This animations is a a short title for Thirst Pockets.
http://www.nexusproductions.com/wall
The animation shows an elephant standing on a small island in the middle of nowhere. The elephant gets a serious face, and he sticks his trunk into the water. He drinks the water, slowly revealing the island he is on to be a giant octopus. The elephant is shocked, and the Octopus shoves the elephant so it loses balance and stumbles off the screen. The Octopus then climbs behind the logo for Thirst Pockets, which has the elephant on it.
This animation is not flashy in any way. It uses simple animations on a white background, so that it can be easily viewed in 10 seconds.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Magnetically
This animation is a commercial for Frito Lays.
http://www.nexusproductions.com/wall
The animation starts with a magnet walking by himself with slumping posture that indicates he is lonely. An exclamation point pops up above his head, and he runs to a lock. He tries to stick to it like the magnet he is, but a large hand comes in from the top of the screen and lifts it away. The magnet falls through the air. It lands next to a giant cat, with what appears to be a magnet stuck to the opposite side of it. When the magnet tries to stick to the cat, the cat swats it away, and what looked like a magnet turns out to be a tail. The magnet is then alone, staring up at the moon. The magnet tries to attract the moon to it, but the moon does not budge from its spot. The magnet hangs its head, lonely. Suddenly, it is pulled to the right, sliding on its feet. It does a double take, unsure of what is going on, but it continues to be pulled to the right. It enters a new area, and sees a magnet on the other side of the screen. The two are surprised to see each other, but attract towards each other and stick together. They form a heart shape and float up into the sky, an outline of them radiating outwards in varying colors. The logo for Fritos Chips and Dip then transitions into the center of the screen, with the line "made for each other" at the bottom of the screen.
What struck me most about this animation was how human the magnet seemed despite being such a simple animation. It shows that complex movements aren't needed to make a strong composition.
http://www.nexusproductions.com/wall
The animation starts with a magnet walking by himself with slumping posture that indicates he is lonely. An exclamation point pops up above his head, and he runs to a lock. He tries to stick to it like the magnet he is, but a large hand comes in from the top of the screen and lifts it away. The magnet falls through the air. It lands next to a giant cat, with what appears to be a magnet stuck to the opposite side of it. When the magnet tries to stick to the cat, the cat swats it away, and what looked like a magnet turns out to be a tail. The magnet is then alone, staring up at the moon. The magnet tries to attract the moon to it, but the moon does not budge from its spot. The magnet hangs its head, lonely. Suddenly, it is pulled to the right, sliding on its feet. It does a double take, unsure of what is going on, but it continues to be pulled to the right. It enters a new area, and sees a magnet on the other side of the screen. The two are surprised to see each other, but attract towards each other and stick together. They form a heart shape and float up into the sky, an outline of them radiating outwards in varying colors. The logo for Fritos Chips and Dip then transitions into the center of the screen, with the line "made for each other" at the bottom of the screen.
What struck me most about this animation was how human the magnet seemed despite being such a simple animation. It shows that complex movements aren't needed to make a strong composition.
Helping Hand
This animation was done to speak out against physical abuse by showing the positive uses of one's hands in raising a child.
http://www.nexusproductions.com/wall
The animation begins with a child's head in the center of the screen. A pair of hands combs his hair and puts a scarf on the child, and the child walks off screen. The scarf is a rainbow, and it waves in the background as a child begins walking across the screen. The ground that the child is walking on turns into a hand that the child walks along, who then jumps to another hand on the other side of the screen. Colored rain drops begin falling, and the child runs onto a grassy area and under a hand that is sticking out of the ground for shelter. The child then continues to the right, and the hand rotates into place to be part of the steps that the child climbs, another hand filling the spot of a different step as well. The colors shift to black and white, with the child on a hill under a tree. The child jumps for an apple in the tree, and the tree is revealed to be made of hands, which lower the apple to the child. The child then jumps and then lands in a swing held up by two giant hands. The hands fly off screen and the child walks along the line that was part of the swing to the right, a toy dog following him. He runs down a hill shaped like a hand, jumping from finger to finger and hand to hand to get down. A hand catches him and lowers him onto a bike, while another hand puts a helmet on the child. As the child rides his bike, the hands walk alongside him. The child dismounts the bike and jumps between two hands, which each take one of his hands and hold him in the air. They then swing him up into the air, and he falls down into the palm of a new hand, which joins with another hand to form a heart shape with the child in the center. The message then pops up, Hands should Nurture not Punish. The camera then pans down to the question, "Are you hands Weapons of Love?"
