Last week we posted the first of a three part film directed by Saman Keshavarz (through US production company Mighty8) to accompany and promote Russ Chimes' debut release: Midnight Club EP. Now it's time for part two...
]]> Last week we posted the first of a three part film directed by Saman Keshavarz (through US production company Mighty8) to accompany and promote Russ Chimes' debut release: Midnight Club EP. Now it's time for part two...
To recap, in Part 1 (see our original post here), a young couple is kidnapped by a bunch of violent balaclava-clad oiks and bundled into the back of a van - but, after a beating, the young chap is ejected from the kidnappers vehicle battered and bruised. In the second film, our young hero turns detective and starts to work out what the heck's going on, and, presumably, how he's going to get his girl back...
Russ Chimes - Midnight Club EP (Part 2: Tertre Rouge) from Russ Chimes on Vimeo.
Part 3 (the final installment) is due to be released online next week
Midnight Club EP by Russ Chimes is due for release in October on label Eye Industries
Credits:
Director: Saman Keshavarz
Writers: Saman Keshavarz, Nate Eggert
Executive producer: Lanette Phillips
Producers: Francis Pollara, Saman Keshavarz, Romson Niega
Associate producers: Nate Eggert, Tom Lee
Cinematographer: Justin Gurnari
Editor: Nate Tam
Production designer: Julie Chen
Stunts: Ken Arata
Graphics: Cosimo Galluzzi
Label: Eye Industries (eyeindustries.com/blog)
Production company: Mighty8 (mighty8.tv)
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To publicise knitwear label Sibling's Comic Horror collection, This is Real Art decided to put the wind up some very scared models
]]> To publicise knitwear label Sibling's Comic Horror collection, This is Real Art decided to put the wind up some very scared models
This is Real Art's Paul Belford explains that "we came up with the idea of photographing scared-looking models wearing the clothes but we wanted to get genuine expressions of fear". So, echoing a tactic famously employed by Ridley Scott on the shoot of Alien, This is Real Art decided to really scare the models.
"The models were led into the pitch black studio, unable to see a thing and made to stand on a spot for several minutes, at which point they were scared using an incredibly loud horror noise," Belford explains. "Simultaneously, the photographs were taken." As you can see from this video
And here are some of the final shots which will be used in publicity material
Creative team: Sam Renwick, Paul Belford
Production Company: COY!
Photographer: Sean De Sparengo
Sound Design: Andy at Adelphoi
Documentary: Miguel Ragageles
Hot on the heels of their recent 'synchronised artwork' experiments, Arcade Fire has released another interactive video online, to accompany the track We Used To Wait. The video is created in association with director Chris Milk and Google Chrome - CR spoke to B-Reel, the digital production company behind it, to find out how it all works...
]]> Hot on the heels of their recent 'synchronised artwork' experiments, Arcade Fire has released another interactive video online, to accompany the track We Used To Wait. The video is created in association with director Chris Milk and Google Chrome - CR spoke to B-Reel, the digital production company behind it, to find out how it all works...
The site can be viewed best on Google Chrome, although it is also possible to view it on Safari. Be warned though - you need a decent connection to make it work well. But it's worth finding one. The site opens by asking you to enter the name of the street you grew up on - as Arcade Fire's album is titled The Suburbs, it probably helps if you grew up on the banal fringes of a city, but really any street will do.
After a few seconds of loading, your individual music video begins. The site features the much maligned pop-up window at its core, opening with a window showing a man in a hoodie running through damp streets. He is quickly joined by other pop-ups, showing flocks of starlings, and then - more shockingly - Google Earth footage of the street you grew up on. This spins in time to the music and to the movements of the hooded figure, offering multiple views of the street.
The interactivity continues later in the song, when another pop-up window invites users to type in advice for the teenage self that grew up in the streets that are appearing on the screen. You can also draw pictures on this screen, before birds fly across it and it becomes incorporated into the unique vid. All these effects combine to fit the nostalgic mood of the song perfectly, creating a intoxicating mix of interactive elements that genuinely empower the song, rather than distract you from it.
It is surprising then to discover that the site began as a project for Google Chrome, rather than Arcade Fire. "The idea came about when [digital artist] Aaron Koblin contacted Chris Milk about creating an interactive film to showcase Google Chrome," says Ben Tricklebank, creative director at B-Reel. "It was Chris's connection to Arcade Fire that bought about the collaboration and opportunity to feature the song We Used To Wait. This then shaped the narrative of the treatment put together by Chris."
