The Art of Dancing Advent Calendar

An advent Calendar of awesome dancing action. Happy Christmas. See everyone in the New Year.

Loads more here. 

The shit girls say

True? Errrrrr..... bang on i'd say.

Alternative Christmas Music

Saint Savior. Great voice. She's like a vibrant and electro Kate Bush.

Here's the Spotify link to her EP Suukei. I recommend Red Sun.

Ben Howard - Old Pine. His Album Every Kingdom is great. Mellow and happy.

It's directed by Mickey Smith who did this... which is pure class.

Wood Kid - Iron. This is quite a big song that has been used on the Assasin Creed TV spot. The EP Iron is pretty epic

Inspiration for the end of the week

This is the Sir John talking about advertising then, and what it's like now. He says it disappoints him when he sees creatives watching youtube. I just hope the creatives in BBH just quickly switch their screen to Vimeo if he walks in. 

As always, he does have some great insights though.  

These guys have taken the tried and tested 'Insert country' has talent competition dance troupe routine and added a fresh spin. 

Remember originality is hard to find but making something seem fresh and new to people can be done. 

It also looks pretty bad ass. 

This is good also, not necessarily inspiration. However, some people are inspired by cats. If so, this link is for you.

http://procatinator.com/

How creative's can make it happen

Today i'd like to highlight this post by Dave Trott. 

If you don't read his blog. It it a must. Take a look here.

Anyway, here's a post that resonated with what we're going through at work. He says it much better than me. 

In the book ‘Jaws’, the marine biologist Matt Hooper dies at the end.

In the movie he doesn’t.

I always assumed this was because Hollywood likes happy endings.

So they just rewrote the script.

Well the real answer is yes, and no.

In the original shooting script, Matt Hooper did die.

The massive shark opened up his cage and ate him.

Just like the book.

That was what Spielberg was planning to shoot.

But things went wrong.

The big mechanical shark Spielberg was shooting wouldn’t work.

It became increasingly obvious they needed a backup plan.

So a second-unit was dispatched to Australia.

They were told to get some underwater footage of a real shark attacking the cage.

But when they got there, they had a problem.

The sharks weren’t thirty feet long like the one in Jaws.

They were fifteen feet long.

Which didn’t look like the terrifying monster they wanted.

How could they make a medium sized shark look huge?

Obviously, what gives something its scale is what it’s compared to.

Which in this case, would be the man in the cage.

So they thought, what if we had a little person in the cage?

Then the smaller shark would look much bigger.

And no one would know what size the man was, because he’d be covered in a black rubber suit and miniature oxygen tanks.

So they lowered the film crew and camera into the water.

Then they lowered the shark cage into the water.

Then they got the little person ready to go into the water.

But before they could, the shark began attacking the cage.

Going crazy and ripping it apart.

When it was over they called Spielberg.

They said, we’ve got good news and bad news.

The good news is we got fantastic footage of the shark attacking the cage.

The bad news is the cage was empty.

Spielberg thought for a bit.

He said “Okay, that’s not a problem.”

And he sat down and rewrote the script so that Matt Hooper managed to escape from the cage before the shark destroyed it.

That was the easy bit.

Now he had to sell it to the Universal Studio execs.

(And remember, at this time Spielberg was still an unknown 27 year old.)

He called them up and said “I’ve been thinking, I want to take out the sub-plot where Matt Hooper has an affair with Police Chief Brody’s wife. It diverts our attention from the point of the movie, which should always be the shark.

It complicates the relationship between the two men, gets in the way and confuses things. Because Hooper has seduced Brody’s wife he becomes the bad guy, so he has to die at the end of the film.

By removing the affair we can create a bond between them, and we have the added advantage of being able to have both guys alive at the end of the movie. So they can swim off talking and joking together, which is a much more uplifting ending.”

And the people at Universal agreed.

They were happy to lose the unsavoury element of marital infidelity.

They thought Spielberg was being sensible and responsible.

And Spielberg never mentioned the real reason.

Which was the only usable footage he had was of a shark attacking an empty cage

He took their attention off what he really wanted.

And diverted their attention to something else.

And while they were concentrating on that, he slid what he really wanted through unnoticed.

Just the way a stage magician does.

Just the way a film director does in a movie, in fact.

He used the same technique he usually uses to persuade the audience of something.

But this time he used it to persuade the studio execs.

There’s a lesson for all creative people there.

A full on movie experience

Done for Playstation 3. Watch out for the crazy morph suits. They actually being put to good use here, unlike when i saw them being worn on a stag do.