The transitions of this animation were amazing. Many times I was caught by surprise by the ways the hands blended into the environment until they were moved.
http://www.nexusproductions.com/wall
The animation begins with a child's head in the center of the screen. A pair of hands combs his hair and puts a scarf on the child, and the child walks off screen. The scarf is a rainbow, and it waves in the background as a child begins walking across the screen. The ground that the child is walking on turns into a hand that the child walks along, who then jumps to another hand on the other side of the screen. Colored rain drops begin falling, and the child runs onto a grassy area and under a hand that is sticking out of the ground for shelter. The child then continues to the right, and the hand rotates into place to be part of the steps that the child climbs, another hand filling the spot of a different step as well. The colors shift to black and white, with the child on a hill under a tree. The child jumps for an apple in the tree, and the tree is revealed to be made of hands, which lower the apple to the child. The child then jumps and then lands in a swing held up by two giant hands. The hands fly off screen and the child walks along the line that was part of the swing to the right, a toy dog following him. He runs down a hill shaped like a hand, jumping from finger to finger and hand to hand to get down. A hand catches him and lowers him onto a bike, while another hand puts a helmet on the child. As the child rides his bike, the hands walk alongside him. The child dismounts the bike and jumps between two hands, which each take one of his hands and hold him in the air. They then swing him up into the air, and he falls down into the palm of a new hand, which joins with another hand to form a heart shape with the child in the center. The message then pops up, Hands should Nurture not Punish. The camera then pans down to the question, "Are you hands Weapons of Love?"
The transitions of this animation were amazing. Many times I was caught by surprise by the ways the hands blended into the environment until they were moved.
This is for the birds.
This animation is the intro to Mirrorball, an event at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
http://www.nexusproductions.com/wall
The animation features birds made using collage. The birds are made of anything from a simple pattern, to currency, to a record. In addition, different materials are used for different species of birds. The hole in the center of a record is used as an eye for the bird. What appears to be newspaper clippings folded up into a beak, has squinting eyes on it, which make it look like an owl.
As the music of the into plays, the birds move and look around to the beats of the music.
As the birds look around, one can see the materials themselves are shifting the angles they are viewed at, making the birds seem that much more lifelike.
By the end of the intro, all of the birds are dancing on screen at once, and it is difficult to follow just one bird and see how it follows the music.
I can only imagine how long it took to sync everything up.
http://www.nexusproductions.com/wall
The animation features birds made using collage. The birds are made of anything from a simple pattern, to currency, to a record. In addition, different materials are used for different species of birds. The hole in the center of a record is used as an eye for the bird. What appears to be newspaper clippings folded up into a beak, has squinting eyes on it, which make it look like an owl.
As the music of the into plays, the birds move and look around to the beats of the music.
As the birds look around, one can see the materials themselves are shifting the angles they are viewed at, making the birds seem that much more lifelike.
By the end of the intro, all of the birds are dancing on screen at once, and it is difficult to follow just one bird and see how it follows the music.
I can only imagine how long it took to sync everything up.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Eye see....
http://www.nexusproductions.com/
This video shows 3 animations for the eyetoy. The Logo for Eye Toy is made up of letters, with the center ones being a Y sitting on top of an O with eyes, which turns into its own character in the animations.
The first animation shows the character zooming in from off screen through the air, hovering over the rest of the logo with the Y at the top spinning like helicopter blades. After circling around the logo, it lands in the center of it. However, as it lands, the blades get caught in the other parts of the logo, and it gets spun around and thrown into the screen. It gets up, hops into place in the logo, and blinks.
