Blogbook
Every year 36 Days of Type asks artists, designers, and others to submit typographic alphabet designs during a 36 day marathon. These are from Ben Huynh. Via This is Colossal:
Designer Ben Huynh submitted animated letters for each day of the open call which he combined into a short film. The video presents his three-dimensional type in the form of Mephis-style office supplies, modern furniture, and abstract neon light installations, all set to the song “Sunshine” by Gym and Swim.
What is 36 Days of Type about? Via Quartz:
In a matter of three years, an open call project called “36 Days of Type” conceived by Spanish graphic designers Nina Sans and Rafa Goicoechea has attracted a strong following within the design community. Their concept is simple: Assign one letter or number for every calendar day—the 36 days correspond with the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, plus ten single digit numerals. For each day, any designer, illustrator, artist, or hobbyist can interpret the letterform in an inventive style and upload it to Instagram with the hashtag #36DaysofType, followed by the letter or number.
Sans and Goicoecha pick the best entries and promote the winners on social media. Their project’s following on Instagram has swelled to over 64,000 followers this year—nearly triple the number since last year. Famous and emerging designers worldwide participate in the daily challenge, experimenting with hand lettering, calligraphy, computer graphics, animation, claymation, photography, and 3D modeling. Sometimes, they even play with their food.
The Sundance 2018 trailer is out! Sundance is an internationally renowned film festival, and it’s back in London this year. Via Short of the Week:
Featuring a new short from Kangmin Kim, a director we’ve twice featured on the site with 38–39ºC and Deer Flower the ‘2018 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour’ programme features a number of award winners from the main festival. Álvaro Gago’s Matria, Mariama Diallo’s Hair Wolf and Jérémy Comte’s Fauve all scooped prizes at this year’s fest, but for me the two most exciting films in this selection are the two animations. Kim has long been a firm favourite here at Short of the Week towers and his new short 점 JEOM once again showcases his trademark style, whilst Niki Lindroth von Bahr’s Min Börda (The Burden) has been one of the undeniable hits of the festival scene in recent times.
A screening dedicated to ‘visionary new shorts’, the ‘UK Shorts Programme’ offers up films from some of the exciting new filmmaking talent emerging from the UK – including works from Charlotte Wells (Laps) and Charlotte Regan (Standby). Wells’ Blue Christmas is a surprisingly compelling period piece that follows a debt collector who heads off to work on Christmas Eve, whilst Regan’s Fry-up is the simple but emotive tale of a families last day together. Other standout films in the screening include Georgi Banks-Davies’ sweet and relatable Garfield (check Short of the Week later in 2018 to see the full film) and Harry Lighton’s BAFTA-nominated Wren Boys – probably one of my favourite short films of recent times.
The new Pooh film, Christopher Robin, seems to be about saving Christopher from a midlife crisis. Okay. Apparently, it will be very cute. Via Gizmodo:
Debuted exclusively on The Ellen Show today, the new trailer for Christopher Robin paints a much fuller, and altogether more heartwarming, picture of the film’s story. The film sees a grown-up Christopher Robin (McGregor) struggle to balance life in a dead-end job and time with his family, only for his childhood friend Pooh to show up in need of help.
When Robin relents and returns to the hundred acre wood, Pooh and the gang find it’s not them that needs helping, but Christopher himself[…]
The raggedy, fluffy toy stylisation of Pooh and friends really works in the live-action setting — that, and there’s still something utterly delightful about seeing these characters interacting with the “real” world of Christopher’s adult life that makes this just seem like a ton of fun.
Given that the trailer also hints at Pooh and Christopher’s relationship transitioning to the next generation with his daughter Madeline, I’m already anticipating Toy Story 3 levels of heartwrenching goodness by the end of this, and I can’t wait.
Winnie the Pooh is a classic character from A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928), and is one of the most popular Disney characters of all time.
Check out the trailer for Worlds of Ursula Le Guin, a feature documentary by Arwen Curry about the late and iconic SFF author. Ursula passed away in January this year. The Conversation wrote a farewell to her here:
Le Guin published her first paid work April in Paris in the September 1962 issue of the magazine Fantastic Stories of the Imagination – and I am the proud owner of an original copy. I am a lifelong Le Guin fan, but also an academic exploring how science fiction is a cultural artefact that acts as a lens on changing attitudes and specific issues of its time. For me, Le Guin hit the sweet spots of her time powerfully and frequently.
Le Guin explored what it is to be human, faults and all, and the impact and influence of her work is undeniable in the world of fantasy and science fiction.
[…]
Le Guin was fiercely protective and supportive of other authors. In 1973, she made a humorous critique of the problems faced by writers trying to make their worlds fantastical and strange in From Elfland to Poughkeepsie, encouraging and emphasising the importance of appropriate style.
Style is something Le Guin seemed to be able to master effortlessly and consistently. I consider her short story Semley’s Necklace – first published in 1964 and later included in The Wind’s Twelve Quarters – to be the finest of its kind in fantasy writing, its crystalline prose equal to Semley’s tragic fate.
