NewsReel 16.05.08

As always, please send any news and press releases to sam@thereel.net and we'll do our best to include it here.

Short and Sweet

After this week’s 2nd birthday celebrations, there’ll be another special week of films at Short and Sweet this week. The Reel has been asked to select some of our favourite shorts and promos from recent issues and we think we’ve kept up the usual high standards of London’s only weekly short film evening with our eclectic selection. So, come along either Monday or Tuesday – or even both nights! – to catch some great work from the likes of Cyriak, Holbrook’s Films, Andre Maat, Jonas+Francois and Friendswithyou.

MONDAY: 19 May
Cafe 1001, 91 Brick Lane

TUESDAY: 20 May
AKA Bar, 18 west central street

Films start at 7pm both nights!

ENTRY: FREE



Tangerine dream becomes reality

We’re pleased to announce that we’re also supporting the Tangerine short film night in Melbourne. The Guild’s Colette Crespin is running the event which is launching at The Local, 184 Carlisle St, East St Kilda on Tuesday 3rd June and will return on the first Tuesday of every month from then on. Go to www.ilovetangerine.com to find out more.

Straight shooters

Whilst the beautiful people of the film world are hob-nobbing at the Cannes Film Festival, Kate Vogel, Commissioning Editor of Channel 4’s great 3-Minute Wonder slots, has selected four Straight 8s to be aired in place of the usual 3-Minute Wonders from Monday 19th May to Thursday 22nd at 7.55pm. In case you didn't already know, Straight 8s are each made on one roll of super 8mm cine film with no re-takes and no editing - tough. The four films to be aired on Channel 4 are:

Mon 19 May: ‘Springlove’ – set in amsterdam, using stop-motion, two people are seen to hover above the ground as they meet up for a date.
Director: herrjaapmans

Tues 20 May: ‘Looking For Marilyn’ – an intimate portrait, in black and white, of a Marilyn Monroe look-a-like. When the whole neighbourhood dresses up the same, the paparazzi get out of hand and it becomes a clever story about celebrity.
Director: Anna Blandford and Anna Valdez Hanks

Wed 21 May: ‘The Last Trip’ – a charming tale of the wannabe first welshman in space and how the village work together on a home-made space programme to take his ashes up there.
Director: Malcolm Finlay

Thu 22 May: ‘A Piece Of Heaven’ – an epic dark tale from the mexican countryside. A strange eyeglass arrives in the village giving people a troubling snapshot of heaven.
Director: Felix Alejandro Barbosa Vazquez and Yuri Misael Barbosa Vazquez

Moo sign Pamela Hanson

Continuing to expand its talent roster, Los Angeles-based hybrid creative studio MOO, which specializes in animation, commercials, interactive, and talent management, has signed famed fashion photographer Pamela Hanson to their Commercial division.

YoungGuns expand

YoungGuns has announced three new facets to their existing yearly award, monthly student award and creative briefs. Young, talented individuals can now aspire to winning the YoungGun of the Month, as well as enjoy a new-look membership scheme and check out skill development opportunities like the one they’ve currently got with RogenSi, helping people with performance, increasing influence, leadership, pitching and persuasive communication – we’ve been, because we’re great, and if you don’t get your sorry selves there we’ll kick your arse!
To find out more go to their new-look website www.ygaward.com.

Sherbert
Production company Sherbert has moved. Their new address is:

3 St. John’s Path
London
EC1M 4DD
Tel. 020 7253 0200
Fax. 020 7253 0222

Goin' Down To Somers Town

Shane Meadows, top director of Brit-flick classics like ‘This Is England’, ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’ and ‘24/7’, has a new film that’s already winning awards and plaudits at far-flung film festivals. It stars the young actor discovered by Meadows for his last movie and is shot in North London in gritty black and white. It’s feature length and has long-time Meadows collaborator Paul Fraser on the writing credits … Oh, and it comes from agency Mother’s newest division Mother Vision and is entirely funded by Eurostar.

Product placement in movies isn’t the newest of inventions, as any Bond aficionado can testify, but the current craze for ‘branded content’ seems to have every client chomping at the bit for a slice of the infotainment. Recently we’ve had some superb shorts from Schwepps and The Sweet Shop and a smart piece for eBay, but with ‘Somers Town’ Mother Vision and Eurostar have opted to entirely eschew the conventional commercial stylings and length and opt instead for a movie that encapsulates the ethos of the brand.