The second part shows a drum cymbal sitting in the center of the screen. The character comes in from the right pushing a drum up to the cymbal. The expressions on the eyes of the character show how hard it is for him to push the drum. With it in place, he hops up and down, and moves behind the drum. He then plays a quick tune on the drum the Y segment being used to hit the instrument. The character then hops on the drum, and begins flipping itself in place, hitting the drum and cymbal with every part of itself in a drum roll (the character literally rolling as he does it). He then flies off the drum and into the cymbal, which falls over with him knocked out on top of it. The eye toy logo then appears, and the character zooms in from the left, with his eyes going crazy.
The final part begins with the character chasing a bouncing ball from off screen. The character kicks the ball off screen, and after briefly looking at the viewer, he goes off the right of the screen. He comes back pushing a box with a teapot and a toaster on top of it. After pushing that off screen, he comes back using the Y part of him to hold the ball from the beginning, with a trash can, tea pot, and toaster balanced on top of it while he gives a sort of "ta-da" noise. He can't keep balancing them though, and the objects fall. The character looks at the fallen objects, and then jumps to the side as more objects begin falling from the top of the screen. As he makes it to the front of the screen, he looks up and his eyes show panic as a photocopier falls on top of him. The copier prints copies of the character squished underneath it. The camera then shifts right, and the eye toy logo appears. The character is put into the center of the logo, almost as if a scanner is putting him into place.
This video shows 3 animations for the eyetoy. The Logo for Eye Toy is made up of letters, with the center ones being a Y sitting on top of an O with eyes, which turns into its own character in the animations.
The first animation shows the character zooming in from off screen through the air, hovering over the rest of the logo with the Y at the top spinning like helicopter blades. After circling around the logo, it lands in the center of it. However, as it lands, the blades get caught in the other parts of the logo, and it gets spun around and thrown into the screen. It gets up, hops into place in the logo, and blinks.
The second part shows a drum cymbal sitting in the center of the screen. The character comes in from the right pushing a drum up to the cymbal. The expressions on the eyes of the character show how hard it is for him to push the drum. With it in place, he hops up and down, and moves behind the drum. He then plays a quick tune on the drum the Y segment being used to hit the instrument. The character then hops on the drum, and begins flipping itself in place, hitting the drum and cymbal with every part of itself in a drum roll (the character literally rolling as he does it). He then flies off the drum and into the cymbal, which falls over with him knocked out on top of it. The eye toy logo then appears, and the character zooms in from the left, with his eyes going crazy.
The final part begins with the character chasing a bouncing ball from off screen. The character kicks the ball off screen, and after briefly looking at the viewer, he goes off the right of the screen. He comes back pushing a box with a teapot and a toaster on top of it. After pushing that off screen, he comes back using the Y part of him to hold the ball from the beginning, with a trash can, tea pot, and toaster balanced on top of it while he gives a sort of "ta-da" noise. He can't keep balancing them though, and the objects fall. The character looks at the fallen objects, and then jumps to the side as more objects begin falling from the top of the screen. As he makes it to the front of the screen, he looks up and his eyes show panic as a photocopier falls on top of him. The copier prints copies of the character squished underneath it. The camera then shifts right, and the eye toy logo appears. The character is put into the center of the logo, almost as if a scanner is putting him into place.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
What's in this bottle of Coke?
This coca cola advertisement show a silhouette of a coke bottle on a yellow background. A small soldier blows a small trumpet (with a musical note appearing above his head). 3 lines of other small soldiers march in front the right of the screen, and follow the first soldier through a small door in the bottom of this coke bottle. After the door closes. the camera zooms out to show the whole bottle. The bottle begins to shake and a sound plays that makes it sound like some kind of laser is being charged up. The cap pops off and out of the top of the bottle shoots the soldiers with streams of color trailing behind them as they bounce and fly off the screen. Music begins playing as this happens. A soldier flies in front of the camera off screen and then flies back in, circling around the coke bottle trailing red smoke. The smoke takes the form of the bottle, and the soldier disappears. The background turns white and the Coke logo is shown.
