We are happy to announce that, after almost a year in the pipeline, our redesign/ repackaging/ re-imagining of HBO’s only Entertainment News show “The Buzz” has delivered and, this past weekend, launched.

The packaging, which was created in collaboration with the excellent folks at Exopolis, is innovative in many ways, but most notably in its awesome depth. Both in terms and visual interest and — most unusually for TV graphics — linguistic content, there are many layers working here. This is as it should be. The bar was high: “The Buzz” is a portal through which almost all of HBO’s programming is filtered and distilled, and the package had to — in a very central way — represent what the network is about. No small challenge.

I produced/directed the outgoing package (orange with animated figures communicating along honeycomb-like lines) back in 2001 (pre-Lucky 8 Prods) and it stayed on the air for over seven years. I’m personally very pleased with this new incarnation. I like the way it refers to the core essence of story-telling and human communication — i.e. pure language — but re-imagines it in a bold way to suggest that there are larger patterns and matrixes at work that we may not (at least at first) be aware of. In this context, the package’s clear connection to our other story-driven activities — 1000 Words most obviously — may NOT be a coincidence. Words, it seems, “r” us.

Music for this package was, after an agonizing process, conquered by Arkansas’ own Barry Poynter. Sound Effects by I. Malcolm Francis in NY. Creative directors at HBO-NY were Rob Stein and Sue Bailey. The guys at Exopolis-LA, though, primarily lead animator Magnus Hierto and Designer Camille Chu (who came up with the initial boards) deserve the most credit. Staff strategist Charlie Short weighed in big on the copywriting side — you’ll find a lot of his special humor in there if you look carefully. And special thanks to Garrett Braren and Jason O’Leary, Exopolis producers, for being so flexible as the Buzz folded, flipped, dangled and — most importantly — wrote itself into existence.

I have posted a clip of the main logo open for the show on my tv/longform page but it’s highly embarrassing to show it at You-Tube-rez. I am trying to figure out how to embed a movie there with a better looking clip. Until I do though, it will have to do. Or, of course, you can catch it in beautiful HD many times a day on HBO!

(NICKELODEON) The first of three music videos comissioned by Nick’s legendary variety show KA-BLAM!, this one for the hockey-band (yes, hockey-band) THE ZAMBONIS. This video has become a cult favorite on YouTube - show it to your kids and you’ll see why! Directed by Jesse Gordon in collaboration with The Ink Tank/Asterisk Animation.

I discovered the work of Jay W. Saul on YouTube while exploring ideas for the imagery I wanted at the beginning and end of FUN ON EARTH. This imagery is supposed to suggest an alien life-form that lives in a fluid, multi-colored, multi-layered state; without a body; in constant change. Jay’s animations, particularly the incredible GLASS BLOWERS DREAM, were so perfect, I immediately contacted him. Amazingly, they were created (on computers that Jay makes himself) in HD — exactly the format in which I was working — and Jay generously gave me permission to use portions of them as bookends for short.

Watching Jay’s films, more than any other visual representation I have come across, suggests to me the constant churning of the mind as (sometimes) glimpsed during meditation. As it incessantly morphs and recontextualizes, flipping and flopping — as the yogis say — “like a fish”, the mind can bring us on journeys that we can only hope are as seamless and vibrant as Jay’s. When I mentioned this to Jay he told me that he does not set out with any goal in mind when he makes his films — in fact he improvises them, as a jazz musician would (Jay is also a musician) — and that he works hard to keep them as wide open and context-free as possible.

For more information on FUN ON EARTH, click here.

(NICKELODEON) Also for KA-BLAM!, the first of two for kids’ (and non-kids’) superband THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS. Directed by Jesse Gordon in collaboration with The Ink Tank/Asterisk Animation.

(PBS) A recurring segment for BETWEEN THE LIONS, the learning show from the creators of SESAME STREET. In each segment, two knights crash together to form a word. In this case the word is “Sleep”. Directed by Jesse Gordon in collaboration with The Ink Tank/Asterisk Animation.