda, but the media, as always, gave the people what they wanted. Britain was incredibly patriotic, with war-songs and cartoons in newspapers mocking other countries, rarely Britain itself. (Walsh, 2001) Politicians back then had far more power and control over the country, (Andrew Marr’s…, 2005, TV) settling treaties with leaders across the globe within private meetings, with the newspapers waiting on their every word before printing the results.
As we reached the Nineties Britain had come out the other side of a long, battling Industrial age and a new American-style consumer market society had taken shape. Britain could now hit a period of depression via stock exchange cock-ups rather than a world war; the power had shifted away from the Governments and over to the consumer markets. Churchill had power as prime minister, but as a contrasting example, John Major gave Britain a sense of ‘no control’ after his plans for the country crumbled with the sudden financial crisis of ‘Black Wednesday’ in 1992. (Andrew Marr’s…, 2005, TV) British broadcast journalism was affected heavily by this swing in power: broadcasting has become far more commercial (McNair, 1994, p219) and moral issues are now dealt with in a far more public domain with the press highly involved before regulatory organisations like Ofcom can even make a statement (eg. ‘Ross/Brand’ situation). Negative issues are now more public and easier to hear about.
Editors are always thinking about what will sell their papers and with modern society especially focused around consumerism now, the answer has often ended up with ‘fear sells newspapers’. It always has: the day World War Two was declared sales of The Times hit a new record 278,000, a big jump from their average 150,000 a day. (Bogarde, The Times, p47) Paranoia has escalated to beliefs that, for example, The Iraq war justified by lies and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center were inside jobs. (The Power Of Nightmares, 2004, TV)
Politics and entertainment has become merged since Tory scandals in the John Major era and New Labour’s acceptance of media power, and the invasion into ‘celebrities’ personal lives has become commonplace. (Andrew Marr’s…, 2005, TV) Some would say this hunger for scandal and bad news has always been present in British media, (Stephenson, 1998) but not to this extent. As soon realised by Peter Mandelson and co, politicians can try and use the media but it’s harder to get away with things now, for example, Tony Blair may have been image conscious but he couldn’t act his way out of every situation. (Andrew Marr’s…, 2005, TV)
One could argue that the reason we seem to have more bad news now is because we have wider access to stories across the globe now, the British media has expanded a long way from simply newspapers. Since Tim Berners Lee’s invention and release of the World Wide Web in 1992 the world has changed. (http://websearch.about.com/, 2008) Now we can hear about something going wrong somewhere in the world almost instantly via 24 hour news broadcasted digitally in a range of formats. Technology has advanced in so many ways we can now analyse far more threats, from global warming to meteor strikes. We seem more vulnerable, but in many cases it may just be that we weren’t aware about certain things before.
Flights have been cheap enough in the last twenty years for Britons to travel easily and we’ve become far more connected with other societies across the globe. (Andrew Marr’s…, 2005, TV) London is currently the most linguistically diverse city in the world (http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/, 2008) and Britain is one of the most multi-cultural countries, so we as a nation have a wider interest in global affairs - bad news in New Zealand could make the news in Britain. Even as early as 1964, Halloran commented:
“The alleged effects and the alleged extent of the influence of mass communication in general and of television in particular are fiercely debated topics which are rarely out of the news. Charges, counter charges, assertions and denials are frequent. Mass communication is alternately blamed for increased crime, violence, immorality and escapism, and praised for it’s educational achievements and social usefulness.” (Halloran, 1964)