This animation conveys feelings of excitement and fun by drinking coke. The colors aren't bland, and they become much more interesting once the soldiers start flying all over the place.
This animation conveys feelings of excitement and fun by drinking coke. The colors aren't bland, and they become much more interesting once the soldiers start flying all over the place.
The little things that count
http://www.nexusproductions.com/wall
This animation is done by the London Nexus group for Unilever. The animation is done in pencil drawings. It starts out with the text, "A day in the life of kids around the world." An hand with a pencil then comes into a page with dots scattered all over it. The hand draws a both of toothpaste, and then begins connecting the dots. The dots form a kid standing in a bathroom, brushing his teeth. A narrator says, "Every day, Pablo does his good for the future, twice a day in fact." At this point, the kid begins brushing his teeth. "He brushes his teeth with Signal (the toothpaste box) and because millions do this around the world, something big happens. Oral disease, the world's most common illness, is reduced."
A series of dots is connected to show a grinning set of teeth. The smile then shrinks and becomes the smile of a girl washing her hands at a sink. "In another part of the world, Mita learns about germs, and how important it is to wash her hands with Lifebouy." The scene then switches to another screen of dots that start getting connected as the narrator says," And because millions of kids do the same thing everyday, they stay healthy so they don't miss out on their education."
The dots form a school with rain falling on it. The narrator continues, "When Thomas gets out of school he can experience the world, and because his mom uses Ormerol (struggled a bit with the man's accent) she won't mind if he gets his clothes dirty." A T-shirt is made out of connecting dots with the statement "Dirtisgood" on the front.
The T-shirt shrinks to become the shirt of a boy eating dinner with his family, "Now when Mallik gets home after playing with his friends, he's hungry. Mallik's family has meals together every day, which brings them closer. His Mum chooses Rama (a box of rama appears into his mom's hands) so that he's getting the essential daily fats he needs. And because other moms across the world do the same, millions of children grow up strong and healthy."
The four drawings appear in the corners of the screen. "So by making each one of our everyday actions count, together we can create a better future for children around the world everyday." A final series of Dots is connected into the Unilever logo, and the narrator says, "How big can small become?"
This animation used very simple and repetitive motions for its animations, further pushing the idea of repetitive and routine actions, which as the commercial just told us, can make a big difference in the world.
This animation is done by the London Nexus group for Unilever. The animation is done in pencil drawings. It starts out with the text, "A day in the life of kids around the world." An hand with a pencil then comes into a page with dots scattered all over it. The hand draws a both of toothpaste, and then begins connecting the dots. The dots form a kid standing in a bathroom, brushing his teeth. A narrator says, "Every day, Pablo does his good for the future, twice a day in fact." At this point, the kid begins brushing his teeth. "He brushes his teeth with Signal (the toothpaste box) and because millions do this around the world, something big happens. Oral disease, the world's most common illness, is reduced."
A series of dots is connected to show a grinning set of teeth. The smile then shrinks and becomes the smile of a girl washing her hands at a sink. "In another part of the world, Mita learns about germs, and how important it is to wash her hands with Lifebouy." The scene then switches to another screen of dots that start getting connected as the narrator says," And because millions of kids do the same thing everyday, they stay healthy so they don't miss out on their education."
The dots form a school with rain falling on it. The narrator continues, "When Thomas gets out of school he can experience the world, and because his mom uses Ormerol (struggled a bit with the man's accent) she won't mind if he gets his clothes dirty." A T-shirt is made out of connecting dots with the statement "Dirtisgood" on the front.
The T-shirt shrinks to become the shirt of a boy eating dinner with his family, "Now when Mallik gets home after playing with his friends, he's hungry. Mallik's family has meals together every day, which brings them closer. His Mum chooses Rama (a box of rama appears into his mom's hands) so that he's getting the essential daily fats he needs. And because other moms across the world do the same, millions of children grow up strong and healthy."