Address is Approximate film

From The Theory and directed by Tom Jenkins. Nice piece of work that is all shot using the Canon 5D Mk2. 

Domino's Pizza hero game

It's like Guitar Hero, but instead of shredding your topping.

If you love off-beat music videos

Directed by Keith Schofield. Big fan. Check out his work here. http://keithschofield.com/

Nice HTLM5 site

This is a nice site from Honda. The Honda Experiment. Move the windows to complete the puzzle. It's a nice idea using HTML5. However, it probably could have been done in flash and worked in very much the same way. 

Take a look here. 

iPad 'slide to unlock' gimick ads

Audi's go (probably better than the one below. So, if you look at one video, look at this one.)

Amnesty International's version

It's been done now. Everyone move on.

Challenge a marathon runner

Asics made a massive 60 foot digital screen to let people experience a professional marathon runners pace. People could run along side Ryan Hall and see if they could match him. It's safe to say..he's quick.

Bat shit crazy

Combining hire wire 'Slack lining' with base jumping.

AWESOME!

Epic trick shots with a frisbee and a basketball. Gets better as it goes. 

Some clever little online ideas

This is a nice idea that leverages twitter.

 

Also, check out this rather clever banner ad. I know, who thought people were still making creative banner executions. 

Stop motion of toys from the 80s and 90s

I had a lot of these. There are loads of Transformers in here which i actually had. If only i had them now. Alas.

This is doing the rounds

Note: To make a good viral piece of content. Animal... check, Film parody reference... check, costume.... check.

Friday Mash

Two cool music/theme/advert mash ups from Ithaca Audio.

Don't hold back, just push things forward

 

Rolling in the beat

If i had better street lingo i would say something better than "SICK!" to describe these.

The new Vaccines Instagram video

The video explaining the whole idea

The video for the song Wetsuit

This is a great idea for a music video. The Vaccines wanted fans to tag their instagram festival photos for a chance to feature in their video. 

Simple and it really works. 

Don't be a jack of all trades...be a master of one

Apparently it takes 10,000 hours to get really really good at something. That's alot of practice. 

Daniel Levitin in This is Your Brain on Music talks about the theory of 10,000 hours:

… ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert — in anything. In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again. Ten thousand hours is the equivalent to roughly three hours per day, or twenty hours per week, of practice over ten years. Of course, this doesn’t address why some people don’t seem to get anywhere when they practice, and why some people get more out of their practice sessions than others. But no one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.

Just check out Harold Owens III. A Yo-yo expert. 

Everyone has to specialise in something at some point. Just some people's specialism is way cooler than others.

Fly over planet earth

If you can, watch it in 1080 HD and full screen. Wicked!

Twirl & Twirl & Twirl

A nice new ad from Cadbury's. This contraption actually will exist for real. Not sure where yet. But it looks amazing!

Nike go back to the future!

THEY EXIST FOR REAL!!!!!

Some are going on Ebay for around $5000. All proceeds going to Michael J Fox's charity.

Nice work.

Check out the ebay page here

Stocking...the new photography fad of the net?

Recreating stock photography. But only if you have nothing else to do. 

There's more here.

Skillz to pay the billz

The stunts these people do are so bonkers their skills deserves to be spelt with a Z!

Banksy strikes in the West Country

Via HyperDot

Nike + run data Vis

This is cool.

A years worth of Nike + date turned into art prints for consumers.

Do you know what a QR code is yet?

Video's for a friday

All worth watching...

World's largest stop motion film all shot on a Nokia N8



Who knew Disney re-used animation?



The end of the Old Spice battle

Be in a music video

I'm suprised this hasn't been done sooner. However, it works as it seems Rihanna will lend her face and music to Nivea, which is the main battle for something like this never happening.

Click here to have a go. All on facebook as you would expect.

MILK ME!!!

Thank your Wank!

This week didn't start off having a sex theme. However, it seems to have leaned that way for some reason.

Lots of sexually fuelled ideas hitting the ol' inbox this week. Check out Thankyourwank.com

Use facebook to thank those people you have...you know...

Sexy Fingers

It's for Aids awareness. It does have a purpose. Otherwise your just playing with some cartoon willy's and boobs for your own amusement... Oh, hang on a minute.

Go here to have a look.

By the way if your lucky to have a 27 inch monitor such as myself, don't hold back. Blow that shit up full screen.

As a side not to that previous sentence. Only do that if you work in your own office.

