Bump The Lamp

Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a fantastic film and was one of the first times I remember feeling oddly drawn to the female character Jessica. 

Part of that was my age but part of it was the incredible job the animators did - by hand and eye - of creating the illusions, especially the illusion of physicality and physical interaction between the Toons and the humans. 

This video explains how, the level of commitment to detail that makes this film stand up even today. 

It generated a phrase coined by Disney while working on the movie: Bumping the Lamp. It means going above and beyond what was expected of the animators, watch the video to understand why. 

"Seemingly superfluous details help sell the effect at a subconscious level".

Always take the chance to bump the lamp in your work. 

Moebius and The Martian

In 1979 the legendary French comic book artist Moebius did the conceptual art for Ridley Scott's sci-fi masterpiece Alien.

Some things of course weren't used for the film, like the illustration of an orange spacesuit above left. 

In 2015, three years after Moebius' death, Ridley Scott made The Martian. 

The above drawing sat in Ridley's "bottom drawer" for 36 years. 

For more on Moebius - here's a 19min BBC documentary on him and his incredible legacy. 

DDB's First Ever Ad Was a Cat Meme

Every time you think something is completely knew, you should remember that nothing is. 

From DDB's website:

N.M. Ohrbach knew Bill Bernbach when Ohrbach's was a client at Grey Advertising. Mr. Ohrbach, who was not happy with Grey, suggested that Bernbach launch his own agency with Ohrbach's as its first client.

Ohrbach even agreed to pay for the work in advance, enabling Doyle, Dane and Bernbach to pay their initial bills. The campaign transformed Ohrbach's from an unfashionable store in an unfashionable part of town to a "high fashion at low prices" boutique that attracted the attention of such people as the Rockefellers and drew "high fashion" coverage from Life magazine.

Darkest Night

I don't watch horror movies. I don't like them, I don't enjoy being scared. Things get stuck in my head and I'd rather have nice things in there. 

So I also wouldn't listen to a horror podcast. However, I found a new podcast in my app. It was called Darkest Night. 

I assume I saw a Tweet recommendation and hit subscribe without realizing it was a horror anthology. I also didn't realize until after I had started listening. And now I'm hooked. 

To be honest, some of the gorier images still make me queasy, but the podcast is wonderfully produced and I'm enjoying it. 

It's a nice reminder for me that sometimes I need to do things that scare me [literally in this case].

I would never have opted to listen to it because of a label, a category in my head I've decided I don't want any part of.

But this is its own kind of filter bubble and since I prize diversity in my thinking, in my influences, in my inspiration, I can't just read, watch and listen to things I think I'm going to like. It's logically inconsistent. My preferences set parameters for the world. 

So I'm glad for the happy accident and recommend Darkest Night, if you like horror, and especially if you don't. 

More Than Data

We love collaborating with nice agencies on cool projects.

This is a piece featuring me talking about data we worked on with a lovely agency and production company in South Africa thanks to the awesome Amy who got us involved. 

Hope you enjoy it  - do get in touch if you to collaborate on something awesome.  

Podcard From Mumbai

People keep asking us about our travels - so we had an idea.

Presenting Episode One of our new Podcard series.

"Wherever you go, there you are" A Podcard from Mumbai. 

Hope you enjoy it!