NewsReel 06/03/09

Horrobin joins Smoke and Mirrors.

Mark Horrobin formerly of MPC has joined Smoke & Mirrors as Head of Telecine .

Mark joins with over 10 years of experience and has worked with some of the most highly respected directors in the business.

His impressive showcase of work speaks for itself, including the More 4 Kubrick season for 4 creative and most recently the one off Cadburys Wispa ad for Fallon not forgettingthe new Sony Bravia-Dome spot.

Mark’s naturalistic warmth and attention to detail within his work has earned him a place amongst the most talented and respected colourists in London.

To watch a collaboration of Marks work just click over to http://www.smoke-mirrors.com/

Hungry Man in the mood for a bit of Lemon.

Hungry Man has recently aquired the skills of Argentinan native Lemon, as they join Hungey Mans healthy roster.
Surrounded by art at a young age, Lemon came to directing by way of photography.

“My mother has a degree in art and used to give courses to young people in our living room. As a kid I used to spy on them, it really left an impact on me,” he says.

It wasn’t a straight path to directing for Lemon; originally he studied law and worked in an attorney’s office for almost 5 years. Needing some more inspiration in his life, Lemon left everything behind and went to live in Barcelona where he taught himself cinematography.

“I used to sneak into the University of Catalunia’s library every single day of the week and would watch four movies a day,” he says. “I learned all the shots by heart.”

Returning to Buenos Aires in 2000, Lemon began working as an assistant director at Peluca Films and then signed on with Rebolucion in August 2005.
In 2007, he won the Grand Prix for his Impulse’s campaign (co-directed with Armando Bo) at San Sebastian, and Silver at Cannes. Lemon continued to win many other awards in 2008 including bronze at the Clio’s & at the New York Festival for his work on Sprite “Graffiti”, as well as the Impulse Campaign. Additionally, he received bronze at San Sebastion for Mox’s “Masoquistas”. In continuing his success, Lemon was listed among talents like Tom Kuntz, Frederick Bond and Noam Murro for the Gunn Report as one of the most awarded directors in the world in 2008.

“Lemon’s reel is one of the best we have seen from South America recently” says Alex Mehedeff, Hungry Man Rio Manager & Executive Producer. “His work shows how dedicated and focused he is in developing great performances and adding his visual influences within the frame.”

Sir Martin Sorrel to Lead Cannes 09 debate.

Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP Worldwide, returns to Cannes to guide a heavyweight panel of global marketing leaders in a discussion on how the recession is affecting the industry now and how it will shape its future. Joining Sir Martin on stage will be Marc Pritchard, Global Marketing Officer of P&G; Mary Beth West, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Kraft Foods Inc.; and Mary Dillon, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer of McDonald's Corporation.

The three represent an incredible 13 billion dollars of Ad spend together, making this discussion one that is not to be missed.

The Cannes Debate, which launched in 2005, is a group discussion between the most influential people in the business addressing the most topical issues that are currently affecting the advertising and communications industry.
This year's hour-long Cannes Debate will take place on Friday 26th of June at 12:00 in the Palais des Festivals in Cannes.

Get it in the diary…

DeptA grab Irwin.

Dept.A the animation wing of HSI has taken on Stephen Irwin for UK and USA representation. A graduate of Central St. Martins College of Art & Design, with an MA in Communication Design, specialising in animation, he received the Best Emerging Talent award in 2005 from EMERGEANDSEE for his graduation film, ‘Dialog’. Since then he has received commissions from the UK Film Council & Film London, BBC New Talent and Animate Projects (Channel 4 / Arts Council England), and in 2008 was shortlisted for a British Animation Award for his music video for Lightspeed Champion.

Stephen continually pushes the boundaries of 2D. The Black Dog’s Progress is his latest showcase for his technical abilities, transforming his hand drawn film into a series of well-timed flipbooks all coming together to make one cohesive and surreal picture.

Check out some handywork here.

Yesterday...UKTV History seemed so far away...