Old Spice Guy vs Fabio

This is a great development of the Old Spice Guy responses campaign. Pitting the very manly Old Spice Guy against the 80's actor/model (prize for who gets that!) Fabio.

Fabio needs some acting lessons. Unless that's part of the idea and i'm missing it.

Instagram music video

A really simple idea to create a bands new music video. Use people's summer shots from Instgram. All they do it tag them.

K-Swiss hires a new CEO

The new Inbetweeners trailer

Having done one of these holidays i can't help but laugh with a slight feeling of pain and remorse.

You Vs and The Wheel of Concept

This is a nice simple competition idea for Oakley and Mark Cavendish (i'm a fan of both as i cycle quite a bit).

Try and out sprint him in a interactive video where your facebook details are used to personalise your clothing and bike etc etc. The prize is the chance to race him for real.

There's more athletes to come. Kevin Pietersen and Ian Poulter are still to come.

Plus i saw this today. I'm a couple of days late to it but it's worth a mention.

The Wheel of Concept

Type in the brand that you need an idea for and then spin the wheel and get a random concept board.

It's really well done. So well done all creatives might as well just rely on this.

Pub?

Mini Maps

Pretty sweet idea from Mini. Race around google map race courses. You can play friends live as well.

Burger King does it again

Whopper Lust. A dedicated TV channel showing nothing but a whopper. Watch it for 5 minutes and get a whopper. Simple and amazing.

This will be winning awards until next year.

The agency that takes over this account from CP&B has a tough act to follow.

Meet Donna. A copywriter with a bright future

May we introduce Donna. A receptionist turned copywriter who is offering her writing wit for free.

Donna seems incapable of writing a dull sentence. She has brightened up many people's day with her fun style of writing.

If anyone is in need of copy and wants Donna's skills in a 'try before you buy' job, then i suggest you go to here website now.

DONNA DOES COPY

How to apply for a job...and shit

Le Club

This is a interesting twist on an interactive youtube video. The more people that view the 'Le Club' video the hotter the party gets. At the moment there are 3/4 videos left to reveal and if you go back through the older videos, you can see the detail that's being added.

I'm sure a lot of creatives have tried to sell in the same idea. But it's the execution of the videos that makes this good.

Viewers will be enticed with the fact that the women (and men) are getting hotter and they are all wearing less and less and less and less.

Quite brave for a water brand. But hey, it's Perrier and they're French. So, they don't care.

The Pool

Nike takes a pool in Dagenham that was about to be demolished and turns it into BMX track.

They called it.... The Pool.

The latest digital ideas

Before Cannes hits advertising with all the best work from around the world check out some of latest campaigns.

Intel Museum of Me

A nice use of facebook data scraping. The Like video room is particularly good.

My Toblerone

Add a chunk (video, image, phrase) to the Toblerone and win stuff.

Real life likes from Diesel.

McDonalds billboard game from Sweden. Those crazy Swedes!

Nice update of Mortal Kombat

This is a nice new film update of the computer game Mortal Kombat. The Hollywood version was kinda shit, but these short episodes re-introduce all the characters in a much cooler way. Computer game shorts seem to have had a resurgence online of late by finding enough budget to put together something that Hollywood never could.

Check out the Street Fighter Legacy short below. Another nice film short with Ryu vs Ken. Weirdly, i actually used to go to Art College with the guy who plays Ken. He now has a much cooler career path that involves dragon ball punches.

The prologue that sets up all the characters for Mortal Kombat Legacy.

MK Legacy - Episode 1

Just click through the annotations on this video to find the other eight shorts. Scorpion vs Sub Zero is particularly good.

Street Fighter Legacy

Cats in Tanks

Yes, it's amazing.

Via Hello Kinsella.

More SNL goodness

Almost as good as the others. Still funny though.

Daft Punk medley mash up

Listen to some classic Daft Punk and sit and watch pretty colours. A good way to break for five minutes. Watch and Listen here.

The. Best. Excuse. Ever!

A new Lonely Island track

Word will not describe how good this is.

Some really nice ads from google

How to humanise the internet. Emotion stuff.

New Cadbury's ad

Great track feel good track on this one.

Give this photographer a medal

A beautiful day that finished with a happy ending.

The future of camera lens

Could lens be wireless?

It's a pretty cool concept.

Ever wondered what it's like behind a website..

Well wonder no more... head to back of a webpage for loads more.

Via JBSurrey.

Girls + Surfboard + Nike = Exciting!

This grinds my gears

One of the first big youtube viral hits. JK's wedding entrance dance.

64 million views. It's charming, funny, unexpected and different.