Explaining how the site works, Tricklebank says: "One of the major challenges of this project was finding a method to control and sequence the multiple windows needed to display the components of the film in synch to the music. At the early stages we created the framework of a custom application that would allow us total control over the timing, size and position of the windows at any point in the song.
"Simultaneously we worked to develop the interactive and dynamic components as self contained units. This meant that each piece could be created and tested in a standalone environment before being combined into the sequence. We tested various different forms of 2 and 3D flocking interaction for the birds. Google Maps and Street View posed many unique challenges due to the way we needed to control very precise distances and movements while compositing animated elements in real time.
"When we set out on the project there was definitely a sense of stepping into unknown territory. We definitely had some concerns over performance and the experience for viewers. That said, we went through multiple iterations that pushed us way beyond the capabilities of most machines. This way we could really identify how far we could go in the final piece, after all it is a 'Chrome Experiment'... I think we found the right balance, there's a great deal of visual information for people to take in."
Despite this video not being at the initial behest of the band or the record label, the We Used To Wait site is another huge step forward into an interactive future for music videos. It is apt that it is Arcade Fire that has continued these experiments, having already created excellent online works for the tracks Neon Bible and Black Mirror. "It still feels like a relatively untouched medium and one that has so much potential," says Tricklebank. "In the past six months we've been approached a number of times, both for advertising and artists. I'm certainly very excited to see where it goes."
The Wilderness Downtown website can be found here.
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A memorial to Joseph Grimaldi – the man who invented the modern 'clown' – has been unveiled by artist Henry Krokatsis. In keeping with Grimaldi's spirit of performance, Krokatsis' installation in north London invites the public to dance on a series bronze tiles that sit on top of Grimaldi's grave. It even plays a tune...
]]> A memorial to Joseph Grimaldi – the man who invented the modern 'clown' – has been unveiled by artist Henry Krokatsis. In keeping with Grimaldi's spirit of performance, Krokatsis' installation in north London invites the public to dance on a series bronze tiles that sit on top of Grimaldi's grave. It even plays a tune...
On Grimaldi's death on 31 May 1837 the London Illustrated News was moved to write, "Grimaldi is dead and hath left no peer. We fear with him the spirit of pantomime has disappeared." His reinterpretation of the medieval 'fool' character led him to become one of the most famous clowns of all time, with the trademark clothes and face paint that he brought to the profession (see image below) defining the look of the modern performer.
In keeping with Grimaldi's anti-authoritarian stance, Henry Krokatsis's memorial allows visitors to the recently reopened Grimaldi Park in Islington in London to, quite literally, dance on the old clown's grave.
"Making a monument to a man who would have scorned the idea of permanence, heroism or any of the other qualities normally associated with funerary memorials was an interesting challenge," says Krokatsis. "I wanted to create something that is constantly changing, a joyous interlude from the silence of death."
Two caskets have been created from phosphor bronze tiles that react to pressure by playing musical notes. Each series of tiles are tuned so that Hot Codlins, the song Grimaldi popularised through his pantomime performances, can be played, as this grave dancer, below, demostrates:
And here's another tune danced out on the grave:
An Invitation to Dance on the Grave of Joseph Grimaldi actually consists of two coffin-shaped caskets set into the ground: one on Grimaldi's grave, the other on that of Charles Dibdin, Grimaldi's mentor.
The installation is in Grimaldi Park, Islington, north London.
And here's the man himself, performing as Clown Joey in c.1820. (Image from Wikipedia's entry on Grimaldi).
Illustrator and toy designer James Jarvis just got in touch with us to point us in the direction of a new cartoon strip he's publishing daily online: The Wisdom of Caleb...
]]> Illustrator and toy designer James Jarvis just got in touch with us to point us in the direction of a new cartoon strip he's publishing daily online: The Wisdom of Caleb...
The strip is written by Jarvis' long term collaborator and partner in all things Amos, Russell Waterman, and features Jarvis' latest character, Caleb, revealing his musings, concerns, and daily adventures...
