Hasta La Motion!

Cartoon Network, Taiwan’s number one kids’ cable channel, has unveiled an exhibition in capital Taipei for its hit comedy Adventure Time. Opening on 31 May and running until 14 September, the exhibit is a licensing deal with local partner Kuang Hong Arts Management.

Named after the stars of the series, ‘Adventure Time – Finn and Jake’ is housed by the National Taiwan Science Education Center. It features six themed zones from the Land of Ooo including a: Jake Bus, Tree Fort, Marceline’s Rock Room, Fire Kingdom, Ice Kingdom and Candy Kingdom. After the exhibition closes its doors in Taipei, it will then move to Taichung and then Kaohsiung in 2015.

At the official opening ceremony, Melissa Tinker, Vice President of Cartoon Network Enterprises for Southeast Asia Pacific, said in a statement: “This first-of-a-kind attraction showcases the creativity, flexibility and appeal of the Adventure Time franchise. It also marks the local debut of merchandise lines, featuring a whole range of accessories branded with unique comic-book artwork never before seen in Taiwan. We believe this exhibition has huge potential around Southeast Asia. After Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung, we’ll be looking at rolling out this concept to other destinations across the region in 2015 and beyond.”

Lai Yen-Chia, Deputy Director of Kuang Hong Arts Management’s International Entertainment Department, added: “Adventure Time is one of the most popular series on kids-TV in Taiwan and when we decided to open a cartoon-themed exhibition, it was an obvious choice. ‘Adventure Time – Finn and Jake’ will be the ideal place to entertain kids, teenagers and families during the long summer holidays.”

‘Adventure Time’ characters also played a pivotal part of another major Cartoon Network partnership in Taiwan. Finn and Jake were also on prominent display on a high-speed train which was wrapped entirely in Cartoon Network branding from mid-2013 in a year-long campaign.

In Taiwan, ‘Adventure Time’ is the number one show on cable in its timeslot for kids 4-14 and the multi-award-winning animated comedy series will air its sixth season later this year. This much-loved original series introduces viewers to unlikely heroes Finn and Jake, buddies who traverse the mystical Land of Ooo and encounter its colourful inhabitants. The best of friends, these heroes always find themselves in the middle of heart-pounding escapades. Finn, a silly kid with an awesome hat and Jake, a brassy dog with a big kind heart, depend on each other through thick and thin. From the mind of creator Pendleton Ward, Ooo is a land built for adventure.

A global ratings and pop-culture phenomenon, ‘Adventure Time’ won two Annie’s in 2014, and in 2013 won the International Children’s Category at the BAFTAs. It was also nominated for its fourth Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short-format Animated Program as well as a 2013 Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Animated Series. In addition, Fast Company named Ward one of its “100 Most Creative People in Business 2013″.

The Sun has launched “Do Us Proud”, an integrated advertising campaign associated with the FIFA World Cup. England’s friendly vs. Peru tomorrow night sees the launch of The Sun’s World Cup-themed campaign, urging the England team to ‘Do us proud’ this summer – celebrating the fact that win, lose or draw, we just want our boys to go out there and play their hearts out. At the heart of the campaign is a TV spot which puts a football-themed spin on the regular karaoke format.

The Do Us Proud TV spot opens with a football player holding a ball. As the first lyric starts he heads it across to the next player, who heads it to the next, and the next. From behind, we see that instead of having a name on the shirt, each player has a word to match the lyric. A 74 man, non-stop headers chain, all timed to the music and making the track a sure-fire sing-along. It also launches The Sun’s England Anthem – a re-recording of the 1960s classic “I’ll Never Find Another You”, which can be downloaded for free at thesun.co.uk/dousproud.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khV6hg0oFEo

#DoUsProud revolves around a re-recording of The Seekers’ 1960s classic ‘I’ll Never Find Another You’ by East London band Dexters. 200,000 free copies of The Sun’s England Anthem will be available to download from thesun.co.uk/dousproud, where a free-to-access hub will collate England fans’ messages of support from across social media to the boys in Brazil. The track will also be free to stream via Soundcloud.

The commercial launches on the night of England’s Wembley friendly vs. Peru on 30 May, while the campaign also comprises extensive video-on-demand, press and digital out-of-home executions plus a social activation campaign from Grey’s The Social Partners.

Dave Monk, deputy ECD at Grey London, says: “The World Cup isn’t just about winning, this time it’s about representing a nation, leaving nothing in the tank, playing with heart, and the fans singing from theirs. That’s what The Sun campaign and the TV spot are all about. Finding ‘The Seekers’ ‘I’ll Never Find Another You’ – a big hit in 1966 – was the genius of our creative team Rob Greaves & Sam Daly. The lyrics and the spirit of the tune was spot on, and Dexters’ demo blew us away – they managed to make an old folk song bang up to date and relevant again. Top fellas. Top band.”

Nick Stringer, Director of Marketing Communications at News UK, adds: “We believe this campaign is in tune with the mood of the nation as we approach the start of the World Cup – it’s full of optimism, but measured and realistic which comes through in the lyrics in song. Ed Morris and Grey London have perfectly captured this in what is an honest, real and engaging spot for The Sun, the paper that football fans love for behaving like a fan itself.”

Credits

The Do Us Proud campaign was developed at Grey London by deputy executive creative director Dave Monk, creative team Rob Greaves and Sam Daly, agency producer Kat Maidment, assistant agency producer Fritha Dickie, creative producer Kevin Noble, planner Hamish Cameron, account team Natalie Graeme, Tamsine Foggin and Michelle Neads, working with News UK director of marketing communications Nick Stringer, The Sun marketing director David Robinson, marketing communications manager Lizzie Crees and marketing executive Lloyd Hartman.

