Brett Macfarlane

Chilling With Kanye in Paris

Came across an atypically typical Parisian occurrence last week on the second of my two one night layovers in Paris.

We grabbed some Velib's (the bike share scheme whose continued membership is my most beloved extravagance) for a night ride along Canal St. Martin.  

We rode down my favourite haunt, rue Bretagne, and stopped for a little projection performance on the bare wall overlooking Marché Enfants Rouge; the oldest covered market in Paris.  

The performance was watched by a couple hundred well dressed, coiffed and camera'ed up Parisians spilling out of Café Charlot onto the street.

The sort of event that seems to happen with great frequency in Paris; jammed together Parisians being Parisians making the most of their city streets to soak up a cultural spectacle that doesn't require tickets or a theatre.  Brilliant.

The track banging through the neighbourhood sounded, to obnoxiously quote myself, "like a French Kanye West."

Turns out it was Kanye West's new track New Slaves.  

This was one of 66 such events around the world that night, the same day the track was first performed on Saturday Night Live in America and streamed on kanyewest.com.

A fact I learned two days later, just now.

It reminded me that a few years back "trans-media" narratives were a bit of a thing, but they seem to have gotten lost under the umbrella of integration.

Inherently, good and fresh media with a perspective on our world is transmedia.  Even if it only existed originally in one place.  

Transmedia isn't the chart with all the plumbing of the internet - it is the real way creative things flow.   The way them permeate all channels in ways that cannot be 100% predicted.

It is the idea over the technique.  Both are important but technique is meaningless without idea.

Sure it was marketing, what isn't - but if it wasn't interesting and genuinely compelling to begin with, I wouldn't have stopped on Saturday and taken some shots, publications wouldn't have written about it and I wouldn't be caring about it now.

There was no branding or "messaging".  I had to figure it out for myself.  How atypically memorable.

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Critics, the Opinionated, and Proofers Wanted

Agile Combat Storytelling

Humans tell stories.  We are really good at it.  Both the telling part and the receiving.  A good story says so much more than the volume of words or visuals used.

While stories fills much of my day the greatest storytellers I respect are those on the front lines of combat.  People enduring real physical risk to tell stories that need to be told.  Rather than the stories somebody wants to tell.

The Imperial War museum currenlty has a powerful exhibit by iconic war photojournalist Don McCullen - Shaped by War.

On Saturday fresh off the plan from six months in Afghanistan British Army photographer Sergeant Steve Blake along with the head of photography at the museum talked about covering 21st Centruy Conflicts.

His story of covering modern conflict is one of the most compelling stories I've heard in recent years.

Firstly, with extreme forensic distance the head of photography chronicled the shift int he past 20 years from film to digital photography and its moral and operational implications.

Followed by Steve pragmatically detailing the team structure and how despite being a photographer he is  a soldier first.  A soldier who must engage a population with a thing most have never seen - his camera.

Most interesting to me is their team structure.  Steve works in a group of three. Himself on stills, another on film and their leader, a superior, who serves as the official media voice and is responsible for all radio content.

These three, with their individual equipment adding 50 points to each's back and a shared satellite uplink operate as a self contained mobile news room that delivers against every single possible medium. 

Some stuff they shoot goes on TV, some on Facebook, some in newleters and some in magazines.  They don't worry about the medium, just getting the story.

I loved the brutal simplicity of three people getting all possible required content for any medium.

When lives are at stake, no time for messing around.

Advertising Diapers

Admittedly babies scare me, probably as much as a retail creative brief on the fact Target carries Huggies.

In an age of complexity, simplicity remains king.

This ad, film, viral, YouTube thing, or whatever other medium of moving picture and synched sound you prefere is one of my favorites of 2011.  

Love it, tough brief, goreously simple idea, done with taste and simplicity.  Not a pun in sight thankfully.  A retail message well dropped. (Oops, sorry, I punned.)

Some more films that were rather good in 2010

Well, seems there are some more films that were rather good in 2010.   Not just these ones.

 

Grab Some Buds (Anomoly USA)

Sometimes, you want an ad to feel like an ad.  The good kind, that slowly winds you up, and rocks you out.  Reaffirms what's important to you, in the summer, when you are a god damn baseball, rock music and BBQ loving American. 