Fans of Caleb can follow his daily musings at wisdomofcaleb.blogspot.com and also get excited about the prospect of inviting him into their homes. Yes, Caleb will soon be available (October release) to buy in the form of an Amos vinyl figure. The figures are still in production so we can't show you one just yet – BUT, we can show you how Caleb looks on a current ATP In Between Days poster (Amos are curating the In Between Days part of this year's ATP festival):
As soon as we can show you and tell you more about the Caleb toy release, we will stick up another blog post. In the meantime, keep up with Caleb's exploits online at wisdomofcaleb.blogspot.com
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Fans of Jarvis' toy exploits might also be happy to know that a new series of King Ken mini toys are about to be released (later this month) by StrangeCo. Here's a look at the five new colours - note the new face and hand sculpts - as well as the new colourways.
Aaron Ruell, who is perhaps best known for his commercial work for brands including Burger King and Volkswagen, is currently showing an exhibition of his personal photography work at Colette in Paris...
]]> Aaron Ruell, who is perhaps best known for his commercial work for brands including Burger King and Volkswagen, is currently showing an exhibition of his personal photography work at Colette in Paris...
Ruell's photography has been featured in magazines internationally and he has exhibited it in the US, Milan and Buenos Aires. The show at Colette marks his first French exhibition, and includes a mixture of still life works and portraits.
"I tend to describe my photographs as 'quiet'," says Ruell. "I'm inspired by pieces of furniture or accessories that wind up in my still life work. Also by music and faces. My images usually start in one of these ways... While listening to music a visual will come to mind. Or, while watching people, a character will come to me and I'll then attempt to build a world around them. Or, I'll see a nice piece of design in furniture or in something as simple as a tea cup and that will warrant an image.
"I like to think of my personal photography as separate from my commercial work," he continues. "But the reality is that they are tied together. Sometimes I'll take commercials in order to build a set and then capture a photograph during downtime. Also, the money I earn from shooting commercials is what allows me to shoot my personal work. So while I like to say they are separate, I think they do intermingle in a lot of ways. The key difference between the two is that I don't have to answer or explain myself to anyone in my photography. And that's nice."
The exhibition at Colette will continue until September 25. More info is at colette.fr. Ruell is repped by Biscuit Filmworks in the US for commercial work.
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England's footballers will be wearing a new home shirt for their match against Bulgaria on September 3, with graphics designed by Peter Saville
]]> England's footballers will be wearing a new home shirt for their match against Bulgaria on September 3, with graphics designed by Peter Saville
Given the team's pathetic performance over the summer it's perhaps not the best time to be asking long-suffering fans to shell out £49.99 for yet another new kit. In the accompanying press blurb, manufacturers Umbro say that the design "takes its inspiration from the more formal classic shirts of England’s footballing past. Umbro has developed a new longer, more open neckline for the shirt, building on the square neckline that was designed for the away shirt but allowing additional movement across the chest, keeping its shape especially when a player is running."
Saville's contribution is somewhat minimalist. A graphic of multicoloured crosses sits on the shoulders which is, apparently, "evocative of the basting stitches synonymous with bespoke tailoring". They are also meant to represent the diverse nature of modern English society, which should give the Daily Mail plenty to get its teeth into.
UPDATE: We will post an in-depth interview with Saville about the shirt following Friday's game. However, here are a few extra details that may answer some of the questions raised in the comments:
To those complaining that he "did nothing", Saville's brief from Umbro was strictly confined. He was asked to suggest some ways in which colour could be incorporated into the design of the shirt (the basic look and shape of which had already been determined) while still keeping it predominantly white.
To those of you complaining that the design won't be visible from the stands... that's kind of the point. It looks all white from a distance, then the detail is revealed close-up.
Saville's proposal was that the pattern of crosses would cover the entire shirt and not just the shoulders.
A number of different geometric forms were considered by Saville and Paul Barnes, who worked with him on the project, based on the micro dots and other symbols that some menswear designers have been incorporating into their fabrics. Among the shapes considered was a plus sign, which Barnes then suggested could be transformed into the St George's cross.
We will be talking to Saville about his contribution to the shirt later this week, in the meantime here he is in an Umbro video about the project
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We were greatly saddened to hear (via magCulture) of the death of Corinne Day whose 1990 cover shot of Kate Moss for The Face ushered in a new era of photography]]>
We were greatly saddened to hear (via magCulture) of the death of Corinne Day whose 1990 cover shot of Kate Moss for The Face ushered in a new era of photography
The July 1990 cover (above) not only launched the career of Day's friend Moss, who was then just 16 years old, but also led to a new wave of pared-down, so-called 'grungey' fashion photography that the tabloids, following a Vogue shoot in 1993 again starring Moss, soon dubbed 'heroin chic'.
