hide your sources

I suppose this is an outlet. A nice way to share opinions and vent. Let’s start with a vent. Non-creative advertising gives me the shits. Nothing irks me more than seeing ads (print, video or interactive) that blatantly copy popular techniques and aesthetics from other sources. Now, having worked with an agency I know that the biggest tip I can give anyone is – ‘hide your sources’. If you can impress others with your work without them saying – ‘oh, that reminds me of …’ – you have a win

Here is a music video I caught on the TV (while at the gym) recently.

(It took me a while to track this down – but I did) Below is more or less the inspiration (I believe) for that silly Panic! music video. This short film won the Animex Visual Effects Award in 2006.

Now, is it just me or has the director for the Panic! video blatantly borrowed a concept and tweaked it for an American audience? OK, so I’m sure that the original short film probably drew inspiration from elsewhere again. There are more obvious examples of this in everyday life, but I thought I’d seek one out that you may have not seen before. Let me know of others that bother you…