 

Human Chain (Wieden Kennedy Portland)

Again, under the category when you want a TV ad to be a TV ad.  (Even though this may have never actually aired on TV.)  Where Write the Future was arguably more strategic concept than an ad, this guy is a good old fashion one shot execution ad idea.  An idea made for athletes, or anyone who wants to improve.  Lovely.  Very lovely.

 

Ikea Easy to Assemble (Mediaedge:cia USA)

Episodic brand content - something every brand wants but few have.  It looks like nothing done before.  A mix of old Saturday Night Live production values with top cult acting talent.  Entertaining, absurd, and quintisentially Swedish.  Brand all like to sugggest they don't take themselves too seriously, but few like Ikea do.  This, is amazing, and given viewing counts many others agree too. 

 

Some Films That are Rather Good in 2010

Moving picture with synched sound remains a rather moving medium.  Thought it was time to take a moment and see what was good the past yere.  Here are a few films, in no particular order, that may or may not have been on TV, the web, the back of an airline see, on your phone or some other screen.

 

Write the Future (Global by Wieden + Kennedy)

An obvious one for what may not be obvious reasons. One can dabate whether Nike is getting too self referential and its just a big budget bomb in the face of Adidas.  But the shear magnitude of this global campaign was extraordinary, a film with excrutiating complexity and content to allow both cross media manifestations but also culture.  What I loved most, being in different countries during the world cup, was seeing how each nation had their version, often linking to the very game being playing that moment.

 

 

Drench (UK by Chi + Partners)

Simple, watchable, engaging, restrained, superb sound design with a clearly linked brand proposition.  Lovely.

Google (US and possibly international by BBH)

Most technology ads, be it for a phone, website or computer convulse with laundry lists of everything they can do. Few actually make it something compelling, enjoyable, lovable and offer a deeper emotional payoff.  Well done tale of a cold search algorythm.

 

Logitech: Robot (Goodby Silverstein + Partners)

Again, technolgoy.  This time with empathy to convey a tool that offers simplicity.  Gorgeous.

 

Levis: To Work (US: Wieden + Kennedy Portland)

Turn off the TV, tell everyone to shut up and put on some headphones.  Watch this and feel something stir inside of you.  You, are being moved.

I love this campaign.  The film is superb emotive setting, storying telling and framing.  But the bigger idea of Braddock PA is the scale of what big ideas can be. Yes, you can even spell it with capitals and say BIG IDEAS (fyi, it's cool to do that again.) The best part, this campaign is legit, a buddy who is the CD sends me shots from Braddock, it is stupendous.

 

Notably Absent - Old Spice

Yes, you, especially if you know me in the real world, will be surprised at the absense of Old Spice.  This remains my favorite campaign but it does not deserve recognition for a couple executions this year.  No, the whole body deserves being given a Nobel Prize.  This film, for finding again the brand, its voice and personality deserves to be film of the decade.  It made all the subsequent great Old Spice work possible (and yes, TMYMCSL is rather very good too.)  Here is to bravery and creating excellent in tough circumstance.

 

Amazing: Nike, Get Up

As is increasingly the case I don't know if this is a TV ad, a viral, a web film, podcast, street projection, a YouTube promotion or CCTV - and I do not care.

Simple a wonderful motion picture story.  The athlete's fighting spirit.  Humanity's drive to go beyond known limits, fall, and get back up.

Bravo.

Nice films

People don't watch ads, they watch things they like.  We all know that.  I also know that I really like these films. 

Don't know if they first ran on that thing some call 'traditional,' in something called 'digital,' or through that 'social' thing, or even a projector in a Mumbai street theater.  I just really like them for being emotive, true to the cultures of their respective audience and being well produced.  Even the last one which is really just a driving demonstration video, but with an idea to it.  Well done folks.

Coraline

Last year we worked with the uber talented animators at Bent Image labs and every time we visited Portland to check in on progress invariably the conversation would touch on "that" film in production up the road at Phil Knight's Lakai Studios. A film that took almost two years of shooting alone in painstaking attention to detail stop motion.