This is T-mobile attempt. And i say attempt in the loosest possible way.

Everything from the original that they have ripped off has been lost.

There's no warmth, fun or human emotion whatsoever.

If the royal wedding looks as shit as this they might as well not bother getting married. Plus the acting's shit and it's too staged.

I could go on.

Also, what's annoying is that it will get the hits this weekend and will be talked about. But that doesn't stop it being shit.

Creatives, hang your heads in shame.

New old spice ad

Better? Not sure myself.

Projection mapping that will blow you mind

Clever and not what you might expect.

iPad Portraits

All that tech and innovation within the iPad and iPhone and all people want to do is take silly pictures of themselves.

More portraits here via mashable.

Music for the summer ahead

Jamie Woon



Dirty Gold

More on them here.

Clare Maguire

Lonely Island are back!

Thank F**K it's FRIDAY

All funny. All a complete waste of time. That's why you should watch them all.

All via Lolmatts. They find it. I just repost it!

Posters About Sex

Sex can never be by accident apparently.... bang goes that excuse. Damn.

Get your finger involved with this Skittle virals

More here

Mobile is taking over the world...

According to this anyway.

ADVERTISING....THE MOVIE

One to watch for advertising types.... maybe. You might hate advertising.

I can't get enough of branded content aimed at my demographic.

Girls can't make gun sounds

A website that is dedicated to girls making gun sounds. I'm not making this up.

Weirdly watchable. Click here.

Happy friday

Shit Scamps - Real scamps, real shit!

Take a moment today to laugh at some creatives drawing skills... or lack of.

The stories that go with them are equally entertaining.

Take a look here.

Hot Wheels Secret Race

Saw this on friday and quite liked it. Go full screen!

Why didn't i think of that?

Today's post is about ideas that are so ridiculously simple you wish you had thought of them.

Unless the product and the problem is given to a creative, it's quite hard to go out there and find a product and problem to solve. It's something that we all did back in education (cause you had to) but once in a full time job, other stuff (like a life and the pub) replaces that need to sit down and do spec work.

Anyway, rant over. These ideas are not ground breaking and don't fit into that 'Cannes Award Winning Integrated BIG IDEA" category, but they do show some clever thinking. It's just a shame that ideas like this don't just pop into your head.

They might do into yours, but my remains a void most of the time outside of work.

Flipping the product.

Flipping the logo. Classic stuff, eh?

And finally a small but clever digital idea for the funkier generation.

E-Folder Desktop

Ikea lets you turn your desktop into some of their storage units. Your icons even become Ikea storage boxes. Click here to download it.

That's it.

I have no idea what to say next...

I was going to write a deep and meaningful post...

...then i saw this and thought it was much better.

Some stuff to end the week

So if your here reading this it means you are wasting some time on a friday afternoon. It's ok, i wasted a bit of time putting this together.

Here's some more interesting stuff we found this week.

Check out this TV spot for Jim Bean featuring William Dafoe. Nicely shot and with a slick VO.

Credits:

Agency: Strawberry Frog

Chief Creative Officer: Kevin McKeon

Creative Director: Josh Greenspan and Jason Koxvold

Creative Team:

Todd Beeby

Brian Platt

Jed Cohen

Karl Haddad

Agency Producer: Sherri Levy

Director: Dante Ariola

Director of Photography: Emmanuel Lubezky

Editor: Adam Pertofsky @ Rock Paper Scissors

Visual Effects Company: The Mill, NY

Now check out Howard Kingsnorth. A photographer who has some serious landscape skillz. Yes, i meant to spell skills with a Z. Just check out the photo below.

Finally see which side of you is the better side. Echoism takes the left and right side of your face and puts them both together. It's an experiment from the artist Julian Wolkenstein.

Everyone who has done it has their photo added to this virtual galleries, which i am sure the artist will use for something.

The virtual gallery

Here's what the artist says...

There is a myth, some say a science, suggesting people who have more symmetrical faces are considered more “attractive “.

If you are made symmetrical, do you consider yourself more beautiful, less so, or is it just weird? Or is it you at all? Do you have a best side? What is to be said of left and right brain dominance?

This is a series of photographic portraits completed in 2010. The subjects were specifically cast for their individual facial features. They were photographed front to camera and in the same position. They were asked not to express emotions or character.

This initial study focusing on facial symmetry, is part of a larger piece revolving around facial features, facial proportions and facial symmetry.

An accompanying website and continuing project titled "Echoism" is at echoism.org

The term Echoism relates to fascial symmetry in its physiognomical sense.