The four drawings appear in the corners of the screen. "So by making each one of our everyday actions count, together we can create a better future for children around the world everyday." A final series of Dots is connected into the Unilever logo, and the narrator says, "How big can small become?"
This animation used very simple and repetitive motions for its animations, further pushing the idea of repetitive and routine actions, which as the commercial just told us, can make a big difference in the world.
Fruity ... Clouds?
Clouds
http://www.nexusproductions.com/wall
This animation is a short commercial for Robinson's product, Robinson's Fruit Shoot. It shows a group of kids running from puddle to puddle as they play in the rain, as the kids move around, so too do the clouds making it seem like they are going to a totally new place.
13 seconds into the animation, one cloud disappears, and a cloud shaped like and apple comes in from the left side of the screen. When this apple shaped cloud begins to pour rain, all of the kids dash to get beneath it. A narrator says, "Robinson's Fruit Shoot H2O has a delicious fruity taste, so kids can enjoy water even more." As the narrator says this, the kids begin cheering under the apple shaped cloud.
The background colors and the clouds have a grayish green look to them, helping it to look like a rainy day. The kids are all wearing bright colors which portray lightheartedness and make the animation more cheerful. The music playing also helps convey this feeling of cheerfulness since it could just as easily be used to show someone walking around on a sunny day. The reason the kids enjoy the rain (water) so much is because the rain is Robinsons.
This animation is very short and simple, but it works incredibly well in its message. It tells parents that if kids don't drink enough water, this water (with some fruit flavor added), will make it so they drink more of it.
http://www.nexusproductions.com/wall
This animation is a short commercial for Robinson's product, Robinson's Fruit Shoot. It shows a group of kids running from puddle to puddle as they play in the rain, as the kids move around, so too do the clouds making it seem like they are going to a totally new place.
13 seconds into the animation, one cloud disappears, and a cloud shaped like and apple comes in from the left side of the screen. When this apple shaped cloud begins to pour rain, all of the kids dash to get beneath it. A narrator says, "Robinson's Fruit Shoot H2O has a delicious fruity taste, so kids can enjoy water even more." As the narrator says this, the kids begin cheering under the apple shaped cloud.
The background colors and the clouds have a grayish green look to them, helping it to look like a rainy day. The kids are all wearing bright colors which portray lightheartedness and make the animation more cheerful. The music playing also helps convey this feeling of cheerfulness since it could just as easily be used to show someone walking around on a sunny day. The reason the kids enjoy the rain (water) so much is because the rain is Robinsons.
This animation is very short and simple, but it works incredibly well in its message. It tells parents that if kids don't drink enough water, this water (with some fruit flavor added), will make it so they drink more of it.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
http://www.vonage.com/
The animation begins with the orange background seen in Vonage commercials, with a mouth and ear (both with limbs) standing in the center of the screen. The mouth begins talking, "Vonage home phone service sounds good, but do they charge service fees?" As the mouth says service fees, the words pop out of him and float above him on the screen. The Ear says, "No" in large letters. The mouth then asks, "Equipment fees?" The ear says, "Uh, No!" The ear gets pushed back by the massive words this time, as if he's shocked by the idea of no equipment fees. Next he asks, "Shipping fees?" The ear again says, "No!" This time the letters are made up of boxes and once again push the mouth back. The mouth then asks, "Is 'no' all you can say?" The ear pauses and yells, "NO!" with the word No being even bigger, and made up of smaller sized "No" s all clumped together along with the sound of applause. It then shows them standing on top of the statement, "No has never sounded so good." The mouth is grinning while this statement is on the screen. A voiceover then begins talking about the features Vonage comes with, along with text to list off these features. As they are being listed, the mouth and ear look up at the words with excited expressions. The advertisement ends with the Vonage logo.
This whole advertisement is to show how different Vonage is for not charging customers for things that are required to get the phone service. The mouth could be anyone customers mouth asking these questions, perhaps leading the viewer to think that Vonage gets asked these questions a lot.
