Hasta La Ideas

MA is Modern Atlanta. 2009’s modern home tour and week of design events is being held May 12-17. This year also includes some film screenings including Koolhaas Houselife and Gary Hustwit’s Objectified. The launch event this year will be held at the new White Provision building in West Midtown. Check the full schedule of nightly events is found on the MA website. Hope to see you there!

We Got Time by Moray McLaren, director: David Wilson

Here is a rather overdue round-up of some of the best videos that have passed under CR’s nose of late. First up is David Wilson’s rather fine promo for We Got Time by Moray McLaren. And if you’re wondering how it’s made, you can find out all about it here.

No One Does It Like You by Department of Angels, directors: Patrick Daughters & Marcel Dzama

Next up Patrick Daughters teams up with artist Marcel Dzama to create a surreal film for Department of Angels.

Warrior’s Dance by The Prodigy, director: Corin Hardy

Corin Hardy has created this animated video for The Prodigy, which features puppets created from cigarette packets. “I’ve always loved the Grimm fairy tales and there is a little of Elves and Shoemakers in this idea for me,” says Hardy.

Luftbahn by Deichkind, director: AlexandLiane

AlexandLiane has created this hilarious vid for Luftbahn by Deichkind. At least we’re assuming it’s all a joke, anyway…

Black Hearted Love by PJ Harvey & John Parish, directors: Jake & Dinos Chapman

Artists Jake & Dinos Chapman directed this video for PJ Harvey & John Parish. According to a predictably provocative article by Jake Chapman about the video that ran in the Guardian last month, the duo would like people “to watch our videos, go out into the street and burn their Porsches”. CR doesn’t own any Porsches but we’re still not sure that this film would initiate such action. We’ll let you make up your own mind though – let us know if any cars get torched.

Teddy Bear by Midfield General (feat. Ralph Brown), director: Kidda

This video is the latest collaboration between Midfield General and animator Kidda.

The Reeling by Passion Pit, directed by Hydra

Directing collective Hydra (Sam Stephens, Ariel Danzinger and John Hobbs) has made this video for Passion Pit. Inspired by the worn away layers of advertising and flyers on New York’s streets, the film was quite an undertaking. According to the production company, Humble, “the video, shot on the new handheld Canon EOS 5D II DSLR, was edited, tracked and composited in normal post workflow. Then, every other frame, some 4305 of them, was printed out, crumpled up, spray mounted in stacks, and then reshot on homemade animation stands. A month of long nights, razor cuts, toxic fumes, and a terrabyte of stills later, we came out with this.”

Titles sequence for Off Camera film festival, by Richard Morrison

Something different now – a new titles sequence by Richard Morrison, created for the Off Camera independent film festival, currently taking place in Krakow, Poland.

Outside Lands festival preview, directed by Elliot Jokelson

Finally, we end on another festival-related film, this time for the Outside Lands music festival in San Francisco. Elliot Jokelson has directed this super-cute video which introduces viewers to this year’s festival line-up.

Illustrator James Jarvis and Shynola director Richard Kenworthy have collaborated on a lovely new film for Nike. Oh, and you can see Jarvis talk at our Portfolios event

Onwards from akqa on Vimeo.

The film is Jarvis’s first. To get the accurate running action, Kenworthy filmed Jarvis (a very keen runner) on a treadmill, then recreated his movements (it’s not motion capture).

Here’s more from Jarvis on how the project came about:

“At the beginning of last year I was thinking about what kind of project I would like to work on. I had become interested in the idea of characters that were less referential and more iconic and abstract. I particularly wanted to do something with a potato-headed stick-man that I had been drawing at that time.

I liked the idea of a moving image project that involved my obsession with running. Rather than make a narrative-based film, I wanted the content to be non-linear, reflecting the way I make drawings that have a logic all of their own.

I was talking to a friend at Nike, Kerry Shaw, about this idea and, given the subject matter, she suggested that Nike might be interested in supporting the film. I had been an admirer of Shynola’s collaboration with David Shrigley in their promo for the track Good Song. I liked the way it maintained Shrigley’s drawn aesthetic in its transformation into moving image, so I contacted them to see if they would be interested in working with me on the idea. Richard ‘Kenny’ Kenworthy agreed, and worked heroically on the film.

The film was inspired by certain personal experiences in running – a favourite run over Blanchland moor in Northumberland, being attacked by a crow in Singapore – and also by the transcendent, almost psychedelic experience of the simple act of running.

Rather than a marketing project inititated by Nike, the film was something proposed and produced by myself, and as such I hope represents a much more equal collaboration with a brand.”

See a full-screen version at Nike’s Onwards site

MTV Cherry Girl film, director: Johnny Hardstaff, production co: RSA

MTV has launched a new website, Cherry Girl, with this quirky film from director Johnny Hardstaff.

The website is part of MTV Switch, the music channel’s climate change initiative, and will reveal the philosophy of life according to the character Cherry Girl, says the press info. Cherry Girl is an impulsive character, who finds that her actions, which are seemingly self-indulgent, can have a positive effect on the people and environment around her. The site will contain a blog, and Cherry Girl will also have a presence on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

“The brief [for the film] was simply the story,” says Johnny Hardstaff. “A girl makes unpredictable things happen through what might seem to be initially selfish actions. I designed the character, the film, and directed it. What wasn’t live-action was created in-house at RSA 3D, and the flame work was handled by Framestore CFC.

“My aim was to make as quirky a film as I could within the constraints. I like it when you see tourists wandering around London with sweatshirts bearing broken English text. I wanted to make the visual equivalent to that. It doesn’t quite make sense, but you get the feeling.”

The Cherry Girl website is at mtvcherrygirl.com.

Or, ‘I’m sure I’ve seen that dancing bear before somewhere’. Thanks to Chunnel.tv for alerting us to this clip (by Vinichou) pointing out that, when it comes to recycling, Disney was way ahead

“I would assume that Disney regarded some of these sequences as sort of ’stock’ motion,” says Chunnel’s Stu, who posted the clip, “and it was probably the new guy’s job to go dig out those Jungle Book cells and translate all the monkeys into dwarfs.”

Chunnel.tv is a creative showcase site that is run by WPP’s United Network.