Insulting Monk
Anyway, as this blog is geared towards visual storytelling I figured I’d share a couple of videos I made to advertise the title. First, here’s a small one about the creation of the background-graphics:
And to wrap it up here’s the final trailer I made for the title. As I really didn’t have any big earlier titles to refer to I figured it’d be a funny twist to namedrop a couple of big titles.
Those of you interested can read more about the title here.
Video review of my app!
OK, to most of you this probably is as exciting as watching paint dry. Gray paint, inside a library, if you're blind. But this kind of made my day. The nice people over at TheDigitalLifeStyle.tv have found reason to review Ben's somewhat spiffy-looking but ultimately craptastic rock-paper-scissors game!
Frankly I think they got it spot on. After all I like to claim that the game is the most accurately titled game on the App Store so in some ways you shouldn't really need a review at all…
iPhone Development
One of the things I have been able to do during my
hiatus from the blogosphere is dipping my toes in the
iPool, or the world of iPhone development to the rest
of you. A couple of months back I released my first
game the not too snappy, but incredibly accurately
titled Ben’s somewhat spiffy-looking but ultimately
craptastic rock-paper-scissors game(tm). Not exactly
the kind of title to set the world on fire* but a
suitably sized project to start my, no doubt,
prosperous career as a games developer. 
I’m already working on no less than two other projects and believe a lot of this blog will be occupied with posts pertaining to this. Not to worry though I will try to attack the matter from a design point of view rather than a technical standpoint. As a taster for the things to come, here’s the game-trailer I made for my first game:
You can read more about it here or even buy it here!
*Why would anyone want to set the world on fire?! Surely that would be arson?!
Windows without walls?
Apple (the Macintosh-maker, not the fruit) have been rather successful with their «Get a mac» campaign. The whole campaign is based on poking at Microsoft and while it is done in a humorous manner the Seattle giant have been less than thrilled.
A collection of «Get a Mac»-ads from youtube
This week they launched a new commercial as part of their $300 million campaign to improve Windows Vista’s tarnished image.
Microsoft’s new «I’m a PC»-ad
As a whole I think Microsoft (or their advertising company) have done a great job. The quick presentation of different people from all walks of life, all being «PCs», seems well suited to strike an emotional chord with the audience. Heck, they’ve even sprinkled it with a handful celebrities! As a piece designed to win mind-share and reassure their users it should work brilliantly. I don’t think it’ll improve Windows market-share though, but then again they have something like 90% alread. I think even Steve Ballmer acknowledge the possibility that a tenth of the human population might actually prefer something else.
I think the commercial fails when it comes to convincing dissatisfied Windows-users to stay with the program. If you’re frustrated with your computer «everyone else does it» is a meek point. Particularly when Apple is targeting this demographic directly (and looking at the numbers, quite successfully). Microsoft is hardly oblivious to Apple’s attack though, and handles it with aplomb and miss the target completely - all within a minute!
Microsoft’s new slogan is a stroke of genius: «Windows - Life Without Walls». It lends itself to spoofs (try replacing that ‘w’ with a ‘b’ or how exactly does windows work without walls? etc). But this could be a good thing if MS is looking to build mind-share. Every spoof, no matter how brutal, will help people remember the product. It is also brilliant in more ways than one:
- It’s a pun, which makes it easy to remember
- It gives a positive message about the endless possibilities a PC can offer
- It could be read as a subtle attack at Macs as these force you to buy from one company
But as I’ve already mentioned, they’ve also made a grave mistake. The very first part of the commercial directly refers to Apple’s campaign. They have simply taken Apple’s «PC»-character and tried to change his message. My immediate reaction was that this was kind of cute, but after having some time to think about it I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a disastrous decision and this is why: They remind people of Apple’s campaign.
Why on earth would you want to remind people about
your competitor? 
Especially as this competitor is targeting the
dissatisfied people among your users? It also gives
Apple ample opportunity to bite back. How long will
it take before we’ll see John
Hodgman* selling fish or sporting a beard?
It’s not like MS offers much Apple can’t match and
by doing this they make sure almost every blogger
or journalist writing about their campaign will
also mention Apple...
*The actor portraying PC in Apple’s ads
Gigantic Storytelling
The Sultan’s Elephant
Wow! Three letters, one syllable and the only word I can think of when watching the french marionette/street-theatre group Royal de Luxe performing The Sultan's Elephant. I don’t think there’s much to say really. This one of the most formidable pieces of visual storytelling I’ve ever seen and that’s from watching it on a small web-clip. Enjoy!
JFK vs PP III
Good Things Come In Threes
Despite the fact that part 2 of my JFK vs. PowerPoint project was something of a flop compared to the original I've decided to finish the trilogy. (New readers should probably look through part 1 and part 2 before the read on). This time I have not limited myself to the use of Slide Ware (PowerPoint/Keynote). I've made a dynamic presentation based on the same audio-clip as I've used in the previous examples.