The Ear character has a smile on him if one looks closely enough. This implies that he knows all of the great things Vonage has to offer, and is happier as a result of it.
As a whole this advertisement is short and simple, but very well done. Without lots of flashy graphics, the viewer can focus directly on what the characters are talking about.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
http://www.imaginaryforces.com/featured/5/498
http://www.themummy.com/
This animation is the intro to The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008).
The movie follows the protagonists as they try to defeat an ancient Chinese emperor who has been resurrected and is trying to raise his immortal army.
Since the film is set in china, the animation makes use of Chinese characters and mythology in showing what to expect from this adventure film. The music of the intro sets the mood for an exciting adventure into the unknown. It begins with a three headed dragon moving its heads around, and from there brush strokes come across the screen and create a Chinese character. It then shows a background of characters scrolling to the side, while fireballs fall from the top of the screen. This background then breaks away and shows two horses running under an expanding red sun. It then shows a silhouette of a man standing in a chariot being pulled by the horses. The shot then moves up into the sky, where a winding black shape twists and coils on and off the screen, which turns into a snake, despite looking like another brush stroke before. The intro then shows a character within some precious stone. The stone shatters, and the camera zooms out to reveal a character that is part of a mountain range as a plane made of more brush strokes flies overhead. The screen is briefly painted over with brush strokes, and then moves to a shot of the camera flying over mountains and the plane flying by the camera. The viewer then spots what seems to be a trail with a group of adventurers on it. The camera moves behind a hill, and then zooms in on the group of adventurers, showing only silhouettes of them like last time. It then goes to a shot of the group crossing a rope bridge over a deep canyon, with the sides of the canyon being made up of brush strokes. The screen briefly goes black and a white brush stroke behinds winding its way towards the upper right of the screen, soon showing itself to be the inside of a cave, with the walls also being brush strokes.
The scene then changes to one of the camera zooming out off of hills with some grass growing on them, but as it zooms out further, this hill is shown to be a yeti that roars (his saliva is, again, brush strokes!) swipes the screen with its claws. The claw mark turns into yet another Chinese character, which then breaks apart and pieces form into what appears to be a dagger. After a momentary pause the dagger flies into the chest of a skeleton surrounded by other daggers that missed it. A brief scene shows other skeletons, and then the camera zooms out and the area where the skeletons were seems to be in a giant canyon that makes up another Chinese character. As the character is shown, the shadow of the three headed dragon from the beginning can be seen flying overhead. The camera then goes back to ground level and moves away to reveal lines upon lines of silhouetted soldiers standing ready for battle. The camera swings to show the front row of soldiers aiming crossbows, and then moves away from the line of soldiers to show silhouettes of combat. The last scene is of a silhouette of a creature that seems to be like a cross between a gorilla and a lizard.
This brush stroke style is used throughout the entire intro, and makes it seem like the world of the film is being created in front of your eyes as the brush strokes move about the screen. From the imaginary forces website, they say that they both shot real paint splatters, and consulted a master calligrapher to ensure they kept their intro feeling authentic. The whole intro sequence feels, to me, like it could have been hand made from how real the brush strokes seem. My favorite moment of the intro is when the hills turn into a yeti, and it roars at the screen. When it roars, drops of pain fly out of its mouth like saliva. This style makes everything seem hand made and flowing. It's both exciting and fun for me to watch this.
The animation uses two main colors, red and white. Red in the beginning when the dragon is shown and when a man rides on a chariot pulled by two horses under the sun. The rest of the intro is mainly set in mountains, and thus the colors remain white, black, and shades of grey for much of the remainder of the intro.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
No, Pandas are not wrestling.
