Johnny Hardstaff...

I recently attended a lecture by the director and designer Johnny Hardstaff. He showed us many examples of short films he created in order to promote famous brands such as Sony, Playstation and Orange. The first film he showed us was entitled 'The history of gaming' which interested me instantly as I had recently attended the 'Videogame Nation' exhibiton at the Urbis so I recongised many of the images used. I loved the retro feel to the film and I felt that it really stood out from other moving image pieces I have seen to advertise games consoles. I was suprised that Sony wanted to use it to promote the Playstation 2 as I have researched many ads for that product and they all seemed to take a completely different approach to the imagery used.

He then went on to create another moving image piece entitled 'The future of gaming,' to be completely honest I wasn't as taken by this film, I found some elements of it almost disturbing to watch. However when he explained it afterwards I realised that that was the effect he was trying to get. It was in huge contrast to the first one. It portrayed the video game industry in a very negative way in a very different style to the previous video.

I was suprised when he showed us the Orange advert as I am very familiar with this but I never realised that it was Hardstaff who designed it. The images of the paint pouring onto the street were mesmorising and you couldn't help but stare at them. It was very different to his other videos but it was just as interesting. I love how simple it is and yet it grabs your attention as well informs the viewer about the service on sale.

I found this lecture really helpful. Not just because of the inspiring visual examples that he showed us, but he also told us of controversial advertising campaigns which I have since researched in preparation for my dissertation. I really liked how much of his thoughts and personality he put into his work and it really inspired me to do the same with my own work.