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Archived posts: Television

Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants

Our friends at OneInThree have just finished this promo for the new single Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants by Wild Beasts, and we think it's lush.  

  
It uses a version of the Droste Effect, which is based on an uncompleted lithograph that Escher made in 1956. (The name comes from Dutch cocoa brand Droste, whose packaging featured a nurse holding a tray with a packet of Droste, on which there was an image of a nurse holding a tray with a packet of Droste, on which…)  
  
To realise the promo, OneInThree adapted some software created by Josh Sommers, and borrowed seven extra Macs from their nearest and dearest. They now had nine computers, and ran them 24 hours a day for five days, working in shifts to make sure it ran as smoothly as possible. (They still had over 400 crashes during the 1080 computer hours, and ended up with 2 terabytes of data.)  
  
Pleasingly, the track's pretty great too.

11 September 2008 | 3 Comments

Dr Horrible’s Sing-along Blog

Drhorrible 

Okay. Look. Sorry. We've been busy… the dog ate our homework… there was localised flooding… some kind of freak temporal paradox… OUR COMPUTERS WERE ABDUCTED AND PROBED BY ALIENS! And then returned.  
  
Anyway, the long and the short is that we've not posted in a while, and we're deeply sorry, but promise it won't happen again. Much.  
  
But let's not dwell on the recent past shall we?  
  
Well, oh, hey, actually, let's dwell just a moment or two. Because while we were in what we now like to call our "Quiet Period of Deep Personal Reflection", Dr Horrible's Sing-along Blog hit the wires.  
  
It's the latest piece of genius broadcasting from the frankly disgustingly talented Joss Whedon. If you're even remotely geeky you'll already know that he's the godlike talent behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and the accompanying movie Serenity. (If you're not remotely geeky, you're probably in a 'whatever' frame of mind after reading that list, but trust us, this stuff is good.)  
  
It's a three-part webshow (y'know, like a TV show, but on the web) that Whedon wrote, financed and directed as a way of having a bit of fun during the recent writers' strike in Hollywoodland. It's the tale of Dr Horrible's fight against his arch nemesis, all-round cheesy goody-guy Captain Hammer. And it's done as a musical. And it's really really good. So go watch.  
  
(And you can read more about it all in this Observer article.)  
  
Ah, it's good to be back.

12 August 2008 | No Comments

Motion graphics

Mmm, Saul Bass goodness.

We’re just doing a bit of research ahead of a bit of work Alistair’s doing with some Central Saint Martins students over the next few weeks, and we need your help.

We’re looking for the best / most interesting bits of motion graphics we can find, whether they’re from television, film, music videos, online, wherever. The only important thing is that they’re principally typographic. Alistair’s started to put a few bits together on this You Tube page, and it would be fantastic if you could drop us any links or recommendations.

Thank you thank you.

19 February 2008 | 12 Comments

The Sarah Silverman Program

Sarah_silverman

Comedian Sarah Silverman is God. Fact.

(Our favourite quote from her: “I was raped by a doctor … which is so bittersweet for a Jewish girl.”)

If you live stateside, then you may well have caught the first season of her fantastic sitcom, The Sarah Silverman Program, which started last February, and is currently in its second series.

Over here in the UK though, we’ve been missing something special. But, brilliantly, thanks to the magic of the internet, you can now download the first series of The Sarah Silverman Program via iTunes.

It’ll probably be hitting British TV screens sometime before the end of the year. But heck, why wait?

Read more about the show on Wikipedia.

5 January 2008 | 1 Comment

An interspecies orgy and suicidal eggs

Orangina

We’re more of a design gang than an advertising one here at We Made This, but occasionally something comes along that really catches our eye. Recently there have been two of those things.

First up, it’s one for the furries, with the Orangina Naturally Juicy advert that aired in France a couple of months ago, which has been doing the rounds of the blogs (we picked it up via the excellent Very Short List). The concept is from ad agency FFL Paris, and it’s directed by Psyop (Todd Mueller and Kylie Matulick), through London production company Stink. You can read more about it on this page from The Mill, where a lot of the work was done.

Goo

Secondly, a series of ads from Publicis for Cadbury’s Creme Eggs as part of their Goo-ology campaign. (Use the pull down blind to get the menu and navigate to the Fantasies section.) They’re genuinely funny (our favourite is Bin Lid), and a vast improvement on that irritating parrot they used to use.

Sex and death. Animals and eggs. All very natural really.

4 January 2008 | No Comments

Downloadable cash

Chapman_cash

Art is money: discuss.

It’s a debate that’s been going on since the first caveman said to his mate: “I say old man, that’s a damn fine handprint you’ve just done there. Could you do one for me? It’d look just splendid in the cave. I’d gladly pay you. Some meat perhaps? Or my wife?”

Those crazy japesters Jake & Dinos Chapman have created some downloadable defaced cash as part of the BBC’s Imagine programme How to get ahead in the Artworld.

You’ve got from now until Thursday 22 November at 10.35pm (GMT) to go get yours. Who knows, maybe one day it will be worth something. Money might not grow on trees, but you can download it.

21 November 2007 | 1 Comment

Imagine that…

Televetica

10.35pm tonight (6 November) on BBC 1 – Imagine… Helvetica: The story of how a typeface drawn by a little-known Swiss designer in 1957 became one of the most popular ways for us to communicate. Some strong language.

It’s a shorter version of Gary Hustwit’s feature-length film about the typeface. Go set your videos. Or your hard drives. Or whatever.

(Thanks to David and AceJet170 for the tip-off.)

6 November 2007 | 1 Comment

Rabbit rabbit rabbit

Bunnies

First they had balls bouncing down a street courtesy of Nicolai Fuglsig, then explosions of paint around a tower block from Jonathan Glazer, and now Sony have launched their latest Bravia ad by Frank Budgen.

It’s a lovely bit of film, created by ad agency Fallon, and with animation overseen by Darren Walsh at Passion Pictures.

You can read all about the making of the ad in a fascinating article on Creative Review’s blog.

4 October 2007 | No Comments

Comics Britannia

Krool

If you were a British teenager in the early 80′s, and into comics, then you were almost certainly a fan of 2000AD. We still have fond memories of tearing down to the local newsagent on a Saturday morning to pick up the latest weekly issue. It cost 24p “in Earth money” back in 1985 – amazingly it’s still going strong, though a copy will set you back £1.75 now.

BBC4 is currently running a great series all about the British comics industry, Comics Britannia. We missed the first episode, but caught the middle one (which is repeated on Wednesday 19 at 11.30pm), and are totally looking forward to the third and final one, which deals with 2000AD, Viz, and the growth of the graphic novel. You can catch it on Monday 24 at 10.30pm. There’s also a season of related programmes to sink your teeth into.

Splundig vur thrigg!

(The frame above is from Prog 500 of 2000AD, which featured the debut of Bad Company, written by Pete Milligan, with artwork by Brett Ewins and Jim McCarthy.)

18 September 2007 | 2 Comments

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