Cartoon Network’s ‘Adventure Time’ begins tour of Taiwan

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″.

Will this ‘Arjun’ hit the bullseye?

Looks like ‘acche din’ are here for broadcasters in the kids’ genre (read Disney, Pogo, Cartoon Network, Nick, Sonic, Nick Jr.). There was a time when all one used to get to watch was Tom chasing Jerry on screen, Swat Kats fighting crime to save Megakat City from the evil clutches of Dark Kat or Popeye gulping down spinach to clobber Bluto and save Olive (not that we didn’t like these classics). But, it’s really heartening to see broadcasters lapping up original Indian IPs and going a step further by getting involved in the making as well.

This brings us to the new show ‘Arjun: Prince of Bali’ that is set to see the light of day on Disney Channel beginning this Sunday 1 June at 9:00 for a 52 episode run in Hindi (as of now there aren’t any plans to dub it in any other language). Being a creation of Green Gold Animation, the character has the daunting task of matching up to its peers – Chhota Bheem and Mighty Raju – that have carved out a space for themselves in the last few years. So does ‘Arjun’ have the stomach for this battle… let’s find out!

Speaking exclusively to AnimationXpress.com’s Sidharth Iyer, Disney India director programming Devika Prabhu and Green Gold Animation founder & MD Rajiv Chilaka share their vision and plans for ‘Arjun: Prince of Bali’.

“I guess it was only a matter of time; we have had a long standing association going back to end of 2008. Green Gold Animation has done three seasons of ‘Chor Police’ and two seasons for ‘Luv Kush’ for Disney and we have always wanted to better that as we felt, both the shows didn’t really match-up to our expectations, thus ‘Arjun: Prince of Bali’ happened,” expounds Chilaka on the association with Disney India for the new animation series.

Disney India on its part has for long been carrying a lot of imported content on the channel, and with this move is certainly opening up the floodgates for other Indian animation studios to sit up and take notice.

Prabhu adds: “I believe in strong characters and great stories; when we saw what Rajiv and his team was planning with the character of Arjun, we were really excited to work with someone who really knows the industry and the Indian animation space, we were very much on board and have been working closely on the series. It’s a free exchange of ideas how things have to be developed; I have to particularly applaud the look, feel and design along with the animation style that is amazingly bright and really beautiful.”

If we just backtrack over a year, when Chhota Bheem and the Throne of Bali hit screens; a lot of research had gone into getting the look and feel of Bali right as that was the essence of the story, so with the new series that is mostly based in Bali what kind of research was done, “We did travel during the movie to Bali with a team of seven guys and whatever research we had done then we keep referring to it till now. But, I feel the time is right to travel back and study the location once again to get into more detailing of the setting,” says Chilaka.

About three to four individuals have worked on the character designs and nearly180 artists have put in the hours for the 52 episodes, of which 15 episodes have already been delivered to Disney by Chilaka’s company. Each episode is of 22 minutes duration, slip into two story capsules of 11 minute each. Nearly, 10 days go into the production of a 22 minute episode.

“If you want to fit action, adventure and comedy then this is a good format to work with, we have seen success with it in the past as well. It’s long enough for children to stay on and short enough to keep it fresh for them, also when a new story is being told we don’t plan to program any caps because for us the viewing experience comes first,” reveals Prabhu.

The series promises to be a perfect blend of action and comedy. It revolves around the daily life of Arjun, Prince of Bali. Where, each day brings a new sense of adventure, discovery and exploration and fun, and with the help of his own family and friends, Arjun learns about his important role in the world that he is growing up in. Being raised to be skilled in the art of warfare he overcomes obstacles that come his way while also funnily disorienting his enemies with little tricks. The series follows him on his fun-filled escapades and experiences.

Sharing her views on the promise ‘brand Arjun’ holds in the coming weeks Helios Media MD Divya Radhakrishnan says: “The summer season is an opportune time for all genres, be it kids as well and it holds a lot of promise to launch new shows. Keeping in mind that the character is from the same banner that came up with ‘Chhota Bheem’ it certainly has an advantage. It’s also good to know that Disney, which generally survives on a lot of imported content, is encouraging Indian IP as well. If they carry out a 360 degree marketing campaign, I am sure brands in the FMCG categories like biscuits, ice-creams, dairy products, etc. will show keen interest.”

That would really be encouraging for Disney, which is still in the process of getting sponsors on board for the show which begins airing this Sunday.

Prabhu is very confident of Arjun doing really well, “I think it’s important to understand why he is set apart from other heroes and lead characters in the world of television. Yes, he is brave but on the flip side he is also someone who wants to learn take on responsibility, the characteristics are the thing which the kids will identify with. Things don’t come easily for him, though he is a prince. He is respectful towards his parents and shares a very great bond with his sister Tanya. We haven’t seen such kind of relationship on television before so the story telling will be really unique and we are banking on it.”

