James Jarvis

Possibly one of my all time most inspiring illustrative animations. Credit where credit due!

Lernert & Sander

Love these guys, they bring something amazingly unique and fresh to their short videos.
The continuity is precise, their formula is to use colour to focus eye by creating a canvas of items coloured identically with the protagonist piece to be of a contrasting colour. Cleverly their underlying concept is to in effect play on the emotional response of the viewer.

The 'Chocolate Bunny' reminds me of a real life production of Andy Riley's 'Bunny Suicide' books (see previous post) mixed with the childhood memories of Watership Down, Donny Darko and the confusion of Cadbury's purple which those of us who love chocolate have come to associate with enjoyment, warmth and safety.
The soundtrack is a creepy repetitive piano track accompanied by childlike vocals written by Nathan Larson which takes the video to the next level and encapsulates an almost haunting atmosphere of solitude.

In the last two years the two have collaborated on videoclips, short art movies and various television programs with their ‘Chocolate Bunny’ (see video above) becoming an instant internet hit in 2007 and as a result has been shown at the Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Chicago Motion Graphic Festival, Lumeneclipse (US), Resfest and Cinedkid.

Below is another series of short videos titled 'Revenge'

Wake Me Up At...

"I Saw It First" have produced stickers which prey on the kindness of those in the vicinity to wake you up at your Tube station and save you waking up at completely the wrong end of the line.

Quite a quirky idea however sadly, as sometimes experienced, tube traveling is a solitary method of transportation, no one dare make eye-contact or heaven forbid approach someone and make small talk. In effect, these stickers may be a waste of your £4.

Love the little diagrams on the back of the packet though (image above). Perhaps worth purchasing just for that. Stumbling on to the tube, dreaming of juicy kebabs, wiping away the dribble as you exit. Funny stuff.

Certainly these stickers are a little more realistic than the Japanese subway sleep mask which didn't work and when you see the video, you'll realise why! The passengers let the poor guy sleep on, never waking him. At least these stickers will look a little less weird.

The Mouse is Mightier Than The Pencil...?

--->>View the film here <<---

The subject matter of my dissertation revolves

quite heavily around the use of computers within the school environment, specifically primary.

It’s quite extraordinary how far school’s have developed in the way of introducing technology to aid and progress the potential of these kids.

As I recall my primary school experience, there was one computer between three or four classrooms. Now the incorporation of Nintendo DS, state of the art digital cameras and Macs in the curriculum, which you’ll see in the video, are becoming a staple part of primary school life and transforming education completely.
For the better is debatable, but certainly the Shropshire school kids have benefitted enormously and really prepared and given them a head start for secondary school.

So. Is this the end of jotter books and poster paints…?

What is stressed by the headteacher Mr A. Davis, is the word balance. Allowing the children to use traditional media in lower primary and in a sense weaning them away as they approach key stage 2. My own opinion and that of the research I’ve been carrying out is that traditional media and technology should be taught hand in hand and that one should not eliminate the other. It’s impressive to have the facilities to take advantage of technology yet I feel it’s still necessary to incorporate traditional media, e.g. scanning a hand-drawn image and finalising it on the computer.

Environmentally friendly…

Certainly eliminates the necessity to use paper for writing etc which is a huge plus, however it also removes the hands on portfolio that you build up over your school life. Yes it’s available on a CD, yet can you imagine at the age of 19/20 finding your hidden year 5 art projects on a CD? You can’t flick through the pages, you have to take the laborious task of cleaning the disk and then slapping it in an available computer only to find that the disk is scratched…or unreadable for whatever reason.

It’s a tricky concept to grasp being an 80’s baby and all, I can’t imagine that my year 4 Lowry sketches would have the same visual effect computer drawn. This is art, where shading and texture are necessary in a sketch. The same effect cannot be duplicated on a computer, it can be closely emulated using wireframes, shading etc but it’s still a 2D creation. There’s no charcoal smell or pencil scratching sound, the sense you have is purely visual which is the basis for my reasoning that computers cannot replace traditional methods and a balance should exist within primary school education.

Not every school has these facilities…

Which disrupts development across the board. This is perhaps irrelevant to my argument, but needs to be said that all schools should have access to the same facilities for equality’s sake.

Your job…

This is always the case. Our generation have made the older generations really knuckle down and advance from their initial traditional methods to computer based production in order to sustain their career role. This is the age we live in where technology is constantly improving and as a result we have to keep on jogging to stay in the loop.

The primary education curriculum incorporating ICT to such an advanced stage, to me, is quite scary. These kids are utilizing the equipment and producing work to a standard I could quite confidently say wasn’t expected in my year 11; Granted it was at least 5 years ago, yet still a massive leap.

When these children are leaving university, pursuing a career in graphic design, web development, copy-writing, whatever it is that you do…better keep on your toes as they are going to be hot to trot.

The Brighter Side

BBH have created the 60 second TV ad for ITV.

First saw it on the big screen before the recent Harry Potter film and it blew me away.

Such a lovely concept.

The campaign introduces a new positioning strategy and brand line, The Brighter Side, which defines what ITV1 stands for - optimistic, entertaining and upbeat.

View the ad in full here

Stimulate Your Senses

Wrigley's Electro :: 5 Gum



5 Gum is designed to 'stimulate the senses'.
This advertisement titled 'Rain' is 1 out of 3 high quality videos released; 'Elixir' & 'Lush' complete the trilogy.
I admire Wrigley's confidence to embrace the effect of a cinematic experience, it works coherently with the stylish packaging of '5 gum' and attracts the premium audience they set out to pull.

BadHealth - The Game

Raw have designed this fantastic little game, with the aid of illustrations provided by The Boy Fitz Hammond. It's so addictive!

Sneak preview below; as it's an external embedded link you will have to follow the URL provided in order to play the game!

Click here