Dave premiers GT Academy in the UK for Nissan and PlayStation®
UKTV’s entertainment channel Dave is to be the first in the UK to broadcast The GT Academy, a seminal brand entertainment series that offers PlayStation®3 gamers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become professional international racing drivers.
Co-produced by brand entertainment agency STREAM\ and award-winning production company Boomerang Plus, the five-part series will premiere weekly on Dave from 4 April 2009 and is jointly-funded by Nissan and PlayStation®.
Due to the unusual format, the show is being hailed as the world’s first ‘virtuality’ production, turning virtual reality into reality as players of Sony’s Gran Turismo® game take the race off the console and onto the track.
The series was developed in partnership with Nissan Europe, PlayStation® (SCEE), brand entertainment agency STREAM\, and sister advertising agency TBWA\ London. It is the first time ever that two brands have joined forces in this way, with the series marking the finale to a year-long €2m Pan-European promotion. GT Academy was created to jointly-promote the launch of PlayStation®’s GT5 prologue and Nissan’s GTR supercar.
Over 25,000 people entered by submitting their fastest Gran Turismo lap times on the PlayStation® Network. The fastest 20 drivers from each market (UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Holland and Scandinavia) were then invited to compete in a National Final, with each country competing for three of 20 places at the intensive Silverstone GT Academy.
The top two competitors selected at Silverstone then underwent a four-month driver training programme to obtain their international race licences, allowing them to partake in the Dubai 24-hour endurance race in January, as part of the Nissan PlayStation® race team, alongside professional racing drivers including British racing legend Johnny Herbert.
The show will premiere on Dave for five weeks on Saturdays from 4th April 2009 at 19:00 after Top Gear on the channels premium motoring strand, and is part of Dave’s ongoing commitment to all things motoring along with the return of the World Rally Championships earlier this month.
GT Academy will air in over ten European countries in all including France, Spain and Italy.
Sally Quick, UKTV’s Head of Commercial Partnerships, commented: “GT Academy is a great brand fit for all involved, and it’s a genuinely entertaining TV show that is sure to appeal to Dave’s discerning audiences. It’s fantastic to add another entertainment AFP to our growing portfolio of successful projects across the UKTV network.”
We at the reel think this is boss and intend to win this show… So keep your eyes peeled…
Emeil Steenhuizen In The House
Director, Animator, Tattoo Artist, Emiel Steenhuizen has signed to newly founded Dutch production company Brilliant House. Emiel’s promos for C’mon & Kypski and Commercials for clients including Adidas have marked him out as a special talent in his native Holland and now after relocating to London, Emiel hassigned with Brilliant House for commercial representation.
Executive Producer Gregory Cundiff says of the signing;
“Emiel’s imagination is breathtaking and his ability to bring a succession of ideas to any project is invaluable. We’re very happy to have him on board.”
Emiel’s work can be seen on the Brilliant House website or Emiel’s own website.
Go check them here:
http://brilliant-house.com/steenhuizen_showreel.html
http://brickmansion.com/
Nexus In Hollywid
See Nexus’ Oscar® nominated short ‘This Way Up’ at selected cinemas nationwide from 21st February. Feature-length screenings of all Oscar® nominated short films will be screened around the country giving audiences an opportunity to see the nominated films prior to the Oscar® ceremony on 22nd February 2009 and throughout the rest of the month.
2009 is OPEN.
They have already received a large number of entries and people are creating their unedited masterpieces all over the world. The straight 8 philosophy remains unchanged: anyone, anywhere is invited to rise to straight 8's challenge: shoot a short film on a single cartridge of super 8mm film. If the film's great you'll see it for the first time at a packed straight 8 screening.
Entry is only available at www.straight8.net and the deadline for delivering film - exposed but un developed - back to us in london is March 23rd. Soundtracks as always - must be original and are to be uploaded separately.
The best of straight 8 will be screened at Cannes in the summer and will be accompanied by a programme of London screenings throughout the year.
For more info and details on entry look no further than the great Straight 8 website:
http://www.straight8.net/
Partizan Lab sign Gianluca Fallone
24 year old Buenos Aires born Gianluca who has recently moved to London has been signed to Partizan Lab.
Starting his career as a designer/illustrator at the motion design studio Punga, Ganluca soon found himself as a co-director alongside Tomás Dieguez, the founder of the studio.
After meeting Roy Garcia, a well known director/graphic designer in Argentina, Gianluca left Punga in summer 2007 to dedicate himself to graphic design. He joined Garcia's studio Rock Instrument Bureau and for the past year he's been working with fashion brands and music bands around America.
Isabella Parish, Partizan Lab Executive Producer in London, said “I first saw Gianluca’s work last summer and was immediately a fan. At the time he was living in Argentina but was planning a move to London so we decided to wait until he came to the UK. Luckily for us it was love at first sight and we are thrilled to welcome him to Partizan Lab. He is already busy working on a project with us and we are really looking forward to showing his work to everyone in London and around the world.”
“He has published his own magazines for fashion labels that are directed towards the young music scene, a scene that is very close to his heart. His work is very stylish and young but at the same time he is very disciplined and works very, very hard. We have been really impressed with his print work and although he has already worked with animation and moving images we are really looking forwards to working with him to build on that.”
Wanna see his stuff!?!? Look here:
http://www.partizanlab.com/partizanlab/commercials/?gianluca_fallone
