Hasta La Ideas

It’s grey and wet here in London today, and it’s officially the most miserable day of the year, known as Blue Monday. But, thanks to independent initiative Smile For London, there are some cheery, non-commercial visuals to counter the gloom being beamed onto various central London Tube platforms during rush hour all this week and next…

Regular readers may recall that we blogged the call for entries to Smile For London back in October last year. Submissions were to be 20 seconds long and the brief was simple: make people smile. A jury comprising Jeremy Boxer of Vimeo, Neville Brody of Research Studios, Shane Walter of onedotzero, author Stephen Bayley, and CR’s Gavin Lucas each selected their five favourite submissions and it is this selection that is screening over the week on the various CBS Outdoor projection screens on selected Tube platforms.

A host of established artists and film makers – including Airside, Aardman Animation, Jon Burgerman (still from Smile, shown above), Pete Fowler and Saam Farahmand – were also invited to create new work specially for the project and these new short pieces will also be screened.

“This is a hugely exciting project for us, say Smile for London co-creators Jo Kotas and Alex Stevens. “We want to celebrate the creative talents of our city and at the same brighten the journeys of London’s commuters. Our ambition is for the project to gain real momentum and become a permanent London fixture.”

Here are a couple of our favourite submitted films. First up is Spreadsheet Invasion, the winning student entry by 22 year old Amy Thornley,  currently in her final year studying Interactive Design at the University of Lincoln. It was animated frame by frame in Excel:

Spreadsheet Invasion from Amy Thornley on Vimeo.

Urban Animal by 12Foot6:

Urban Animal from 12foot6 on Vimeo.

How Snow Is Made by Amael Isnard:

How snow is made from Amael Isnard on Vimeo.

Balloon by Liam Brazier:

Balloon (for Smile for London) from Liam Brazier on Vimeo.

The screenings via the CBS Outdoor projectors on Tube platforms will be shown at the following London Underground stations:  Camden Town, Euston, Holborn, Liverpool Street, Moorgate, Oxford Circus, Paddington, Piccadilly Circus, Victoria and Waterloo. More info about the project at smileforlondon.com