We Made This

Stephen Fry and the Gutenberg Press

First off, apologies if you’ve already seen this posted over on AceJet170, but it's just too good to allow even the smallest chance of you missing it.

Last night BBC4 screened a fantastic show with the ever wonderful Mr Stephen Fry going in search of the story behind Johann Gutenberg, the man who created the printing press, and so brought about the existence of mass communication.

We taped the show, part of BBC4’s Medieval Season, and only watched it today – it’s simply brilliant. Fry travels round Europe discovering how Gutenberg put his press together, and gets down and dirty creating type matrices, hand-making paper, and teaming up with Alan May to re-create an original one-pull press, just like the one old Johann would have used.

Fry’s obvious enthusiasm and wonder for his subject are utterly infectious.

Now, if the show had aired just a few months back, none of this information would do you any good. But thanks to the brilliance of the BBC and the power of the interweb, you can still watch the show on the BBC’s iPlayer.* You’ve got until next Monday to catch it. We highly highly recommend you do so.

UPDATE - Philip Crocker from the production company that made the show, Wavelength Films, has been in touch, and the programme’s being repeated on Friday April 25 at 9pm on BBC 2. Hoorah!

And, that’s not all. On Tuesday 6 May at 6.30 the British Library is hosting a demonstration by Alan May of the one-pull press created for the show. Full information and booking here.

Printing history goodness all round.

*Except if you’re living outside the UK. Sorry.

Motion graphics

Mmm, Saul Bass goodness.

We're just doing a bit of research ahead of a bit of work Alistair's doing with some Central Saint Martins students over the next few weeks, and we need your help.

We're looking for the best / most interesting bits of motion graphics we can find, whether they're from television, film, music videos, online, wherever. The only important thing is that they're principally typographic. Alistair's started to put a few bits together on this You Tube page, and it would be fantastic if you could drop us any links or recommendations.

Thank you thank you.

The Sarah Silverman Program

Comedian Sarah Silverman is God. Fact.

(Our favourite quote from her: "I was raped by a doctor … which is so bittersweet for a Jewish girl.")

If you live stateside, then you may well have caught the first season of her fantastic sitcom, The Sarah Silverman Program, which started last February, and is currently in its second series.

Over here in the UK though, we've been missing something special. But, brilliantly, thanks to the magic of the internet, you can now download the first series of The Sarah Silverman Program via iTunes.

It'll probably be hitting British TV screens sometime before the end of the year. But heck, why wait?

Read more about the show on Wikipedia.

An interspecies orgy and suicidal eggs

We're more of a design gang than an advertising one here at We Made This, but occasionally something comes along that really catches our eye. Recently there have been two of those things.

First up, it's one for the furries, with the Orangina Naturally Juicy advert that aired in France a couple of months ago, which has been doing the rounds of the blogs (we picked it up via the excellent Very Short List). The concept is from ad agency FFL Paris, and it's directed by Psyop (Todd Mueller and Kylie Matulick), through London production company Stink. You can read more about it on this page from The Mill, where a lot of the work was done.

Secondly, a series of ads from Publicis for Cadbury's Creme Eggs as part of their Goo-ology campaign. (Use the pull down blind to get the menu and navigate to the Fantasies section.) They're genuinely funny (our favourite is Bin Lid), and a vast improvement on that irritating parrot they used to use.

Sex and death. Animals and eggs. All very natural really.

Downloadable cash

Art is money: discuss.

It's a debate that's been going on since the first caveman said to his mate: "I say old man, that's a damn fine handprint you've just done there. Could you do one for me? It'd look just splendid in the cave. I'd gladly pay you. Some meat perhaps? Or my wife?"

Those crazy japesters Jake & Dinos Chapman have created some downloadable defaced cash as part of the BBC's Imagine programme How to get ahead in the Artworld.

You've got from now until Thursday 22 November at 10.35pm (GMT) to go get yours. Who knows, maybe one day it will be worth something. Money might not grow on trees, but you can download it.