The Vogue images were certainly controversial, but they sprang from Day's willingness to form lasting, deep relationships with her subjects that resulted in very powerful, very personal photographs.
According to Day's website, "she passed away on Friday 27th August at 4pm peacefully at home, after a long illness", which we believe to have been brain cancer. She was 45.
Friends wishing to attend the funeral on Friday September 3 in Buckinghamshire, are asked to contact Sarah@sarahmurraycasting.com.
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New from Redstone Press comes this lovingly produced Inkblot Test complete with 12 cards. As a sceptical sort, I was eager to see if the blots could get the measure of me...
]]> New from Redstone Press comes this lovingly produced Inkblot Test complete with 12 cards. As a sceptical sort, I was eager to see if the blots could get the measure of me...
In addition to the series of colourful freeform blots and the accompanying booklet of interpretations, there's also great essay on the history of the blobby medium by writer and journalist Will Hobson.
Far from ramming home the validity of Hermann Rorschach's psychological tests, Hobson acknowledges the ridicule that the visual experiments have often brought since first used in the 1940s and 50s, and how it is now perhaps in art rather than in science that the inkblots live on as "catnip to the imagination".
The opening paragraph to the Short History of Inkblots essay, for example, begins with this funny Andy Warhol story.
"When Andy Warhol showed his series of Rorschach paintings in 1984, he claimed he'd been confused about what the Rorschach test involved while he was making them. He thought the person taking the test – him in this case – had to create his or her own inkblots, which a psychologist would then analyse. If he had known better, he said, he would have just copied Rorschach's ten standard inkblots."
The basic Redstone Inkblot Test is simple: just look through the series of 12 inkblots and select the three that you're most drawn to. From this group, choose your favourite, turn it over and see if what you saw in the image is in the list provided.
This will, apparently, feed into the overall personality profile of the particular inkblot. The handbook then provides more detail on the profile and what it says about you.
Suffice to say that on picking my favourite blot and duly flipping it over for the definition, I'm informed that there appears to be some kind of "ascerbic struggle going on under the surface". So watch out.
More details on the Redstone Press Inkblot Test at redstonepress.co.uk. It's available from the Redstone Shop from tomorrow (£11.95).
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Hastings Borough Council is taking a hard line on the owners of dogs that foul the streets and pavements of the historic seaside town – and their graphic poster campaign is causing a bit of a stir...
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Hastings Borough Council is taking a hard line on the owners of dogs that foul the streets and pavements of the historic seaside town – and their graphic poster campaign which launched earlier this month is causing a bit of a stir...
Let's face it, no one likes to see dog poo (or any kind of poo) on their doorstep or on their street. In Hastings, the local council has launched a campaign to encourage people to pick up after their dogs and also to encourage members of the public to report dog owners that let their pets foul public areas.
"Bag it. Bin it. Or get fined", is the hard line of the campaign and a series of posters and car stickers run lines that all begin with "Oi!" followed by: "Sort your s**t out!", "We're not taking your s**t any more!" and also, "Have you got s**t for brains?".
The campaign was designed by local Hastings design agency, Wave, and so far consists of fliers, posters and stickers. The posters are also available to download and print from the council website which means residents supporting the campaign can put the posters in their windows - something which is proving popular with Hastings residents, according to Caroline Kelly, senior communications officer at Hastings Borough Council.
However, the use of the word "shit" in the campaign has, predictably, upset some locals who consider the ads to be unnecessarily offensive. "For the most part we've had a very positive response," Kelly tells us, "and supportive comments have far outweighed any complaints we've had. I think people have been shocked but it I believe it's one of the top five key topics that we get asked to do something about every single year, and the councillors testify to this when they go out canvassing on people's doorsteps. We're following the campaign up with a strong enforcement message and have prosecuted several people in the last week for dog fouling offences, letting our local press know via press releases."
Councillor Phil Scott also recently defended the use of foul (pun intended) language. "Yes, these posters are hard-hitting and yes they make you look twice but we want the small minority of irresponsible dog owners to be very aware that we will not tolerate this behaviour," he said. "If you are caught failing to clear up after your dog, you will be fined [up to £1000]. It's as simple as that. The vast majority of residents we've talked to are behind our campaign."
Find out more about the campaign at hastings.gov.uk/dogmess
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