Educational Media Reviews Online

According to the STASH Magazine website, “STASH delivers the planet's most innovative and outstanding commercial animation, VFX and motion graphics plus insightful behind-the-scenes extras in a monthly DVD magazine…STASH is the essential resource for ad agencies, broadcasters, animation and VFX studios, designers, post houses, production companies and schools.”

Each of the six DVDs is packed with various types of commercial animation. There are some examples of student animation but the focus is on commercial productions. Entries come from all over the world although most of the clips are in English. Each of the six DVDs has approximately 30 entries followed by 2-3 selections showing how some of the entries were created/constructed. Most of the clips are short—about a minute. The music videos are the longest, lasting as long as 5 minutes. Each clip is introduced by a title page containing the clip title, running time, the client name (for commercial ads), and all the design and production information. Each clip has 2-3 chapters, the first being the title page with the remaining chapters the actual production. I found that the navigation was clunky—the chapters were numbered but not named. With 30+ entries per DVD, it would make it easier to find particular clips if they were titled.

Certain companies have ads on each DVD, not necessarily with the same advertising agencies. Some of the companies with multiple ads are Hewlett Packard, Nike and Adidas. Car ads (BMW, Audi, Citroen, Ford) were frequent entries, along with TV networks and movie trailers, even one ad for HBO’s Def Poetry. On the STASH 3 DVD, there is a Nike ad for the “Michael Vick Experience” that has a young boy taking a thrill ride where he plays the quarterback. Also on the STASH 3 DVD is a clip sponsored by Panasonic called “Peace Running.” A red baton is handed over to a young man who races through a city ahead of the spreading darkness. There is no actual product advertised in this ad. The STASH 4 DVD has the Sarah MacLaughlin music video (singing World on Fire) where all the production costs are donated and are broken out to show what the individual charges paid for in a developing nation. This music video can now be seen on YouTube. STASH 6 includes a German in-store loop video for Levi Strauss. My favorite clip is on the STASH 1 DVD and is an ad for Visa using a Lara Croft theme.

Studios whose work is shown include A52, Blur, Digital Domain, Framestore CFC, MK12, No Brain and Passion Pictures. Adverting agencies include Wieden+Kennedy, DFGW, BBDO, and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco. Neither of these lists is comprehensive.

This series will be of interest to anyone studying or using graphic design, animation or VFX, as well as anyone who is interested in advertising. It is also just a fun series to see a collection of international creative writing and visual effects.