The older and wiser of us will probably be familiar with the advice Steve Jobs gives in his speech at Stanford University. This video is inspiring and recommend every student who is about to go to college or university to watch it – they will find every minute moving and inspirational.

What is also interesting is the Job’s fighting spirit, in that every time Steve Jobs was rejected he came out stronger and better – the negatives became positives. Given the tough economic times we are currently going through, Steve Jobs speech should also inspire everyone to ‘stay hungry and stay foolish.’

Stanford University

Given what’s happened recently in Norway’s Utoeya island, I remember seeing this trailer some time ago and was deeply touched. I’m not game player or a fan of these violent games – I’m a ‘happy hour’ kind of guy and often wondered if the gaming industry has a social conscious or responsibility and perhaps should be made accountable for providing and creating a potentially dangerous generation of gamers, making them into trigger happy, shoot them, blow them up and slash them culture. I know I’m being grossly unfair to the gaming industry and that there are other factors and circumstances involved that ultimately shape the character of a person that drives them to carry out  acts of “madness,” but nonetheless, this gaming culture encourages a lower morale value, a culture and particular nurtures our young generation to show no respect to a fellow man and to his property and when the circumstances are right will use any banal excuse to reenact their fantasy ambitions against civilized society.

From a creative point of view, I have included this into my collection because of the clever reversal sequencing of the storyline and the clever use of the soundtrack almost sanitises the horror of violence. This slow motion technique, although not in reverse, reminded me of the beginning of Gladiator when Maximus (Russell Crowe) and his men have defeated the Germanic Barbarians with Hans Zimmer’s music softly playing as Maximus and his men are relieved they have won another battle.

This trailer is worth watching because the end is the beginning and the rendition is so realistic and cleverly done – yet another masterpiece from those smart guys at Visually Pithy… and glad to note that game itself does not use any children – dead or alive…

Dead Island Trailer from Visually Pithy on Vimeo.

Animation: Axis
Director: Stuart Aitken

Agency Impatto and production company Motion Theory have given a new meaning to getting ready in the morning. Love the automania storyline duality for the Fiat 500 retro car. This is an absolutely stunning montage sequence and fusion of Vivaldi and contemporary music by MassiveMusic. Inspiring content and I know we’ve seen these effects before but seeing everything in one promo advert and crafted exceptionally well with the story and retro cool music I just had to add this one to my collection of favorite ads. If you know of any others with similar effects and worth watching please send me a post.

Fiat – Get Ready from Visually Pithy on Vimeo.

AGENCY
Agency: Impatto
President/CEO: Michael D’Antonio
Senior Writer: Parag Tembulkar
Senior Art Director: Craig Smith
Account Executives: Jason Hayes, Shannon Stone
Head of Integrated Content: Gail Simon
Producers: Lorraine Kraus, Kristin Loudis

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Motion Theory
Director: Mark Kudsi
Executive Producer: Javier Jimenez
Line Producer: Anna Joseph
Director of Photography: Eric Schmidt
Production Designer: Teri Whittaker

POST PRODUCTION
Post Production/VFX Company: Mirada
Creative Director: Mark Kudsi
VFX Producer: James Taylor
Online Producer: Christina Caldwell
Senior Art Director: Jonathan Wu
Lead Compositing Artist: Ash Wagers
Compositing Artists: Jason Lowe, Ed Laag, Thomas Horne, Oliver Scott, Phil Guthrie
Code Artists: Keith Pasko, Tim Stutts
Designer: Chris Ballard
Roto Artist: Midori Witsken
Flame Artists: Danny Yoon, Matt Bramante
Production Manager/HR Director: Tina Van Delden

EDITORIAL
Editorial Company: Mirada
Producer: James Taylor
Editor: Lenny Messina
Additional Editing: Fred Fouqet
Online Editor: Jeff Aquino
Assistant Editor: Hoa Mai

SOUND + MUSIC
Company: MassiveMusic
Executive Producer: Scott Cymbala
String Arrangements: Vivaldi “Concerto in D Major”
Composer: MassiveMusic

I’m convinced my cat has thumbs as he is for ever trying to open doors and keeps hiding the TV remote control under his basket. The Cravendale advert is great – very simple and cleverly executed… and so real.