Media was handled at M/Six.

Filming was shot by director Ed Morris at Rattling Stick with producer Chris Harrison and director of photography Luke Palmer. Editor was Sacha Szwarc at Speade. Post production was done at Nineteen Twenty Post (VFX) and Finish (Grade). Audio post production was by Parv Thind at Wave Studios.

Physics and animation are not often bedfellows, but in the hands of Xiangjun “Shixie” Shi, they seem as natural a pairing as space and time.

After getting a nice PR bump from Radiolab’s Robert Krulwich, we thought it’d be a good idea to pick Shixie’s brain about her graduation project and her unique joint degree program at Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design.

Q&A with Xiangjun “Shixie” Shi

Let’s start with the obvious: Tell us who you are and what you do.

My name is Xiangjun Shi; people call me Shixie. I am an animator, and I freelance at various studios.

You were part of the inaugural joint Brown/RISD program, right? Can you explain that program to us? Why is it special?

The Brown/RISD Dual Degree Program is a five year program where students complete a Brown degree and a RISD degree of their choice simultaneously. It’s a new opportunity for students with cross disciplinary interests, and an especially great opportunity too, since it allows direct enrollment in two top institutions.

For art students investigating the beauty in science and science students seeking in an artistic perspective, this program is perfect because it allows them to pursue both fields in depth and discover their own connections.

There is no limitation on the degree combinations, too. I am part of the first graduating class, and every member completed the program with interesting degree combinations: civil engineering and furniture design, electronic music and film, environmental studies and industrial design. Mine were physics and animation.

Right, you got a Physics Sc.B from Brown and a Film/Animation/Video B.A. from RISD. How did you choose those fields of study?

They are both masochistic subjects, really. Tons of work, tons of gratification at the end.

I did not know what I was going to do with Physics and Animation when I choose my majors. I just really liked them… I have enjoyed physics tremendously even before college.

I felt physics’ explanation of the world makes sense. With every piece of law falling in place, problems can be resolved mathematically. Physics knowledge brings a sense of resolution that keeps me hooked on the subject.

Animation, on another hand, became my go-to method of expression because I found it extremely powerful and versatile. It is a time-based medium. A good animation takes the audience on a very persuasive journey.

Physics and animation seem rather disparate. In your mind, are they connected somehow?

I really like both physics and animation. They connect in some ways — I can animate movement better because I sort of understand acceleration and gravity. But other than that, they do their own thing.

Occasionally, during quantum class, the teacher would explain something, and I would feel like my brain momentarily froze and ground shifted under my feet — an awesome feeling. I wanted to make others feel this way too, and animation is the best method I know — and arguably the only one I can think of that has so many transformations to explain my feeling in a physics class.

How did you come up with the idea for your thesis?

I wrote a lot of draft versions of the script and did a lot of research. I was not entirely sure what I would be discussing in my animation.

The script evolved from women in science, to how physics is the best science ever, then to a long rant of how college physics is difficult. It took me a while before settling to simply wonder at the duality of this universe.

Do you feel that, generally speaking, animation is a useful tool for education?

Yes, I feel animation would be a useful educational tool. The ability to play with time allows the medium to explain things very clearly, and most importantly, animation has the capacity to persuade audiences with visual, audio and special effects.

Once the subject is visually intriguing, we have the audience’s attention for quite a while, which is essential to education!

What’s next for you? What are your plans for the future?

I am working on the script for my second film. In the future, hopefully I will be able to keep making little personal animations about science while I trot in and out of the workforce as a freelancer. Eventually, I hope to start my own studio!

Directed by : Universal Everything Creative Director : Matt Pyke Animator : Chris Perry © 2014 Public Release Recordings Available June 2nd at fine record shops worldwide “I’ll Be Strong is all about motivation, struggling and surviving. A relentless storm of pop-digital weather bombards a group of animals, who are relentlessly dashing towards their goal – a distant volcano emitting the hypnotic chant of the song. The story is represented only through the visualisation of the invisible wind, revealing the animals with a graphic intensity.” – Universal Everything Title: I’ll Be Strong Artist: Jeffrey Brodsky Catalog No: PR_07 A1: I’ll Be Strong A2: Mark E Remix B1: Richard Sen Remix B2: Mike Simonetti Remix Southern California producer Jeffrey Brodsky’s “I’ll Be Strong” is the latest EP to appear on San Francisco based label Public Release.  Its comprised of four tracks, with Brodsky’s original joined by three wide ranging remixes, which complement its energetic feeling with deeper material aimed at late nights and early mornings. The title cut is a prime time house number, which recalls the genre’s underground roots through spiralling arpeggios, tweaked-up vocals, and chiming organs. But this isn’t just some nostalgic memory, instead Brodsky gives the track some modern muscle via a clean production aesthetic and energetic structure, that locks the vibe in a more contemporary direction. Mark E provides the first remix — it’s a move towards the hypnotic, with tribal drums and cascading bells that ought to provide a worthy complement to late night epiphanies, and memorably euphoric moments spent under the mirror ball. Then comes Richard Sen’s take, which runs the whole thing through a filter of ’80s-style acid house, with a big raw 303 bassline and dubby vocals accented with delays. The final remix duties fall on Mike Simonetti, whose version teases out the song’s atmospheric space through tight, heavy drum programming and monolithic washes of synthesizer.