Speaking of the origins of the project, Mother said, ‘Eurostar was getting ready for a landmark in its history - the launch of the UK’s first High Speed rail service, running from a newly built station at St Pancras in London. They were interested in marking the occasion with a piece of communication that had more longevity than perhaps a traditional ad campaign – something that could be enjoyed long after the station opened. The result is ‘Somers Town.’

The Reel were lucky enough to attend a screening of the film and were left extremely impressed. Far from being an overlong commercial, the movie felt like a genuine artistic endeavor, encapsulating the benefits and joys of journeys rather than having shiny train drivers in shiny trains. Indeed in the introduction to the film, Eurostar head of UK marketing Greg Nugent commented that the only way Meadows could be cajoled into helming it was on the guarantee that there would be no ‘thumbs-up’ shots of railway folk.

Benefiting from exceptional performances from the leads (Turgoose again demonstrating the natural charisma evident in ‘This Is England’) and with Meadows trademark stark visuals and earthy humour, Somers Town succeeds in being a genuinely compelling piece of entertainment regardless of its origins. With virtually no brand intrusion from Eurostar, the company’s confidence in both filmmaker and agency is an important guideline to others looking to follow the same path. We’ll be keeping a close eye on Mother Vision’s exciting-sounding output (expect a newsletter/blog feature on the growth of branded content in the very near future), and look forward to a future full of entertainment – branded or otherwise!

NewsReel 08.05.08

John’s content at Anonymous
Anonymous Content has signed director John Osborne. Osborne has previously worked with David Beckham on a two spot campaign for Sharpie, and done extensive work for Converse on their ‘Disruption’ campaign. Dave Morrison, Head of Commercials at Anonymous, is chuffed with the signing, ‘He’s very contemporary and super adaptable to most production situations, which perfectly suits both the evolving integrated market space which we’ve been aggressively penetrating, as well as the traditional commercial space.’ John, on the other hand, is extremely pissed off to be joining Anonymous…only joking, he is understandably chuffed too, ‘It makes the work that much more fun knowing that you have the support of a lot of really talented people.’

A Short and Sweet Birthday
Short and Sweet has been going strong for two years now and they will be celebrating next week at the usual place and times.

MONDAY: 12 May
Cafe 1001, 91 Brick Lane

TUESDAY: 13 May
AKA Bar, 18 west central street

Films start at 7pm both nights.

There will be a special week of Short and Sweet coming soon as The Reel will be collaborating with the lovely Julia and her team to bring you a selection of some of our favourite shorts.

Tangerine dream
Colette Crespin of The Guild Films is shaking things up Down Under and will soon be launching Tangerine ‘The sweetest short film night in Melbourne’. Tangerine will also roll up the east coast to Sydney. We’ll bring you more information soon.

Scarlet faces all round

When is a TV series not a TV series? When it's a series of TVs! OK, the joke may lose something in translation, but when you dupe the likes of Lindsey Lohan, Holly Willoughby and The Feeling (yes, THE FEELING!) into brushing down their glad rags and hitting the town for the look at the next Alias-a-like tele-show and then revealing that they're actually at the launch of LG’s latest gogglebox range, the guffaws come hard and fast.

Pitched as an action-adventure US TV show directed by David Nutter (X-Files, Smallville), ‘Scarlet’ is the tale of a secret agent/model/TV star type who’s got a big secret that seems to involve explosions and car chases. Hyped for aaaages, with its new found star – Natassia Malthe – becoming a ‘sleb’ in her own right, the soon to be aired pilot was hotly tipped for greatness. Cleverly seeded media attention and striking press, digital and poster executions made sure the audience was ready for the big reveal.

All, however, was not as it seemed. As exposed in a star studded bash in Hollywood on the 28th and London on the 30th of April, Scarlet was not a new show, rather the fetchingly coloured new range of HD TVs from LG. Complimenting this, the advertising updated to reveal the true star of Scarlet. Even the trailers made better sense, with phrases like ‘I want to put her in every home in the planet’ and ‘waddya mean she’s gonna change TV forever’, seemingly innocuous on the first viewing, brought the agency’s ruse into sharp focus (snazzy HD TV pun not intended).

Speaking of the campaign, Kwan-Sup Lee, VP, Brand Marketing of LG Electronics Digital Display Company said “Brand marketing now is all about a having a ‘story’ in which a brand communicates with consumers, strengthening consumers’ emotional attachment to that brand is the key to long-term success.”


Adding to this feeling of connection with the consumer, Chan Suh, CEO of Agency.com, said, “The launch of ‘Scarlet’ is more than an integrated campaign; it is a connected campaign. It was made possible by an innovative client who saw the value in working in an unconventional way. The team of individuals and agencies worked in unison despite multiple continents, time zones and languages separating them. The result is a campaign that is truly a unique and holistic marketing solution and one-of-a-kind”.

