Hasta La Motion!

> Quicktime H.264
(123mb)
> iPod Compatible
(85.9mb)
> Watch in Flash
(70mb progressive)

David Mitchell, from That Mitchell and Webb Look recently narrated a Channel 4 series called TV is Dead? all about the “challenges the television industry is currently facing as a result of the digital revolution”.

One part of the series looked at the often over looked importance of television idents, something Australian television loves to dismiss, and something that this site is all about promoting. The clip should serve as an interesting introduction to the world of idents, and also offers a great peek into the UK television industry.

– Enormous thanks to Andy for the video.

A terra cotta bunny, a playboy centerfold and a Mandril. What do these things have in common you ask? If your answer was the cast list to the greatest YouTube video of all time you’d be wrong (that would be cool though). The correct answer is that these are all images used and re-used in the testing process of creating digital imagery. The folks over the unfortunately named Art Fag City have put together a post of 20 CG Image Archetypes for your browsing pleasure. Lots of good history and links here. Take a look.

[LINK] (http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/07/28/img-mgmt-20-archetypes/) to the original post (marginally NSFW because it has a naked teapot in it)

Thanks to Azathoth for the link

Share and Enjoy:

> Quicktime H.264
(3mb)
> iPod Compatible
(2.6mb)
> Watch in Flash
(2.1mb progressive)

> Quicktime H.264
(2.7mb)
> iPod Compatible
(2.2mb)
> Watch in Flash
(1.7mb progressive)

> Quicktime H.264
(2.1mb)
> iPod Compatible
(1.2mb)
> Watch in Flash
(1mb progressive)

> Quicktime H.264
(2.6mb)
> iPod Compatible
(1.6mb)
> Watch in Flash
(1.3mb progressive)

> Quicktime H.264
(2.1mb)
> iPod Compatible
(1.7mb)
> Watch in Flash
(1.4mb progressive)

> Quicktime H.264
(2.1mb)
> iPod Compatible
(1.8mb)
> Watch in Flash
(1.5mb progressive)

> Quicktime H.264
(1.9mb)
> iPod Compatible
(1.5mb)
> Watch in Flash
(1.3mb progressive)

> Quicktime H.264
(2.5mb)
> iPod Compatible
(2mb)
> Watch in Flash
(1.7mb progressive)

An incredibly simple use of aerial footage, combined with the familiar beats of music that screams “you’re watching a news channel” create a surprisingly effective collection of idents for Al Jazeera English.

They express the kind of simple dignity that an international news channel broadcasting to over 100 million people should command, as opposed to say this.

– Big thanks to Sean for the videos.

> Quicktime H.264
(2.4mb)
> iPod Compatible
(1.2mb)
> Watch in Flash
(534kb progressive)

The ABC has been teasing its viewers lately with the tagline “TV out of the box”. Well, this evening the ABC announced that its BBC iPlayer-esque service initally dubbed ABC Playback is now open to the public, and has been rebranded as ABC iView.

The BBC have been very succesful in establishing iPlayer as a brand despite its ordinary name, but really, iView was the best they could come up with?

Anyway, derivative name aside, the just launched ABC iView service is fairly similar to the beta version of the ABC Playback service that I reviewed earlier this year. And while the video quality is fine, and the content has increased to include news among other things, the interface still bugs me badly, and the whole thing doesn’t come close to the user experience of the newly launched BBC iPlayer 2.0.

> Quicktime H.264
(15.4mb)
> iPod Compatible
(9.7mb)
> Watch in Flash
(8mb progressive)

Last week Channel 4’s digital sibling More4 launched the Stanley Kubrick season, a ten day film festival of some of the celebrated directors work. This stunning promo was shot in one long take, and is a look behind the scences of Kubrick’s 1980 film The Shining, all from the perspective of the director himself.

The spot produced by Channel 4 Creative, was meticulously researched and was even shot using the directors favourite lens. Truly fitting for such a influential filmmaker.

British television seems to love the idea of programming “seasons”. More4 won an award for this promo used for their State of Russia season a few years back, and earlier this year BBC Four took its viewers on a trip into the Medieval mind.