Transistor’s Saiman Chow has directed a quirky, clever and unique campaign for Jig-A-Loo, a versatile spray lubricant with a vaguely inappropriate name.
The first half of each of the :30 spots uses the same intro and then ends with its own distinctive punchline. I’m loving the crazy hybrid approach to the design and animation. Mr. Chow and his team of done a fantastic job.
Chris Smith is a freelance animator based out of New York. He has a slick array of work which includes the music video “Nothing Like This” for J Dilla, which he produced with Mixtape Club and Superfli, and other assortments of goodies like the Jeep Compass spot for BNS.
Not only can Chris please the eyes with his animations, but can tickle the ear with his sound design. This isn’t just a side hobby either, many of the tracks in the recent PSST! 2 films were composed by Mr. Smith. It is refreshing to see an individual with multiple talents in a field where everyone gets sucked into the adobe programs.
Hey gang! First of all, I would like to say hi to all! Its been a long time (a very very long time) since my last post, but here I am again, this small Brazilian freezing in Denmark, but diving completelly into mograph work for these big scandinavians. But now lets move to the news itself.
Wyld Stallyons is a brand-new-fresh-out-of-the-oven company landing in the UK scenario of motion design agencies, and its foundation has so many good names from the “design world”, that makes it really worth checking out these guy’s website than making a huge list here (yeap, they are all together for the Wyld!!).
Their latest work is a package for MTV’s 10 at 10, which includes very smooth character animations, and combines a slight touch of good humour and nice atmosphere:
“The characters were based on the Wyld Stallyons directors, as the Stallyons have a habit of inserting themselves into every piece they do” said Jason Arber, founder of Pixelsurgeon (yeap, thats the man) who is also part of Wyld Stallyons.
Rob Chiu’s powerful short film Black Day to Freedom is online now at BBC Film Network. The 2005 short has been screening in festivals and conferences around the world, but has never been fully online until now. It was created as a “fictional backstory to the global problem of displacement of peoples” and was published in Beyondâ„¢ Issue One, a collaborative book dedicated to the topic.
At least I’m pretty sure it’s National. I saw this Honda Odyssey spot on TV and instantly looked it up. I love the fluidity of the animation, the cleverness of each vignette (the suggestive puff of smoke is my favorite), and the preciseness of the execution (the swirling paint portrait is incredible).
And while I was looking for that spot, I discovered the National Television blog, National Television Workshop. Is this old news? I don’t know, maybe I’ve been living under a rock.
Sometimes eye candy is okay. Sometimes, in fact, it’s the point. Such is the case in this new National TV spot (produced by Not to Scale) for British Airways.
As the tagline says, this spot is about attractive prices. It makes sense, then, to render the prices as attractively as possible. And National totally nailed it. Each price is a lushly detailed portrait in a different style, but they’re all polished to fit within the British Airways brand.
Transistor Studio’s James Price has the incredibly useful talent of being able to adapt his vision to the needs of the client. The result is an eclectic but highly polished body of work. With this in mind, check out the latest addition to the Transistor portfolio, a strange, cross-cultural promo for ESPN’s coverage of the World Figure Skating Championships.
Honestly, I was initially turned off by the anime style. I’ve never dug the whole anime scene. The convoluted plot lines and excessive use of expository monologuing to provide background info on characters are, for me, annoying narrative quirks of the artform. (I’m going to catch hell for that one, I bet.)
But the anime approach makes sense for this promo. First, the World Figure Skating Championships were held in Tokyo. Second, figure skating routines often employ the melodramatic narrative devices found in anime (and classical ballet, for that matter). Third, the use of anime is an attempt to include a younger audience. I’m no marketing specialist, but I think it’s safe to assume that figure skating typically attracts an older demographic. By leveraging anime, perhaps ESPN was trying to snare that golden 18-35 demographic.
The spot itself is impeccably well put together, beautifully blending 2D and 3D. I’m reminded of Buck’s excellent work for G4, which utilized a similar strategy.
BNS updates their site with diverse work for Adobe, Chase & Doritos that spans the gamut of motion design: they’ve done character design and stop-motion done for Doritos, 3D, live-action and compositing in the Chase and a large-scale mixed media and interactive 2D animation for Adobe. I’m digging all the characters in the Doritos spot’s background audience, it’s fun to catch just a quick glimpse of so many funny little designs. Impressive work as always.
This is not your typical Motionographer feature, but someone known as Boum suprised me with this short and sweet little animated gem on CA forums… and well I loved it so much I had to feature it here… so there! Visit his site to see more of his illustrations and animations (if his server can handle it).
Mekanism recently crafted a series of character-driven, flat-shaded 3D spots that leverage the power of cuteness to inject a sense of a playfulness and positivity into BP’s brand. In addition to some lively animation, the spots sport some classy design. Compositions are minimal and balanced without being antiseptic, and the palette is supercharged without being annoying.
Mekanism’s stuff reminds me a little of the spot for Kajeet that’s been riding the airwaves lately. I’m not sure who did that one, though. Any ideas? EDIT: It turns out those were created by Mekanism, too. Neat!
