stop-motion
10/09/2007
Sony Bravia's Play-doh Bunnies
This playful stop-motion animation builds one tiny bunny bouncing onto the streets into an entire rabbit army, set to conquer the city with adorable. It's a fun, whimsical commercial meant to emphasize one idea -- color is swell -- but doesn't really say anything about the product being advertised, Sony Bravia. Whatever that might be.
So in order to write about this video, I Googled Sony Bravia -- and discovered that the reason the name sounded familiar is that Sony Bravia's last big viral ad was the Jose Gonzales-scored Superball spot. That two-minute piece, capturing a gorgeous slow-motion waterfall of bouncy balls, was a whimsical delight -- that also didn't really say anything about the product.
So, um, way to create branding, Sony. Job well done. Now I just need to figure out what you're selling. I guess Bravias are TVs? Well, that was my second guess. Right after color printers.
07/23/2007
Behind the Scenes: Sprint's "Dreams"
I've never really been much of a CGI/tech geek. (I'm always more curious about the "why" than the "how".) But sometimes a piece of work comes along that's truly astonishing, that really employs technology not for its own sake but in the service of a larger aesthetic goal. The new Sprint "Dreams" spot is one such example. Directed by Little Miss Sunshine's Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the spot combines old-fashioned stop-motion animation with high-tech post gadgetry to expound on the virtues of light and the power of creativity (it's not corny, it really isn't). Thankfully, the folks at Sprint have posted this great behind-the-scenes making-of short that reveals how the directors and their team of collaborators pulled it off. Think of it as a DVD extra, but for commercials.