The script and storytelling for ‘Arjun: Prince of Bali’ is completely a joint collaboration between the companies with both having given multiple inputs. “The name of the characters, their background, we have taken everything into consideration and it has worked well. When the movie was released we had the plan of coming up with a series, but the characters needed to be further developed, and we are really pleased with the end result,” Chilaka exults.

The show is primarily targeted for the age group between 6-12 years of age. And it will certainly compliment ‘Chhota Bheem’ which comes on a rival channel at 9:30 am every Sunday. Thus, it seems like a strategic move to keep all parties happy and not eating into one another’s share of the pie.

“We want all the characters to succeed but that is not possible, in this field there is a wave of popularity sometimes its Pokemon then out of the blue it was Doraemon and Bheem have been around for 6 years; there is a saturation factor that will come in and the audience will get a little bored. But Arjun is fresh as it has a new look, story and feel, along with a new channel, new packaging and brand new story lines, it will have nothing to do with Bheem or Raju so I feel that will work,” Chilaka explains.

Green Gold Animation is also planning to take the series to the Indonesian market, and is in talks with a few broadcasters there.

“Kids love comedy, humour and action. Indian Animation industry in kids segment has climbed the value chain. Today, India has the third largest TV households globally and we are making breakthroughs and experiencing a huge change in the children’s entertainment genre. It’s the Indian animated characters dominating the Television space. So! Kids’ breakfast time with Arjun shall be a milestone. Realising the need for the Domestic content to reach out to their audience and the demand for local content is growing rapidly as well,” says Maya Digital Studios, media & broadcast relationship head Aruna Kumar.

It’s a sentiment that’s echoed by former Reliance Animation big boss Ashish Kulkarni, “Green Gold Animation is a big studio and Rajiv has been around for long now, he’s one guy who really understands the space; so without any doubt I am certain that just like Chhota Bheem, even Arjun would do well among the kids. Rajiv has three to four well established brands and is using it well, if the channel and Rajiv do justice to the character it’s bound to succeed.”

The Sun says Do Us Proud with Karaoke

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 Sun - Do Us Proud

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

The Sun - Do Us Proud

The Sun - Do Us Proud

#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.

Jimmy Simpson: Square Street Studies

In “Square Street Studies,” designer/illustrator Jimmy Simpson distills urban life into colorful bite-sized loops.

Says Simpson:

I have been focusing on illustration for the last few months and this project stemmed from an idea I had for a print series. The print idea turned into a series of 15 second loops for instagram and I liked how they were lookin so i decided to collect them into a final video. They are inspired by philly, beatz, and Léger with cameo appearances by Seinfeld, Garfield and Drake.

As joedonaldson on the Motionographer subreddit puts it:

This piece deserves more attention. All the decision making from the color palette to the compositions are extremely provocative. This is a wonderful example of story telling through ambient animation which perfectly captures the tone of city life.

Agreed.

Xiangjun Shi: Why Do I Study Physics?

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!

LG G Watch Hands-on | German


LG G Watch Hands-on | http://www.appdated.de

Wir konnten in London beim LG G3 Launch-Event einen ersten Blick auf die LG G Watch werfen, die erste Smartwatch aus dem Hause von LG Electronics.
In wenigen Wochen soll die Uhr mit Android Wear auf den Markt kommen und in Konkurrenz zu Samsungs Gear 2 oder auch Sonys Smartwatch 2 treten. Das hier zum Einsatz kommende OS war allerdings noch beta.

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Auf Appdated.de zeigen wir euch Unboxing, Testberichte und Videos zu Geräten mit iOS, Android und Windows Phone. .

Wir testen für euch Smartphones, Tablets und allerlei Zubehör für die mobile Technik. Aufgrund regelmäßiger Messebesuche können wir Euch mit Informationen & Videos aus erster Hand bedienen.

I'll Be Strong – Jeffrey Brodsky


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.

D&AD 2014 Title Sequence


http://mattwhitewood.com https://twitter.com/mwhitewood Another year Mill+ tackled the D&AD award titles. Working in a team of 4 and using Cinema4d, rendering in VRay. We kicked out this years titles with great pleasure and hard work. The brief allowed a lot of freedom and gave us a chance to have a lot of fun, using a mixture of dynamics and hand animation. Douglas Bowden developed some great design in Cinema4D for us to work with. http://pandayoghurt.co.uk/ Design & Animation Studio: Mill+ Executive Producer: Luke Colson Producer: Oana Anghel Design Director: Nils Kloth, Douglas Bowden Senior Art Director: Douglas Bowden 3D Lead: Oliver Harris 3D Artist: Matt Whitewood 2D Artist: Nils Kloth Audio Track: Angell Sound More details here http://www.themill.com/work/dampad-2014-title-sequence.aspx

Teknek

White Fur


“White Fur,” directed by Georgia Tribuiani, is a film adaptation of Mark Wunderlich’s original poem . Tribuiani imagined a story that tells not a literal translation of the poem, but an imagined idea that is suggested through the words. Her stunning metaphor creates a poem within a poem. The film screened during the 5th annual Motionpoems Festival at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis on Thursday, May 22nd, 2014