"Raiders" Story Conference Script

I heard by by way of a podcast that there is a transcribed PDF of a 1978 taped conversation between George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Lawrence Kasdan about the story, plot, characters in Raiders of the lost Ark. Admittedly, I haven't made it through the whole thing - it's about 90 pages long. But, so far, it's really interesting to hear the three filmmakers create a character out of thin air, talk about the beats that are necessary for an action film like Raiders, and just how they collaborate in general.

And just because it's The Stew, here's the theatrical trailer from '81.

Killing Kennedy

I recently had an opportunity to help consult on a music video for a buddy of mine. He's a photographer by trade and he was describing the setup they had for a scene that takes place at night in the woods - they had everything from four generators, a handful of 2K fresnel lights, a 12'x 12' silk, and a bunch of other really fun gear to make it happen.

The whole thing got me thinking about how relatively "light" we roll sometimes. That's not meant to be self-deprecating - I know we do what we do for very specific reasons. It also brought to mind this promo piece created for the History Channel by Variable, Killing Kennedy. It kind of blew me away to see just how much work went into this little 00:47 promo. For example, the attention to detail (they shot all the "home movie" scenes using actual film that should have expired in the 60's), the otherwise spartan set (basically a backdrop and a motorcade), and just the way everything was cut together in reverse from Lee Harvey Oswald's point of view really captured my attention.

Killing Kennedy from Variable on Vimeo.

Killing Kennedy - Behind the Scenes from Variable on Vimeo.

SNL Behind The Scenes

A time-lapse of a SNL shoot in a studio. Pretty crazy to shoot from 1 AM to 5 AM for a show that airs the next night.

 

Inside Jaws - A Filmumentary

Love this concept. Everything you ever wanted to know about jaws without having to buy each edition of the film. Oh, and it's super long...

Inside Jaws, A Filmumentary by @jamieswb (2013) from Jamie Benning on Vimeo.

Canon Cinema EOS - Branded Entertainment

There are a bunch of these branded entertainment films on Canon's site but here are the few that were showcased at the content theater at NAB. Each film highlights a specific Cinema EOS camera (C100, C300, C500 and the 1DC). I'm also including the Behind the scenes for each film. I think one idea is that could take a similar approach and talk about our experiences with each camera in addition to filming something...

C100

C300

C500

1DC

Written By A Kid - Scary Smash

Props to Justin for finding this little gem. I thought it was very similar, conceptually, to Axe Cop.
And the obligatory making-of.

Hugo Moreno

Hugo Moreno has some seriously inspiring work, and what I love most is that he gives us a behind the scenes look at his process. I always love when you get a chance to see the behind the scenes of someone's work. You can really learn a lot just by watching sometimes. This first piece, Grand Central, is a beautifully rendered story abdout a trip across a megacity's streets. I love the style and subtle actions of the people in the city. The whole piece feels very alive. Hugo is also working on another short called ECLIPSE that should be on Youtube within the next month. I have a huge affinity for space stuff so this looks like it will be right up my alley.

Shattered

This made me think of what Deloitte would have been with rock climbing as the metaphor. This short is pretty amazing, the footage is out of control, and the story is mesmerizing.
Here are a few behind the scenes looks into the making of this. I love the quote "filmmaking is about collaboration". I think we should push to continue to tell stories similar to this to illustrate an idea in a really powerful way.

Yasuaki Onishi: reverse of volume (RG)

I've had a small affinity for huge art installations since my first trip to Chicago in 2009 when I saw Olafur Eliasson's "Take Your Time". There's something about these other-worlds that are really cool and I've always wanted to try to incorporate them somehow into a scene somehow... This was recommended viewing from Sven...

Honda: Go Everywhere - Ned Wenlock

First is this Honda Ad. I saw a piece a while back that was probably from the same people that was just a personal project. It's pretty cool that they scored with Honda to bring it to life again.

Second, check out this dude who did the sound. Talk about sound design, and something we could probably play around with and work on here. I know at least 3 Root people who can sing.

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...

Make It Count

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

The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius