Director Sylvain Chomet, best known for his Oscar-nominated feature films The Illusionist and The Triplets of Belleville, has directed a series of animated commercials produced by London-based animation/mixed media house th1ng for Lake District Cheese Company, which screen in cinemas across England and Scotland for the next four months.
One of the centerpiece spots, “Awards,” feature two animated characters, Cow and Bunny (voiced by Julie Walters and comedian Will Andrews) who are warmly brought to life by Chomet through the charming, almost retro, animation style for which he is best known. Set in “the land of milk and bunny,” the Lake District home of the brand, Cow and Bunny promote the cheddar’s award-winning credentials.
At one point, the awards talk gets into bunny’s head as we see him on stage accepting the honor, thanking his mom and dad, his 87 brothers and sisters, and his friend Cow. Bunny asserts that the fame hasn’t changed him. However, perhaps it has as he asks Cow if he should get his teeth whitened. Cow replies that Bunny might consider doing something about hs ears.
Production and post were handled by th1ng for Glasgow agency Frame Creates.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More