Changethethought

Stardust sent me news of this recent campaign for J-Power in Japan. I was really amazed by the animation. Beautiful work.

Wow, there is a lot of credits on this one:
PROJECT NAME: J-POWER “nature”
RUNNING TIME: :30
DATE OF FIRST AIRING: April 15, 2009 (Japan only)
FILM STAGE/LOCATION(S): Japan

CLIENT: Electric Power Development Co., Ltd (“J-POWER”)
CITY/STATE: Tokyo, Japan

AD AGENCY: McCann Erickson Japan, Inc.
CITY/STATE: Tokyo, Japan
CREATIVE DIRECTOR/COPYWRITER: Isamu Nakamura
ART DIRECTORS: Takehiko Araki, Kenichi Horie

PRODUCTION COMPANIES: kirameki, inc. & Stardust Studios
CITY/STATE: Tokyo, Japan & Bicoastal, USA
DIRECTOR: Jake Banks
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Naoki Noda
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Sachiko Tamaru (kirameki)
PRODUCER: Yoshiki Ishii (kirameki)

DESIGN/ANIMATION COMPANY: Stardust Studios
CITY/STATE: Bicoastal, USA
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Jake Banks
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Paul Abatemarco
DESIGN DIRECTOR: Neil Tsai
PRODUCERS: Jody MacKinnon, Clara Park, Steven Poulsen
DESIGNERS: Neil Tsai, Gretchen Nash, Tosh Kodama, Bill Bak, Ling Feng, Angela Ko, Jenny Ko, Juliet Park
ANIMATORS: Sang Lee, Angie Tien, Brian Broussard, George Longo, Damon Snyder, Ryan Hooks, Marisol Baltierra, Catherine Yoo, Giancarlo Rondani, Maithy Tran, Thomas Horne
2D ARTISTS: Brian Williams, Davina Sanchex, Stephen Edwards, Kristen Swanson

MUSIC ARTIST: Hifana
MUSIC PRODUCER: Masayo Okino

ADDITIONAL POST-PRODUCTION: Sony PCL
CITY/STATE: Tokyo, Japan
ONLINE EDITOR: Masashi Hosoda
MIXER: Tsutomu Higa

FINAL MIX COMPANY: Omnibus
CITY/STATE: Tokyo, Japan
MIXER: Norisato Nakauchi

written by Christopher | tags: Advertising, J-Power, Japan, Motion Graphics, Stardust

Absolutely drop-dead gorgeous photography from Mark Laita. Every image is artfully constructed and composed with absolute love.

written by Christopher | tags: Advertising, Art, Mark Laita, Photography

There is some super slick motion/animation/3d work in the portfolio of Agency Collective. Really beautiful imagery with serious attention to detail.

written by Christopher | tags: 3d, Advertising, Agency Collective, Animation, Motion Graphics

Well, the new site for ‘This is Real Art‘ has been making the rounds today in the blogosphere, and for good reason because their work really is top notch.

written by Christopher | tags: Advertising, Graphic Design, This is Real Art

Slick website combined with an equally impressive array of photography from Kurt Stallaert. His advertising photography is known the world over and he is listed as the 8th highest world ranking advertising photographer by Lüerzers International Archive.

written by Christopher | tags: Advertising, Fashion, Kurt Stallaert, Photography

Kenjiro Harigai has an absolutely incredible body of work with contained within one of the smoother and more functional Flash websites I have seen in a while. Harigai founded the design team Adapter in 2003 where he worked on projects across virually every medium and platform. More recently, in 2007 he formed ANSWR, which was originally comprized of 5 creatives and has grown into a more multifaceted group of collaboraters again working across many mediums. This year he slowed the flow of Adater to focus on ANSWR and has kicked the work coming out of the group into high gear.

written by Christopher | tags: Adapter, Advertising, ANSWR, Graphic Design, Kenjiro Harigai

There are a few small but notable updates in the broad portfolio of Graphical House.

written by Christopher | tags: Advertising, Graphic Design, Graphical House, Print

Arlo has some really nice work in their portfolio. Someone sent me a link to their site over the weekend and I spaced posting it. They have a lot of work in their book to browse through.

written by Christopher | tags: Advertising, Arlo, Branding, Graphic Design, Print

Aaron Kemnitzer has updated with some nice motion/direction work.

written by Christopher | tags: Aaron Kemnitzer, Advertising, Direction, Motion Graphics, Mutual Friend

