Ponderance

(May 2003 - March 2007.) Tama's thoughts on the blogosphere, podcasting, popular culture, digital media and citizen journalism posted from a laptop computer somewhere in Perth's isolated, miniature, urban jungle ...

Advertising from the Future - Children of Men

Wednesday, February 28, 2007
I'm giving a couple of lectures this semester in the Ecotexts: Nature/Writing/Technology course which has some great books and films on it. I'm getting to give lectures on Blade Runner and the anime Metropolis, but I've also been exploring links between these and other films on the course, including Code 46 and Children of Men. Of the three non-animated films, one of the most interesting textures they use is advertising; the bleak landscapes and cityscapes of the near-future are awash with commercials and warnings! In my online explorations, I've found a wonderful clip produced as a portfolio piece by the Foreign Office, the design company which worked on many of the media textures in Children of Men:

The future imagined through these advertisements and warnings is one easily extrapolated from today, yet cleverly different enough to suggest a future setting!

[View/Download High-Quality H264 Version] [Via WaxyLinks]

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[Posted by Unknown] [9:14 pm] []

Why "Children of Men" Should Be Nominated For Best Picture!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007


As Children of Men was, in my opinion, one of the best films of 2006, I was pleased to see it rising to #3 on the US box office charts this week, despite apathetic distribution and advertising. Over at Something Awful, user blairerickson was so impressed by the film and so disappointed that the studio wasn't pitching Children of Men at Oscar nominators that they started their own Why Children of Men Should Be Nominated For Best Picture campaign which centres around a neatly cut (if rather spoilerish) trailer featured above and on YouTube. As the SA forum notes:
Well with at least another week to go before Oscar nomination ballots are mailed in, I think it would be helpful to do as much as possible to at spread the Best Picture buzz for "Children of Men" across the internet. Though the film is being snubbed by its studio, perhaps a last minute grassroots hype campaign could change the tide. That's exactly how Crash won last year. And believe it or not, big industry players in Hollywood do read internet websites, even this one. After I wrote the Uwe Boll article I got fun email from some pretty big name producers and screenwriters within the first few hours of it going online.

So what can you do? For starters users can all DIGG "Children of Men" related stories and threads. If you're posting on other message boards, make a thread telling people to go see the movie. Oh and feel free to spread the YouTube video around, and perhaps that will remind a few academy voters somewhere about the movie or encourage more of them to check it out to see what the buzz is about.

I think this is an excellent grassroots campaign, using the power of participatory culture to push for a film nomitated by the fans if not pushed by the studios! The campaign is already picking up some respectable buzz which is great to see. If you've not seen Children of Men, I recommend you do ... and spread the word by sharing the YouTube video and blogging your thoughts far and wide!

(Incidentally, since I never posted an end-of-year wrap-up, my three favourite films for 2006 were The Prestige, Chidlren of Men and Casino Royale.)

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[Posted by Unknown] [1:22 pm] []