Because we are All Connected
Celyn
http://www.ogilvy.com/http://www.worldwildlife.org/
This ad starts out with a Panda standing in the center of a light blue screen. A Narrator's voice begins saying, "For this little panda to be happy, the tree has to be happy." As he says this, music begins playing that almost sounds as though it should be in an amusement park. In addition, a wheel of colors begins to spread out from underneath the panda as it is moved off screen eating some bamboo. As the narrator mentions the tree, the tree pops up from the ground, with a colorful smiley face on it. This sets the stage for a very light hearted advertisement. The narrator continues, saying, "For the Tree to be happy, the air it breaths has to be happy." As the narrator mentions the air, one sees hills, trees, and clouds with faces blowing air onto the scenery below it. He continues, "If the air it breathes is happy, the climate is happy," which spawns a smiling sun and storm cloud. He then says, "If the climate is happy, then nature is happy." From there, a lighthouse and water with fish springs up from the still growing ring of colors. Finally, the narrator says, "And if nature is happy, people, the way they live and work, and the panda are all happy; but a happy future, is a serious business." As he says all of this, people spring up from the color wheel, and the color wheel finally completes itself, and we see the people standing bedside the panda holding hands.
The scene then zooms out to show the entire wheel, all of its vibrant cartoon scenery still moving and in action. The color wheel circles around the WWF logo. The narrator then finishes by saying, "We work in partnership with governments, corporations, and communities to secure that future; because we're all connected, and that's WWF's business." This statement of how everything is interconnected is a wide reaching one. Governments, corporations, and communities are mentioned. In other words, WWF is working with everything from small towns to entire nations to help make the world better for everyone. This line of thinking means that nobody in their right mind should be against what the WWF stands for. Naturally, there are plenty of people who disagree with the WWF, but the advertisement puts that idea into one's mind.
The color wheel reminds me of the circle of life that is so integral to stories like the Lion King, and how everyone relies on another. Everything in the animation is very simple. This is important because of how quickly the wheel moves. Nothing remains on screen for more than a few seconds, and everything is constantly moving, so being able to quickly process what is on the screen is important, much in the same way it is important to be able to read billboards as you drive past them on highways.
In terms of color usage, note that the color wheel does not stick to a certain palette, but rather it goes through almost every shade of every color one can think of. The colors do not always remain bright and sunny, but there is never a color combination on the wheel that darkens the mood. Instead, it it almost like watching a rainbow with all the colors mixed randomly together. The background remains blue throughout, almost as if to represent a clear sky.
This entire advertisement is a great way of reaching a wide audience. Families with children will be swayed by the cartoon style of it, because the whole thing looks like it could be a commercial for a kid's program on TV or a child's story book. Adults can also understand the seriousness of the situation, without treading into negative feelings. Instead, it shows what a bright and happy place the world could be and that the WWF is trying to accomplish that.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Prisoner Trailer
Promo Package Design:
http://www.troika.tv/casestudies/AMC/page_01.html
Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8VZs7aLJCo
This trailer is for the show The Prisoner, which aired last year on AMC and is a remake of the original version from the 60s. I chose to do this one because there is an Iron Maiden song about the original.
The very first thing we see, even before any of the actors are shown, is the AMC logo shown over a desert landscape. The main character wakes up in the middle of the desert and sees nothing in the surrounding area except for a small town. Quick transitions from one scene to the next show him being moved to the desert somehow, but not enough time is given for the viewer to understand what is going on and creating a sense of confusion. This goes alongside the main character, who states that he does not remember how he got to this isolated town.
The town itself uses bright colors that would often be seen at a beach resort, giving the inhabitants a sense of paradise in an otherwise desolate area.
Everyone in the town is known by a number rather than a name. The main character is given the number 6 by Number 2. And while he is told that while there are no barriers preventing him from leaving, he is unable to leave. The people already in the town are all convinced that there is nowhere else in the world but the town. It then briefly shows him trying to find a way out of the desert from on top of a mountain, and then goes back to the town asking where the road out of town is. Number 2 responds that there is no road out, only in. At the end of the trailer, we hear the main character state "I am a free man." Number 2 responds "You only think you are free."
Against this backdrop of isolation and hopelessness, the character shows the viewer that he will do everything in his power to escape from the town. We are then shown the backdrop shown in the beginning of dunes, but this time with the logo for the show on there, which has part of the "O" in prisoner cut out so that it forms a 6 within the logo.
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