In what appears to be the year of the nostalgia returns, what with Backstreet Boys and ABBA etc releasing new singles, Ducktales is back. And bizarre. Via AVClub:
DuckTales, in any incarnation–comic series, old TV show, new TV show–is perfectly suited for the strange, to be clear. But in terms of all the actual “stuff” that happen in this episode, in addition to what we learn and how all of that is executed, this episode is a particularly strange outing. “McMystery At McDuck McManor” is at once bold in its revelations and frustratingly representative of a lot of the show’s current hiccups. I honestly have no idea how to truly grade this one, so it gets the universal, noncommittal B.
DuckTales is comfortable with its portrayal of Louie. It was a little wishy-washy with Dewey but seemed to have finally grasped his characterization with last week’s episode. But Huey seems to continually be a struggle. Ostensibly the character who’s obsessed with rules, organization, and structure–a classic cartoon characterization trope–DuckTales seems to want to try and push him to “comic” extremes. It’s clear with his nutty outburst in “The Infernal Internship Of Mark Beaks.” It’s clear in how he maintains his commentary composure in the midst of a horror show in “The Missing Links Of Moorshire.”
There were talks about a Charmed reboot in the works for a while, which sparked controversy over social media. The new trailer is out, featuring three Latinx sisters, and it looks great. Via Huffpo:
The CW announced last year it was working on a reboot of the hit series “Charmed,” and now it has summoned an official trailer. Instead of Prue, Piper and Phoebe, the trailer introduces us to Mel, Maggie and Macy.
“Charmed” 2.0 is already setting itself apart from The WB’s 1998-2006 incarnation, putting women of color in the three lead roles. Sarah Jeffery plays Maggie, Melonie Diaz is Mel, and Macy is portrayed by Afro-Latina actress Madeleine Mantock.
Fans of sister CW show “Jane the Virgin” should note that the supernatural showdowns are being executive-produced by “Jane” creator Jennie Snyder Urman. And seeing as that show is ending next year, the Power of Three may have the magic cure to fill the telenovela hole in your heart.
This iteration of “Charmed,” per Shadow and Act, has Mel as “a graduate student in the women’s studies department her mother heads at Hilltowne University” while “Maggie is a freshman considering rushing a sorority (to Mel’s bemused dismay) and going ‘on’ again with her on-again off-again boyfriend Brian.”
I’m on my way home, compressed among the masses in a train heading into Richmond Station. Some tall American guy is getting into his sales pitch on the phone close by. In the train carriage, there’s no escape. “I’ve been in the marketing business for decades, working with firms like X, Y, and Z,” he says. OK. So far so normal. Good for you dude, hope you get the gig. “I’m a futurist. Really into mindfulness. I’m an ideas guy, y’know. Specialising in future-proofed strategies.”
… Okay, man.
(Confession: I might have written down some of the keywords in his spiel and reproduced them in the studio dog’s bio.) I’ve got nothing against buzzwords, or, as they’ve been perhaps uncharitably called in this agency, “w*nker words that work”. I was a lawyer before I got into the ad business, so you could say I have a prima facie higher-than-average tolerance for self-serving industry jargon that makes their user sound more qualified than they really are. Carpe diem, right? It’s a cynical industry–I’d go so far to say that cynicism is a good trait in an ad agency–so why are buzzwords like “futurist” and “long-tailed” and “mindfulness” so ubiquitous?
Because clients like it, that’s why.
Yeah, You Guys
Buzzwords are kinda like the words on wine reviews. Full-bodied? Hint of oak? Smoky charcoal and jam? More tannin? Dry, sweet? Makes you feel better about forking out $100++ for the bottle at the restaurant. The dressed-up sommelier knows it. He might even be paid more than the chef. After all, he’s just doubled your bill by persuading you to have a few glasses. Did you know alcohol is classified a carcinogen by the WHO? Probably, but pour it on. You’ve been sold into the service and the product.
Advertising hasn’t been classified a carcinogen by the WHO, though it might just be a matter of time. More than sommeliers in restaurants, advertising is itself the art of selling. You might have heard some of our favourite buzzwords being thrown around, such as–
Front-end/Back-End
What We Wish It Means: Something to do with bacon. The crispy bit? Rashers? Thick cut or in strips?
What It Really Means: Refers to online presence development. Anything to do with the “front-end” is anything that deals with anything that the users see. Website design, UX, and more. “Back-end” is server-side stuff, like databases, things that the users won’t see. Dynamic sites require databases to work: things like user profiles, the posts users might upload and such are all stored in databases.
Future-proofing:
What We Wish It Means: Retirement money. What? Doesn’t everyone have a dream of retiring and lying on a beach somewhere in the Bahamas, slowly increasing their skin cancer risk?
What It Really Means: A product or service that would not need updating/significant updating as tech changes. Frankly, few things are future-proofed. And why should they be? Things should change with time, if only to get better.
