By now you’ve probably all seen Method’s amazing job on the latest Halo 3 spot. It’s getting pretty heavy airplay, and Method’s work stands up to repeat scrutiny very well (as usual).

Just to clear up any misconceptions: the spot is not 100% CG. Method worked with MJZ’s Rupert Sanders and figurine modeler Stan Winston to create a scene populated by over a 1000 characters. For more info on the technique involved, jump down to the Making Of section below.

What I find interesting about the diorama approach has less to do with execution and more to do with Microsoft and agency T.A.G./ McCann Worldgroup’s thinking behind the project. As the level of realism in games reaches ever higher, game advertising is starting to get interesting.

I was making my usuals rounds last night and happened upon an amazing spot/short-film thing from Logan for Toyota.

I’ve long thought of Logan as masters of quirky, memorable, beautiful spots, but this one also has a great narrative arc. It looks like most of the “effects” were practical, but knowing Logan it’s hard to say for sure. Either way, the technical aspect always stays out of the spotlight, making room instead for the characters and their stories.

Chilean studio DAf has created a yummy PSA for FIAN (FoodFirst Information and Action Network) based in Germany. DAf handled everything from script to music, earning them extra points for pure moxie.

I’m always interested in PSAs, especially ones that try to infuse a little information into their concept. My favorite projects are what I call “visual essays,” a term I’ll be developing further at Offf in NYC. Visual essays are the motion graphics equivalent of written essays. They build an argument through the use of pointed facts and rhetorical devices, but because they can leverage the power of audio/visual stimuli, they can reach a much wider audience in a shorter period of time than most literary media.

DAf’s spot is full of cleverness and fun details, like the Euro-shaped puffs of smoke from the tractor and the use of a corkscrew to “pull up” the bars of a bar graph. The best bit, though, is the fact that they not only included the 850,000,000 figure, but that they then underscored its enormity by showing its relationship to the European Union. That’s the sort of visual that gets lodged in a person’s brain. It’s the kind of information that can be internalized, digested (pardon the pun) and then re-disseminated by the audience, effectively creating a virus of data. I love it.

Excerpted from Motionographer.com