There was a time when journalists fed the news to the public. But that’s no longer the case in a digital age that finds tweeters and bloggers breaking stories. Well aware of the shift, the Guardian has embarked on a more modern form of newsgathering that has the venerable British newspaper relying on collaboration with outside sources. This approach is demonstrated in a clever re-telling of the classic Three Little Pigs fairytale.
Created by BBH London, the two-minute spot–also titled “Three Little Pigs”–is the work of director Ringan Ledwidge of London’s Rattling Stick, which also maintains an office in Los Angeles.
“Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger has been doing an amazing job putting his open journalism methodology into action, but there’d been some issues articulating what the benefit was for consumers. The one thing that was absolutely clear to us was that in order to illustrate the importance of open platform collaboration and the Guardian‘s curatorial role in the process, we needed to do a product demonstration,” said BBH creative director David Kolbusz, noting, “Three Little Pigs was the most universal story we could find.”
While the Three Little Pigs as originally told is a rather simple tale, BBH’s version is a much more complex story involving murder, insurance fraud and mortgage defaults.
Social media chatter, newspaper clips, YouTube videos and other graphic elements appear throughout the spot, supporting the narrative, which takes surprising twists and turns.
“So many moving pieces meant retracing our steps every time we spotted something new,” Kolbusz said. “Sound, music, graphics and shot footage all needed to work together in perfect harmony.”
Ledwidge said he wanted the spot to feel like a film trailer and for it “not only to pose relevant questions but also to excite and entertain viewers. Tonally, I felt it should be played with a straight bat and that the comedy should be of a satirical nature rather than a broadly comedic one.”
Three pigs, two days
Remarkably, the director and DP Franz Lustig shot the action-packed “Three Little Pigs” over just two days–“two very long days,” Ledwidge specified–on location at London’s Old Royal Naval College, where they filmed courthouse and protest scenes, and at Wimbledon Studios, where they were able to take advantage of the facility’s pre-built courtroom and street sets as well as build three other sets in the main studio.
As we see in the commercial, the pig and wolf characters are human/animal hybrids, with human bodies and animal heads.
Kolbusz says the mix lent an air of “magical realism” to the spot, helping to create a believable reality so that the audience wouldn’t question why pigs and wolves walk among us.
The pig masks worn by the actors were built from the same mold used to create the pig heads worn in the Royal Ballet’s production of Beatrix Potter. “Nothing on the masks was animatronic, but with the body language of the actors alone you could sense each pigs’ character,” Ledwidge said.
Artisans from the London office of The Mill later created movement in the pigs’ eyes, ears and mouths, relying on film that had been shot of the actors rehearsing sans the masks to inform their characterizations.
“We knew that subtlety was the key in this job,” explained David Fleet, who was The Mill’s lead 3D artist on the job. “So looking at the tiny eye darts and mouth shapes of the actors proved extremely valuable reference when the animation process began.”
The Mill also seamlessly integrated the public discussion and newspaper coverage of the case into the spot, with one of the most impressive integrations finding a forensic specialist entering the three little pigs’ house and walking down a hallway onto which is a newspaper story is projected.
“With the graphics, we wanted to use elements of social media, popular websites and the Guardian that were instantly recognizable but integrate them so they always felt like part of the film,” said Gary Driver who served as The Mill’s lead 2D artist. “In the forensic scene, the shot had to be tracked in 3D so we could accurately project the graphics onto the walls. Certain elements were then rotoscoped and added back over the top to held bed the graphic effects in.”
The Mill also built the Wolf’s “huff and puff” animation test and performed other tasks, including various bits of clean up and set extensions.
Precise cut
Rich Orrick of London’s Work Post Film Editors cut “Three Little Pigs.” “The edit like every other part of the job was exhausting. There was barely anything left out as the board–due to the interaction of type–was pretty precise. The struggle was more the amount of layers we were dealing with, particularly as Avid isn’t great with type. Basically, it was a head scramble,” Ledwidge shared.
“Somehow,” continued the director, “Rich Orrick kept a calm head whilst I drove myself to distraction.”
“All of it was a monumental challenge,” Kolbusz said, looking back on the job.
“But every party involved,” he noted, “was so passionate about the film that they gave one hundred percent at all times to make sure it came off without a hitch.”
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