Hugh Laurie

Recently Hugh Laurie's new album has been all over the charts like a tramp to a bag of McDonald's chips, and I'm very excited to say that I was very much involved in the production, and given the responsibility of the animation of the television commercial advertising it.
During my time with Peacock, this was the second brief I'd been given by the TV Graphics team - (But I had to keep quiet about it until it was officially released, to avoid anything getting leaked).
As well as it being a huge privilege, it was also a great project to work on, and even though at times I found it challenging, with the help from the guys in the studio, I was still constantly learning new things which helped me feed my constant hunger to improve and maximize my current potential.
I'm extremely thankful that Peacock gave me the opportunity to work on something so big, as well as helping me through the process of boosting the quality and quantity of work within my portfolio by showing that I'm very capable of creating interactive outcomes to an industry standard as well the print and web based pieces that all ready exist within my portfolio.
The ad was released on the 9th of May so keep an eye out for it if you haven't all ready seen it.

Simply Unstoppable

One of the biggest motivations for me when I train is music, it's almost like a steroid of some sort that takes my mind off the physical pain of hitting "the wall" and helps me through those physically draining last couple of minutes of a heavy session.
In the new Lucozade advert they have used the collaboration of music and training as a concept which I believe is a really effective approach to exploiting the brand, as well as female boxer Katie Taylor, and musicians Tinie Tempah and Travis Barker.
I love every single thing about this piece: The HD filming, the grading, the camera angles, the lighting and even the positive typography saying "YES" at the end. Makes me want to put my boxing gloves on and get straight down tot he gym! (Watch it here).

Tron

I've become a little bit of a Tron geek recently! I seem to have a Tron desktop wallpaper as well as a Tron phone wallpaper, but I'm ashamed to say I haven't seen the films properly!... I remember seeing the original when I was very young but I can't remember it enough to claim that I know the plot, so this evening I'm going to watch the original before watching the new one later on this week. I've heard mixed reviews about Tron Legacy, but I don't want to judge it until I've seen it for myself because the trailer for it looks quality as well as having a fantastic updated re-brand that doesn't steer away too much from the original brand design!

Scream

Due to the release of the new Scream film I thought it would be interesting to see the growth in design that the film posters have had over the years... I'm a big fan of the most recent one, using the shape of the mask to turn into a knife is cool! The first is a little too 'Silence of the Lambs' for me, and I suppose the other two worked for the era they were designed in, still not a massive fan though. It's nice to see that they have kept the same typeface and the same distinctive 'm' throughout all 4 posters. When you take a step back and look at them all, you begin to see the links throughout each design - The Evolution of the Scream poster... I think I'm going to have a 'Scream Marathon' before heading to the cinema to watch the new one!

Twenty Twelve

I've been watching a comedy on BBC iPlayer recently and I think it's superb. It's called 'Twenty Twelve' and it's a 'Mocumentary' type series, about the team behind the London 2012 Olympic Games. The audience is given a behind the scenes look of the work process that is going on during the count down to the Olympics by the different characters from different work sectors within the team, including multiple positions from the head of deliverance to the head of sustainability. It's shown on BBC4 which I was surprised with, which makes me feel that personally the show is slightly under rated, never the less it doesn't stop you having a watch... Twenty Twelve.

Face Text

Recently there have been a few film posters being produced using one image with some typography over the top... Personally I'm unsure of this new trend... The 1st and last poster work very well and are strong designs, but I feel 'The Social Network' poster and the new 'Thor' poster are quite weak, especially since 'The Social Network' is such a good film.

Warrior

I've been waiting to see this trailer for ages, and it has finally been put up on the apple website.
I'm a huge fan of Tom Hardy and I think he is a fantastic actor... His latest film is called Warrior where he plays a war hero who becomes a cage fighter... Film looks great, check it out... (Trailer)

Robin Hood

I haven't blogged for a while, I've got loads of stuff to put on here just waiting for me to upload, but I need to find the time... I'm heading to London for a placement next week so I'll make sure to try and do one an evening. Any way... After work and then a training session last night I decided to settle down to the new Robin Hood film. It was a really good watch but I didn't expect any different from a second time team up of Ridley Scott and Russel Crowe.
I was interested to see at the end of the film, the closing credits were designed using a painted effect animation which was really quite pleasing on the eye, especially since the animators could have gone for the easy option of animating on old textured paper giving off an old scroll effect with Old English script typography. The film is a definite success with a plot that you don't expect when first putting the film on. Great job.

Like an Egg Productions

'Like an Egg' are the new guys on the block, and are producing work as if they have been in the game a long time! Here's a promotional commercial they have created for the Valley of Kings Mixed Marshal Arts night that is being held in Newport (Wales)... Real high quality stuff!
Check out the 'Like an Egg' website (here).

Heartbeats

Cool poster design for the new film 'Heartbeats', not sure what the film is like though.

Layer Cake Fight Scene

Even though the stills say a lot about the fight scene in Layer Cake, they do not do it justice.
After seeing the way this was shot I decided this was one of the best fight scenes in cinema (Personal opinion obviously)... Watch it here.

Blind Faith

Here are some stills from the Chase & Status - Blind Faith video.
The video is filmed with an old 1990's handy cam and the concept of it consists of a group of friends that are living for the weekend and are 'having it large' in an underground rave.
I'm a huge fan of the song and video - Very well done... TUNE.