NewsReel12/12/07

Advent-urous!

As a pleasing follow-up to last week’s Green feature, a number of companies have gone for the Green option of sending e-Christmas cards this year. The more studious have rather cleverly even included an advent calendar, and one of the best is from DLKW. It includes a daily treat of ideas, lists, and tips to help the beneficiary enjoy Christmas to the fullest, and they’re giving the money saved from postage and packaging to Marie Curie Cancer Care and The Stroke Association. Everyone's a winner. Click here to see what's behind today's window.


Young Guns announced

52 countries. 60 finalists. 71 bullets. No, the result was not some kind of mass killing spree, but some happy creatives from around the globe being awarded for their good work at this year's Young Guns Award.

Below are the recipients of the two key awards (it would seem the future is bright for advertising across the Atlantic):

Jeff Anderson and Isaac Silvergate from TBWACHIATDAY New York are the 2007 Young Guns of the Year. The best young creative talent globally in 2007 as recognised by the YGAward jury.
Their Mars 'Combos - what your mom would feed you if your mom was a man' campaign won 2 Gold and 4 Silver Bullets in TV and Radio.

As the Young Guns of the Year they also win US$20,000 and a place on the 2008 YGAward jury.

Nate Virnig, Jesse Synder and Rene Delgado from Miami Ad School Minneapolis are the 2007 Student Young Guns of the Year for their ‘Red Bull Campaign’ idea.
They also win a three-month paid placement at a Leo Burnett Worldwide office of their choice and US$5,000 to help them get there.

To download the full list of the winners and finalists this year click here.

Aussie Awards

There was a big night for the Australian film industry last week, with the 49th Australian Film Institute Awards. Among the winners were Sydney’s Fuel VFX, who picked up award in a number of categories including a Gold for their excellent work on Sony’s ‘Kiss’. Never ones to miss the opportunity to let you view the best work (and show off the size of our archive!) you can view the ad below.



You can also take a look at the full list of winners at Thursday’s Loreal Paris AFI Awards 2007 here.

It's Sonny for Jeff

Those talented folks at Sonny, London, have been joined by Jeff Thomas. The director, whose recent work includes spots for Prudential and Vauxhall, will be represented worldwide by Sonny (excluding US). Also, as it’s that special time of year, it would be rude not to mention that he co-directed the video for ‘Christmas Is All Around’, and here it is (if you’re feeling particularly sado-masochistic, why not even turn up the volume?!)

Meribel has begun

Meribel is off and running. Look out for our special report from the French resort next week and, if you’re going out there, please be nice to the representatives from The Reel.

Weekly short film festival

Short and Sweet, the only weekly short film festival in London, has been going from strength to strength since its launch a year and a half ago. In July it expanded into the West End and now runs on Mondays on Brick Lane and Tuesdays at AKA WC1. Founder Julia Stephenson and her small team work tirelessly to deliver the best in short films, music videos and animation from around the globe, with the intention to inspire, unearth some of the best new talent around and provide a great and FREE place to network.

Once again, as the newsletter is going out on a Wednesday, we’ve missed the opportunity to tell you who’s there, but the Short & Sweet end of year party is still on Tuesday 18th December at the AKA Bar in Soho.

For more info contact:
ben@shortandsweet.tv
julia@shortandsweet.tv

The Key To Reserva

Branded content has been a buzz word(s) in ‘unconventional’ advertising for quite some time now. Whist product placement has been rife in movie-making since George Bailey expressed his interest in National Geographic in It’s A Wonderful Life, and in TV since Soap Operas were sponsored by soap companies, the recent concept of incorporating a brand into a piece of filmmaking that consumers actually want to view has been like catnip to adland. With Axe/MTV’s The Gamekillers proving that successful TV shows can be derived from advertising concepts and the likes of Tony Scott and Baz Lurman providing fully branded movie stylings, it’s only fit that cinema maestro Martin Scorsese should take the reigns in this excellent piece for Freixenet Cava – The Key To Reserva.

Hosted on the Frieixnet site - http://www.scorsesefilmfreixenet.com/ - the film follows Scorsese’s quest to film a ‘lost script’ of Alfred Hitchcock’s. Shot in a ‘mockumentary’ style, the short opens with Marty revealing the script to an intrepid crew, explaining how a page is missing, and going to Spinal Tap-esque levels of anguish when his interviewer attempts to touch the pages (showcasing the acting skills the director honed in his own film cameos). However, the quality of the piece is truly revealed when the film changes gear and showcases Scorsese’s tribute to Hitch. By using classic Hitchcockien motifs (action-reaction editing, contra-zoom, the icy blonde) alongside familiar icons from his movies (the music from North By Northwest, the red spot-out from Rear Window, the birds from … well you get the jist), the homage nails the key aspect of any film-lover’s Hitchcock obsession. Working as a stand-alone piece as well as a tick-box reference game, the short again stirs memories of Tap with its pitch perfect reconstruction.

Trailed on TV and in cinemas, with the full length film only being available online, the campaign hits the nail on the head by creating not only a short that is a joy to watch, but also an environment that is heavily branded, yet not intrusively so. It’s a skill to make a branded piece that satisfies its audience, but to create the best Hitchcockian footage since the master passed (eat your heart out Brian de Palma) is a miracle.