Imagine that...

10.35pm tonight (6 November) on BBC 1 - Imagine... Helvetica: The story of how a typeface drawn by a little-known Swiss designer in 1957 became one of the most popular ways for us to communicate. Some strong language.

It's a shorter version of Gary Hustwit's feature-length film about the typeface. Go set your videos. Or your hard drives. Or whatever.

(Thanks to David and AceJet170 for the tip-off.)

Rabbit rabbit rabbit

First they had balls bouncing down a street courtesy of Nicolai Fuglsig, then explosions of paint around a tower block from Jonathan Glazer, and now Sony have launched their latest Bravia ad by Frank Budgen.

It's a lovely bit of film, created by ad agency Fallon, and with animation overseen by Darren Walsh at Passion Pictures.

You can read all about the making of the ad in a fascinating article on Creative Review's blog.

Comics Britannia

If you were a British teenager in the early 80's, and into comics, then you were almost certainly a fan of 2000AD. We still have fond memories of tearing down to the local newsagent on a Saturday morning to pick up the latest weekly issue. It cost 24p "in Earth money" back in 1985 - amazingly it's still going strong, though a copy will set you back £1.75 now.

BBC4 is currently running a great series all about the British comics industry, Comics Britannia. We missed the first episode, but caught the middle one (which is repeated on Wednesday 19 at 11.30pm), and are totally looking forward to the third and final one, which deals with 2000AD, Viz, and the growth of the graphic novel. You can catch it on Monday 24 at 10.30pm. There's also a season of related programmes to sink your teeth into.

Splundig vur thrigg!

(The frame above is from Prog 500 of 2000AD, which featured the debut of Bad Company, written by Pete Milligan, with artwork by Brett Ewins and Jim McCarthy.)

Alfred Wainwright on TV

We mentioned Alfred Wainwright's A pictorial guide to the Lakeland Fells on here a while back, so we're dead excited to see that the BBC is screening a show all about the man, Wainwright - The man who loved the lakes. It's on this Friday (20 July) on BBC2 from 9 to 10pm.

Turns out we've been missing a series about his walks too, the last one of which also airs on Friday (7.30 to 8pm), on BBC4, and which focuses on Scafell Pike.

There's some Wikipedia goodness about him here.

On a side note, what's the right expression for "here's something worth taping" when you're not using a VCR anymore? "Here's one to burn to disc"? "Here's one to set the digibox for"? "Here's one to Skyplus"? Gadzooks, we're feeling old and doddery for even asking that question...

Robin Hood premiere

We scooted along to the premiere of the new BBC drama, Robin Hood, at the Curzon Mayfair last night. It's a pretty good adaptation, in a Saturday evening prime-time kind of way, with a fair few satirical nudges in the direction of modern day politics and language. Jonas Armstrong takes the lead, with Keith Allen obviously loving the chance to ham it up as the Sheriff of Nottingham. Sam Troughton as Robin's sidekick Much is particularly good, getting to revel in the best of the comic elements of the script.

The general look and feel is similar to Costner's Prince of Thieves, though Armstrong is a much younger Robin of Locksley, with a far more laddish feel. The action scenes are good, with some nifty sword play and well executed archery tricks; though there was just the smallest hint of the A-Team about it. Which is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your view of villains who never die.

The screening was shown in High Definition, which looks like a format that's still finding its feet. The filming was incredibly sharp, but it meant any shots that weren't perfectly focused stood out like a particularly sore thumb; and as with a lot of digital film, certain skin tones look a bit sickly. Oh, and they did this really annoying thing with the titles, which swoosh onto the screen with the sound of an arrow, which just reminds you of a Strongbow ad, and pulls you right out of the action. Clumsy.

Otherwise though, a fairly good romp, and sure to get a new generation of kids begging to be let loose with a bow and arrow in the back garden.