Continuing its successful partnership with UKTV, Red Bee Media, have created a new identity for Yesterday the new incarnation of UKTV History. It is the third and final factual channel to rebrand ahead of the broadcaster’s lifestyle offerings next quarter and draws on a range of awe-inspiring world events, social movements and fondly remembered moments,

Carrying the strapline, “Where the past is always present”, UKTV tasked Red Bee Media to redefine what ‘history’ means by creating a powerful channel identity. Developing six idents and 15 on screen presentations, Red Bee Media had to cover a variety of historical periods including Ancient Rome, World War II, 1980’s, Victorian, Renaissance, Punk and Post-modern. All of the rebrand work is designed to engage viewers with the channel’s factual content, as well as the social and dramatic aspects of the past to make it more immediate and relevant to viewers.

Following the successful rebrand of UKTV’s entertainment portfolio as Dave, G.O.L.D., Watch and Alibi, Yesterday will be the third of the pay TV broadcaster's factual channels to be rebranded, following Eden and Blighty's launches on 26th January and 17th February 2009 respectively. The final wave of the network’s ambitious rebrand to create a portfolio of multiplatform brands will be completed in Q2 2009 with the re-launch of its lifestyle offerings.

Grey Group EMEA announces a reorganisation of its Amsterdam agency.

Grey Group EMEA announces a reorganisation of its Amsterdam agency today, with a concentration on strategic and creative leadership. The no-silos, all-creativity approach focuses on holistic solutions and flexible resourcing to meet the changing communications needs of clients.

As Executive Creative Directors, Colin Lamberton and Seyoan Vela take on new leadership responsibilities to head up Grey Amsterdam, reporting directly to Carolyn Carter, Grey Group EMEA CEO, with immediate effect.

Lamberton and Vela, known for their pioneering work methods as co-founders and Creative Directors of St. Lukes, joined Grey’s EMEA team in London in 2007. They provided the creative muscle behind two successful regional wins, Toshiba and Fortis. In May 2008 they moved with the Fortis win to Amsterdam as Executive Creative Directors, to rebuild the agency as a new kind of creative resource for Grey’s local and multinational clients.

Venue Change for Dubai IAF and LYNX.

The organisers of the Dubai International Advertising Festival and the Dubai Lynx Advertising Awards have announced that both events will now take place this month at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Speaking on behalf of the organisers, Festival Director Steve Lane said, "We had been looking forward to opening this year’s festival at The Palladium and certainly hope to hold it there in 2010. For this year though, and with the event taking place next week, we all felt it would be best to return to the DICEC where the festival was held last year."

The seminars, workshops, exhibitions, Young Creatives Competition and Lynx Academy will now all take place in the Sheikh Rashid Hall of the DICEC, which is located at the head of Sheikh Zayed Road, with the Awards Ceremony and Dinner happening in the Sheikh Maktoum Hall of the DICEC.

Speakers at this year’s Festival include Bob Isherwood, PJ Pereira, Felipe Burgaz and Piyush Pandey amongst others.

Reel Opinion - Flavio Pantigoso

The first Reel Opinion of 09 is from the brilliant Flavio Pantigoso of Y&R Peru, who's top quality creative has been gracing both the website and DVD regularly for sometime now. He has kindly taken the time to cast his expert peepers over some of the latest and greatest work to fly into Reel Towers over the past month.

Flavio Pantigoso

Creative Director

Y&R Peru

Monster - Double Take

Agency: BBDO New York

Production: Epoch / Rattling Stick

Director: Daniel Kleinman

This is a funny idea, although not necessarily brilliant and without the penetrating depth of former executions by monster.com. I’m not sure if the value proposal of the brand gets very clear. The humorous premise that at work there are winners and losers is funny but, perhaps, a bit cruel at this time of layoffs around the world. Maybe, I would expect a greater empathy, a more concrete demonstration of what the brand can do for me at this moment.