Censorship has a big part to play when comparing 1940’s Britain to Britain today. For example, during World War Two every photograph had to be passed by the Press and Censorship Bureau of the Ministry of Information before it could be used in a newspaper. At best, photos were released with instructions to black out backgrounds or secret radar equipment; at worst they were never returned. (Bogarde, The Times, p53) Now though, with the internet a popular yet uncontrollable medium, the public have a new meaning to ‘freedom of speech’ – anyone can publish their view online for others to witness. People are harder to silence and therefore bad news is harder to hide. (Herbert, 2000)
“If news instinct as born were turned loose in any newspaper office without the control of sound judgement bred by experience and training, the results would be much more pleasing to the lawyers than the editor.” (Pulitzer, 1904)
A key example that illustrates the differences in the way the media reports on events is the London Olympics of 1948 and soon 2012. The 1948 games took place 3 years after the end of World War Two and must have been quite low budget and not much of a spectacle, competitors stayed in school halls and decommissioned army barracks not a glamourous ‘Olympic Village’, yet it was branded a triumph in adversity. On the other hand, the 2012 games are currently still 4 years away yet is constantly making negative headlines: the logo design, the costs of the new arenas, not being on schedule, redevelopments not in keeping with the locations. (http://www.london2012.com/, 2008)
In conclusion, looking at the evidence present, British media seems to have taken on a stereotyped pessimistic approach to news, under a jokey entertainment label. (http://www.independent.co.uk/, 2008) A quick flick through the radio times will show you regular sarcastic panel shows and ‘moany’ programmes such as Grumpy Old Men and Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe (even being negative about negative media sometimes!), and a check on the latest review of the England football team will inevitably show you a dull scoreless attempt as the media pile ‘the pressure of a nation’ on the shoulders of 11 men in a field. (http://www.independent.co.uk/, 2008) The media does appear far more negative nowadays, but maybe that’s how we want it?
Bibliography
Books
KEEBLE, Richard. Ethics For Journalists, Routledge, 2001.
WALSH, Ben. A Modern World History, Hodder Murray, 2001.
STEPHENSON, Hugh, Tickle The Public: Consumerism Rules, Longman, 1998.
MCNAIR, Brian, News And Journalism In The UK, Routledge, 1994.
HERBERT, John, Journalism In The Digital Age, Focal Press, 2000.
HALLORAN, J.D., The Effects Of Mass Communication, Leicester University Press, 1964
Journals
BOGARDE, Snowdon, The Times: Past Present Future, 1984, p43-47.
PULITZER, Joseph, North American Review, 1904.
Television Programmes
Andrew Marr’s History Of Modern Britain, writ. Andrew Marr, television programme, UK, 2005.
The Power Of Nightmares, writ. & prod. Adam Curtis, television programme, UK, 2004.
Websites
http://www.bbc.co.uk/heritage/story/index.shtml, 2/12/2008.
http://websearch.about.com/od/whatistheinternet/a/usewww.htm, 2/12/2008.
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/london/multicultural.htm, 2/12/2008.
http://www.london2012.com/blog/2007/11/15/memories-from-the-london-1948-games.php, 2/12/2008.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/minghella-bemoans-jaundiced-british-for-cultural-negativity-566588.html, 2/12/2008.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/internationals/mcclaren-accuses-media-of-trying-to-split-england-424299.html, 2/12/2008.
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Gentlemen Broncos
Brilliant title sequence for the film Gentlemen Broncos. From the director of Napoleon Dynamite and starring Jermaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords, this film is an off-beat comedy set in Utah about a budding sci-fi novelist and his idol.
Check out Ronald Chevalier for more of an idea.
UPDATE: The title sequence can now be seen over at Art Of The Title, accompanied by a interview with Jared Hess.
Monday, 22 February 2010
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Jack Beats Essential Mix
"Girl let me tell you how the Jack Beats drop!"
WAAAAAARRHHHHHRMMMM.
Q. How do you spell a Jack Beats wobble?
A. It is not possible. Not even Chuck Norris can spell it.
Here's a full list of links, as anyone spreading this mix has my full respect:
BBC iPlayer
O Rly Tuff Guy?
The Raw Juice
Disturbed Beats
Mooreeya
Deepgoa
Strictly Riddim
Feeding The Frenzy
Core News
Saturday, 20 February 2010
The Bubble
Last night BBC Two saw the first episode of David Mitchell's The Bubble, a simple concept in which 3 celebrities are locked up for 4 days before the show with no access to media, then shown real and fake news stories and get to guess at which ones are real and which ones are fake.
