I recently had my work  in Times Square on the Reuters electronic billboard system. I did this for ADCOLOR; an advertising industry coalition to promote diversity in advertising media. SBS Studios has been a sponsor of the ADCOLOR Awards for three years now. You can read more about our collected thoughts on the project here.

My credits include all 3D Design and Motion Graphics, with the direction of Shane Santiago and Gary Mack (Creative Director of the NBA).

A big part of our ideology here is that “we can do better than that.” This time, I’m not so sure we could have.

I’ve been to New York and while I’ve always found it fascinating, at the same time it’s very intimidating. I knew as soon as we were asked to take this on, it was going to be a personal challenge to me to show NYC that I can handle her. It meant pixel-perfect attention to detail and developing a set of skills I’d have to acquire as I worked. I was so determined to make this a masterpiece that I’d actually slept in my office on cushions from our Ikea chairs.

Why was this anxiety necessary? I’d been to Times Square and seen plenty of motion billboards that received less love than this one; and New Yorkers have developed banner blindness, so this would still go relatively unseen despite being on one of the larger, more complex systems in the area. I realized it wasn’t New York that was exciting me; I was anxious because it was ADCOLOR.

— Me

So, I recently started working on all of the print collateral and creative direction for the motion graphics (with Drips Black). I’m drawing a lot from early space education films, NASA information, vintage space infographics, and a lot of Disney Tomorrowland ephemera, as well as some aesthetics developed from Disney Imagineering attraction design (one day, Ian, one day).

The theme is “ADDYs in Space” and I hope to do it justice. Here’s a sketch I’ve been tooling with that will morph into tickets and invitations. The poster is going to be much more epic.

For your entertainment, here’s a little-known fact about Walt Disney World’s Tomorrowland “Mission to Mars” ride:

Mission to Mars officially opened in March of 1975. Its first show was to a packed theater, and guests watched with wide eyes as their simulated ship was locked, fueled, and launched. Darkness (representing hypersleep) gave way to a view of the approaching red planet — and this is where the trouble began.

As the planet’s surface neared and Martian canals came into view, some guests were startled to see gigantic tripod-like vehicles walking through Martian cities, apparently armed with enormous heat ray devices. Although these elements of the experience had been added by Imagineers in the hope of depicting a plausable alien civilization, they were so realistic and imposing that some guests forgot that they were experiencing a simulation. A riot broke out inside the attraction. Parents wrapped wet handkerchiefs around their children’s mouths to protect them from Martian death gas. One visitor from rural Kentucky hauled out his squirrel rifle and began taking pot shots at the images on the movie screen. Women screamed. Men fainted. Babies cried. Embarrassed teenagers pretended they weren’t with their parents.

Yep. Four Gold. Not to mention seven Silvers. SBS Studios is killing it this year. Check them out here:

2010 W³ Gold Awards:

• Comcast Action Center (Directory or Search Engine)
• Twenty Six Miles Website (Entertainment)
• Twenty Six Miles Website (Television)
• Have Sex Standing Up* Website (Humor and Comedy)
• Have Sex Standing Up* Website (Branded Content, Non-Profit)

2010 W³ Silver Awards:

• AAF Membership Website (Associations)
• 2010 ADCOLOR® Awards Website (Activism)
• 2010 ADCOLOR® Awards (Associations)
• Comcast Action Center (Associations)
• Comcast Action Center Government)
• Have Sex Standing Up* Website (Family/Parenting)
• National Quality Forum (NQF) Website (Associations)
• Have Sex Standing Up* Website (Video, Non-Profit)

For a complete list of winners, please visit www.w3award.com.

Gig courtesy of Sara Basse and Landon Cole. Thanks to everyone who made it out!

Latest tracks by mowglisounds

So, I’ve amassed a great deal of old things that I truly have no use for. Not in a way where I’d make a cool “Hoarders” episode, but in a way that I could let a few things go have fun in some other apartment. However, many of these are also new acquisitions. Presenting the Play Nice – Summer 2010 Collection at http://www.etsy.com/shop/playnicewithus.

New live mix by me (Mowgli) with my new Novation Launchpad.

Jay-Z vs. Phonat vs. Lil Wayne vs. Justice vs. MGMT vs T.I. vs. Dexy’s Midnight Runners vs. Soulja Boy vs. Arcade Fire vs. Jungle Brothers vs. The Stooges Brass band. 7 minutes and 43 seconds.

Download Mowgli – Crank dat Eileen

So, my friends and clients at State of the Re:Union are asking readers and listeners to submit a singular image that represents their community – be it handmade or not – for a collection on stateofthereunion.com, with a featured image daily coming from their twitter account as well as their facebook page. I guess my first sentence summarized this project pretty well so I’m not sure there’s a need for this one.  Anyway, if you feel like snapping some cool pictures of Jacksonville from your roof or making a painting of the homeless man who’s been drawing on my sidewalk with chalk feel free to send any and all submissions to brenton@stateofthereunion.com. He’s the man.

A frame-by-frame Flash animation of Animal Collective’s “Lion in a Coma” from Merriwether Post Pavillion by Ori Toor of Shenkar School of Engineering and Design.

AdColor, the organization that promotes diversity in the advertising industry, tapped SBS Studios to design and build their 2009 Awards site. This occurred again in 2010. The annual AdColor Awards are attended by nationally renowned media and advertising icons. The 2010 AdColor Awards are held in Miami and we wanted to communicate the vibrancy and energy of South Beach. The site features social media components, 3D animated headers that I art-directed with The Studio, NYC, and a nominations app built with Tribal/DDB.

I’ve compiled a short list of the North American Third World. Thanks to Google Streetview, you can all experience parts of the United States that have been long forgotten:

THE SALTON SEA

CABRINI GREEN

EAST ST. LOUIS

FLINT MICHIGAN

SOUTH CENTRAL