U2 Linear: it’s not a music video

Deluxe editions of U2’s new album, No Line On The Horizon are accompanied by Linear, a specially commissioned film by Anton Corbijn. “It is not an extended music video or a U2 documentary, it’s a new way to listen to a record – a new way to use film to connect to music,” claims Corbijn.

The idea is that, as many people will be listening to the album on a computer or MP3 player with video screen, they can choose to listen and watch the film at the same time. This extract is from the section that is accompanied by the track Breathe.


The film “follows a character from Paris through France and Spain to reach Cadiz before we eventually say goodbye to him trying to row to Africa,” explains Corbijn. Musically, it has a different running order to the album and an extra track, Winter, while the album track, I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight does not feature in Corbijn’s film.

The idea of the companion film was apparently developed during the making of the album. “The thinking is that as a lot of people buy music from the internet and are likely to hear this on a computer or mp3 player, their listening pleasure could be heightened by visuals. It is not essential to the record – you can either watch it or ignore it,” says Corbijn.

The lavish deluxe edition comes in a box with the Linear DVD, a poster and a book of Corbijn’s photographs

Sita Sings the Blues

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Sita Sings the Blues weaves together Flash animation, original watercolor paintings and rotoscoping techniques in this colorful, modern-day take on an ancient Indian epic. This feature-length, computer-generated animated film was rendered entirely by a single animator – Nina Paley, working out of her home office.

This film tells two parallel stories: the ancient Hindu epic the Ramayana and the breakup of Paley’s 21st-century marriage. It does so through four distinct styles of animation, a “greek chorus” of Indonesian shadow puppets and wildly imaginative musical interludes that use authentic 1920s blues recordings to link narratives 3,000 years apart.

Click here to read an interview with Nina Paley on the wired.com website

D&AD’s Faces To Watch


Hironao Tsuboi’s Faceless LED watch where the spaces between the bracelet’s links form the characters of the display

The first event in D&AD’s new talent scheme, Creative Faces To Watch, showcased the work of some of Japan’s most exciting design talent

D&AD plans to stage Creative Faces To Watch evenings in different regions around the world. The first was in Tokyo last month where a panel of luminaries each nominated someone they thought was producing great creative work in Japan.

Joe Ferry, Head of Design at Virgin Atlantic, chose Hironao Tsuboi: “He has the ability to look at everyday objects in a completely new way. Only a real design talent could breath new life into mundane objects such as umbrellas and light bulbs.


Lamp/Lamp – a lamp-shaped lamp

“He refrains from adding unnecessary details. In fact making simple designs look good is one of the most difficult things to do. Who would ever have thought that a watch could become exciting if you entirely remove the watch face – this guy clearly did. He turns a negative into a positive. Hironao Tsuboi’s glass design creates a beautiful detail from essentially a condensation drip. I feel this glass captures his positive take on life, which is both admirable and infectious.”


The Cherry Blossom (Sakura) glass – when wet, the base leaves the pattern of cherry blossom on a surface


Rubber calculator

D&AD President and Creative Director at Williams Murray Hamm, Garrick Hamm chose GT: “It’s a brave team that sets up their own, but to have done so and won a D&AD nomination and a host of other awards within the first couple of years of operation is a real achievement. Some may feel that GT’s collection of international awards doesn’t make them a ‘face to watch’, but I’m really impressed by their determination to be recognised on an international level. It shows a real sense of self-belief, which is a critical element to the success of any studio.”


GT’s PikaPika film, in which 16000 still photos were animated to promote So-net’s online entertainment services

Gt was also behind the Uniqlo March website

Takayuki Soeda, Founder of Soeda Design Factory, chose Home Inc: “A few years ago I was asked to judge at the Sapporo Art Director’s Club. I was really impressed by the work from Home Inc, the design studio that is home to Ryohei ‘Wabi’ Kudow and Kazushi ‘Sabi’ Nakanishi. In Japanese, ‘wabisabi’ means imperfect or impermanent beauty and this ethos flows through all of their work. Their graphics have such a distinct ‘Japanese’ style, but I think they can be understood by anyone.”

And Koichiro Tanaka (see CR Jan), Creative Director of Projector, chose W0W: “W0W try to re-define how images are used. Their work is like a journey discovering a new relationship between images and the media in which they’re used. I’m passionate about W0W.”

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Public Library

The Chelsea Space in London is currently showing a collection of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia from former Clash and Big Audio Dynamite guitarist, Mick Jones.

The exhibition includes paraphernalia from the bands he’s work with, as well as Jones’ archive of books, magazines, videos, toys and games which have influenced his life and work. The collection is usually stored at his West London recording studio and adjoining store, and the Chelsea Space has attempted to move as much of it as possible into the gallery for the exhibition. Also on show are customised stage clothes, instruments, flight cases, records, posters, boxes, photos etc. All in all a must see for rock fans.