Not only is it a completely original format, it also makes a statement about the modern day's wild media coverage. Should we believe everything we see on the news? Or on the other hand, is there no story too ridiculous for news coverage nowadays?
I think it's a brilliant idea for a show, and one that David Mitchell is clearly proud of. Even in the promos aired over the past week you could hear the excitement in his voiceover! But the show has already hit stumbling blocks...
Bizarrely one might say, the BBC has banned it's news journalists from working on fake stories for The Bubble. The worry from the bosses of BBC News was that viewers may mistake the news stories as real, despite the fact BBC Two never has news programming and all the clips had The Bubble logo placed in the corner of the screen throughout.
The decision is especially unusual as BBC news journalists and clips have been used before in fictional dramas such as Torchwood, Spooks, Silent Witness. The pilot for The Bubble used Nick Robinson, the BBC's political editor, and it is unclear what made the corporation backtrack. As David Mitchell said it himself "The BBC doesn't act like an entity, it acts like a warring federation." The revelation meant that the production team had to use clips from ITV and Sky.
But the problems are seemingly not yet over, Simon Bucks wrote for Sky News: "On paper it sounded like a fun idea, but in practice it has one fundamental and rather catastrophic flaw. Since the celebs have been locked away for a week and have no idea what's been going on they are unable to be funny, or even say much, about the news."
He goes on to criticise it morally too. "In one particularly tasteless section they were shown the video of the (alleged) Mossad assassins in Dubai, dressed in tennis gear, as they homed in on their target. The panel had to choose between the real scenario and two fake ones: that they were MPs on a fact finding trip or Ant and Dec in their new show."
Interestingly a comment blames it on the editing. "Frankly having attended a 3 hour recording session the editors seemed to have chosen some of least funny jokes and also there were 7 rounds recorded, some of which should have been shown over the ones shown."
I personally wholehearted disagree with these two opinions. Using as lazy comparisons as Mr Simon Bucks of Sky News; firstly I found it very funny, funnier than some episodes of Have I Got News For You or Mock The Week. Then secondly, I don't think it can be picked on for being distasteful, as shows such as Mock The Week can be just as shocking and immoral.
Friday, 19 February 2010
Doritos King Of Ads
Doritos has set up a prize fund of up to £200,000 in its latest attempt to source a user-generated ad, which consists of a competition being supported by D&AD and Channel 4.
With the help of Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, Doritos is hunting for budding directors to create and shoot a 29-second TV ad, using a competition tool kit that can be found on the Doritos website. There is a choice of 48 songs to work from that have been composed specially.
They are apparently judging it on:
- How original is your idea? (40%)
- How engaging is your execution? (30%)
- Have you adhered to the brief? (30%)
The makers of the top 15 spots will then be invited to pitch their ad to a panel of judges, which includes Bafta award-winning actor Noel Clarke and TV presenter Lauren Laverne.
The panel will choose its top three ads, which will then be put to the public vote. The ad that receives the most votes will be crowned 'The King of Ads', and will be aired on national TV in June. The creator of the spot will also win £100,000, as well as an extra £1 for every vote they receive up to an additional £100,000.
Last year, Doritos had a similar campaign with a winning prize fund of £20,000. You may remember the winner:
The other 875 entries can be seen on Doritos YouTube Channel.
My personal favourite and the one I feel should have won is this:
Judging by the comments they didn't submit it in time. Maybe they'll win this year...
With the help of Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, Doritos is hunting for budding directors to create and shoot a 29-second TV ad, using a competition tool kit that can be found on the Doritos website. There is a choice of 48 songs to work from that have been composed specially.
They are apparently judging it on:
- How original is your idea? (40%)
- How engaging is your execution? (30%)
- Have you adhered to the brief? (30%)
The makers of the top 15 spots will then be invited to pitch their ad to a panel of judges, which includes Bafta award-winning actor Noel Clarke and TV presenter Lauren Laverne.
The panel will choose its top three ads, which will then be put to the public vote. The ad that receives the most votes will be crowned 'The King of Ads', and will be aired on national TV in June. The creator of the spot will also win £100,000, as well as an extra £1 for every vote they receive up to an additional £100,000.
