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Rockin' the Yeti - (the making-of)

Hunting the Yeti from Billy the Kilt on Vimeo.

Before we can show you the end result, here is the making-of our Yeti hunt in Norway. This film was filmed and edited by art director Cédric Minot (great job, Ced!). And yes, there are some sneak peeks of the Yeti. - Memo : pictures also available here.

  

THE first -and only- picture of the Yeti !

Okay now, this... is the only picture I could take of the Yeti. Okay, I was far away, used my iPhone and so it's far from perfect too, but hopefully our PRO mountain team could get closer and... yes, they filmed it! We are currently editing the film and a thrilling making-of. I will share it with you here as soon as our client approves the edit. Can't wait. In the meantime, you can see all the pictures of our cool -and I mean cold, really- adventure on my Flickr page or in the slideshow here under. For those of you who could think it is a fake, well it's not. I took this picture myself, with an iPhone v1 and just "reframed" it for the blog. Original is here.


  

Stay tuned, more coming soon...

  

Yeti Hunting in Norway

Image posted by Loren Coleman on CryptoMundo.

  

If you are following me on Twitter, you might have noticed that I've been sending a series of #yeti hash tags, documenting our latest agency adventure... the Yeti hunt. Antoine Servais (copywriter - @Arkzel) and Cédric Minot (art director - @BillyTheKilt) have created a very nice TVC story for one of our clients. Well, the only challenge being, naturally... to find the Yeti. History or mythology? Well, it's about time to find out. ; )

So TRS, a dynamic Belgian film production company and their talented director Jan Boon  (see his work on TRS site) brought us a very challenging way to make this film happen. Go Yeti hunting around Turtagrø mountains, 400km north of Oslo, in Norway.

On the way there, I thought about documenting this quest on Twitter to bring a little "live" dimension to this work adventure. I'll be posting Twitter updates here and Twitpics there. And naturally, we'd love to have your feedback on this...

  

Any views on how we could find the Yeti?  

 

 

Big Ideas (don't get any)

Big Ideas (don't get any) from James Houston on Vimeo.

 
  

Here is a little gem I just discovered via threeminds and that illustrates how creativity and talent can transform a challenge into a master piece. This short film is the work of James Houston, a student of the Glasgow School of Art who decided, for his final project, to respond to the online challenge launched by the Radiohead. The band proposed on a dedicated site a contest to remix their latest single "Nude". Here is what James did out of it. Although he was too late to enter his work within the deadline, I think he deserves a big huge online wave of applause from all of us.

Here is how James describes his quest on Vimeo :

"I've just graduated from the Glasgow School of Art's graphic design course. This was my final project.

Radiohead held an online contest to remix "Nude" from their album - "In Rainbows" This was quite a difficult task for everybody that entered, as Nude is in 6/8 timing, and 63bpm. Most music that's played in clubs is around 120bpm and usually 4/4 timing. It's pretty difficult to seamlessly mix a waltz beat into a DJ set.

This resulted in lots of generic entries consisting of a typical 4/4 beat, but with arbitrary clips from "Nude" thrown in so that they qualified for the contest.

Thom Yorke joked at the ridiculousness of it in an interview for NPR radio, hinting that they set the competition to find out how people would approach such a challenging task. I decided to take the piss a bit, as the contest seemed to be in that spirit. Based on the lyric (and alternate title) "Big Ideas: Don't get any" I grouped together a collection of old redundant hardware, and placed them in a situation where they're trying their best to do something that they're not exactly designed to do, and not quite getting there.

It doesn't sound great, as it's not supposed to.

I missed the contest deadline, so I'm offering it here for you to enjoy.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum - Guitars (rhythm & lead)
Epson LX-81 Dot Matrix Printer - Drums
HP Scanjet 3c - Bass GuitarHard
Drive array - Act as a collection of bad speakers - Vocals & FX"

PS : And I'm really wondering what my friend Tom (DirectorTom Thomas Clifford) will think about this film. ; )

  

UPDATE :

Check this film James did as he mentioned it to be his "...first ever project working with live action video". Wow! Definitely worth being pointed here as well. Read the comments on Vimeo and find out how he did it!

MTV from James Houston on Vimeo.

 

The Key to Reserva

   

If you like Martin Scorsese... it's a must see.
If you like Alfred Hitchcock... it's a must see.
If you like wine and champagne... it's a must see.
If you like out-of-the-ordinary-stories... it's a must see.

A movie definitely worth spending time with here.

   

JWT Barcelona, lead by Alex Martinez and his team, had a clever and innovative idea to promote FreiXenet, the Spanish sparkling wine (Cava is the Spanish sparkling wine "equivalent" to France's champagne). - More about the context story here.

As mentioned by Craig Davis (JWT's Worldwide's chief creative officer) on his blog, The Good Stuff :

"...the film features not the star in front of the camera but the stars behind - a striking shift from image to product, from how we look to what we make"

 

 

Now, what I like about this is that it drives your imagination out of the conventional story-telling patterns. Of course it is advertising... and of course, there is a link to a brand. But on a very personal point of view, I didn't feel betrayed by the apparition of the product (like it often happens in branded film content). I loved that they dared to distract our attention away from the product itself and push us back into the film. Smart and talented way to communicate. Last but not least, notice the "insightful link" that says : "GIVE US YOUR OPINION".

 

So... "if next year you had to do a short film, which director would YOU choose?"

    

UPDATE : Check "The Good Stuff" original post's comments... seems this story pushed Bob Jeffrey himself (JWT's Worldwide Chairman and CEO) to comment. I think it is a first time, but maybe I'm wrong.  : )

 

The sky is... NOT the limit !

