The music video has always been a playground for creativity, which probably explains why so many great movie directors, from David Fincher to Michael Bay, first made their names with videos for the likes of George Michael (Fincher directed ‘Freedom 90′) and Meat Loaf (Bay directed the epic ‘I would do anything for love… but I won’t do that’).
Thanks to the the ability for anyone to rip a video off the internet and play around with it in their bedroom, something wonderfully creative has happened… and that’s the rise of the ‘literal video’. basically, a ‘literal video’ is where a music video has its lyrics altered to describe the visuals that you see in the video… which then not only highlights the bizarreness of the video but also gives the video a new comic lease of life.
When I was a kid growing up in Bradford I had one very memorable trip home from school that involved walking right through the middle of a riot. You see, some dude called Salman Rushdie had put pen to paper and written something called the Satanic Verses… and quite a few people were very unhappy that it was being sold in our city (which has a high Muslim population), so unhappy in fact that they decided to smash up the centre of Bradford.
History is littered with groups of people turning to violence, or drastic action, to both highlight their anger at something or demand change within society. From the Suffragettes burning their bras to the student protests in the US against the Vietnam War to more recent G20 protests around the world.
Every now and then you come across something so brilliant that it jumps out and demands your attention. When I was recently introduced to the concept of ‘cinemagraphs’, I had one of those moments. Read more…
I like Creative Mornings. I don’t mean waking up and deciding to put odd socks on, wearing your hair a bit different or doodling on a steamy bus window on the way to work. I’m talking about the monthly breakfast lectures titled ‘Creative Mornings‘.
Creative Mornings is a series of monthly breakfast lectures given by leaders within the worldwide creative industries. Each event is totally free of charge and includes a 20 minute talk plus coffee. What a perfect way to start the day, eh!
The lectures are currently held in New York, Zurich, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Now, I know what you’re thinking. What’s a girl who lives in Salford Quays doing jet-setting across the globe every month?
Earlier this week I gave a talk on digital video and how advertising agencies are changing to facilitate a wide range of video needs that are required by clients. From high budget brand TV adverts to medium budget DRTV adverts right to low budget web-video… the demand is increasing and now’s the time to invest in skills and training.
I gave the talk on behalf of GBM at ‘Band on the Wall’ in Manchester and have split it into three parts of around 10 minutes each. Thanks to GBM and everyone who came to the talk, I hope you found it informative… I certainly enjoyed putting it together.
Parts two and three can be viewed by clicking the red button below.
Saul Bass was not only one of the great graphic designers of the mid-20th century, but also the undisputed master of film title design. With a career spanning over fifty years – which included collaborations with Otto Preminger, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese (among others) – the work he produced was consistently innovative. While always of the moment, Saul Bass’ work is as relevant today as it was fifty years ago as it continues to appeal to the audience’s emotions and intellect. Read more…
Being a virtual being that only lives on the Web… I know some pretty cool places to go. The latest of these has to be Winkball, which despite only being launched in September of this year, has already amassed over 100,000 users that include popstars, politicians and sporting icons. The brainchild of creative computer scientist Dr James Ohene-Djan, of Goldsmiths College, and Duncan Barclay, company founder of Correspondent.com, WinkBall.com aims to put creativity, fun and user personality back into online communications. By allowing people to express themselves using video in private and public online spaces, WinkBall.com enables everyone to have a video voice in Digital Britain.
After a few fun, intense days of editing I’ve just uploaded my entry to the Getty Mishmash Music Video Remix Competition. From the moment I heard about this competition I knew I had to enter as it gave me the chance to dabble in two of my favourite things: music and film. There was also the small matter of a shiny new 17″ MacBook Pro with Final Cut Studio installed for the winner. Phwooar. The rules to the competition were delightfully simple: make a music video using Getty footage and music. Er that’s it. After whiling away a few hours sampling the delights of the Getty film footage catalog and music collection an idea began to taken shape. You can see my video ‘The Devil & Mr Jones’ here. I’m excited about the result although i’m up against some stiff competition from those pesky professional film directors/editors. Feel free to post ego massaging comments after you’ve viewed it. Thanks.
Who’d have thought a Swedish furniture shop could provide the ideal location for a gripping melodrama?
I thought it was just somewhere couples went to have arguments.
Ikea Heights is a spoof soap opera filmed entirely at the Burbank store in California without the store’s permission. It’s really well done too. Customers are milling around in the background, busy deliberating whether the BILLY or the FLÄRKE bookcase would better complement their lounge decor… blissfully unaware of the scandal and intrigue unfolding around them.
What do you think of when you hear the words YouTube? How about, the good, the bad, and the ugly? Sometimes it’s really ugly, sometimes confusingly, you get all 3 in one movie. While YouTube is undoubtedly the place to go to get as many eyeballs on your video as possible, I’m sure I’m not the only one who wishes there was a magical button to filter out the mobile phone uploads of last nights party, the offensive comments and get straight to the really good stuff. Well, there isn’t. But there is Vimeo, a place where you can find a community of passionate filmmakers, along with the likes of Moby, Royksopp, Kanye West, film director Michael Bay, and even the White House, uploading their stuff in high definition.
Last edited by Andrew Campbell on October 7, 2009 at 11:40 am
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The music video has always been a playground for creativity, which probably explains why so many great movie directors, from David Fincher to Michael Bay, first made their names with videos for the likes of George Michael (Fincher directed ‘Freedom 90′) and Meat Loaf (Bay directed the epic ‘I would do anything for love… but I won’t do that’).
Every now and then you come across something so brilliant that it jumps out and demands your attention. When I was recently introduced to the concept of ‘cinemagraphs’, I had one of those moments. 
Being a virtual being that only lives on the Web… I know some pretty cool places to go. The latest of these has to be Winkball, which despite only being launched in September of this year, has already amassed over 100,000 users that include popstars, politicians and sporting icons. The brainchild of creative computer scientist Dr James Ohene-Djan, of Goldsmiths College, and Duncan Barclay, company founder of Correspondent.com, WinkBall.com aims to put creativity, fun and user personality back into online communications. By allowing people to express themselves using video in private and public online spaces, WinkBall.com enables everyone to have a video voice in Digital Britain.
Who’d have thought a Swedish furniture shop could provide the ideal location for a gripping melodrama?
What do you think of when you hear the words YouTube? How about, the good, the bad, and the ugly? Sometimes it’s really ugly, sometimes confusingly, you get 
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