Friday, 7 August 2009
Disney natures first effort - looks pretty sweet
For a better look click here
To see how they made it click here
UK release date Sept 25th
The filmmakers spent a year on location, fed digital content back and fwds to London and post done with Final Cut Studio. So my new Mac and Final Cut Studio has turned up, not sure I'll be matching this lot just yet...
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
A stella doc coming up
If anyone has been following the Contador Armstrong story for the last few weeks of the tour de france then this promises to be a sensational documentary. They have the raw materials...
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
On my list
The Hurt Locker from the director of Point Break Kathryn Bigelow. This without a doubt looks a raw take on an interesting role within war. It is out before Green Zone which is in post production at the moment, with Paul Greengrass at the helm will surely pull an equal amount of punches.
http://thehurtlocker-movie.com/
http://thehurtlocker-movie.com/
Monday, 6 July 2009
Music video shot entirely on I-Phone
http://www.psfk.com/2009/07/music-video-shot-entirely-via-iphone.html
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Digital disruption
Something I have been asked recently was about TBWA's disruption philosophy in digital, and how this could be possible given that the point of digital is engagement? Well firstly the point of disruption, if I 'get it' right, isn't to disrupt people but disrupt convention of markets. So for digital it stays the same, how can we create an experience that disrupts the convention in order for it to truly stand out from the crowd.
Secondly just saying that the point of digital is engagment is misguided. The buzz is about participation and engagement. Yes this is something that digital now allows but to say that other types of digital creative activity are redundant is misguided. It is about getting the mix and balance right and for me they are all centred on experience. Whether this experience involves participation is the question...
Secondly just saying that the point of digital is engagment is misguided. The buzz is about participation and engagement. Yes this is something that digital now allows but to say that other types of digital creative activity are redundant is misguided. It is about getting the mix and balance right and for me they are all centred on experience. Whether this experience involves participation is the question...
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
A true visual discussion?
It has been a while since I have been stimulated to blog in a work capacity, but something has dragged me out of my stupor. Story and digital merge to create motion picture. Whilst this blog has recently been focused on my creative adventuring/creating currency, or whatever you want to call it, my professional background is, lets not forget, digital, whilst my passion is moving picture and story, and something I am constantly actively cultivating, so it is not a surprise that this did the trick…
One reason I ever blog is to get my thoughts together when I am unsure about them, and Purefold definitely is something that you can’t grasp straight away and something that has flicked a switch.
The premise if I surmise correctly, we have a topic: What does it mean to be human? This is seemingly topical having watched the pointless Terminator Salvation’s attempts to deal with this same question last weekend. This topic is to be the centre of an open media franchise. Here brands, platforms, filmmakers, product developers and communities can collaboratively imagine our near future.
Interpreting this; we have a topic, let’s get everyones thoughts on the matter and create some compelling content. The content, webisodes initially, are interlinked and the story continually evolves… Essentially this is creating a visual discussion.
There are several things that strike me:
1. Informed by real time conversation: The integration of the subject to the method.
The audience's thoughts regarding the topic are integrated by listening to conversation online, currently friendfeed is quoted. This is effectively using intelligence to groom our thoughts from across the web, distil them into a story and reprocess them for our consumption. This is potentially a much deeper web (spiders not internet) than just using digital to integrate the user, it is topic starting to become embedded into the process.
Given that it runs for 8 years we have no idea how the user thoughts will be groomed and integrated, and it would not surprise me if these issues were not all intertwined in some capacity into the actual content.
2. Getting user participation: The promise
Practically one thing intrigues me, which is personal reward. One of the reasons that the web is highly interactive is gratification:
• Instant involvement, I can see I have had an effect i.e. my picture is involved on a site, or
• Self actualisation / ego. I push out my thoughts but they never go anywhere get judged etc but I feel important
Here lays the problem and something I blogged about a couple of years ago, the promise.
What is the audience promise? That you can shape the content? Now this is what I am interested in, how feasible is it for me as an individual to shape it? And if I can’t do this do I feel cheated, not valued and resent the concept?
As I wrote this and redrafted it I feel that this is less about direct interaction but more passive interaction and that the loyalty will be due to the creativity.
Personally I think that it is interesting because it puts digital and potentially the semantic web at the heart of a visual discussion on what it means to be human. The only question is how do you have a visual discussion rather than a visual feast where my voice isn’t heard but just consumed and repurposed? The ride looks like it will be fun…
As for the ‘brand involvement’ and potential negative views on this. If it is a true visual discussion and the brands are committed to the creative then they will get welcomed by its community. The integrity can’t be compromised else there will be no community.