Last year, Doritos had a similar campaign with a winning prize fund of £20,000. You may remember the winner:
The other 875 entries can be seen on Doritos YouTube Channel.
My personal favourite and the one I feel should have won is this:
Judging by the comments they didn't submit it in time. Maybe they'll win this year...
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Radio 1 Typography
Sub-brands, sub-brands, sub-brands. BBC's brand is brilliant at sub-brands.
First you have the mother-brand, the BBC logo in 3 squares.
Then you have the radio stations, each containing the original logo.
But I've just stumbled upon the sub-brands within BBC Radio 1. Although the entire station has a single font (Century Gothic Bold I think), the DJs are still distinguished using simple typographical variations, colour and a couple of objects.
For example Chris Moyles is all caps lock, underlined, with a megaphone, a boiled egg and a bright red and orange colour scheme - because his show is in the morning and he does a lot of shouting. And his head looks like an egg. Simples.
Check the rest out:
Looking at each DJ's typography you can immediately work out what their show's like, what genre of music it is, even roughly what time they're on air. Next to each other they all look united in their differences, exactly what the BBC strives for as a brand.
First you have the mother-brand, the BBC logo in 3 squares.
Then you have the radio stations, each containing the original logo.
But I've just stumbled upon the sub-brands within BBC Radio 1. Although the entire station has a single font (Century Gothic Bold I think), the DJs are still distinguished using simple typographical variations, colour and a couple of objects.
For example Chris Moyles is all caps lock, underlined, with a megaphone, a boiled egg and a bright red and orange colour scheme - because his show is in the morning and he does a lot of shouting. And his head looks like an egg. Simples.
Check the rest out:
Looking at each DJ's typography you can immediately work out what their show's like, what genre of music it is, even roughly what time they're on air. Next to each other they all look united in their differences, exactly what the BBC strives for as a brand.
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Heavy Rain
Other Reviews: IGN / Gadget Show / PSXextreme
Brilliant reviews almost all round, it's certainly groundbreaking but I still have a bone to pick with it...
The thing is with this game, is it's like a film that you might watch once or twice with a few edits. So it's like buying a DVD with an added Director's Cut extra. But with a DVD of a film, I'd pay no more than £10, usually just about £3 to rent it out. However, Heavy Rain on release date is £37+! I really want to get it, but fact is I won't get as much game time out of it as I do for something like GTA or PES.
This is basically an interactive film. I will probably rent it from a shop in a few months. As far as I'm concerned it's certainly a game to rent rather than buy.
I think this concept is genuinely the future of interactive entertainment, but they need to sort the price out. Cinema goers have shown with Avatar they will be prepared to pay a little more for some extra fancy technology, but as this is PS3 only, it's put itself in a niche, despite the fact that it's possible audience is massive.
Heavy Rain, put simply: it's too expensive as a film, and too short an experience for a game.
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Monday, 15 February 2010
Specks of Freshness
I've been sieving through a few extremely commercial music videos, snapping up any cool visual styles. Glimmers of creativity hidden amongst the heap of routine mainstream promos.
Rihanna - Rude Boys
Cool camera people in 'Beyonce - Video Phone'
Rihanna - Rude Boys
Cool camera people in 'Beyonce - Video Phone'
Sunday, 14 February 2010
Andy Martin
Lovely character design from Andy Martin.
And here's a brilliant music video he made:
Top work. Check out more of his work on his website and blog.
And here's a brilliant music video he made:
Top work. Check out more of his work on his website and blog.
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Friday, 12 February 2010
The Leano
"After 9 months of work we have finally got the SMILE music video ready for the world. This video was the brainchild of The Leano, who brought together 15 animators from 15 different parts of the world to create 15 different characters. There was no brief given to the artists they were free to delve into their own imaginations and animate a 5 second segment of the song. "
Similar idea to my class uni project 'Swing Set'. Much higher standard though... :D
Similar idea to my class uni project 'Swing Set'. Much higher standard though... :D
Thursday, 11 February 2010
Spoiling Secrets?
