Last year we started work on our first (web based) Microsoft Silverlight project, with our client Imagine Education, design partner Resolution Creative and .NET developer Sami Sinervä. Called the Innovative Schools Toolkit, development started in May last year and the site took on a number of iterations before going live just before the Christmas break. It very  different to working in (our usual) Flash, we are happy with end result and see great potential for using Silverlight going forward, the way it draws animation seems to be quite slick.

The Innovative Schools Toolkit is an accessible and practical guide for you and your school community to begin the journey of innovation.  It’s intended to be a starting point rather than a complete solution and it offers a process that can be customized based on your unique needs.

The online toolkit is part of Microsoft’s Partners In Learning initiative and the application allows schools to asses their positioning using the multiple choice tool which displays online graphs. The toolkit also plays out video and allows schools access to download documents.

Sliced Bread Animation are looking for an experienced freelance Maya Modeller for a 2/ 3 week project. Must be London based, please contact us via our website.

In partnership with Play, Sliced Bread have recently created this cgi roulette wheel for the Ladbrokes Online Casino launch. Animated assets of the roulette were supplied for the main website and online media campaign (Play did the lemur).

Groove Armada’s new single ‘Drop the Tough’ funded entirely by Bacardi, features scenes from the roof terrace of Sliced Bread’s new offices. Checkout the video about 1-minute in – click image to view (reference Creative Review).

]]> http://www.thebestthingsince.com/blog/general/groove-armada-dering-on-our-rooftop/feed/ 0 http://www.thebestthingsince.com/blog/general/one-eskimo-hometime-video/ http://www.thebestthingsince.com/blog/general/one-eskimo-hometime-video/#comments Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:16:52 +0000 Administrator http://www.thebestthingsince.com/blog/?p=467

Its quite an old one by all accounts but One EskimO (check site here) are having a bit of an upsurge at the moment so we thought it appropriate. They have a new single out called Kandi, but we are loving this one more . . .

The project was produced by Rollo (Faithless), and the music is complimented by a series of gorgeous animations – which have already bagged One eskimO a British Animation Award.

They will be playing on Thursday 12th March, at Hoxton Bar and Grill. If you’d like to be added to the guestlist, please email us and we’ll point you in the right direction.  There will also be an interview with them that night and animations accompanying the performance.

I like the plugin for automatically upgrading WordPress, but I did come across an error earlier when upgrade to from 2.7 to 2.7.1. When I pressed the magic button, the following error came up:

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare class pclzip in /home/mysite/public_html/blog/wp-admin/includes/class-pclzip.php on line 171

The resolve for this was very simple, it appeared that the WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin also need upgrading (but there was no alert). So if you have a similar error, do this first and then all will be fine!

If you are in the animation industry and on Twitter, please add me (and I will auto follower). I am keen to get a group together where we can exchange industry news on jobs, films (features and shorts), games, literature, tutorials . .  essentially anything animation related. Twitter is an excellent way of ‘news feeding’ information.

Follow me at: http://twitter.com/3djamie

There is a Sliced Bread Animation Twitter account and this will become more active when the new site is up (http://twitter.com/slicedbreadanim).

There is also this animation group on TwitterGroups – http://twittgroups.com/group/animation

Earlier this year we blogged about the launch of our mobile game for Wild Bean Cafe (previous post) – commissioned by Ogilvy Interactive. We are pleased to say, the game has now officially launched on site at www.wildbeancafe.com.

Text ‘wildbean’ to 81707 to download your version.

Sudden flurry of posts relates to the fact that some our database got lost yesterday – human error! Normal service resumes shortly.

One of the most recent events that has prompted me to write this post, is the discussion surrounding the sponsorship of Somers Town (the new Shane Meadows film) by Eurostar.

Creative Review opens the discussion by saying:

The film is the first release from a new division set up by Mother advertising agency, Mother Vision, which aims to create “entertainment ideas and non-traditional communications”, and it was funded by Eurostar.

The benefits for Eurostar remain to be seen. Outside of blogs such as these, the brand’s involvement has been less trumpeted, and there have been reviews where it is not mentioned at all. Yet the movie demonstrates that such overt branding is not always necessary – we all know that it is Eurostar that operates the train between London and Paris that Tommo and Marek travel on, so we do not need the brand name shoved down our throats, in fact it would be a detriment to it if it was.

The success of the film also places Eurostar in the position of potentially being a brand that could grow to be seen as a patron of British cinema, offering funding to an industry that is always strapped for cash. This would require further investment of course, plus the even braver step of backing films that might contain no mention of trains at all. As it is, Mother and Meadows have managed to pull off a surprisingly difficult trick – making a film that is credible and watchable, which also serves as 85-minute ad.

Over the recent years much has been said about ad-funding and what the future holds in this area. Personally I think it is great, if you can get a film or project you want of the ground with little (or preferably NO) creative interference from the ‘the brand’ – then why not?

If we can tell genuinely entertaining stories that are authentic to the brand’s core values then it’s good news for everyone – brands find an audience, and that audience is entertained – Mother Vision.

The animation industry has taken a bit of hammering of late, given the recent ‘junk food ban’ imposed by the government. Long standing animation studio Cosgrove Hall, has admitted that the current industry climate is directly affecting their trade:

UK production studio Cosgrove Hall, creators of Dangermouse and other great British cartoons, is to cut its work force by 25%. The downsizing is being blamed on the junk food ad ban, which is impacting on the animation industry and exacerbating the already difficult UK production climate. Managing Director Anthony Utley said, “We are really struggling to keep our heads above the water.

However agencies and brands alike will always see the incredible potential of animation as an communication asset, you only have to look at the awesome success of the LloydsTSB by Studio AKA to reaffirm this.

We have several original content productions that we are looking to get off the ground, and as well as private investment, we are of course looking at ‘brand investment’. On our part, what comes with it is that the ‘brands values’ needs to be a 2-way thing – i.e. ‘ethical’. Do our own ideals fit with the brands own ‘values’? Eurostar is a ’safe brand’, and a lot has been said recently on how its helping towards reducing carbon emissions with so many business users now using it as the best alternative to air travel. However there are many brands out that are seen in less than favoured light, and I think that ‘content’ developers should be wary as to with whom they should associate themselves. Eurostar/ Mother vision must have given some great consideration to the collaboration with Meadows and his style (brand) of filmmaking.

Animation is long seen as an ‘expensive art’ requiring so much time to turn around (against live-action), in order to achieve the quality our audiences now expect… all this costs from ’script to screen’. Investor’s have tendency to favour investment with live-action since the production time can be a lot less and hence their return. I would challenge that theory now though, technologies in animation software and rendering allows for a lot faster turnaround time (see Trona as a case study). The beauty of animation is that once you have the pre-production complete, you can keep producing episodes and assets without reliance on the elements (watch Gilliam’s lost in La Mancha to see what I mean!). Merchandising components are easily arrange…again I think the Lloyds ads have got great mileage out of this, enabling them too use large amounts of the content in digital and print media.

So what is next for the industry? I see a lot more online ad-funded animated content coming into play, however it will be associated with both explicit and subtle global brand branding, some of which will be bad associations on either part. High quality content will be key, alongside ‘not-in-your-face’ brand support – but the brands will always be seeking that all important ‘return on investment’! Online content is much more measurable than traditional TV, so it really is a key placement going forward.