I started noticing these super cute “characters” (as opposed to the boring old “brand” stickers) on my bananas a couple of months ago and have always meant to blog about it but just kept putting it off. However, I just came across this interview with the Art Director behind this clever Chicquita Banana rebrand, DJ Neff:
The process relied heavily in spending as much time with the product as possible. In this case it meant my partner Mark Krajan and I eating a bunch of bananas a day. Thankfully, we like bananas.It helps to immerse ourselves in the product and research as much as we can before coming up with ideas. In this case that emphasis was on the fruit and its cultural significance. After filling up on information, we let it all spill out in different ideas, drawings, sayings, photographs, then start to figure out truths. These truths all stem from the product and work outward, pulling from research and ideas to build upon the foundation, laddering up to a big idea.
I am not ashamed to admit that I deliberately pick up Chicquita Bananas because of these fun little stickers — and selectively choose the bananas featuring stickers I haven’t gotten before. These playful character stickers reminds me a lot of common Japanese marketing: place cute characters on virtually any random product, service, or public service announcement. And why not? It obviously catches people’s attention.
The Disney x Tim Burton x Johnny Depp 3D behemoth, Alice in Wonderland, is upon us (as of today), and there’s no doubt it’s going to make a lot of money for all of those people involved. Still, ignoring the hugely commercial, big-business aspect of the movie, one can’t deny how visually stunning it looks. Wired.com gives everyone a look through the looking glass, and provides insights as to how movie magic was made for Wonderland.
How did one actor — Matt Lucas — play both Tweedledum and Tweedledee within the same frame? What’s the trick behind Crispin Glover’s ability to hover 3 feet above every other actor in a scene? Where did Helena Bonham Carter get such a bulbous head? Answers to all that and more are offered up in Wired.com’s exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Alice in Wonderland.
I’ll be seeing the movie this weekend myself. Reviews so far have just been lukewarm, but I’m still excited to see Burton’s take on Wonderland.
Alright, I realize we’re only just beginning the third month of 2010, but I’m calling it early: OK Go’s video for This Too Shall Pass is the year’s best music video.
Directed by James Frost, OK Go and Syyn Labs. Produced by Shirley Moyers. The official video for the recorded version of “This Too Shall Pass” off of the album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. The video was filmed in a two story warehouse, in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. The “machine” was designed and built by the band, along with members of Syyn Labs over the course of several months.
How crazy would the pressure be for the band to not screw up during this single-take video?! Amazing.
From 1984 to 1994, a perfect storm of people and circumstances changed the face of animation forever.
Waking Sleeping Beauty is no fairytale. It is a story of clashing egos, out of control budgets, escalating tensions… and one of the most extraordinary creative periods in animation history.
Director Don Hahn and producer Peter Schneider, key players at Walt Disney Studios Feature Animation department during the mid1980s, offer a behind-the-magic glimpse of the turbulent times the Animation Studio was going through and the staggering output of hits that followed over the next ten years. Artists polarized between the hungry young innovators and the old guard who refused to relinquish control, mounting tensions due to a string of box office flops, and warring studio heads create the backdrop for this fascinating story told with a unique and candid perspective from those that were there. Through interviews, internal memos, home movies, and a cast of characters featuring Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Roy Disney, alongside an amazing array of talented artists that includes Don Bluth, John Lasseter, and Tim Burton, Waking Sleeping Beauty shines a light on Disney Animations darkest hours, greatest joys and its improbable renaissance.
An Official Selection at the 2009 Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and winner of the Audience Award at the Hamptons International Film Festival, Waking Sleeping Beauty is directed by Don Hahn, and produced by Peter Schneider and Don Hahn.
The movie’s official release is March 26, 2010. As someone who grew up during this period (84-94), I fondly recall the Disney films that came out in those ten years. I’m so excited to relive those moments and see the magic behind so many of my childhood memories.
