[LINK] YouTube Taiwanese animation of Australian Election

[Robin Whittle]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for pointing this out:

> (Complete with commentary from the crew at 3AW.)
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_rOMhCHK50

The original video is here:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ_s6V1Kv6A

The summary is pretty good for something so short:

  The Labor Party swept to victory in 2007, with Kevin Rudd
  coming into power as Prime Minister. For a while, Rudd
  was enormously popular, but his plans to institute a new
  tax on mining companies and his failure to implement the
  government's emission trading scheme caused his popularity
  to plummet. The Labor party rose up against their wounded
  leader. In the end, he was replaced by his deputy, Julia
  Gillard. In this weekend's election, Gillard's toughest
  rival is Tony Abbott, leader of the Liberal Party. Abbott
  promised to be tough on immigration if he becomes Prime
  Minister. Although polls show Abbott way ahead of Gillard,
  the Labor/Green party coalition still has more support when
  counted together. 'Crocodile Harry' has predicted a Labor
  victory. This is the closest election in Australia in 50 years.

It is from:

  http://nma.com.tw/Profile.aspx

     Next Media Animation is the largest full-service 3D
     animation studio in Asia. We provide animation-to-order
     to some of the biggest entertainment and news providers
     around the world. Our services are end-to-end, provided
     all under one roof. From concept to story board to 3D
     modeling to production, we take your creative ideas and
     make them a reality. We're also fast. Turnaround times
     can be measured in HOURS, not days. And we have some of
     the lowest production costs in the industry. Next Media
     Animation is a unit of Next Media Limited, Hong Kong's
     largest publicly listed Chinese-language print media
     company and publisher of Apple Daily and Next Magazine in
     Hong Kong and Taiwan.

This page goes on to describe live actors and motion capture as part
of the animation process - and 3 hour turnaround times, with 300
artists on the case!

On Saturday night I thought it was a bit rough the way Channel 9 (I
think) trivialised the work of Labor parliamentarians who lost their
seats, by portraying each in turn as a metal duck in a shooting
gallery, while the compere talked vaguely about them and vaguely about
something else.

This intensive effort in animation made me think of Neil Postman's
"Amusing Ourselves To Death".

  - Robin