So on opening night last Friday we donned stylish 3-d glasses and soaked up the visual brilliance of Coraline. It is stunning. Eyegasmic. Especially considering 90% of the entire film is all "real" hand crafted characters and sets. I am fascinated by the increasing appreciation and use of hand crafted products and creative expressions. This film is an absolute virtuoso creation to the highest degree.

Turn on the HD for all the visual awesomeness.

Future of Television

Ron Burgundy and the future of television, circa 1979.

Skate NYC

Love this film produced by Mountain Dew on emergence of skate culture in NYC called Deathbowl to Downtown.  More than just a coop of something cool they have added something to the cultural repository of what's now a mainstream activity.  Very tastefully done and  the trailer already makes the film look fascinating.  Nice to see they have evolved from the XGames mindset and do something cool rather than try to be cool.

What I'm watching

Here's something to do instead of work for the next 5 minutes.  A taste of Get Mortified.  You can claim it as research into the trials of pained soul of youth.

C'était un Rendez-Vous

I love speed.   My my past life as a downhill ski racer and coach  are a testament of the love for the weightlessness of moving with speed through space across the surface.   And my sport of skiing has always had a close link to car racing.  Not just the elitist perceptions of F1 and the White Circuit but the nature of each sport and it's relationship with speed. The importance of trajectory and analyzing your line in real time making hundreds of decisions faster than you can consciously think. 

As such, I am very excited to have learned of one of the original viral movies.  A film from 1976 made by Claude Lelouch called C'était un Rendez-Vous.  Shot by Lelouch at 5:30am in Paris it is an eight and a half tear through the streets and grew in mythology to become the inspiration for numerous films including the Paris chase scenes  in Ronin, right down to one of the most beautiful audio tracks ever - engine revs.

I referred to Rendez-Vous as a viral film, as it was not ever officially released apart from a few public screenings, understandable a Lelouch was arrested after the first.  But it circulated as a sort of a automotive snuff  film.  Hand to hand, copy by copy.  Basically, it was good and people went to lengths to find it.  The term "viral" is very unfortunate to me.  In denotes a kind of sub genre of film;, a guy making a Jackass style short movie or a brand piece such as Dove Evolution.  For many it also means small budget, which is understandable as a popular style right now is the  miniDV I filmed in my backyard and edited in iFilm style film.  Which, don't get me wrong is some of the most interesting stuff out there.  Which leads to my bigger point, shouldn't "viral" just be called good.

If something is good, meaning interesting and entertaining, be it a dog on a skateboard or the latest big budget TV spot, don't they equally become viral?   Last week was out for a mini-wrap party with our director and he was lamenting a couple projects lately that were deemed to be "viral" in nature by the client.  Scripts started great, but as they went through all the little bit "edgy" or subjectively deemed unnecessary bits were pulled out.  Basically the good things that would have made it "viral."

As our industry is based on a reward system of award shows, hopefully they will start moving forward off the cue of Cannes last year and truly take the film category for what it is, brand films that are aired on any number of devices from TV, to computer, to outdoor jumbotrons to mobile phones.  That would be cool.  Or at least maybe that's what Lee Clow will do with his Media Arts Festival, which sounds very cool.

The Darjeeling Limited

Though I am a fan of Wes Andreson and his modernization/Americanization of European (meaning French) film techniques (don't ask me what they are, I know he does it and recognize it when I seez it) and am looking forward to this film, not sure how I feel about them using me to advertise it...

Fancy pants dance

Thanks to a windows freeze and subsequent erasing of all things open at the time, my brilliant, world beating, long winded and tear jerking recap of the Al Gore event was lost last night.  Hopefully after some councelling this afternoon the I can start anew.

Until then, please nejoy this clip on what is becoming the wolds dominant for of self expression and dance.

And, to keep us young at heart next week I'm taking coffee mornings to a whole new level.  That's right, Break Off Mornings.  It's old school rules, see you in the alley behind the coffee shop.

300

Glorious.

Absolutely glorious.

Go see it.  Now.

PS. Enjoy it for what it is, not deviations from alleged historical events.  It is escapist cinema at its finest.  True to the graphic novel it came from.