Dairy Milk - Eyebrows

Agency: Fallon London

Production: MJZ London

Director: Tom Kuntz

That Gorilla put the bar really high. This execution is impeccable and fun, but looks a little bit more effect-based and puts forth a little bit more effort than Gorilla, which was insultingly daring to discard all premises of what should be "a classic advertising idea based on a clear reason-why." However, this is an execution fully conversant with the internet world, and I like the Cadbury's consistency of continuing to interpret with sublime liberty the concept of "a glass and a half full of joy" as the possibility of giving people a moment of pleasure.

Hulu.com - Alec in Huluwood

Agency: CPB Miami

Production: Pony Show Entertainment Los Angeles

Director: Peter Berg

Fantastic. A cynical, delirious and brilliant look regarding the theories about the alienating powers of television. Baldwin is excellent and the editing is clever. It's possibly the most memorable Super Bowl ad for me. "An Evil Plot to Destroy the world" is about creating a drama around the brand. It's accepting that, hey, this is TV Land. In other words, time to have some fun.


T-Mobile - Change of Routine

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi London

Production: Partizan London

Director: Micheal Gracey

It feels neither fresh nor highly original. It's an idea that has been done before. But the problem with this piece is, basically, credibility. I really cannot digest the "naturality" of this collective manifestation of happiness. Everything about it feels like “too much advertising”. In the area of great collective ideas, Nike, Playstation, Adidas ... continue to rule.

Kia Soul - Cabin

Agency: Publicis Toronto

Production: Untitled Films Toronto

Director: Mark Gilbert

I must confess that I went to the website http://www.peerintoasoul.ca/ to help me understand this spot. From that point of view, the goal of this effort might be accomplished. But I had to look at the other two spots from this campaign on the website to assure myself that it was the idea that I truly thought think it was. Excellent production, intriguing, but the "I stopped doing what I thought I was important to do because my attention was caught by a car" is not only an overdone concept, but also makes me question whether or not I want to exchange four beauties for a car like this one.

Courting Cortez

Nike are the elderly statesmen in the world of sports apparel.

Being the amongst the biggest and the oldest means that they have a wealth of heritage and history to draw from, and over time have released many, many classic shoes. Not being slow of the mark – Nike are digging through their back catalogue of styles and updating some of their biggest releases of the past.

In the 80’s if you were into hip hop – you wore Nike Cortez. It was that simple. The Cortez is arguably one of the first icons of the now huge sneaker industry and over time has truly cemented its status as a classic of modern sportswear.

Originally the Cortez was a running shoe; the brainchild of Nike founder Bill Bowerman who allegedly would do anything to improve performance in his running shoes. Its said that Bowerman grafted the soles of a pair of flip-flops onto his runners, and the hybrid design for the Cortez was born. Cue Cortez changing the face of running and athletes going as far as saying ‘it’s like running on the moon’. The Cortez was tattooed into the history book of kicks.

This sneaker-legacy is to be expanded as the Cortez is now the latest sneaker that Nike have granted a modern update. Using lighter technical fabrics Nike have remixed and restructured the Cortez creating the Cortez Fly Motion.

Nike have obviously gone to town on this new release, and aside from releasing an old school and new school Cortez pack (with both classic and the new technical Cortez contained within) to mark the occasion, they also asked Picasso Pictures hot shot directorial team tokyoplastic to create something fresh for them.

We talked to uber animators tokyoplastic about their superb execution ‘The Cortez Brothers’:

What was the brief that Nike approached you with?

Originally we had only been commissioned to create the Cortez Brothers in 2D; Nike were keen to convey the very individual and different characters of both brothers and to incorporate into those designs both elements of the era each shoe had come from and the of shoes themselves. It wasn't an easy task as Nike had very strong ideas about how they wanted everything to turn out visually and aesthetically. Fortunately that made for a hugely enjoyable collaboration and was an experience that I think we were all eager to continue when they decided to take the characters into animation.

Are you guys fans of trainers?

Yes, in short, but neither of us collect them.

Was the idea of helping re-launch such an iconic shoe ever a problem?

