DSLR simulator

Man...I always wondered what those funny little knobs and dials meant.

Visual.ly

A prolific source of information design inspiration. Imagine animating some of some of these pieces.

12 year timelapse

This guy showed incredible patience. A time-lapse that is 12 years long?!?

Product Demo video

I like the careful attention to detail in this piece. I also covet this case.

Math 52

Get your learn on. A Kickstarter initiative aimed at making boring stuff fun to learn. Hang in there, the beginning is kind of weak...

Handmade

This was created by Lernert & Sander. The Rest of their work is amazing as well.
Handmade from Lernert & Sander on Vimeo.

Nuit Blanche

Micky Rourke came up in conversation the other day - anytime that happens my mind goes right to Sin City. Damn, I love that film. Its gritty, dark, at times ultra violent, and everyone sounds like they smoke a pack of cigarettes before every scene. I'm a sucker for the noir genre as a whole. I would love to do some super stylized composting work. Here is another great example I found a year ago.

 This is more subtle, so much goes on without ever saying a single word.


Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

Greatest of all Time

Sorry I'm Late

A cool piece we could draw inspiration from and probably shoot in our lobby.

Sorry I'm Late from Tomas Mankovsky on Vimeo.

Caine's Arcade

I heard about this during a branded entertainment session at NAB.

Deb 'Spoons' Perry Does The Black Keys

Just because we need some random stuff on here to throw people off.

Zappos Online Videos

I came across this article the other day about Zappos's online videos.  Basically they're creating a video for each of their products and it's making a bit impact on their sales.  They've found that customers are 64% more likely to purchase the product after watching the video and 52% percent less likely return the product after purchasing.  They have a team of 12 people on their video team and they produce 2,300 videos every week!  They've already produced over 200,000 videos.  A neat example of the impact and effect video can have on viewers.

The Power of the Title Sequence

Title says it all.

 From PBS' Off Book series.

 Enjoy.

Count on Me

Some nice animation from a personal short from Gentleman Scholar. Inspiration for smooth transitional elements.

Count on Me from Gentleman Scholar on Vimeo.

IKEA UPPLEVA

Awesome Real life ad

They put a button in the center of a town square that just teased people to push it. It's a really cool way to demonstrate what they are and really get people engaged.

Fragments of Iceland

There is no doubt in my mind that I will visit Iceland before I die. I have seen several videos depicting the strange and beautiful landscape for some time now. I feel like this video is quite different. Its ease in sifting through hundreds of strikingly beautiful shots without lingering or being too precious on any one in particular. Heavy stylization with baths of light leaks coupled with expert match cutting. Music by The Cinematic Orchestra makes it a personal perfect storm. The pacing and sense of serenity. Enjoy.
Fragments of Iceland from Lea et Nicolas Features on Vimeo.

RIP: Hillman Curtis

I saw this on Motionographer, and needed to re-post. I am going to have to find more on him, because I am not very familiar with all of his work, but this piece struck me as he talks about re-inventing himself. Hillman Curtis passed away on 4/18 after a long battle with colon cancer.

HILLMAN from Hillman Curtis on Vimeo.

The Politics of Competitive Board Gaming Amongst Friends

Came across this little piece and it reminded me of you guys for more than one reason. The main reason I thought it was relevant was the storytelling involved. Jay Cheel shot this as a way of experimenting with re-enactments for his larger upcoming project. Seeing as how we just finished Deloitte this really caught my eye. There are a lot of similarities and I just think it's a testament to how much more we can do with storytelling to enhance interviews.

The Specifics:

I shot this with the Panasonic AF100, using the following lenses: Nikon 50mm, Nikon 35mm, Panasonic Lumix 14mm. I didn’t do a whole lot for lighting aside from assisting some of the practical lights in Matt’s apartment (a 650 bounced off the ceiling), and stringing some coloured Christmas lights in the background for some visual points of interest. For the interviews, I used a single bulb cool light hung directly overhead the subjects along with a 250W tungsten key light (diffused X2) and another cool light as a back light.

The Politics of Competitive Board Gaming Amongst Friends from Jay Cheel on Vimeo.

Fail again, Fail better

Awesome little piece from Sara Shin and the folks at Blind.  I think being in this particular industry we can all relate pretty closely to the feeling in this animation. What I love most about it is that it's an amazing example of a simple idea being executed through visual only. No damn voice over for me thank you very much!
Fail Again, Fail Better from Sara Shin on Vimeo.

