When Scooby-Doo met Peter Max…

Jamie Hewlett’s new BBC promo for the Olympics is damn impressive. Watch it on the BBC website. Also, there’s a new interview with Hewlett in the Guardian in which he talks a bit about working on this Olympics piece:

‘It looks wonderful and I’m really thrilled by it,’ says Hewlett. ‘It’s gone through so many changes because there are so many departments at the BBC, and the Olympics is their biggest gig of the year. Damon [Albarn] and I are used to having the luxury of doing exactly what we want, and we understand that this whole idea of using animated ancient Chinese characters is quite a wild-card for them. But somebody at the BBC had seen the Monkey opera and they put our name into the mix. And I think we’ve managed to keep the BBC happy, to tick every box, without ruining the original idea. I mean, the characters aren’t wearing running vests!’

(Thanks, Will Kane)

Zurich29 is a Paris-based motion graphics studio founded in 2005 by Philippe Constantinesco and Dorian Gourg. They caught my attention with their latest piece, a visually striking three-minute spot for Amnesty International that encourages people to make their voices heard by signing petitions. The highest quality version of the commercial, titled “Ink”, can be found on Zurich29’s blog (be patient, it takes a moment to load). They’ve also been doing a lot of animated visual identity work for MTV France. The work can be viewed on their site Zurich29.com. It’s standard contemporary-looking mo-graph work, but tasteful and well done. There’s also an interview with the studio founders on Partfaliaz.

I don’t think I’ve ever been able to exactly pinpoint what it is that I so enjoy about the directing duo Smith & Foulkes (repped by Nexus Productions), but they seemingly turn out more top-notch spots than anybody else in the commercial game. Their latest spot for Coca-Cola, “East Meets West,” is yet another piece of CG that impresses the hell out of me, largely because every element of this piece is carefully considered and designed to work in unison. I especially love how the commercial’s ornate visual detail is contrasted with a limited animation style. This directorial restraint allows for the graphics to read with a crispness and elegance that is uncommon in the world of commercial CG. As far as Coke adverts go, it’s hard to ask for much more.

(via Motionographer)

This commercial simply blew me away. It was produced by The People’s Republic of Animation, an outstanding animation studio in Australia, founded on their philosophy of “BE BOLD, BE CREATIVE, BE ENTERTAINING”.

Formed in 2003, PRA founders Eddie White and James Calvert, have done numerous stylish commercials (such as the one above) and several outstanding shorts — including the acclaimed Carnivore Reflux (2006), which we featured on Cartoon Brew Films. For more cartoon goodness, check out their amazing sample reel on Vimeo.

(Thanks, Jake Parker)

Fran Krause created the signal film for this year’s Rooftop Films screening series. It’s animated nicely in Flash.

Effective paper doll concept and fine execution in this series of South American ads for Rexona Skin Care. One of the spots can be viewed below, the rest can be seen at Coloribus.com. The agency repsonsible is Buenos Aires-based Vegaolmosponce, while the animation was created by Passion Pictures.

(via NotCot)

I can’t describe this commerical any better than Jason Kottke does on his blog:

“Smokey the Bear is back! And he’s preventing forest fires in Uncanny Valley State Park!”