Seductive Visuals
Hopefully you'll find that this version commands attention and is actually quite interesting to watch. And I really hope it serves to demonstrate a point. That point being that despite this latest iteration probably being the most visually pleasing, it is no more effective in presenting the message than the original 'boring PowerPoint'.
While the two version differs a lot in quality and dynamics they have at least one problem in common: When you force the audience to read they cannot give their full attention to the spoken word. This means that no matter how beautiful the text is displayed on your PowerPoint-slides they will harm your presentation if delivered at the same time as you speak. If you look at the second example however you'll find that the imagery is designed to augment the speech. The images should work either to make the message clearer or to strengthen your audience's emotional connection to the material.
The first rule towards better PowerPoint presentations is in my mind so simple it's almost ridiculous. Text = Bad. Imagery = Good.
As always there is also a higher quality QT version available.
Technology Schmecologny
-Tools in the hands of tools
I love technology. Not all technology of course, but great looking, seamlessly working gizmos and cleverly designed software are things that bring a smile to my face. As much as I love technology I am also depressed at some people's blind belief in the tools of the digital age. Technological advances and lower prices have put professional tools in the hands of anyone willing to part with the cash. In the 80's desktop publishing, advanced computer-typefaces and photocopiers drove a lot of smaller advertising agencies out of business. A lot of executives figured 'we can do it ourselves and save money!' No one would claim to be a carpenter simply because they bought a hammer and some nails. Yet this was essentially the logic governing their decision.
Picasso’s La Guernica
Today I doubt you'll find any serious company that make their own advertising material. (Short of them having a professional marketing department). As people got used to seeing material with fancy font-work it became apparent that smooth fonts and clipart alone does not make professional looking documents. While most people wouldn't know how to design a print-ad, most people do know a bad one when they see one. Over time, talent prevails. After all, most people reading this could probably afford to buy material better than that used to paint the Guernica. Most would probably not come close in their artistic efforts though. Even if they did have the time (and space!) on their hands.
If you need an illustration would you rather buy it from an accountant who just bought the latest version of Photoshop or from a proven artist using Microsoft Paint?
From YouTube/EclecticAsylumArt
As you can see from the above example great artists can make great artwork even with limited tools. The combination of great tools and great artists is the stuff dreams are made of. If you can only have one of these you should choose the artist - every time.
La Linea
-Heroes come in all shapes
When it comes to heroes childhood heroes I didn't know anything about, Italian cartoonist Osvaldo Cabandoli (Cava) comes close to the top of the list. His cartoon La Linea (the Line) was a huge favourite and remains so to this day. The title-character is a highly emotional man depicted as a line-drawing silhouette. His whole world exists solely on a 2D-plane made up from line-drawings and the cartoonist's hand is the only other frequently returning "character".
Walking the line
The
humour comes from the interaction between the
two and the sublime animation. This is a truly
superb example of Visual Storytelling. The
character's language comes from The Republic of
Gibberishia meaning that people all over the
world can enjoy the antics of this unlucky
character. I also have to commend the excellent
and highly humorous A
cappella music used. As always, these things
are better experienced first hand than read about.
Enjoy!
Ramblings #3 - Electing #44
Yup it's finally time for another one of my Pointless Ramblings. This one might actually not be entirely pointless.
This time I've tackled the media's role in the upcoming election and I think it should be worth a look for just about anyone. Enjoy!
A higher quality Quicktime-file is available here.
The 10th Anniversary Of The iMac
Sweet As Candy And The Birth Of i...
That's
right. 10 years ago Apple released the first
iMac. It was in its time a revolutionary product
on many levels and can in many ways be
considered the first big step in the
resurrection of Apple.
The most obvious differentiation from its peers was the way that it looked. The all-in-one-enclosure was a friendly looking egg-shaped machine in a blueish hue. The material had reportedly been created in cooperation with a candy-factory and I think it is safe to call the machine a genuine design-classic. It was by and large the first computer made where the manufacturer really considered the esthetics to be as important as the technical specifications. As Steve Jobs (Apple's CO) said: "...the back of this thing looks better than the front of the other guys'...".
It also gave birth to a new naming convention, starting the name with a lower-case "i". Today, using a lowercase first letter is fairly common, but back in its day it was another thing that told the audience that the iMac was something special.
Apple is today one of the strongest, most popular companies in technology. This is of course largely down to the fact that they release high quality products. But, it is also because Apple honors the fact that the "story" matters...
First iMpressions (ooh, that's clever)
As I've been mentioning going on and on
about in my last posts, the first impression is
incredibly important. Apple's focus seems to be on
delivering the best possible user experience and they
obviously understand the importance of a good first
impression.