“Carmen Freudenthal (photographer) and Elle Verhagen (stylist) have been working as a photographer/ creative team since 1989.
Their collaboration with fashion designers, performers and other artists results in a wide variety of work, which is, at the same time, always recognizable by a typical humoristic approach of daily life and an undeniable own style, using and abusing contemporary imagery and (photo)graphic techniques.”

written by Christopher | tags: Advertising, eudenthal Verhagen, Fashion, Photography

There is some really nice work in the portfolio of design agency Tangible Worldwide. I love the middle coast shirt because that is exactly where I am from and where I am living right about now.

written by Christopher | tags: Advertising, Branding, Graphic Design, Tangible Worldwide

I read this essay today and had to share it. I could not agree more with the sentiment and the synopsis presented here. It is about as close to absolute truth as I think you can get right now. I am glad to see someone just saying it plainly and putting it out there for all of us to digest. Feel free to discuss your experiences or your take on this.

There is wisdom to be ganered here so please read it in full:

FUCK COMMITTEES
(I believe in lunatics)

It’s about the struggle between individuals with jagged passion in their work and today’s faceless corporate committees, which claim to understand the needs of the mass audience, and are removing the idiosyncrasies, polishing the jags, creating a thought-free, passion-free, cultural mush that will not be hated nor loved by anyone. By now, virtually all media, architecture, product and graphic design have been freed from ideas, individual passion, and have been relegated to a role of corporate servitude, carrying out corporate strategies and increasing stock prices. Creative people are now working for the bottom line.

Magazine editors have lost their editorial independence, and work for committees of publishers (who work for committees of advertisers). TV scripts are vetted by producers, advertisers, lawyers, research specialists, layers and layers of paid executives who determine whether the scripts are dumb enough to amuse what they call the ‘lowest common denominator’. Film studios out films in front of focus groups to determine whether an ending will please target audiences. All cars look the same. Architectural decisions are made by accountants. Ads are stupid. Theater is dead.

Corporations have become the sole arbiters of cultural ideas and taste in America. Our culture is corporate culture.

Culture used to be the opposite of commerce, not a fast track to ‘content’- derived riches. Not so long ago captains of industry (no angels in the way they acquired wealth) thought that part of their responsibility was to use their millions to support culture. Carnegie built libraries, Rockefeller built art museums, Ford created his global foundation. What do we now get from our billionaires? Gates? Or Eisner? Or Redstone? Sales pitches. Junk mail. Meanwhile, creative people have their work reduced to ‘content’ or ‘intellectual property’. Magazines and films become ‘delivery systems’ for product messages.

But to be fair, the above is only 99 percent true.

I offer a modest solution: Find the cracks in the wall. There are a very few lunatic entrepreneurs who will understand that culture and design are not about fatter wallets, but about creating a future. They will understand that wealth is means, not an end. Under other circumstances they may have turned out to be like you, creative lunatics. Believe me, they’re there and when you find them, treat them well and use their money to change the world.

Tibor Kalman
New York
June 1998

written by Christopher | tags: Advertising, Essay, Fuck Committees, Tibor Kalman

Marcos Ceravolo updated his site with some slick new motion work.

written by Christopher | tags: Advertising, Animation, Boca Motion, Motion Graphics

I had the opportunity to watch Mekanism’s reel this afternoon and damn are they good. Funny as hell and even more talented. I seriously hope to work with them in the very near future.

written by Christopher | tags: Advertising, Mekanism, Motion Graphics

HUAS is an unusual beast that has created some really great work and likes to show it in a way that captures your attention and makes you rethink how you browse a portfolio. Good stuff.

written by Christopher | tags: Advertising, Graphic Design, HAUS

If you have been seeing all of the weird pictures of naked people floating today it is all because of the new website for the creative studio Legs. They deserve the attention as well for the work they have produced so far for clients like Diesel and the NY Times.

written by Christopher | tags: Advertising, Graphic Design, Legs, New York

There is some nice work in the portfolio of Brooklyn-based Free Association (great name too by the way). I just wish they had showcased the work a little larger. I would like to see a little more of it.

written by Christopher | tags: Advertising, Free Association, Graphic Design, Web Design

Zach Gold is responsible for fashion photography that blurs the line between art and image. Beautiful work.

written by Christopher | tags: Advertising, Fashion, Photography, Zach Gold