No, it was certainly a challenge and at times it was very hard work, but the idea of being involved with this re-launch was exciting more than anything else.

Was it important to try and shoehorn the history of Cortez in the spot?

Originally there was a lot of discussion about going into the heritage of this shoe and there is a huge amount to draw on there, but ultimately I think the piece is more about the shoes as they are now. Hopefully though the fact that we considered all that history throughout the design and development stages comes through in the finished spot.

Was the contrast between the 1972 shoe and the current Cortez the main focus of the characters?

It was hugely important that we created two very individual and unique characters that were also clearly brothers. As I previously mentioned it was also vital for us to incorporate elements of the era and also of the shoe design into each of the brothers. Yes, the contrast between them was a very important factor but at the time I think that we understood if we took care of the other considerations and did a good job then that contrast would ultimately resolve itself for us. Hopefully it worked!

A lot of your earlier work (Drum, Lil’ fella) is charater based, did you always have an idea to characterize the shoe?

That was the brief that Nike approached us with. I think that it was down to our previous experience with character design and animation that we were able to help them meet and, I hope, exceed their expectations.

How long did the project take?

The initial design of the character was the trickiest part of the process and took a couple of weeks. The modelling and render took a further two weeks and the project then had a production schedule that ran over Christmas for about 9 weeks. In terms of our work flow on this project we felt that it was better to work with fewer people and give them a chance to really feel the characters than to throw lots of people at it and rush things.

What did you create the spot with?

The first models of the Cortez Brothers that we did were in Mudbox. We then had to simplify them for animation and that was done on a computer upstairs.

Will we see more of the Cortez Brothers?

I hope so. Nike had them made into actual real life standing up statues that you can see in stores and it was hugely rewarding seeing these characters that we had been involved in creating like that. Plus they promised we would get some of those models too so we will certainly be seeing more of them... everyone else though? The jury is still out.

What are you working on now? (if its top secret you don’t have to tell us)

The third of our short films. The Autumn Sea. It will be released later this year and it is very exciting :)

Top stuff!! We cant Wait!

Big Thanks to the guys at tokyoplastic and to Claire at Picasso for the short notice interview!

NewsReel 27/02/09

Kofi Cannes-an

Cannes Lions always attracts the big-hitters when it comes to speakers, and this year is no exception. Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, President of the Global Humanitarian Forum and David Jones, Global CEO of Havas Worldwide, CEO of Euro RSCG Worldwide and co-founder of One Young World, hold a crisis debate hosted by Hervé de Clerck, Dream Leader, ACT Responsible & Founder of AdForum, at the 56th International Advertising Festival on the human face of climate change and the role that only the creative community can play in changing Climate Change to Climate Justice. Phew!

In June 2008, ACT Responsible started working for Kofi Annan's Global Humanitarian Forum and together with David Jones, created a dedicated communications team working for Kofi Annan to raise awareness of human consequences of climate change all over the world. Kofi Annan, working in close co-operation with all the major non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the framework of the Global Campaign for Climate Action will call on the Cannes Lions worldwide audience to support this work.

All the gumph you need to sign up to the fest (like you haven’t already) is here - http://www.canneslions.com/.

What’s a Mexican Thumb?


We love world TV firsts here on The Reel (especially Keith Chegwin’s todge-tastic ‘Naked Jungle’), so the news of a three-channel, three-minute, three-advert thumb based Mexican wave left us wafting out big digits in the air. Confused, don’t worry, this - http://goodstuff.lastminute.com/make-tv-history - will tell you all you need!

Shorter and Sweeter than ever


No, not Kylie or Nan’s latest shortbread, but London’s ONLY weekly short film meet Short and Sweet! The top evening of schmooze, booze and … oh yeah … top notch shorts is back and better than ever. The evening is re-launching on Monday 16 March at Cafe 1001, 91 Brick Lane.