NAB Show 2012 - Ogilvy Examples

Here are three video examples shown by Ogilvy Entertainment's Doug Scott. Though I believe everyone who was in Vegas at the time attended the session, for those who didn't, it basically outlines some pretty awesome initiatives that companies are doing that revolve around documentary films and "selling ideas" rather than "selling products". After the presentation, I think we all agreed that these are examples we could bring to the table as it relates to our vale proposition and the kind of work we'd like to be doing.

I tried really hard to dig up the video that Doug had actually shown at the conference but couldn't find it anywhere; it set up the purpose of the series much better than I could. Essentially, Ogilvy, DuPont and, i believe, the BBC created a collection of mini documentaries that showcase DuPont and their commitment scientific collaboration, corporate responsibility and humanity in general. The one lin that I took away from the video I couldn't find was "It's about selling an idea or feeling, not a product". For those in the audience, back me up if I'm missing some here... you can find the rest of the videos here.

Again, another example of outreach that advertises a concept that goes beyond product placement. This one especially demonstrates a social media aspect as well.

Lastly, Red Bull going from energy drink to full-on production company...

And one more...

Easy Release

No more paper releases!  Check out Easy Release on iTunes.  It's customizable so you can use the "fancy" Root release language.

All talent has to do is fill in the required fields and sign...

And Wa-la! Release form.  

And then after you're done you can send yourself the PDF or upload to Dropbox.  Worked out pretty good on the shoot yesterday.

Standoff

Two men face off in Red Rocks Canyon, Nevada

IndieGoGo

IndieGoGo is an online platform to raise funds for creative projects. Kinda like Kickstarter, but more focused on films and social philanthropy projects.

Ah! They won't stop following me!

http://www.lateral-inc.com/about-us/team/

I cant stop listening to this Torche song

I Know Those Voices

Career evolution: Advertising

Frame of Mind

Thought this was kind of fun!


Frame of Mind from Steven Alan on Vimeo.

They also have a tutorial posted on how they did it: http://vimeo.com/39519687.

Thirty Century Man

I ran across this piece a while ago and really enjoyed the pace and look. This was one of a few subconscious inspirations behind the look and feel for Deloitte "Own Your Own Development"

FIGHT!

1st GoPro Helmet Cam test

FIGHT! from David Ayling on Vimeo.

For Those Who Love Primary Colors

This piece really brightened a rather gloomy day in Sylvania. It was a welcome break from cutting 6 hours of interviews. Nothing too groundbreaking, however, a nice video gamey escape.

IV.10 from beeple on Vimeo.

Sunshine

Here's a great mini doc. I think it's pretty good for a couple of reasons; it speaks to the idea that that we're all artist trying to find avenues to do our art (for better or worse). It also touches on the industry, client-relationship-dynamics, travel and the sobering effects of globalization (there's a lot that fifteen minutes). Lastly, I found it to be very well done, technically speaking, and the Benet's "character" as this grumpy cynic. The video was posted on Motionographer but has since been pulled and made private, dumb, but I was able to find it else where... and it won't embed...

Make It Count

I hope the story in this is true. It would be the most ballsy thing we could ever pull.

Incredibox

Vineyard Lake Time-lapese fun

Body Rig

Check out the body rig shots in this new piece from Philip Bloom. This look is intense, especially with this subject matter.

Golf Boys

In honor of Bubba Watson's Master's win...Golf Boys.

Theo Jansen

I present to you, Theo Jansen. This guy builds gigantic sculptures that walk and make sound using wind power. This clip is also neat because the guys shot it using a segway steadicam.

Curtis L. Wiebe, Filmmaker

Just another interview video, but what I really like about this one is the playfulness and how some of the elements Curtis makes are actually interacting with him throughout the piece. Maybe there are some fun things we can do with titles for Sven's video. Actually have him produce the title of the piece, or his lower 3rd in physical form on his press. Just thoughts.
Check out Curtis's work below to see his puppets in action, I must say I am a fan.

STAFF MEETING VIDEO: THE MOVIE

Another hilarious video from Dave Green and Miles Fisher.

Help

Fun little video I found. Total paying in the surreal hand made field. I thought the writing was particularly great (funny).

Help 'I want to save a life' from The Lifelong Friendship Society on Vimeo.

Chad and Chris turned into puppets.

I'll take a s'meach.

S'Meaches from Claire Thomas on Vimeo.

Micah, interviewer extraordinaire...

Rear Window Timelapse

Go Forth to Work: Braddock, PA

An oldie but a goodie. I love the drama in this piece. I also love the backstory of the town.