Cravendale – Cats with Thumbs from Visually Pithy on Vimeo.

Director: Ulf Johansson
Advertising Agency: WIEDEN + KENNEDY London
Agency Producer: Lucy Russell
Creative Directors: Sam Heath and Chris Groom
Creative Team: Freddie Powell & Hollie Sayers
DoP: Steve Keith Roach
Production Company: Smith & Jones Films Ltd – smithandjonesfilms.net
Production Company Producer: Philippa Smith
Editor: Russell Ike
Post Production Co: MPC – moving-picture.com
Post Production Producer: Josh King
VFX Supervisor: Kamen Markov
VFX Team: Heather Goodenough, Michael Gregory, Neil Griffiths, Ryan Hadfield, Kamen Markov, Richard McKeand, Mikael Pettersson
Telecine: Jean Clement Soret

1) Light Silver Chrome

2) ‘Steel Blue’ Chrome

3) Chrome lettering with intense blue colouring

How to create the above chrome effects, just follow the simple step procedure described below.

Step 1: Open a new document in Photoshop 850px by 567px

Colour Mode: RGB
Resolution: 72 pix/inch

Background contents: White

Step 2: Select your font for chrome plating. In this demonstration I have chosen
Impacta

Step 3: Add the following Layer Styles to the text

i) Drop Shadow, ii) Bevel and Emboss, iii) Gradient Overlay and iv) Stroke.
see the pop windows below and note and apply the various parameters.

(click to enlarge)

To create the Gradient overlay click onto the Gradient overlay pane to reveal the pop window Gradient Editor – see below.
Add alternating whites and greys as shown and note and apply the parameters shown. You can save this graduation by renaming Custom to: Chrome effect or whatever suits your fancy.

Add a background colour to emphasise the chrome lettering… I have used black.

To add a bit of chrome sparkles use the starburst brushes.
Add as many glittering sparkles as you like.
Don’t over do this as the effect may be loosed and false looking.
You should have something like this:

Finally, you may wish to add a bit of colour – to make the chrome appear more like cool steel. To do this create a layer and add a blue colour. I have used #003399

To increase the intensity of Blue just duplicate the Blue layer #003399 layer and the effect should look like this:

That’s it! Hope you found this post useful and welcome any comments and suggestions.

This has me tears every time I watch it – superb casting and choreography.
This is what advertising should be about: funny, memorable and powerful synergy with the brand.
Great work from Saatchi & Saatchi.

T-Mobile “Royal Wedding” Sound design & mix by Ben Leeves from GCRS on Vimeo.

Shortlisted in the Best Use of Music category at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2011

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Client: T- Mobile
Title: Royal Wedding
Sound Design & Mix: Ben Leeves
Director: Chris Palmer
Production Company: Gorgeous
Agency Producer: James Faupel
Executive Producer: Michaela Johnson
Editing Company: The Quarry
Editor: Paul Watts
Post-Production / VFX
Post-Production / VFX Company: The Mill
Mill Office: London
VFX Producer: Chris Batten
2D Artists: Pete Rypstra, JP
Assist: Siro Valente
Colourist: Adam Scott

ILUVUXDESIGN part I from lyle on Vimeo.

ILUVUXDESIGN part II from lyle on Vimeo.

Honda The Power of Dreams, written and directed by Michele D’Auria, background by Simone Prisco, music by Lino Cannavacciuolo, voice over by Ken Belton. Only one word to describe this video – stunning! This brand has come a long way from two wheels, just take a look at the second video and see how well this brand has gone beyond wheels… there are no limits to HONDA… so wonderful and so inspiring to watch, enjoy.

Honda The Power of Dreams from micheledauria on Vimeo.

Impossible dreams from manu on Vimeo.

The video is by Clip vidéo Impossible_dreams HONDA RENNES, QUIMPER, LORIENT, VANNES, SAINT MALO SAS SPORT AUTO 7 rue des Mesliers 35510 Cesson Sévigné Tel : 0299261666

Interesting approach into the design process of a web app from UI designer Ryan Singer of 37signals.
Ryan takes you through from the concept to a running application in stages covering the model, screens, designs HTML/CSS and live code.

Ryan Singer at Future of Web Apps, London 2010 from Ryan Singer on Vimeo.