If that wasn’t enough BAFTA have also chosen Short & Sweet for the 3rd year running as the London venue to screen all the BAFTA short film and short animation nominees for 2009! The special screenings will take place on 23 March and 30 March at Cafe 1001.

Bon viewing!

…and finally


We know you like a tasty bit of Friday fun pudding after your news dinner, so how’s about this for a bit of branded enjoytainment. Slightly late off the mark considering the game was released a good three months ago on Xbox360 and PlayStation3, Mirror’s Edge 2D is a flash version of EA’s innovative first-person free-runner … only in 2D. Created in association with EA by Borne Games, the creator of online fave Fancy Pants Adventure, the game is a smooth and surprisingly compelling reinvention of the originals mechanics. With high scores and game progress recorded online, this timewaster is certain to fill up many coffee breaks to come!

http://www.mirrorsedge2d.com/

News Reel 20/02/09

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.

Venues include:

Screen On The Green (Islington)

Picturehouse (Clapham)

Picturehouse (Greenwich)

Ritzy (Brixton)

Fact Centre (Liverpool)

Picturehouse (Cambridge)

Belmont (Aberdeen)

Cameo (Edinburgh)

Picturehouse (Exeter,

Cinema City (Norwich)

Harbour Lights (Southampton)

For full listings go to:

http://www.shortsinternational.com/shorts_oscar/index.html

Straight 8's 2009

After an immense straight 8 2008, the boys are back in town straight 8
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

Tank honours Nexus Director

Nexus designer and director Carolina Melis has been recognised for her outstanding artistic work for spots for the NSPCC and BBC3 Threeworld, both of which have been selected for the 'Under Commission Competition' at Stuttgart International Animation Festival.And not content with attracting international acclaim for her beautiful commercials, the uber-talented Carolina has been busy working on a number of other fantastic projects.

Tank magazine have commissioned Carolina to illustrate “The Forevermark Precious Collection™”, launched by De Beers to celebrate the diamond’s place in our hearts as the jewel that’s synonymous with positive events in people’s lives – after, all nothing else makes a girl feel like celebrating quite as much as receiving a large, sparkly rock! Jewellery designs have come from fashion icons like Alex Wek and each piece is accompanied by an uplifting story, contributed by literary giants who include Paul Theroux and Alexander McCall Smith, with the whole gorgeous package topped off with Carolina’s fantastic artwork.

Spiffing!

To be FRANK

Trying to keep teenagers off drugs is like trying to herd a room full of cats – you speak two different languages, they don’t care anyway and you’re fairly sure they think you’re a tool. Despite this, FRANK’s managed it. The talking to teens part, not the cat herding. Though he could probably do that. He’s that good.

For the uninitiated, FRANK is the national drugs information service provided by the Department of Health, the Home Office and the Department for Children, Schools and Families. Offering friendly, confidential advice on drugs, 24 hours a day throughout the year via a helpline on 0800 77 66 00, or online at www.talktofrank.com, the service has been around for nearly six years and has received over 2million calls.


Central to the popularity of the service is the exceptional advertising campaign from the trendy peeps at Mother London. The latest £2.2m TV, radio and online advertising onslaught follows on from last month’s cannabis reclassification from a C to B class drug. Focusing on the mental health harms associated with the drug, the £2.2m TV, radio and online advertising campaign is part of an ongoing awareness programme targeting 11-18 year olds. The TV spot takes in inside the head of teenager called Simon after sparking up a joint. Whilst at first the bonce pad looks like the best party you’ve never been invited to, it soon turns sour with the arrival of gatecrashers paranoia, panic attacks and …erm … what was it … oh yeah, memory loss.

Much like the previous ads Mother have created for the service, the spot successfully manages to be entertaining and non-preachy whilst still being genuinely informative. With smart direction from Stink’s Ne-O, we think the piece is an absolute winner – and nicely backed up by a strong online presence from Profero too - http://www.talktofrank.com/cannabis.aspx

‘Cause we like the campaign so much, we thought we’d showcase a couple of the other standout spots from the past too.