That's why they spend money on stuff like packaging. Where most PC-manufacturers will send out their machines in a brown cardboard-box, Apple will pack their machines in specially designed cartons with 4-color printing and often creatively designed styrofoam designed to make the unpacking easy but also to create an experience in its own right.
Ad for the original iMac
Telling A Story
Some will shrug at this and say that it doesn't matter. Well, it doesn't matter if your product doesn't live up to the experience, but it certainly puts the receiver in a mood where he or she is ready to be further impressed by the hardware. When people spend hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars they want to feel well catered for. The same feeling of quality and attention to detail seeps through from Apple's advertising all the way to the finished product. It tells a story. The story of a company that cares about their products, not just about cutting costs to improve the bottom line.
Above you'll find a video from the release of the birthday-kid. It's also a nice example of how to give an effective presentation.
Visuals in Neutral
Trying to keep the visuals out of the way
I came across this on TED and found it most interesting. It's not exactly storytelling but rather a music video where the creators try not to let the visuals dominate the music.
"Moonlight in Glory" (David Byrne & Brian Eno)
I'm not 100% sure about the use of text, as I find it impossible not to read when I see text and as a result I'm distracted from the musical experience. Also the designer, Jacob Trollbäck, is Swedish; and as a Norwegian there are limits to how much praise I can give to one of those.
Nevertheless, I find this to be an excellent piece and a brilliant example of using the right visuals for the right job.
Bayeux Tapestry
When it comes to classic examples of visual storytelling the Bayeux Tapestry is one of my absolute favourites. The tapestry depicts the Battle of Hastings where the Norman army led by William the Conquerer defeated King Harold's Saxon army. A truly defining moment in British history and one that among other things is largely responsible for the heavy latin influence in the English language. (Something to think about the next time you eat pork).
In the context of this blog I will naturally focus on the use of visuals to tell the story. Told sequentially from left to right with vivid imagery and latin inscriptions it is constructed surprisingly similar to modern day Comic Strips. It is rather ironic that while the Bayeux Tapestry is celebrated as a brilliant piece of medieval art, comic strips are still occasionally shunned upon as an art form.
If you are dreading the continuation of this post to be a dry step-by-step description of the actual tapestry you are in luck. As the tapestry itself was meant to be experienced visually I won't spoil it for you. Thanks to animator David Newton the story depicting a huge battle, Halley's Comet and the fate of a nation can now be experienced in a better way:
Purists might object but I think this is a really clever example of how to present an ancient piece of artwork to a contemporary audience.
JFK vs PP II
Time for a sequel
Some
of you might remember my post
Killer Looks where I sought to illustrate how
bad visuals, or more specifically bad Power Point,
can destroy even the greatest of speeches. My
example seemed to work quite well and I received a
fair amount of positive feedback. As the post was
also one of the most popular posts I've made, a
sequel was inevitable. The thing that irked me
about the original was that while it demonstrated
the point I was trying to make it was also rather
contrived. The Power Point Presentation was
designed to be bad and while I've
experienced similar examples in real life it did
tickle the "do-better"-itch.
The original "Boring Powerpoint" clip
The where- and whats
What if I tried to make a proper presentation to
go with the same speech? Would it still detract
from JFK's dynamic delivery? To make the experiment
more comparable to presentations in the wild I
decided not to pull out the big motion-graphics
guns. Everything was created in Apple's Keynote
which is part of the excellent
iWork
The Result
I find it hard to distance myself from my own work and the legendary status of President Kennedy's Inaugural Speech makes it even harder. I am confident that it works okay but Kennedy's charisma is so strong it will always be dificult to improve upon. I'll leave it up to you to decide whether this presentation detracts or ads to the speech...
Not So Common Craft
This
is what I love about the web. On one of my
many random search safaris through the maze
that makes up what we all know as the
internet, I came across the site
ICT Inspirations. This is in itself an
interesting blog (and I've bookmarked it), but
what was really great was how the blog revealed
to me the brilliance of The Common
Craft Show, something I had never heard
about before.
The Common Craft Show is made by Lee and Sachi LeFever and consists of small videos explaining complex ideas in a straightforward manner. They refer to themselves as interpreters which seems fairly accurate. Their simply brilliant (or brilliantly simple) style consists of well prepared cutouts, an equally well prepared voice over all put together by manipulating the cutouts physically in front of the camera and some really tight editing. The final product almost seems like a high-tech animated scrapbook and the effect is quite mesmerizing. Have a look at the below clip and see for yourself:
Common Craft's take on Google Docs
The first time I watched one of the clips I was hit by a hard spell of why-didn't-I-think-of-this-ulosis.
