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Hey guys and girls.

There is so much buzz about the new re-brand for Comedy Central. To my eyes it appears to be about a 50/50 split. As a guy that grew up his entire life seeing the iconic planet and cityscape I was taken back by the new clean minimal direction that thelab have taken with the logo.

Personally, I keep going back and forth on my opinion about it. There are times I’m floored with how beautiful and simple it is and all the potential it has for great movement and motion, then there are times when I can’t help but think it is simply the copyright logo with a little chunk missing. My other issue with it is that when I see it, I’m not immediately moved to think “Comedy Central”. With the planet and the buildings I could visually relate the objects in the logo to going to see a comedy show downtown somewhere. With that said, I can understand moving away from that because it seems like every time they’d want to brand a piece of their content it was a sort of overwhelmingly cumbersome shape awkwardly sitting at the bottom of my screen being maybe a bit more distracting than they’d like.

We could talk about this new direction and all the reasons why it is better or worse. When it is all said and done the name of the game is brand digestion. Personally, I feel like this new look is easier to consume. Simply because of all the motion I’ve seen so far using the new brand I can say I’m a huge fan of this new direction. From using the carousel slide projector to the simple rotations of the circles that build the identity I look forward to seeing what else they do with it.

Comedy Central Rebrand from chris west on Vimeo.

So that’s my little rant on it. There is of course a nut-ton more to say about it, and I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions about it. Please feel free to leave a comment below and lets start discussing and tearing this circular shape to pieces and see why it works so well, or fails miserably.

Be good.
Timmy.

The results of the poll are in!

When asked the question, “Do you like the new Comedy Central logo?”:
64% said YES
34% said NO
2% said NO OPINION

Thank you to everyone who voted!

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As we draw closer to the end of this year, I reflect on all the amazing works I’ve seen from creative professionals in the motion graphics industry. In this post I’ll be touching on a curated list of what I consider to be some of the most progressive, forward thinking, and well executed work from the motion graphics industry leading professionals. I’ll also be touching on progressive techniques that had a major impact on the motion graphics industry for 2009, as well as progressive digital & tangible tools that have helped, or changed the way motion graphics are produced.

Curated Motion Graphics Work

Starting off, I tried to consolidate a list of innovative & inspiring motion graphics work. It definitely wasn’t an easy task to try and pick any one piece over another, especially since everyone has a different opinion over what they would consider to be amazing. With that in mind, I’ve tried to balance my selection objectively, based on progression, forward thinking, originality, and execution. I hope you enjoy my selection, and continue to support Fuel Your Motionography well into the new year. Enjoy!

Prologue – OFFF 2009 Main Titles

OFFF 2009 Main Titles from Prologue! from OFFF on Vimeo.

Wow – Infinity

Infinity by: Wow from Colorcubic on Vimeo.

Esteban Diácono – Let Yourself Feel

let yourself feel. from Esteban Diácono on Vimeo.

Christopher Hewitt – Contraction

Contraction from Christopher Hewitt on Vimeo.

Sooz / Kultnation – All That Is Solid Melts Into The Air

All that is solid melts into the air. from Sooz on Vimeo.

Onesize – OFFF 2009 Sponsor Titles

OFFF 2009 Sponsor Titles from OFFF on Vimeo.

Rob Chiu – Else Mobile

Else Mobile (The Time Has Come) from Rob Chiu on Vimeo.

Alex Roman – T & S Teaser 2

T&S Teaser2 from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

BranitVFX – World Builder

World Builder from BranitVFX on Vimeo.

Tilt Shift Effect

If I had to say any certain technique had a major impact on the motion graphics industry this year, I would have to go with the tilt shift effect. The tilt shift effect is what ultimately gives real life footage, or more specifically, stop motion footage the illusion of smallness, or small windup toys. And what better way to convey this effect then through one of the industry’s pioneers of this technique, Mr. Keith Loutit [see below].

Keith Loutit – Bathtub IV

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Digital SLRs with HD Video

Ringing in at number three on my list of best contributions to the motion graphics industry in 2009 is Canon, and their Digital SLRs with HD Video capability. A lot of people still don’t realize, the moment Canon introduced the 5DmkII, it completely revolutionized how creative professionals in the mograph industry would produce work in the future. Not only are these dSLR cameras built very well, they’re also relatively affordable, all while shooting in HD video. Although, the real highlight of these dSLRs is the option to change out the lenses, at a fraction of the cost of a normal HD video camera. So you get all the power of Canon lenses (specifically Canon’s L series lenses), with the beauty of HD video. What more could you ask for?

Canon Rebel T1i

Canon 7D

Canon 5D mkII

Florent Porta – Tokyo Reality (Canon 5DmkII at work)

Tokyo Reality (Canon 5D MarkII) from Florent Porta on Vimeo.

Inksie Brand – 7D test film (Canon 7D at work)

7D Test Film from Inksie Brand on Vimeo.

Wesley Kandel – Palladia (Canon Rebel T1i at work)

Palladia from Wesley Kandel on Vimeo.

WANT MORE?

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In today’s curated post, I’ve decided to revisit Rankin Bass Production (one of my favorite production studios), who just so happen to be responsible for some of my all-time favorite cartoons when growing up as a kid. Thunder Cats, Tiger Sharks, and Silver Hawks are just to name a few of the 80s Saturday morning cartoons that they produced. They were also responsible for animated movies, such as The Hobbit, The Return Of The King, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Jack Frost, Frosty The Snowman, a Rankin Bass adaptation of Wind In The Willows, and my personal favorite, The Flight Of Dragons. When you watch all of the sequences back to back, it’s apparent how similar the animation styles are, and you can even catch some similar character traits being reused, not to mention, commonly reused voice actors. If I recall correctly, I believe James Earl Jones & John Ritter appeared as voice actors in some Rankin Bass productions. (quick note: Apologies for the videos with bad quality. Unfortunately the only one I could find in HD was Thundercats. When I find better quality versions to replace the others, I will).

Rankin Bass Production Identity Spot (1975)

Source via: http://www.youtube.com/user/JohnnyL80

Thundercats

Silverhawks

Tigersharks

The Hobbit

The Return Of The King

The Flight Of Dragons

Thank you very much for viewing / reading. Although I would very much have liked to provide more history into the Rankin Bass production studio; their history is rather long & controversial, involving some pretty nasty, unethical decisions by Warner Bros. I’m afraid that would certainly have resulted in getting really side-tracked, and could have easily resulted in a post in and of itself. So if you’d like to learn more about the history of Rankin Bass, please visit RankinBass.com « (I know that site is super atrocious, but… well, there’s really no excuse).