Jack Jennings

A test run  at melting plasticine using matches. Although it did melt I had to hold the math really close which ruined the shot I feel. I was left with some really cool patterns once the black bits of burnt match feel into the pool of liquid plasticine

This is the latest advert for The Guardian newspaper. First off, I think this is an amazing piece of advertising. Along with The Independent newspaper, the Guardian has been the most successful newspaper to continuously evolve with technology and the growth of ways in which we view media. The Guardian app is free to download on all ranges of smart phone and maintains the same crisp simplistic styling of the website. But back to this advert.

They have twisted the classic children’s story of the three little pigs and shown how the modern world of media works. With a massive amount of people owning smartphones these days chances are if something out of the ordinary happens in a public area you’ll be able to see it on youtube within minutes. Technology has evolved and so has reporting. Not so long ago we would pick up a newspaper and read about something that happened a few days before. Now news is accesible at our finger tips any time we want it. The Guardian know this and with this advert show the flow from what was first thought to have happend to the truth through social networking and around the clock investigating and reporting. From someone posting their views of the matter of twitter, to someone presenting new evidence through a youtube video. When we hear some news these days we can follow its progression continuously until the story is told if we want to. 

This advert also shows us that people’s opinions do matter and if you feel strongly for something you can make a difference.

Thunderball opening credits. To show comparisons. Also awesome.

Original opening credits for the movie Goldeneye. I posted this to show the similarities between this and the Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater opening credits. 

Having recently purchased the Metal Gear Solid HD collection for my Xbox to nostalgically fritter the hours of the day away I was surprised by the opening theme of the snake eater game. I played these games back when they were released on PS2 and the main thing I remember was the length of the cut scenes in each game. Each game, and in particular Snake Eater, was produced like a live action film. This is evidently clear in Snake Eater.

Once you begin there is a brief spell of gameplay surrounded by lots of lengthy cut scenes followed by the opening credits(the video posted). With this sequence of events, (Plot, action, theme with opening credits) you can’t help but compare the game to a James Bond film. This comparison is further enhanced by the style of the opening theme for the game.

The song itself begins with loud percussion followed by brass instruments giving an epic orchestral intro which dies down to let the vocals begin. This technique is very similar to opening themes from James Bond movies, like Thunderball and Goldeneye. As the song progresses towards the chorus it builds in both vocal tempo and orchestral involvement. The chorus is very jazzy with a nice subtle funky guitar riff under the brass. the violins build up throughout the chorus simultaneously with the vocals as the percussion explodes. I really like this song.

The video begins with close ups of important newspaper headlines from the 50’s and 60’s at sharp angles and the text swaps into other headlines very mechanically like a print press. This works well with the orchestral intro. As the vocals begin, the credits for the creator of the game roll across to the left of a smokey backdrop while the skeleton of a snake slithers in the opposite direction. The title of the game then appears and is shattered by the snake skeleton as it strikes. This is very well done. Creating a skeleton of a snake and animating it to move like a snake must have taken a very long time. I can’t even think where I would begin with a project like that. The credits for everyone involved in the game begin to slither in random bursts on top of the rest of the visual footage but they don’t have 100% opacity and blend in quite well to the visuals. If you don’t want to read them they are easily ignored. the main visuals are clips from cut scenes in the game and basic gameplay. This gives you a glimpse of what is to come which is also very similar to James Bond opening credits as they usually contain subtle imagery of the theme of the film. For example in the Goldeneye opening credits we see hammers and sickles falling from the sky at one point. The film portrays Russian and US relations as a main theme.

Overall I really enjoy this video in its entirety. I think the visuals are very well produced and executed and work very well with an excellent song which would be worthy of any Bond Movie.

After feedback from my tutors I went back to my Triumph viral and edited it in a few ways.

• I shortened each build up clip to get the overall viral as short as possible. It went from 1.30 minutes to 47 seconds.
• I changed the text at the end of the video to a font that better reflected the brand and the message I was trying to get across. A font that wasn’t terrible basically.
• I also trimmed the intro of the music so the drum beat begins with the visuals. I also faded out the music at the end to give the video a beginning and end instead of an abrupt ending when the music just cuts.

I feel very happy with my final edit and think that it doe what I intended it to do, make the viewer feel uncomfortable but also make them laugh. 

Triumph Viral

This was the first draft for my viral video to promote Triumph’s bra fitting service.

Quick sum up of Alan Turing’s contributions to computing. I thought the breakdown of how the enigma machine was very well explained and simple enough for any one watching to understand(not to much tech talk). 

Brief talk at the end of a lecture in Australia on Alan Turing. Its a bit technical when it goes into programming but there is a few interesting bits throughout.