The exhibition will continue until April 18. More info is here.

Alongside these images, the film below by Tony James gives a glimpse of some of the items on show…

Formula One (& Fleetwood Mac) Is Back On BBC

Die-hard Formula One fans will have been up early yesterday to watch the first event of the new season, the Australian Grand Prix which was broadcast on BBC – after several years of exclusive ITV coverage in the UK. Instead of the usual flurry of chequered flags, stock footage of races gone by, and dodgy photography of pit girls and racing drivers, the BBC’s new title sequence (created by Liquid TV) is a mainly CG affair that looks to have been inspired by high octane video games and movie car chases. And, perhaps most reassuringly of all, the new title sequence and on screen branding is accompanied by the tune the BBC has used for previous Formula One coverage: Fleetwood Mac’s ridiculously catchy tune, The Chain – the bassline of which, no doubt, F1 fans all over Britain are now humming incessantly.

“Specially filmed footage shot on redcam was combined with original CGI created in Maya and rendered using HDRI (high dynamic range imaging) techniques,” Liquid TV tells us. “Over 40 shots were composited with sometimes up to 20 separate layers. The sequence was exhaustively pre-vized before any high resolution work was commenced to ensure maximum drama and narrative flow. Filmic constraints were used, inspired by car chase action movies to evolve a credible race sequence.”

Credits:
Design: Asra Alikhan, Tim Varlow, Victor Martinez and Michael Sutton Long
Head of animation: Gabriel Edwards

Where The Wild Things Are Trailer

Call us childish, but here at CR we’re really excited about the forthcoming release of the film adaptation (directed by Spike Jonze) of Maurice Sendak’s classic 1963 children’s book, Where The Wild Things Are. Jonze and Dave Eggers wrote the film adaptation and Jonze’s ex, Karen O (of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs) has produced the film score. By the looks of this trailer, the team done good: we can hardly wait for the film’s release!

Honda’s Shining Light

Honda’s brand new Let It Shine commercial, shot by Erik van Wyk through Bouffant breaks today. Written by Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam, the spot features a vast grid of Honda’s new Insight model parked in the desert. The Insight is, the voiceover tells us, Honda’s new, “affordable hybrid” car. In the spot, each of the cars’ headlights act as pixels to perform an animated sequence. Click Read More to view the ad and also W+K’s making-of film…

Let It Shine credits:

Ad agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam
Executive creative director: Jeff Kling
Executive creative director: John Norman,
Creative director: Sue Anderson
Copywriter: Zach Watkins
Art director/Animator: Nacho Guijarro
Art director: Craig Melchiano
Production company: Bouffant
Director: Erik van Wyk
Executive producer: Melina McDonald
DoP: Tim Pike

CR April Issue

Rick Poynor looks back over two decades of the Designers Republic plus, Spanish type case art, Alison Carmichael and our very own Mumbai taxi – all in the April issue of CR

April is our special issue on type and typography and all things letter-related. As detailed here, our cover features a Mumbai taxi covered in typography specially designed for the issue (watch an interview with the artists here)

We also have a profile of hand-lettering artist Alison Carmichael, whose work has a ribald charm that is proving very popular with ad agencies (hence the punning headline)

And a feature on the recent Art of Lost Words show in which selected designers and illustrators each based a piece on a word that is fast disappearing from the English language

Plus, from Barcelona, Jordi Duró and Meri Cuesta reveal how the remarkable ingenuity of Spanish printers gave rise to a unique form of modernist design

And Rick Poynor’s aforementioned tDR piece (which, in part, draws on his intro for the ill-fated, never-published-despite-what-they-said tDR book), which stretches over six pages and follows up our exclusive revelation that the studio had closed its doors earlier this year

Our subscriber-only Monograph this month features Synthesis, a series of organic forms created by Jeff Knowles

The April issue is on sale from 25 March. Next month: The Annual

CR Taxi: Meet The Artists

Manohar and Samir Manohar Mistry are among the leading exponents of Mumbai taxi art, adorning the city’s cabs with wondrous typography. In this exclusive CR film (made for us by Grandmother India), they discuss the development of this urban art form and the design they created for CR’s April issue

With thanks to Grandmother India
For more on the Mistrys and on how the CR Taxi was done, please go here or read about it in the April issue, out 25 March


The final design


April front cover

The Tourist

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Finding items that don’t belong isn’t a new idea. But photographer Scott Whittle’s execution of the concept is definitely inventive.

His minimalist perspective and matter-of-fact visual language draw you into his work. The colour’s that turn up in his work are definitely the hallmark of amazing slide film.

Check out more of his work at http://www.whittlefinearts.com/