This weekend, we had the honour of having our ad featured at the International Trickfilm Festival Stuttgart, winning the prize for best advertising spot as well as the main prize in the Animated Com award category. They also gave us this great review:

“Here, the strength of animation; its ability to create opulent, fantastic images, is used to perfection. We learn how milk is made in the Milky Way and by no means in half-measures. Advertising must not just inform, it may also cheat a little – if it is in such a poetic, imaginative, charming and heart-warming way as in this spot by the South African studio, Shy the Sun.”

Thanks to all the guys at Strange Beast, everyone who helped us on the spot, BlackGinger, CAB Films, and a big thanks to the Trickfilm Festival Jury.

“Points are given for each award, with the points based on the probability of winning each award. 300 points for Grand Prix; 110 points for Gold; 40 points for Silver; 15 points for Bronze; 90 points for Craft Gold; 30 points for Craft Certificate.”

With the difficulty of competing in the director field as an animation director, this is quite an achievement, and is a testament to the outstanding work that Jannes has created.

Congratulations!

A stiff drink, kind of like a Martini, but golden.
Also listed in David Embury’s “The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks”, the history is somewhat interesting. From the source of all facts, wikipedia:

“A popular history suggests that the drink originated at the Manhattan Club in New York City in the early 1870s, where it was invented by Dr. Iain Marshall for a banquet hosted by Jennie Jerome (Lady Randolph Churchill, Winston’s mother) in honor of presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden. The success of the banquet made the drink fashionable, later prompting several people to request the drink by referring to the name of the club where it originated—”the Manhattan cocktail”. However, Lady Randolph was in France at the time and pregnant, so the story is likely a fiction. The original “Manhattan cocktail” was a mix of “American Whiskey, Italian Vermouth and Angostura bitters”

Purely for the fun of making everyone jealous of our working environment, we took this panoramic shot of our office today while lunching. It’s too big to fit up here all in one, so go to our twitter to have a look at the long version.

STS

A bit of history:
The Old Fashioned is one of the earliest known cocktails, around at the time when cocktails were still considered a morning drink, and following the strict rules of being “a potent concoction of spirits, bitters, water, and sugar”.

The Old Fashioned is one of six basic drinks listed in David A. Embury’s 1948 publication “The Fine Art Of Mixing Drinks”. The origin of the Old Fashioned is purportedly for a Bourbon whiskey cocktail created in the 1880s at the Pendennis Club in Louisville Kentucky, invented by a bartender and popularized by club member Colonal James E. Pepper.

The Recipe:
1 cube sugar
2 dashes Angastura Bitters
a splash of club soda.
ice
good whiskey, bourbon or rhye.

Crush the sugar cube in a whiskey glass with the bitters and soda. Rotate the glass to give it a lining. Place a cube of ice in the glass and top up with whiskey.

Shy the Sun was lucky enough to be invited to take part, albeit briefly, in the Pecha Kucha event in the expo hall on Friday. Jannes and Ree, limited by the restraints of 20 slides, with 20 seconds to talk about each, gave a brief encounter of what our experiences are of creating a commercial from the initial ideas to the final product.

Our very own Linsey Levendall also had featured work at the expo, as his mural for Paste received a nomination for the Most Beautiful Object in South Africa award, and was on display in the main expo hall.

We so glad to have been a part of it.

You can also download Markus’s latest album, Not I, But A Friend

It’s also a good idea to have a look at Markus’s website. It’s a myriad of great music and hypnotic imagery that is sure to put you in a sullen mood.

The website is the first part of an interactive campaign that will span over the course of this year, so be sure to check it out here, and keep your ear to the ground for updates.

Hope you enjoy, and make sure to contact us if there is anything you’d like to see.