All in all, the campaign was enormous, encompassing extensive use of PR, digital, TV and cinema advertising, print, OOH and social networking through a top-secret pre-reveal and post-reveal phase. Digital and social networking included pre-reveal (www.scarletseries.tv) and post-reveal websites (www.LGScarlet.tv), viral videos, downloads, IM icons, Facebook and MySpace presence, actor blogs and web videos, rounding out the 360-degree solution. Phew!

As intrepid reporters, The Reel were looking fresh in whistles for the UK reveal, and the event certainly did have the feel of a large-scale launch. Upon the revelation (nicely accompanied by a spot of Carmina Burana), folks around the grand hall tittered with amusement, confirming KS Lee’s theory that the twist would ‘appeal to premium seekers who will appreciate … the unconventional campaign.”

The multi-platform, multi-language, global campaign was a result of a connected agency model, led by Agency.com and partner agencies including TEQUILA\London, branded entertainment agency, Stream, and Premier public relations. Also in from the inception, London based Production Company Great Guns produced the project out their new Bangkok office. Big thanks to our pals at The Media Foundry for getting us in and cocktailed up!

NewsReel 01/05/08

As always, please send any news and press releases to sam@thereel.net and we'll do our best to include it here.

A handy ANDY GRANDY for the Master Chief
McCann Erickson and T.A.G San Francisco won the biggest prize at the 44th ANDY Awards held in New York last night. Their campaign for the launch of the eagerly anticipated third installment in Microsoft’s Halo series, featuring the mighty Master Chief, won the coveted GRANDY and $50,000 prize money. For many the highlight and keystone of the whole ‘Believe’ campaign was the beautiful diorama TV spot, as featured in September’s Reel.

To see the full list of winners, including a healthy UK contingent, click here.

Another director
Another Film Company’s recent signing Martha Delap was among the winners at last week’s television BAFTAs for her direction of the nation’s favourite potty mouthed chef in Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares.

Tim Marshall, Another’s Managing Partner, recently said of her signing, ‘We’re very excited to be involved in introducing such a young and dynamic talent into the commercials world. Martha makes programmes that have great popular appeal; they look good, are engaging and honest. A move into commercials makes perfect sense.’

Martha’s first commercial with Another is already in the can (and on The Reel), directing the nation’s favourite diminutive mockney chef Jamie Oliver in Sainsbury’s ‘Feed Your Family for a Fiver’ campaign for AMV BBDO.

Downing Wan-da
Wanda in Paris has signed new director Michael Downing for European (excluding UK) representation. Before joining Wanda, Michael attended the American Film Institute where he made a short film called 'Fine', which won a student Oscar. He is now directing a Toyota commercial for Wanda, which will hopefully hit The Reel soon.

Epoch Films sign Collision
Epoch Films has announced the signing of established music video collective Collision for UK commercials representation. From an animation and graphics background, award-winning Collision have developed a distinctive voice through an inventive approach to filmmaking. Working in a mix of live-action and animation they’ve already worked with some top-notch indie bands including Radiohead, the Killers, Franz Ferdinand, Scissor Sisters, Editors, the Zutons, and the Bees, and they’ve just delivered the latest promo for the Young Knives. Their first work through Epoch London is a cinema and viral campaign for Mother re-launching Covent Garden called ‘Spring Renaissance’.

Some more Stinkers
Stink has signed creative and directing duo Dark Fibre. They’ve recently made waves with their ‘Stuff of Life’ spot for Amnesty International and have previously produced David LaChappelle’s glossy Oscar shortlisted film ‘Rize’ and produced and directed serious telly like ‘Living Goddess’ for More4 and ‘Zombie Town’ for Channel 4.

Blink…and they didn’t miss him.
Blink has signed Argentine director Nicolas Kasakoff for commercial representation in the UK. The ginger haired dynamo loves the idea of working with Blink, ‘As anybody who could distinguish between apples and bananas, I could easily recognise Blink as a high-class company not only in the UK but worldwide. In addition to that, their visual and narrative style seemed to be totally aligned with my way of thinking.'

Jason Studholme, Blink’s managing director, obviously enticed by his director’s fruit-recognising abilities, is also delighted with the arrangement, ‘I happened to be doing a Motorola job in Buenos Aries with Patrick Daughters which gave me the opportunity to get to know Nico. I discovered that as well as being super talented he is also a lovely person and I heard nothing but good things about him locally. The die was cast.’

