Advertising Inspiration - Public Service Messages

The world of commerce and sales has for a long time grasped hold of the benefits of advertising. Even as far back as the 1800's when Barratt of Pear's Soap used very pioneering techniques to promote their product (including stamping "Pear's" onto a load of French coins that were often accepted as currency in the UK). Nowadays innovation comes in how we use the technology available to us and our ability to make the viewer want to "pass it on" with viral ads.

In spite of all that however, some of the best advertising I have ever seen is not about making sales at all, but simply communicating information - in my opinion visual communication in its prime - getting an audience to understand a concept quickly. Enter the public service advert.

Two great sources of public service advertising that you can use for inspiration are:

The Ad Council (http://www.adcouncil.org/)

And

The Foundation for a Better Life (http://www.values.com/)

And for my Y1 Nat Dips...

The current home page of the The Foundation for a Better Life (http://www.values.com/) features an ad that draws influence from the style of Saul Bass (view), you might want to add that to your 20th Century research. Here is an example of modern advertising drawing from his style.

More information about Saul Bass here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Bass
http://www.designmuseum.org/design/saul-bass
http://saulbass.tv/
http://www.google.com/search?q=Saul+Bass

Video Games Baftas (the Bavgas actually)... And the winner is...

You have probably heard of the Baftas, you know, the UK equivalent to the Oscars. Well you might not know that there is also one for the video game industry.

It all happened on Tuesday just gone. No suprises that COD4 was the big winner with 3 of the prizes, but it was Mario Galaxy that won Game of the Year.

With so many of you into gaming and wanting to study it in the future, you should take an interest.

More info here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7936000/7936614.stm

Visit the official site here:
http://www.bafta.org/awards/video-games/

Carrara 6 Pro - Free with DigitalArts Magazine

For those of you interested in 3D modelling and animation I have to recommend that you buy the April 2009 edition of DigitalArts magazine (came by mail today - expect in WHSmiths very soon I expect).

The free software in this edition is none other than Carrara 6 Pro, an extrememly powerful and versatile 3D modeller and animator. Other people have written far more detailed reviews than I ever will, but to sum up the changes:

Carrara 6 allows users to choose from an unprecedented array of tools while exploring new dimensions in 3D creation. Carrara 6 provides 3D figure posing and
animation, modelling, environment-creation and rendering tools within a single
application.

Carrara 6 features include non-linear animation, giving users the ability to create clips of animation that can be reused and combined on multiple tracks. Also includeds is dynamic hair that allows artists to style, cut, brush and drape the hair, and displacement modeling where the user can paint detail on a model using free-form brush tools.

Apart from the non-linear animating and the hair, the icing on the cake was that it can export in DirectX (.X) format, and converts procedural shaders into raster images on export. Finally, I can use a program I am extremely familiar with to make models for 3D games and export them directly without having to convert them using other programs (at least that is the implication with .X export - I will of course try it out with my copy of The 3D Game Maker, and FPS Creator (also available free for learning purposes).

Ever since version 1 I have found Carrara to be one of the most easily learned 3D animation and modelling programs. Even so beginners may be glad of a little help in which case they will find Mark Bremmer's video tutorials helpful to get started.