A trend in Facebook groups is currently thundering away through the UK; if your city doesn't have a 'Secret' group by now then you should be ashamed (or proud?).
The first group to spawn was 'Secret London', which has the main aim to share those 'hidden gems', 'special places' and 'unknown talent' from round the city. It basically takes the form of a pretentious guide book, but the London group has 191,000 members as I type. The photo album in the group is saturated with a lot of people just posting the view out of their window or their local corner shop, but there are a few interesting snaps.
But what I've found most interesting about this group is the anger it's firing up in some people. Furious posts on the wall of the group claim that the hidden spots will be ruined if everyone knows about them. This really makes me laugh, it's not as if there's never been a guide or review to London! It seems that some people are geniunely scared of 191,000 facebook members descending on their favourite bakery/cafe/park bench at once!
A blog poster on the Secret London website writes: "The question is whether taste should be something shared or guarded. Isn’t it elitist to keep hidden gems private? To share these places encourages independent business to thrive, which raises the level for everyone and encourages a better standard for our city. This is about building a more shared community instead of one which guards personal space."
It's a lovely ideology that these Facebook groups are going to help small businesses but in it's current format this is no more than a dream. The groups are absolutely plastered with spam messages advertising anything from greetings cards to engineers. The website is undergoing a vote to change it's logo (10 whittled down from 403 entries!), but that's the least of their worries. They need some kind of system, that's why I voted for the most adaptable of the logos - the bottom one.
UPDATE: And the winner is... a logo for an opticians... :/
The first group to spawn was 'Secret London', which has the main aim to share those 'hidden gems', 'special places' and 'unknown talent' from round the city. It basically takes the form of a pretentious guide book, but the London group has 191,000 members as I type. The photo album in the group is saturated with a lot of people just posting the view out of their window or their local corner shop, but there are a few interesting snaps.
But what I've found most interesting about this group is the anger it's firing up in some people. Furious posts on the wall of the group claim that the hidden spots will be ruined if everyone knows about them. This really makes me laugh, it's not as if there's never been a guide or review to London! It seems that some people are geniunely scared of 191,000 facebook members descending on their favourite bakery/cafe/park bench at once!
A blog poster on the Secret London website writes: "The question is whether taste should be something shared or guarded. Isn’t it elitist to keep hidden gems private? To share these places encourages independent business to thrive, which raises the level for everyone and encourages a better standard for our city. This is about building a more shared community instead of one which guards personal space."
It's a lovely ideology that these Facebook groups are going to help small businesses but in it's current format this is no more than a dream. The groups are absolutely plastered with spam messages advertising anything from greetings cards to engineers. The website is undergoing a vote to change it's logo (10 whittled down from 403 entries!), but that's the least of their worries. They need some kind of system, that's why I voted for the most adaptable of the logos - the bottom one.
UPDATE: And the winner is... a logo for an opticians... :/
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Augmented (Hyper)Reality
The sound is very good on this, it's what really makes it work for me. Reminds me of The Sims a bit.
Sunday, 7 February 2010
Superbowl Advertising Slot
The advertising breaks during the Superbowl are some of the most expensive slots in the world. Here's my nomination for best advert set to be aired tonight.
Friday, 5 February 2010
10 Reasons...
for this to be the night of 2010.
1. DJ Mehdi back-to-back vinyl set with Boys Noize
2. The Coronet Theatre — proscenium arch entertainment doesn't get better than this
3. The "greatest sound system in the country" according to Busy P
4. Erol Alkan back-to-back with Xavier de Rosnay
5. I have no work on right now.
6. The tickets sold out over a month ago
7. Bugged Out 10th anniversary
8. All proceeds go to charity
9. First time I'm seeing Italian techno giants Crookers
10. I haven't even mentioned The Glimmers, Aeroplane, Bob Rifo of the Bloody Beetroots, Headman, Midfield General, Mickey Moonlight or Feadz...
Sorry. I'm just rubbing it in...
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Where's Wally iPhone App
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