The Stay - Ritz Carlton

Ritz-Carlton, Esquire, and Harper’s Bazarr teamed up to give 5 Directors a chance to tell stories using the Ritz-Carlton as a backdrop. They describe the concept as, “What happens next to intriguing characters who find themselves inside one or our spectacular suites.” Each filmmaker was also given to criteria. Each film needs to show the hotel lobby and the suite, and the filmmakers were limited to two main characters.

After filming at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis and learning about its film history I can see the draw for a luxury brand to advertise this way. These stories allow you to imagen what it would be like to stay in these hotels. Also, I noticed on YouTube they had links to book at the hotels. That being said it was kind of hard for me to find these videos once I learned about them on Facebook. Makes me wonder who they are really meant for.

How could we use this in our own work? Perhaps if I would have saw this when Tru was a new client and they wanted to introduce the brand to the new team members I would have suggested something like this? Tell several stories that allow are inspired by the brand and inspire them to image the interactions they would have with future guests. And I am sure we could do the same with a non-hotel client.

Which one do you think is your favorite so far?

The Irrational Fear of Nothing

I was catching up on some of my "watch laters" on Vimeo and came across this really interesting piece. I bring it up because in the past we've recreated the "Being John Malkovich" effect in order to illustrate an experience or point-of-view, but something about the disorienting quality of the (backwards) body rig is fun. I think what I like best about it is it's simplicity - just dude walking around with a well-written narration.

From what I can gather, this film was created to promote the Olympus E-M5 Mark II and part of the Olympus: Point of View Series.

The Irrational Fear of Nothing from Paul Trillo on Vimeo.

Behind the scenes -The Irrational Fear of Nothing from Paul Trillo on Vimeo.

I’M AN EXPERT HAGGLER AT GARAGE SALES

I wanted to highlight this video for a few reasons.

The first reason is because the story illustrates a humorous relationship between a seller and a buyer - something that we could leverage for client work e.g. Petco, American Airlines, etc.

The second reason is because it is based on a short story that was featured on this website, McSweeny's Internet Tendency. And while I understand that it's a blog run by a publishing company based in San Francisco, I'm not entirely certain if it's designed to be "open source" as it relates to scripted material - it'd be cool it was though...

In addition to the 50-Hour challenges, I'm also reminded of the book Micah inherited on a flight titled White Cargo, and how we had once talked about a kind of competition or exercise where you would flip to a random page in a random book and attempt to recreate a scene using only the available context.

I’M AN EXPERT HAGGLER AT GARAGE SALES from holycowboy on Vimeo.

43,000 Feet

This piece reminded me a little bit of a radio program; something like This American Life, Wiretap, or The Moth. While there are some really-really-awesome visuals, the sound has a life of it's own. There are also some fun animations and sharp writing. This piece has something for everyone.

43,000 Feet from Campbell Hooper on Vimeo.

La Huida - The Runaway

Wes Anderson meets Steven Soderbergh meets music video meets Spanish Cinema. I really like the unreliable narrator, the little sound design ideas, the clever practical effects, and the super fun ending. The cinematography definitely lends itself to Wes and I can't help but think that the film stock adds a lot to the film. It also has elements of an caper flick and a music video.

La Huida - The Runaway (HD version with English subtitles) from Victor Carrey on Vimeo.

OFFF Titles

I've been catching these OFFF title sequences off and on again for a few years. I thought this one was a really fun way to introduce the participants in the conference.

OFFF 2013 Main Titles by From Form from OFFF, let's feed the future on Vimeo.

Seeking Superman

So now that the festival is over, I figured now would be a fine time to showcase our efforts on 'The Stew'

Little Kaiju.

I really like the minimalistic approach to this, particularly the sound design and soundtrack choices. There is a quietness to it, the soundtrack never hits hard, and there is is nothing that jumps out and jostles the audience out of the world it creates. The sound design and soundtrack become the perfect partner to the visual by showing control and poise.


Little Kaiju. from a TWiN thing. on Vimeo.

Ham Sandwich