In a time when everyone wants to be doing ‘engagement’ projects and things that involve ‘participation’ we create fads, things that come and go but don’t have longevity or actually contribute, they become meaningless and not memorable. The power of digital is to connect it is not changing what is the most powerful content which is motion picture.
I look forward to consuming my own thoughts via a minority style experience booth soon…
One reason I ever blog is to get my thoughts together when I am unsure about them, and Purefold definitely is something that you can’t grasp straight away and something that has flicked a switch.
The premise if I surmise correctly, we have a topic: What does it mean to be human? This is seemingly topical having watched the pointless Terminator Salvation’s attempts to deal with this same question last weekend. This topic is to be the centre of an open media franchise. Here brands, platforms, filmmakers, product developers and communities can collaboratively imagine our near future.
Interpreting this; we have a topic, let’s get everyones thoughts on the matter and create some compelling content. The content, webisodes initially, are interlinked and the story continually evolves… Essentially this is creating a visual discussion.
There are several things that strike me:
1. Informed by real time conversation: The integration of the subject to the method.
The audience's thoughts regarding the topic are integrated by listening to conversation online, currently friendfeed is quoted. This is effectively using intelligence to groom our thoughts from across the web, distil them into a story and reprocess them for our consumption. This is potentially a much deeper web (spiders not internet) than just using digital to integrate the user, it is topic starting to become embedded into the process.
Given that it runs for 8 years we have no idea how the user thoughts will be groomed and integrated, and it would not surprise me if these issues were not all intertwined in some capacity into the actual content.
2. Getting user participation: The promise
Practically one thing intrigues me, which is personal reward. One of the reasons that the web is highly interactive is gratification:
• Instant involvement, I can see I have had an effect i.e. my picture is involved on a site, or
• Self actualisation / ego. I push out my thoughts but they never go anywhere get judged etc but I feel important
Here lays the problem and something I blogged about a couple of years ago, the promise.
What is the audience promise? That you can shape the content? Now this is what I am interested in, how feasible is it for me as an individual to shape it? And if I can’t do this do I feel cheated, not valued and resent the concept?
As I wrote this and redrafted it I feel that this is less about direct interaction but more passive interaction and that the loyalty will be due to the creativity.
Personally I think that it is interesting because it puts digital and potentially the semantic web at the heart of a visual discussion on what it means to be human. The only question is how do you have a visual discussion rather than a visual feast where my voice isn’t heard but just consumed and repurposed? The ride looks like it will be fun…
As for the ‘brand involvement’ and potential negative views on this. If it is a true visual discussion and the brands are committed to the creative then they will get welcomed by its community. The integrity can’t be compromised else there will be no community.
In a time when everyone wants to be doing ‘engagement’ projects and things that involve ‘participation’ we create fads, things that come and go but don’t have longevity or actually contribute, they become meaningless and not memorable. The power of digital is to connect it is not changing what is the most powerful content which is motion picture.
I look forward to consuming my own thoughts via a minority style experience booth soon…
Friday, 22 May 2009
On reflection
Thinking about the trip as a whole I am reminded of being in Kathmandu having done the trip, all washed up, in many forms of the phrase, but fresh thanks to the lads at Bulldog, a few kilos down, still feeling ill, lying on my guesthouse bed.
It was then that I really felt like we had achieved something out of the ordinary and out of our comfort zones. We were in a developing country having been through hostile terrain that doesn't tolerate life, had literally dug into our bodies to do so and come through it more complete people, an evolution we'd all shared and seen with our own eyes.
Since I being back in the UK it is the execution of what we did that I take pride in. We had a vision and collective responsibility to implement the challenge in a way that would make people who knew us and saw us on TV or in papers proud, and the feedback we've received endorsed this. Finally it is also how people who were close to the organisation have grown as individuals and are looking for this to be the start of something rather than the end.
It was then that I really felt like we had achieved something out of the ordinary and out of our comfort zones. We were in a developing country having been through hostile terrain that doesn't tolerate life, had literally dug into our bodies to do so and come through it more complete people, an evolution we'd all shared and seen with our own eyes.
Since I being back in the UK it is the execution of what we did that I take pride in. We had a vision and collective responsibility to implement the challenge in a way that would make people who knew us and saw us on TV or in papers proud, and the feedback we've received endorsed this. Finally it is also how people who were close to the organisation have grown as individuals and are looking for this to be the start of something rather than the end.
