I recently wrote about the Australian production company, Blue Tongue Films, and decided to take a deeper look into two founders, Joel and Nash Edgerton. They have received 25 awards since they began in 1998, including a Short Film Award Honorable Mention at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Since 1992, they have directed, produced, acted, edited or wrote in over 90 films.

The Edgertons provided interesting insights into both their inspiration and background, especially if you are considering a career in the film industry and require some guidance.

Sorry I’m Late is a fantastic short animation by director Tomas Mankovsky. This was shot at the Amadeus Centre in London in December of 2007. The film was shot with a 1:1 ratio, successfully shattering my expectations of the limits of film and animation. Documentation on the creation of this piece can be found at the film’s website.

Blue Tongue Films, a highly-regarded Australian production company, has created a number of popular films over the past few years, and are one of the most well-known short film production companies in the world. Four notable directors founded this venture in 1996: Joel & Nash Edgerton, Kieran Darcy-Smith and Tony Lynch. They have expanded the list of directors to include Luke Doolan, Spencer Susser and David Michôd.

15" × 19" posters printed by Nick Sherman to promote the documentary Typeface

Typeface, a new documentary film by Justine Nagan, tells the story of an extinct profession and reveals the world surrounding woodblock typography.

Wood type is shown through the lens of the Hamilton Type Museum, a once-famous type foundry. The film takes place in three different areas in the Northern United States: the Museum in Two Rivers, WI; Post Family artists’ collective in Chicago, IL, and; Purdue Univeristy in West Lafayette, IN. All play into Typeface’s story:

The museum’s … existence is critical to the worldwide design community who are passionate about the history of their craft and its function in the contemporary field. They believe the future of the industry may lie in the past.

Work in Guatamala City by street artist Above during a South American tour in 2007.

At The Journal we spend a lot of time discussing design. More specifically, we talk about user interfaces, graphic design and typography. To take a break from the norm, Inksie’s Dave gives us a tour of one of his inspirations, street art.

Before the computer, graphic design was necessarily tactile. The primary exports of the industry were things like books, posters and periodicals. Type was physical; images were on negatives; layouts were sketched.

Street art and graffiti get back to these sensuous roots. They are art for the everyday, the masses. They manipulate a reality beyond the digital. They are about seeing things in a different way, about an experience, a message. They are about expression.

What’s best part? Its free.

Boxee home theater set-top box device

Boxee is a software based media player that was released back in the Summer of 2008 and is currently developing a set-top box (in conjunction with D-Link) for use in a home theater.  The software currently is in beta and is available for a free download. It runs on any Intel x86 based processor: Windows, Linux, Mac, and the Apple TV. I’m glad to see electronics manufacturers thinking differently with products like these. They state on their website, “Boxee is the first “social” media center, whose free, open source, downloadable software is changing the way consumers experience media.” Which in many ways is true. The internet is coming to television in a big way.