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Once upon a time a somewhat famous senator ran for President and a somewhat famous artist made a poster for that senator. The senator won the race, making him mega-famous, and gave thanks and accolades to the street artist, which in turn made the artist mega-famous. Exhibitions, advertising deals and an induction into the Smithsonian clinched his mega-fame. Then along comes a big, bad, fire breathing syndication collective who claims the lowly street artist infringed upon their rights by using one of their images for his poster.

I ran across a very interesting but lengthy interview with Spike Jonez on Where the Wild Things Are over at Ain’t It Cool News. Spike gets into the details of production where the film is currently and it’s craft. Of particular note is how he’s handling the Wild Things. Instead of using CG or puppets, he’s going for a hybrid: actors in suits whose faces will be animated in post. This is an attempt to infuse a physicality and immediacy to the performances.

As promised, RED Digital Cinema has dropped the details on some new yum yums. The Scarlet and Epic camera systems. This isn’t just a new product release or upgrade. They are quite literally redefining what it means to use a digital camera. Motion or still.

The post production on “I Lie Pretty”, a music video on vtg’s latest album, Love is Letting Go, is drawing to a close. In celebration, I’d like to honor the production with a some posts that draw upon a few things I picked up during the journey. First up: cloth walls.

During pre-production our team was working out the logistics of a bedroom set. We grabbed some space in an old hangar that was repurposed for production. Luckily, we rented the spot from a wonderfully talented art director, Johnny Mayne. While Johnny has produced things as elaborate as national football halftime shows, he hails from theater, and gave us the bright idea of making the set walls out of cloth.

I’m pleased to announce that we’re now syndicating VTG’s Weapons of Mass Production. What are these? Simply put, small patches and recipes of music that he uses to produce his music. If you’re into dirty, funky, hard hitting sounds and want to know how he makes them, you’ll find these tasty morsels most agreeable. Just [...]

Dirty synth baby - We all want it. Well then, here’s a prime specimen from “Dance Floor Game”. This little bitch of a synth preset requires Vanguard, Camel Phat and Ableton Live 6+ to fire up. Preset comes as a Live Instrument Rack file. Recommended for Hard Dance, Breaks or Electro.
How to install and use:

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Radiolab’s Making the Hippo Dance

If you don’t listen to WNYC’s Radiolab, you’re missing out. It’s seriously one of the best podcasts/radio shows I’ve ever listened to. It’s a show that delves into science using artful audio production techniques to sweeten the listeners’ experience. Recently the show’s hosts, Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, gave a talk explaining the creative choices they make producing one of their segments. Listen to the episode here.

You’re busy cutting away in Final Cut. Your project is almost done, you tweak your last color wheel and edit your last title–BAM!–”Operation Not Allowed” pops up on your screen.

This is followed by an “Error: Out of Memory” pop up and sometimes, if you’re especially unlucky, the display will be unavailable and your project will be rendered essentially useless.

There are many designers, painters, and poster artists getting a lot of exposure on the internet nowadays. Dave Kinsey is one of the few who seems to stick above the crowd with his own style. I am particularly drawn to the blend of screen printing/painting techniques in each of his pieces. They ride the line between drawing and painting in a lovely way that really gets me going. His influences are also a good mix of classical Eastern cultures and modern street culture. Combine that with a strong use of color (mostly a vibrant red), and you’ve got a set of winners. Now if I could only afford to collect all of these lovely prints.

If information is power, the dissemination of information is the most powerful tools a designer or artist can wield. I’ll step down from the Obama-style opener and ask you to consider something most of us look at every day: weather maps. More specifically, hurricane trackers.

Since hurricanes Katrina and Rita, hurricane trackers have become much more than a news item. For most people in the southeastern part of the U.S., they’re very much tools of survival, often being updated faster than a news report can be delivered.