Dreaming Together

It might look like that we at the Reel have a slight penchant for writing about Mr Dassler and his three stripes and some would call us biased… however the boys and girls at 180 Amsterdam have created another neat campaign that warrants a little more than a few lines of prose.

So we thought we would write another little feature on the blighters!

The new project titled ‘Dream Big’ sees the world’s biggest influential football stars mixing with the world's smallest and most inconsequential teams and continues the tradition of showcasing elite level athletes alongside real people – inspiring them to go further.

The emphasis shifting from the obvious obtuse choice of UEFA EURO 2008 to lesser known football teams is a welcome one and allows adidas to demonstrate that they care about the little people as much as they do about the big money / fanfare events.

180’s campaign aims to show us all that anyone can ‘Dream Big’ no matter their ranking, as Kaka, Messi, Gerrard and Beckham are sent out on missions to Andorra, San Marino and the Isles of Scilly. Here the mega stars set out coaching local teams whose reputations are in the doldrums and in doing so evoke the adidas mantra ‘impossible is nothing’.


180 worked with youth teams in each of the three locations to take part in what they thought was a straight forward documentary about football – and were totally unaware of the professional players involvement. The surprise element led to some charming and real moments between the players and the aspiring kids.

San Marino is one of the lowest ranked teams in Europe and is treated to a coaching visit from Kaka, Xabi Alonso and Robin Van Persie. The second location in the series sees adidas stars sharing their knowledge in the world's smallest football competition. Just two teams make up the isle of Scilly league and the young players there could use some outside help. Much to the surprise of locals and young players alike a few world renowned players turn up to lend a hand and give some valuable insight.

In the third location a bunch of talented Juniors from Andorra set off on a road trip of a lifetime to the Spanish capital of Madrid. Uber-pro help arrives in the form of Jose Mourinho (tickled by the idea of helping the 179th ranked country in the world) who involves them in a special coaching session with the future of Andorran football before sending the boys off on their journey. They are joined by Lionel Messi, David Villa, Lukas Podlski and Arjen Robben, and the journey of a lifetime climaxes in a packed Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

Another great example of a fearless idea executed with charm and polish subtly fortified by great direction from Johan Kramer, Marco Grandia and Richard Bullock respectively … Sports brands take note!

NewsReel 24/04/08

Big ideas can make anyone feel small
Craig Davis, JWT’s Worldwide Chief Creative Officer and this year’s Cannes Film & Press Lions Jury President has been brought down to size for the festival’s 2008 viral campaign.



Students get offered a toon up
NickToons have teamed up with Skillset and launched a competition to offer student animators the chance to have their work broadcast on the digital channel and a paid summer internship at the channel’s London offices. The competition offers undergraduates a unique opportunity to get a head-start in the industry and is open to students at the seven Skillset accredited animation and television production universities: Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication; Arts Institute Bournemouth; University for the Creative Arts, Farnham; Bournemouth University; Glamorgan University; University of Wales, Newport and the University of Teesside.

Tracey Cleland, Creative Manager of NickToons said of the competition, ‘This is a huge opening for every aspiring animator and a fantastic opportunity for us to work with the new wave of UK talent - we can't wait to watch the entries.'…and neither can we.

To enter, students must submit an idea for a funny 30-second animated short. Up to 80 will be selected to enter a professional pitching and treatment process at Nickelodeon that will take them through the key stages of animation development to final delivery and broadcast on NickToons.

For more information contact Skillset's Sarah Afzal

Wanda-ful news
Wanda Productions Paris have signed Benjamin Ducroz for European (excluding UK) and Asian representation. You can view the RMIT Media Arts graduate’s work in the Studiowanda section of their website.

Allain is drawn to Draw
The director of the new Ting Tings video, David Allain, has been signed to Draw Pictures. David learnt his trade by working as a camera trainee on commercials, operating video playback on 'Layer Cake', and researching and storyboarding for directors including Vaughan Arnell and Daniel Wolfe. His other credits include videos for the Cooper Temple Clause, Lethal B and GoodBooks.

Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam get their (New) man

Lee Newman has joined Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam as its new managing director. Dave Luhr, chief operating officer at W + K is, for one, very pleased with the agency’s new recruit, saying, ‘Lee is a rare agency leader. He is intelligent, motivating and, most importantly, creative. His agency and account experience speak of his excellence.’ Newman is leaving Texas-based GSD&M to go to Amsterdam and joins the recently returned Jeff Kling in a new-look leadership team.