A while back, I was watching a bunch of the DJ Format music videos on YouTube, and wrote about the power of the one-take. I still can’t agree more… and as far as music videos are concerned, nearly every video shot in one full take have become incredibly popular (OK Go, for example). Last week, I saw this new Mute Math video for their song “Typical” shot in one take and then reversed in post production.
the fact that they learned the lyrics in reverse and planned everything to coordinate when flipped around is just genius, and I’ve been in awe of this video for the last week, watching it almost every day.
Then I found the following video on YouTube, where the entire music video has been reversed again, showing the video that was initially recorded. All I can say is that this stuff is incredible and beautifully executed. If only every music video could have this much excellence in it.
Last week, two tv spots and several radio iterations began airing promoting the Oregon State Lottery. Normally, local lottery commercials and the like are nothing too impressive, but Portland agency BPN has teamed up with Laika Entertainment House (formerly Will Vinton Studios) to create these clever, witty, and generally superb TV spots for the seemingly bland “Deal or No Deal scratch-it.” Illustrated by Portland artist Evan B. Harris, these have a unique twist that break them free from the traditional 30-second spot monotony. You can watch both of the spots here.
There’s a good article on Digital Media Net Newswire if you want more info.
Just found this site today, and I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of it sooner. I’m a huge fan of maps in general (as odd as that may sound), and particularly ones which show a huge amount of information. Worldmapper meets both criteria. A large number of maps (366 at the moment) all in large size, with the added options of downloading pdfs and exporting map data. (and in case you were wondering, the map pictured above is map number 364, displaying the number of McDonalds restaurants across the globe)
So I’ve been up in Portland taking care of a few random tidbits, and dropped by the Hecklewood store to see what the folks over there have been up to. They’ve got some very cool stuff going on, including their new laser-etched leather wallets, which have recently been written-up on Cool Hunting. It’s great to see what some cool people with cool ideas can do. Hecklewood.com.
I’ve been flipping through Ellen Lupton’s Thinking with Type this week and looking at simple type and it’s power. The trend to overload a page with several loud fonts is starting to get to me, so I wanted to get back to the basics of type design in my own work. Then I came upon this set of ads for The Guardian, done by Wieden & Kennedy, London. It pretty much speaks directly to what I’m sick of. Check out the other two ads at The AdBlog.
In the wake of all the news about PS3s struggling and Wii’s continue to head towards world domination, it’s cool to see Super78 putting out a sequel to their CG commercial that I mentioned last month. Nice to see they can pull it off more than once (Super78… not Wiis destroying things).
From Programmer Marek Michalowski of Carnegie Mellon University:
We are currently developing and studying dance-oriented nonverbal play between children and the robot Keepon.
I really need to read more into this… looks & sounds fascinating. Get all the info and watch the videos here, including the Keeopn dancing to a Spoon song (as odd of a juxtaposition as it may be).
I’ve been looking for inspiration in awesome illustration over the past few weeks and found some great stuff. This morning, I ran across this set of ads for a new General Mills product, featuring illustration by Adrian Johnson, who I fell in love with after some illustration for Canon.
General Mills advertising is generally lackluster at best, but I’m really liking the simplicity and creativity behind this stuff out of Saatchi & Saatchi, NY.
My brain is just about fried. I’ve been trying to balance more than I can reasonably manage, and maybe that’s why I’ve been drawn to simple visual and conceptual solutions that work. There have been a few creative executions floating around recently that just don’t quite make the connection for me. This one, however, nails it, so to speak:
It’s simple, a cool idea, and follows in the rich tradition of The Economist advertising, but with a unique little twist. When stuff works, its beautiful. How can we train our minds to filter more quickly down to stuff like this?
I saw this last week, but hadn’t gotten the chance to fully play around with it. Now that I have, all I can say is “incredible.” and impressive… and really cool… and a bunch of other words that won’t come close to describing the site. Definitely one of the better microsites launched for a product in a while. Check it out at gettheglass.com, or just click in the image above. Refreshing work. I definitely applaud those at Goodby involved with the project. I’m going to go back and play with the game for a while.