Long-tailed:
What We Wish It Means: Something to do with animals. We love animals.
What It Really Means: Often used arbitrarily, so who knows. Technically it refers to large number of products that sell in small quantities, as contrasted with the small number of best-selling products. The total sale of these large number of products is the “long tail”, and is often looked at as a new market–how do you sell unpopular niche products? “Long-tail” marketing tactics include stuff like viral marketing.
Mindfulness:
What We Wish It Means: Advertising that isn’t silly. You’d be surprised how much controversial adwork out there is self-inflicted.
What It Really Means: Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention to the present in a focused nonjudgmental way. This is great for approaching targeted audiences, and necessary for nuanced and positive advertising strategies. Research and diversity in your decision-making team is key.
Omnichannel:
What We Wish It Means: Something to do with Transformers. Robots in disguise.
What It Really Means: A multichannel approach to sales that tries to make the customer’s sales experience as seamless as possible, integrating online and offline touchpoints.
Programmatic:
What We Wish It Means: A future Terminator movie reference maybe. Hasta la vista, Sarah Connor.
What It Really Means: In advertising, “programmatic” ads are basically ads that have been purchased through the use of software. They’re often targeted at people via the use of available database information.
ROI:
What We Wish It Means: Really Organic Ice-cream. What? We like ice-cream.
What It Really Means: Return on investment, a performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency or value of an investment. How much profit was made? Or were some other goals met? It’s important to define performance markers when you’re briefing an agency.
Now you know. Next time you talk to a marketer, play a fun game. Challenge them to talk to you for ten minutes without using a single buzzword. Curious about anything else not stated in here? Feel free to call in for a chat.
Long Term Delivery is a comedic short film from Jake Honig, a romanticised story about a secret division within the US Postal Service. Via Short of the Week:
Inspired to create his narrative after becoming frustrated when a series of packages were failed to be delivered to him. Honig dreamed up a “romanticized story” about what could be happening behind-the-scenes of the postal service.
“I am enthralled by the ways bureaucracies function and like to imagine people hidden deep below the surface who actually care about the mission of the institution”, Honig admits when discussing the aims of Long Term Delivery. “The United States Postal Service is actually an incredibly impressive organization, having mapped out every address in the entire country with the capability to deliver a letter to the most remote location for only the cost of one stamp. I thought it would be fun to create a story that demonstrates its reach by highlighting some bizarre, totally off-the-grid people whose only communication with the outside is through the post office”.
Shot over five days in early November 2017, Honig wanted to capture the autumn leaves but mistimed his shoot and instead got a more desolate look to his film, which he feels helped create the “eerie” tone of his film. However, it’s not just the aesthetic of the film making things feel a little strange, the performances, characters and score all help magnify the oddness of the piece to full effect.
Weta Digital takes us behind the scenes on War for the Planet of the Apes, showing how some of the nuances of expression were created. Via Variety:
The 2011 “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” offered visual-effects breakthroughs, and the filmmakers raised the bar even higher in the 2014 sequel. The finale in the trilogy, 2017’s “War for the Planet of the Apes,” is the most ambitious and most effective yet, thanks to director Matt Reeves, who gives a lot of credit to Weta Digital: “These guys make the impossible happen.”
“War for the Planet of the Apes” is Oscar-nominated for its VFX work and on Feb. 13 led the Visual Effects Society Awards, with four trophies.
Reeves talked with Weta’s Joe Letteri and Dan Lemmon about “War” in a Q&A session at the Directors Guild in Hollywood Feb. 12. The film’s innovations include a spectacular avalanche, the enhancement of the many real locations (e.g., adding a key waterfall), an explosive helicopter battle, details like wet and/or snowy fur, and the creation of new characters like Bad Ape.
Their biggest challenge was subtle, but crucial: facial work on the multiple ape characters. The script by Reeves and Mark Bomback gave more depth to the characters than in the previous films, with greater introspection and conflicting emotions, often done in closeups.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8zRxIDUe_U
This beautifully cut fan trailer for Watership Down and its sequel, the Plague Dogs, kinda breaks our hearts all over again. Edited by YouTuber MoonlightButterfly, this trailer uses “Time and Tide” by Alan Price as its backing audio. Watership Down and the Plague Dogs are books by Richard Adams. Haven’t read them? Probably should get on that. Need more convincing? Here’s a recent review:
It is that power that Richard Adams believed in and rendered in his novel. I read Watership Down for the first time when I was twenty-five. I didn’t read it as an allegory—I read it as a story about rabbits. The quote from the London Times on the back of the book still gives me chills: “I announce with trembling pleasure, the appearance of a great story.”
Never has a quote on the back of a book captured so perfectly my own feelings: this is the novel I love most in the world. I wrote to Richard Adams a couple of times, to tell him so, and sent him a photograph of the two rabbits I had who were in love. He wrote back. He told me he was moved to hear my parents had fallen in love as they read his book.