This is truly a brilliant example of visual storytelling if I ever saw one.
Ramblings #2 - Why good coffee is good and great coffee is crap
Coffe Time
As my former Superanomalies-clip was an outstanding success. (At least in the scope of this blog). I figured it was about time for another one.
Monkey business?
This one is all about coffee and is not
recommended for the squeamish coffee-drinker.
(Don't tell me you weren't warned). A higher
quality Quicktime-file is available
here. Any positive sensible feedback
is welcome.
Democratization of media, part deux
After finishing the "Uncle George and I"-piece I came across this somewhat related blog-post over at Agile Filmmaking. It's a speech by J. J. Abrams of Lost, Alias and Mission: Impossible III fame and it touches so many of the topics I've blogged about so far that I would be crazy not to present it here.
Mr. Abrams is something of a Hollywood wunderkind and I find it incredibly generous of him to share his thoughts with the world for free.
The message
The majority of the speech, or at least the most interesting part in my mind, is about how his grandfather helped him get the tools necessary to fulfill his creative ambitions. He goes on and points to the fact that today pro-tools are readily available for just about anyone. "Go make your movie, there's nothing stopping you!" he says. A statement that might seem oversimplified but for the most part it rings true as long as you are willing to put some effort into it.*One of several highly
interesting speeches to be found at TED
The delivery
I've never seen a public appearance by Abrams. I knew about him from his film- and television-work but knew little about what to expect. Being a truly talented visual storyteller I expected him to make a presentation with a lot of visual flare. He didn't. For the most part he simply presented his message by sharing personal experiences with the audience. He used a few physical props but only used the gigantic screen behind him for a few film-clips. When running the clips he simply stepped back and let them work their charms without interuptions.I found this very interesting and highly effective. The visuals and his oral presentation never had to compete for the audience's attention. Now this is certainly not the only way to do a presentation and on the surface it might even sound boring. If you watch the clip you'll find that it is anything but though. Abrams heartfelt enthusiasm carries through even on a small flash-clip on my computer-screen.
None of this is exactly rocket-science as any communication-expert worth his money will tell you that enthusiasm is contagious. It does show though that with the right delivery you don't need fancy visuals. This might seem an odd statement to make on a blog about visual storytelling but the visuals should always be there to strengthen the core-message not because they look "cool".
*As long as you're not struck with poverty.
Killer looks
One of the ideas I was experimenting with in my recent superman-film was the attempt of making the visuals entertaining enough to overcome the world's least passionate voice-over. Based on the feedback I received it seems I had a certain degree of success. I'm sure you'll also agree that well delivered speeches can work brilliantly on their own. I therefore started to ponder the thought: "can a brilliant speech be ruined by poor visuals?"
Powerpoint-presentations are today's most used form of oral-visual presentations. It is also the most loathed one. The last few years have spurred a lot of articles about how Powerpoint is often used in a way that actually lessens the impact of a message, so the answer to my question should be fairly obvious. But how far can you push it? I chose a few seconds from President Kennedy's inaugural address as this is one of the most inspirational speeches made in the last century. Below you can see how it comes across when I've "complimented" the speech with slides from a standard Powerpoint-template.
Edit: I've replaced the original quicktime-file with the YouTube clip
To me the effect is almost unbelievable. I find the 40 seconds or so to be mind shattering dull. Now here's the trick: Try playing the clip again, but with your eyes closed. It's better isn't it? So, if poor visuals can lessen the power of JFK in his prime, then just think what they could do to your average presenter. Does this mean you should just skip the visuals the next time you're making a presentation. Not necessarily. The right visuals can improve the audience's experience and their emotional connection with the material. However, if you're not willing to invest the time and resources to get the visuals right, you're probably better off leaving Powerpoint at home...Ramblings #1 - Superanomalies
Phew, it's hard work sorting out those a's and
o's in anamolies anamalies
anomalies!
I've been working for some time on the first installment of what I've chosen to call "Pointless Ramblings". No, that is not the new title of my blog. The idea behind this, and hopefully future ramblings, is to make a quick video about uh... something. I prepare a text relatively quickly and get a soundtrack in place based on the text. I then more or less improvise by making illustrations, animate text and put together a visual to accompany the video. In lack of a better term it could be called video-jazz.
Yes it does say superanomalies...
I don't nitpick on every detail, everything does not have to be great. OK is good enough. This is the only way I'll be able to get stuff like this out while still having some time left for more ambitious projects. Now, hopefully this should still mean that the "ramblings" are both watchable and mildly entertaining. I think #1 is, but I'm obviously biased. It has been said that _a picture is worth a thousand words_, so if my calculations are correct this film should be worth nearly 5 millions of them. Happy viewing!
A higher quality quicktime version is available here