PABLO

Following the investigative exploits of Pablo - The Drug Mule Dog, this TV spot was the spearhead of the new £1million campaign covering online as well. Devised (again) by the cleverheads at Mother, the spot flits from situation to situation with the inspired choice of Peepshow's David Mitchell as the voice of Pablo. Speaking of the campaign, Sarah Graham, FRANK spokesperson and addictions therapist, said: No animals were hurt in the creation of this ad - unlike in the cocaine trade. Some young people may perceive cocaine to be a harmless party drug but they don't realise the destruction it causes. Users can suffer serious harm to their mental and physical health, while the cocaine supply chain also harms people and the environment. Humorous and witty without talking-down, the spot is a definite winner in our books.

BRAIN WAREHOUSE

Using the concept of a ‘Brain Warehouse', a place where cannabis damaged minds can be swapped for new models, this ad from 2006 follows a curious shopper, relentlessly pursued around the store by a (somehow even more sinister than normal) mobile-phone-esk salesman. Using an empty shop as the location, Stink London's Neil Harris creates a disturbingly imaginable, if not feasible, portrait of the future, but cleverly forgoes any overtly sci-fi imagery. Disconcerting yet effective, this spot certainly lingers in the mind.

A New HYDEing Place

Parisian residents Mr Hyde have recently launched a new media arm of their prestigious company and way to find new directorial talent in the form of ‘Hyde Tube’.

The Hyde Tube concept comprises of a database of work as well as a global short film festival ‘The Eyes Awards’ which will be held in Paris, London and New York respectively.

The Hyde Tube talent bank aims to put advertising agencies, record companies, and brands directly in touch with directors, animators and graphic artists who are willing to direct commissioned works.

If a client decides to work with one of the directors, The Hyde Tube will put them in touch with a production company or affiliate studio that will oversee the production until the films completion and delivery.

Interested!?!? Of course you are! Now look here.

We were so interested that we spoke to the lovely Amelie Couvelaire from Mr Hyde to fill us in on their new venture:

How long have you all been working on Hyde Tube?

We have been working on it and searching for directors for 6 months.

Where did the idea come from?

Agencies and commissioners search more and more talents. Clients want to see a lot of things, they want to have a big choice.


Is this just an extension of Mr Hyde – or is this Mr Hyde adapting the business model of the production world?

The Hyde Tube is an online short films festival. It is not an extension of Mr Hyde but a new way to approach directors and commissioners. We tried to create a new tool, a big quality data bank where you are sure to to see every time new films and new directors. We think our business is too conventional and static. On The Hyde Tube, directors are free, they don't have to sign exclusive contracts. If a job comes to us via The Hyde Tube, Mr Hyde or an affiliate production or studio will produce the film. The idea is to have favored relationships with directors and studios from around the world and work with them to produce very creative films.

The history of Mr Hyde is steeped in Short films – is this the sort of work we can expect to see?

The Hyde Tube brodcasts all kind of creative works : shortfilms, music videos, idents etc... The only restriction is that the film or clips shall not exceed 3 minutes and has to be an original creation.

How many directors can we see?

Today, we have around 100 directors online. If it's a success, hopefuly more and more. We want to offer a big choice but also Quality. It's the big difference with other websites that show videos online. We are inviting every director to submit his work.

Can anyone watch the work?

Absolutely. It is for everyone. No login, no password. It is at the same time a website for general public and a great tool for professionals that are willing to discover and work with new talents.

Is this a place where we can finally see the marriage of FMV Directors, Illustrators, Short Film directors, and all the bits in between?
Yes it is. You can see all types of films on The Hyde Tube. Live action, 2d, 3d, mix media, papercut, animated pictures etc etc..

When can we go to the festival? And can we come!!?
We will let you know as soon as the date is determined, and you are more than welcome!
It will happen end of the year in Paris, London and NYC.

We of course are super excited about the upcoming festival, and will keep you all updated upon when and where you can get the scoop.

Thanks to Amelie Couvelaire for the short notice interview!