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
On mountain updates
Day 5
Yesterday a group of 12 of us 'coached' children cricket at Khumjung school. 'Coached' is a loose term as so many of the children were too young for specific skills training, so that gave way to fun games. To see the joy in their faces was uplifting and as the school was at the bottom of an 'indiana jones' type set of stone steps, it felt like cricket was on some sort of frontier journey. Selecting the 12 people from 50 was a tough task and ultimately we went for those whose behavior still resembled that of who we were visiting - it was a wise choice! At the end we presented a full bag of cricket kit to the school.
Days 1 - 3
The third day in and the first chance to write. Two hours sleep in three days as we went from London to our first trek night meant that I really felt the pace on day 1 when I thought I may be suffering from altitude, fortunately it was only sleep deprivation, but after 18 months planning it is only today on day 3 of the trek I feel relaxed and that we are actually here. My biggest thrill so far was the professionalism of the medical team, I spent a lot of effort recruiting them and to see them not only deliver the goods but gain the trust of the team has been so rewarding. On a personal note I have managed to get lots of stunning film footage with easily the biggest challenge persuading enthusiastic people to ignore the camera!
Yesterday a group of 12 of us 'coached' children cricket at Khumjung school. 'Coached' is a loose term as so many of the children were too young for specific skills training, so that gave way to fun games. To see the joy in their faces was uplifting and as the school was at the bottom of an 'indiana jones' type set of stone steps, it felt like cricket was on some sort of frontier journey. Selecting the 12 people from 50 was a tough task and ultimately we went for those whose behavior still resembled that of who we were visiting - it was a wise choice! At the end we presented a full bag of cricket kit to the school.
Days 1 - 3
The third day in and the first chance to write. Two hours sleep in three days as we went from London to our first trek night meant that I really felt the pace on day 1 when I thought I may be suffering from altitude, fortunately it was only sleep deprivation, but after 18 months planning it is only today on day 3 of the trek I feel relaxed and that we are actually here. My biggest thrill so far was the professionalism of the medical team, I spent a lot of effort recruiting them and to see them not only deliver the goods but gain the trust of the team has been so rewarding. On a personal note I have managed to get lots of stunning film footage with easily the biggest challenge persuading enthusiastic people to ignore the camera!
Monday, 30 March 2009
Result
It is funny trying to get the balance between the offbeat nature of our project and capitalise on its commercial appeal. We've been keen from the start to get partners rather than logos, with Qatar Airways, Met Rx, Medirite and North Face etc we were on the right path.
Now after a long time coming we have secured our title partner, Nokia, and more specifically Nokia Maps. Really chuffed as in the current climate it has been tough, especially consumer sectors like mobile phones. We were determined that we were going to go with a brand who shared our passion and vision and actually had relevancy to our project, and Nokia Maps ticks all of those boxes.
So far it has been a pleasure working with the guys at Mission Media who look after Nokias account. Am especially looking forward to getting a wicked phone now to do some cool funky things on the mountain.
Also a big shout to Bulldog who have come on board as a grooming partner. Again it is going to be a huge positive in the evenings but mainly we've got a huge reception dinner party when we've finshed the expedition and after 18 days on the mountain we're going to need all the help we can get.
Now after a long time coming we have secured our title partner, Nokia, and more specifically Nokia Maps. Really chuffed as in the current climate it has been tough, especially consumer sectors like mobile phones. We were determined that we were going to go with a brand who shared our passion and vision and actually had relevancy to our project, and Nokia Maps ticks all of those boxes.
So far it has been a pleasure working with the guys at Mission Media who look after Nokias account. Am especially looking forward to getting a wicked phone now to do some cool funky things on the mountain.
Also a big shout to Bulldog who have come on board as a grooming partner. Again it is going to be a huge positive in the evenings but mainly we've got a huge reception dinner party when we've finshed the expedition and after 18 days on the mountain we're going to need all the help we can get.
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Why?
Spent some time properly back on the coal face recently, potential sponsor meetings, admin central, but also two great experiences one seeing the impact one of our charities is having and the other being the impact we can have on school children.
Yesterday I was lucky to visit the Lords Taverners Table Cricket at the Oval. Children with a range of disabilities playing a game that puts cricket in a table tennis environment. It struck me how much excitement that these children were having, and that is the same experience we will hopefully be getting on the mountain. How the world and expectations are relative. It is always a tough question what comes first helping charity or the event? It is a strange one to answer, they kind of come hand in hand. The event is taking advantage of what opportunities we have but in doing so we can create similar opportunities. Ultimately it is an awareness thing, getting the story out there. I spoke with a girl today on MSN Messenger, I'd worked with like 2 years ago, for a few months, I was able to talk about the charity and it's work. The next second £20 in the Lords Taverners account. She through me knows where it is going and that is will bring a smile to someones face the sort of smile she doesn't get too often because she isn't taking advantage of her opportunities, she said that not me.