   

For those of you who really thought I was kidnapped by Aliens when I was out of blogging for  while, here is the story. As a matter of fact, I was the one trying to make contact with them. And guess what... I found them. This is quite a long story. So I made a little pdf file to summarize and share this extra-ordinary encounter with you. All I can tell you is that although they may seem scary, Aliens are very nice beings. Hopefully they were open minded, and so really appreciated the Age of Conversation. Actually, with their help now, we may even reach Gavin Heaton's secret dream... and make the incredible come true (right Drew?).

 

Well, I'm afraid the sky is NOT the limit anymore... so if you have not bought a copy yet, here is another reason for you to do it : it'll help you engage conversation with Aliens (how about that?) and help a good cause. Talking about Aliens, did you know that they eat tangerine (I mean, just like "us"), dream about Big Macs (they do, they do), and use Twitter  (yeah, without any device, actually) to communicate? But please... know that they are not waiting for planes anymore... they use flying saucers, I mean... tractors (woops! Call me "lunatic").

 

PS : This picture  is not a Photoshop job... my Alien friend holds a printed copy of the AoC, because at that time I had not yet received a hardback book.  : )

PPS : Huge thanks to Gareth the Alien, without his passion and trust telling you this story would have never been possible. If you ever are looking for an Alien... I do recommend calling him -and unfortunately I can't show you the film we made out of this as it is not "on air" yet-

 

Imagination booster

 
As some of you might know, I am now in Cape town again, preparing another shooting (shoot day tomorrow).

Today on our pre-production program: location recce, wardrobe fitting, belly casting (now... come on guys, can't show pictures here - we just need it to shoot a gentle demo, really - yes, I'll post the film when on air) and set building check. While at the set builder studio, I made a strange encounter... the huge head of a dragon (picture above)... just, laying there in the middle of the room. Wow! Absolutely unexpected.

In a fraction of a second,  imagination flew me away. I was ridding on the "Neverending story" dragon, on a trip "Finding Neverland", where "Big fish" can be found. Some films lift you up when you see them. They make you "believe" in dragons, Tinkerbell and giant fishes. They boost your mood and bring you good... vibrations. They make a smile "pop" on your face.

Do you believe in the magic of imagination? I do. Now if you would excuse me, my "Happy feet" are moving too much. Fellow penguins calling... obviously.  : )

 

PS: Yes, I do recommend the above films... and eventually some imagination in your everyday life, to be different and most of all to "believe".

 

Thalys speed day in Paris

Originaly uploaded  by Pat's Piks

Yesterday return ticket to Paris. Post-production facility : Mikros image. At least 10 people working on our project. Action and speed all day to reach conference call with client and integrate all the elements post-produced separately. I'm pleased to see how the limits of CGI and compositing can be pushed. Great professionals around me. Wizzards of Oz making our dreams come true.

 

Morning: agency (us) feedback to post-producers. Midday: Mikros team in action: corrections. Afternoon: continuous agency feedback. Email dispatching and FTP site of work in progress. End of the day: conference call with client in Brussels. Agency introduction to work in progress and client feedback. End of the day: launch more corrections. Jump in taxi to catch Thalys. Evening: return to Brussels, past 10 PM, home. Tomorrow music briefing at sound studio.

 

Paradox of the day... feeling the "speed of the day" slow down, while travelling at 300 km/h (+/- 190 mph).

 

Marshmallow Camps Bay day

 

After a long and bumpy flight we arrived in Cape Town with the rising sun of the early morning. Getting off the airplane was like a double relief : walking (again) and discovering the warm and dry climate of South Africa.

 

I’ll make this post short. Because I’m completely exhausted. Air conditioning of the airplane (=cold), lack of sleep, and now a day being driven around town to check pre-production elements (stylism, life SFX, etc.) burnt all the energy I had left. No, no... no feet into the water or even on the beach. But I must admit that it feels good just to see landscapes, palm trees and blue (surfable) waves of the Atlantic sea.

   

Melting pot of thoughts of the day : people send you energizing smiles here and it feels good – waiting to get (simple) things make us wonder if we do things fast(er) or if they are done really slow here – coffee, fish and food are delicious – agency life doesn’t care about people being on a shooting (office mail box is already filled with cc. mails and “urgent – we know you’re out, probably can’t read your mails, but still please read and answer immediately” kind of messages) – just can’t read RSS and comment your posts tonight, sorry guys – I still think I could walk on these marshmallow clouds I saw from the window of the plane (thought coming back on every flight I’ve taken so far)   ; ) - oh boy... it’s really time to sleep now!

   

Flying to Cape Town

Originally uploaded by flamed

Tomorrow, I’m flying to Cape Town. I’m going there for a week on a TV production mission together with a creative team and Creative Director of the agency I work for. We’ll be shooting a commercial for one client of the agency. The heavy preparation process of this film is one of the reasons I’ve been a little slow on posts lately.

Although this project is still quite confidential (unfortunately I can’t reveal either name of client or product now), I can tell you this one is going to be a real technical challenge, full of live SFX, post-produced 3D SFX, extras, props... yep, the full package. A real producer’s challenge. Quite exciting indeed. On the other hand, I’m leaving my family and little (13 months old) daughter-princess Ness for the first time. Yes... must confess I’ll miss them a lot!

I’m not sure about free time once I’ll get there, but I will definitely try to share a few South African pictures and thoughts with you. In the meantime, the starters: I found this link on Flickr with lots of pictures of Cape Town. So, enjoy... and stay tuned.

Did you know there were penguins in South Africa?  ; )