2012 Olympic Games Mascots

A good few weeks ago now I saw the unavailing of the 2012 mascots on 'the one show' , don't judge me! They started off by going to the streets and showing people different Mascots from other Olympic games past, and the result was that no one remembers any of them.

My dad can only remember one mascot (not even from the Olympic Games) which was 'World Cup Willie' from the 1966 world cup, people seem to remember that one because
1. England won
2. It was the first time the world cup had a mascot, which could have made it more memorable than others that followed.

So it wasn't a good start having no one know any mascots, but still they showed us what London 2012 will have and this is it...




Now I would love to point out all the bad bits and say how if people don't remember characters from other Olympic games why waist money making some for this one, we have a cool logo that's always changing and is interactive which stands as the main focal point of the games, why bring in something which hasn't worked in the past.
But to be honest they've done something which is kinda different, you got a nice little story to go with them, their not animals and there something personal to these games in London.
Here's a picture of them...there called Wenlock and Mandeville...



...They look a bit ugly! but then again, there different, so I cant complain really. They mentioned why they chose this design and how things relate to the games on 'the one show', all I can remember is that the bit above the eyes which has either a W (for Wenlock) or an M (for....yep, that's right...Mandeville) is suppose to represent the Black Cabs in London, which is pretty inventive (not too sure it needs it but...)
Also their names are something to do with where the Olympic games came from (because it originated from England, i think?)

So maybe people will remember them, still i doubt it but at leased we've tried!

Before I go i would also like to point out that people think the video and the mascots are part of a conspiracy (the 1st you tube video says it in the title), the 'All Seeing Eye' and all that (they talk about it in the comments on you tube)

and its quite interesting as well that (i think) this came out before the results of the election......and for some reason they went for two mascots and not one.......and one is Blue and the other an Orange/ Yellow..........i'll let you think about that one!

kerning | Error 3

Thought that the 1 and 0 were kinda far apart in comparison to the £ and the 1. Also, the £10 isn't really centered.......nudge to the left a bit to balance it all out.

At least the t-shirt was nice! (unlike the kerning!)

The Tree Little Bops

This is one of two of my all time favorite Warner Brothers Looney Tunes cartoons. I like everything about it, from the different approach to the classic story (which was soooo hip at the time!...and still is in my eyes hahaha) the animation, the music (love the music) the style, and many many other things.



The backgrounds are so angular and stick to simple colours...look at how the light coming in from the door and window are conveyed, its just a block of lighter colour, no fade out to blend it in with the darker bit (which light normally dose.....unless its really strong, but still)

Doors aren't that shape!, neither are windows, so simple, even the round tables aren't round!

words can't describe how much I like this Cartoon

How They Got Away With it, I Don't Know

This came one on the 'Alternative Election Night' show (it was crap). I was in shock, by the ad, I didn't know what to think of it and how to take it (and still don't).



If you look at the comments on you tube, everyone have different opinions on it, vegetarians seem to hate it as its, in a way, making fun of killing animals to be eaten and is also very light hearted.

I think its not really advertising Irn Bru, but just putting a sensitive subject in front of their product to just gain publicity. Its seems quite blatant that that's what their doing which makes it seem very shallow and off-putting.
But at the same time, why can't we have an advert like this, its not showing violence or showing blood ect, just implying it, in a clever? way. Why can't we just accept that and laugh it off?

I'm swaying towards the side of not liking it, although i can sort of accept it as well, maybe I'd agree with it if it wasn't for such a shit cause.....a fizzy drink.

Red + Blue + Yellow = Brown

After finding out the results of the election.

kenetic Type

Sway.
I was pleased with my animation of Sway, I chose a good typeface, which I thought about for a while because i wanted the 'Y's tail to be straight so it can give the illusion of it balancing the rest of the letters. The kerning wasn't equal on all of the letters, the 'W' was much closer to the 'A' than the 'S' was the the 'W', but it was meant to be like that, and makes it look real, I don't think its noticeable.

The animation its self showed off some of the Animation Principles we looked at which gave the action believability. Also the sound made it soooo much better, the animation made it believable, but the sound brought it to life. Only real problem I have with it is the 'S' moves and jumps around quite a lot whilst its.....well, swaying. Also it ends quite abruptly due to time (took a while to make, mainly because I'd never used After Effects), but I might have pulled that bit off!






Chuck.
Maya scared me, now I've used it, i like it (don't know if it likes me though) and i came out with a alright animation from it. I though I made good use of this extra element, it helped the whole feel of the animation much nicer and made the animation principals stand out much more.

The sound on this one was....well............not as good as 'Sway' and not as good as my short film.......and not as good as Nightmare Before Christmas (but I'll never be able to beat Nightmare Before Christmas, Never!) I wouldn't say the sound let it down, it still made the whole animation better and made the weight of the box believable, but the sounds at the start come in too quickly and isn't really the right sound, but the end sound is perfect, well not perfect but pretty good.






Looking Back

Me, Jack, Will and Adam did a Kinetic Type exercise on are last coarse (called Expressive Type0 and its really good watching it back and seeing what i didn't know and how much making your own sounds and thinking of the Principals make such a difference to the animation.
I did the word 'Unbalanced', i still like it, i think the idea was pretty cool (having it balanced, and seeing the 'UN' fall, so we know what will happen but its just a matter of time), but the sounds are not so good, and it looking back, it would have been nice to think about what the sounds could be rather than just typing in 'Airplane landing noise' into sound dogs!