Today was possibly my highlight so far, holding a talk / Q&A session and Avon House school in East London. They have spent the previous week making prayer flags which we will take to Nepal.
Basically nepali prayer flags are hung outside near everest, a prayer is written on them, every gust of wind takes the dream to the mountain and when the ink has worn off the dream/prayer is said to have happened.
The number of questions, hands up, and so on was phenomenal, as was the in unison 'good morning' response everytime one of use stepped up to speak.
Highlights would be:
Wes: Does anyone know who holds the world record for the 100m?
Year 7 pupil: Yes, my dad
Wes: Guess you win the my dad is better than your dad competition.
James: So does anyone have any wishes
Answer number 3: I wish that there wasn't knife crime
Answer 5: I wish that smokers lungs would get better
Answer number 7 or 8: Yes, I wish that Amy Whinehouse would have to take drugs
Glen: Doing stars jumps with 5 school children on stage
I will write some of the prayers on the flags at a later date, suffice to say they are phenomenally moving.
What I really took away from this morning was how global the issues were on these childrens radars, and how they were issues that dominated their wishes not too many wishes for being Nadal or Hamilton. It shows how much filters through to them at this age. Also how they enjoyed us being there, it is something I remembered from school having people come and talk, and I did love being on the other side of the fence. Their enthusiasm for all things Nepal, Everest and adventure was outstanding, and it was a girl who knew who Andrew Strauss was too!!!
Yesterday I was lucky to visit the Lords Taverners Table Cricket at the Oval. Children with a range of disabilities playing a game that puts cricket in a table tennis environment. It struck me how much excitement that these children were having, and that is the same experience we will hopefully be getting on the mountain. How the world and expectations are relative. It is always a tough question what comes first helping charity or the event? It is a strange one to answer, they kind of come hand in hand. The event is taking advantage of what opportunities we have but in doing so we can create similar opportunities. Ultimately it is an awareness thing, getting the story out there. I spoke with a girl today on MSN Messenger, I'd worked with like 2 years ago, for a few months, I was able to talk about the charity and it's work. The next second £20 in the Lords Taverners account. She through me knows where it is going and that is will bring a smile to someones face the sort of smile she doesn't get too often because she isn't taking advantage of her opportunities, she said that not me.
Today was possibly my highlight so far, holding a talk / Q&A session and Avon House school in East London. They have spent the previous week making prayer flags which we will take to Nepal.
Basically nepali prayer flags are hung outside near everest, a prayer is written on them, every gust of wind takes the dream to the mountain and when the ink has worn off the dream/prayer is said to have happened.
The number of questions, hands up, and so on was phenomenal, as was the in unison 'good morning' response everytime one of use stepped up to speak.
Highlights would be:
Wes: Does anyone know who holds the world record for the 100m?
Year 7 pupil: Yes, my dad
Wes: Guess you win the my dad is better than your dad competition.
James: So does anyone have any wishes
Answer number 3: I wish that there wasn't knife crime
Answer 5: I wish that smokers lungs would get better
Answer number 7 or 8: Yes, I wish that Amy Whinehouse would have to take drugs
Glen: Doing stars jumps with 5 school children on stage
I will write some of the prayers on the flags at a later date, suffice to say they are phenomenally moving.
What I really took away from this morning was how global the issues were on these childrens radars, and how they were issues that dominated their wishes not too many wishes for being Nadal or Hamilton. It shows how much filters through to them at this age. Also how they enjoyed us being there, it is something I remembered from school having people come and talk, and I did love being on the other side of the fence. Their enthusiasm for all things Nepal, Everest and adventure was outstanding, and it was a girl who knew who Andrew Strauss was too!!!
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Back to where I was brought up
Haben't blogged for a while, been using Twitter!!!
Had a great weekend at Boconnoc which meant I was able spend some time in Cornwall, where I grew up, before I headed off. Also stoked some of the guys like Glen and Tooves were able to see the stunning cornish coast for the first time.
A small article in the local press
Had a great weekend at Boconnoc which meant I was able spend some time in Cornwall, where I grew up, before I headed off. Also stoked some of the guys like Glen and Tooves were able to see the stunning cornish coast for the first time.
A small article in the local press
Saturday, 14 February 2009
Other peoples comments
I just loved this so much I wanted it on my blog, from JC's recent blog on general progress:
'Other than the usual medical precautions you take on board when doing an adventure like this, we where also informed we better take a test for 'Sudden Death Syndrome'. I think the clue is in the title and it makes you think that if it is so sudden, how do you test for it but I will no doubt find out soon.'
'Other than the usual medical precautions you take on board when doing an adventure like this, we where also informed we better take a test for 'Sudden Death Syndrome'. I think the clue is in the title and it makes you think that if it is so sudden, how do you test for it but I will no doubt find out soon.'
Intergration
I've managed to get my twitter embedded into my blog, quite chuffed, and got it integrated with my blackberry, amd now fully connected and going to be much easier to bore people with progress of the project!
Thursday, 5 February 2009
I know this still isn't twitter but...
loved Jamo's 'how to get a west indian cricket name' game today, where you were born + middle name.
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Pulling my head out of the sand
For the first time in my life I put my hand up the other day and said ‘I can’t go on like this’. It was a weird experience. There is no doubt that I’ve been doing a lot these past few months and that combined with having suffered an true illness, not some pokey bug, for the first time in my life it was a bit much. It really hit me that I might not get to the start line at
I’ve wanted to ignore the fact I was ill, because as per the text on our website it sounds like some piffy PR spin, and with justified banter I get from certain parts of the gang it re-enforced that attitude. However it was and is real and I needed to reassess where we were going and what I was doing. I couldn’t go on like this. Being ill, then better for a week, then ill, better for a week etc and this had gone on for two months. I’ve acknowledged this and delegated more Everest work and asked my 9-6 work to go to four days a week. That was a bold, and some say ballsy, call but I felt the right one deep down. I got lots of grief from my family but it paid off as work agreed. It is funny the relief I felt instantly after I asked them was huge, and the excitement when the said yes was pretty sweet too…
It was nice to have that time at home with the family questioning my priorities, though it didn’t seem that way at the time, but when you get too close to something it is hard to see the wood from the trees. Some people question being so open with parents, I guess I am lucky, I’ve always been able to be open with mine especially at times of making big life decisions, and doing so ensures that I keep perspective.
At the end of the day we are just a bunch of people trying to go up a mountain and do something that in our eyes is special and raise a decent amount of money for charity. But it takes the support of others to make even this small challenge happen and to my family and work I will be grateful for all their differing ways of delivering this.
Saturday, 10 January 2009
Friendly fire gets worse
So preoccupied with the Icebreaker top, because it was brand new and a christmas present from my Dad, where he wanted to try and help me on the trip, I missed that my technical micro-fleece was a comrade in battle and joined the Icebreaker in not surviving the hand grenade, or rather friendly fire. 
So I guess some chaps smaller than me, but bigger than Toovey, are going to get nice presents in Khumjung School.
Still no update on who foots the bill, she is bigging up the TV so presume that her opinion is that this admonishes her, maybe I should ask for a stake in the TV. Have also been advised advised to play around with the plug, putting a bigger fuse in and blowing it up claiming I was only trying to help.
Friday, 9 January 2009
Hero or villan
How can a female housemate temper her legendary status of buying a massive LCD top spec Bravia TV? By finding out, within minutes of her telling you that, that she has put your brand new icebreaker (merino wool) baselayer, the only really decent present this year, in the dryer and shrunk it.
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Welcome to the jungle
What a first three days! I thought it was full on last year balancing this all out. Now I have a new client at work in BT which I need to get familiar with, people are being made redundant left right and centre, and Everest as got even more hectic as we get close in on actually going. I am pulling a comprehensive project plan together, currently at 13 pages of a word document, and not font size 18 I promise.
On top of this I need to get fit, I have come off the back of 4 weeks off, a mixture of flu and suffering problems with my IT band due to pronating right foot. This all seems to have been fixed by shoes that account for this, rest and some exercises, but I suffered at the Trim Trail tonight! Anyway got back, been going through the inbox, actions actions actions, starting to close in on an expedition kit partner, couple of meetings including with Qatar's agency, getting one pager updated, sorting our first medical team meeting, and so on and so on! One part of me loves it, the other just isn't sure what I am doing! Thankfully the former is the dominant half! What does daunt me is finding the time to do personal fundraising! I don't get let off on that!
On top of this I need to get fit, I have come off the back of 4 weeks off, a mixture of flu and suffering problems with my IT band due to pronating right foot. This all seems to have been fixed by shoes that account for this, rest and some exercises, but I suffered at the Trim Trail tonight! Anyway got back, been going through the inbox, actions actions actions, starting to close in on an expedition kit partner, couple of meetings including with Qatar's agency, getting one pager updated, sorting our first medical team meeting, and so on and so on! One part of me loves it, the other just isn't sure what I am doing! Thankfully the former is the dominant half! What does daunt me is finding the time to do personal fundraising! I don't get let off on that!
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