Blogbook
The WWF and TBWA/Paris have created the #TooLaterGram campaign, trying to turn the jealousy of wanderlust into environmental awareness. Via Adweek:
Browse any travel influencer’s Instagram feed, and you’ll quickly notice one major trend among the commenters: Envy. It’s an understandable feeling. We all wish we had the freedom to travel to the world’s most lush and exotic destinations and post gorgeous photos along the way.
With their new campaign, cleverly hashtagged #TooLaterGram, the World Wildlife Fund and agency TBWA\Paris have used that FOMO vibe to turn the jealousy of wanderlust into environmental awareness.
The WWF partnered with nine popular Instagrammers, who posted photos of serene and scenic destinations around the world, sparking the kind of comments you’d expect: “Wow, absolutely beautiful!” “The colors of your photo are beautiful and the landscape too!”
But the shots were a bit of a bait-and-switch, with follow-up shots in the feeds or galleries showing that the scenic destination is an illusion, and the real locale has actually been devastated by pollution, clear-cutting and other forms of destruction.
The reveals were paired with messages such as: “Unfortunately, you won’t be able to visit this place anymore. #TooLatergram But there are still places that need our help to be saved. And we must rise before the tide does.”
In this gorgeous sci fi short film Hyperlight, two astronauts wake up in deep space and have to discover the reason behind their mission’s failure. Via Short of the Week:
Sci-fi is really hard. Ok, filmmaking in general is hard, and usually when making this point about individual genres, it is Comedy that the “well, actually…” crowd points to as being profoundly difficult. But I’ve always felt this way about sci-fi. You may have heard the line somewhere along your life’s path that “constraints inspire creativity”. It is wisdom I subscribe to, but that motto suggests challenges for sci-fi. There is a profound freedom to the genre, in its ability to throw off the limits of current reality. This is precisely the form’s allure, and yet that makes it easy for creators to go adrift.
Filmmakers must impose their own artificial limits when working in sci-fi, and within short film, that usually means coloring within the lines of old concepts. Today’s film pick, Hyperlight, is no different. The backstory of the film, provided via the film’s website, imagines a relatively near future where mankind has only just solved the challenge of faster-than-light travel. When mysterious contact is made from a distant star system, humans take their first tentative steps to the stars—things, suffice to say, don’t go as planned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Df5MJa99Ek
The Nano Shoes Project by BBDO Bangkok uses eco-friendly larvicide to control mosquitoes, which are a big problem in many countries. Via Adweek:
The agency was approached about helping raise awareness of mosquito prevention in the slums of Bangkok and other Southeast Asian cities. But instead of creating posters and fliers, BBDO Bangkok invented something that might change the way mosquitoes are controlled worldwide.
Called “Nano Shoes,” this innovation covers mosquitoes’ feet in BTI larvicide, a synthetic but naturally occurring bacterium that stymies mosquito larvae. That means that as mosquitoes fly to breeding sites, they become their own exterminators.
Created in close partnership with clients SCG Chemicals and Institut Pastuer, it’s an inspired solution, but arriving at it was no easy process.
Typically, BTI is spread manually where mosquitoes might breed. It’s a labor-intensive process that, according to BBDO, leaves up to 80 percent of breeding sites either out of the reach of or completely unknown to humans.
“So this is where we began our creative process,” says Suthisak Sucharittanonta, chairman and chief creative officer of BBDO Bangkok. “We asked ourselves, ‘How can we get this BTI larvicide to breeding sites without us having to physically do it ourselves?’ From this point, the teams instantly started thinking about redesign of and application on existing objects within these underprivileged communities. But at the end of the day, the solutions we were coming up with still didn’t answer the question of how we can get to all of the hidden or unreachable breeding sites.”
Since humans often didn’t even know all the places mosquitoes were breeding, the answer had to lay somewhere other than in manual distribution.
3D visualisation video shows the making of Pillars of Creation, one of the most iconic images in our universe. No, of course it wasn’t a simple photo. Via Gizmodo:
Three pillars of gas and dust sit among stars like towers of billowing smoke. It would take several years for light to cross from the top to the bottom of these dusty columns. This striking image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope remains, to this day, one of the most well-known astronomical images ever taken.
But if you were to peer at the Pillars of Creation, part of the Eagle Nebula, through your own telescope, you wouldn’t see the same thing. The images you typically see of outer space are colorized and processed in order to bring out the detail and highlight the most relevant parts for scientific study. The popularity of the Pillars of Creation may have forever changed how astronomers present images of space to the public.
“Because of the public desire to see pictures like this, an awful lot of people started rendering their press releases using these kinds of images,” Paul Scowen, Arizona State University astronomer and one of the image’s creators, told Gizmodo. “It had an impact on the way the data of Hubble was seen and digested by the public as a general result.”
Anna Akana’s poem “The Moment I Threw Your Toothbrush Away” is expressed in beautiful, expressive animation about throwing an ex’s toothbrush away. Via io9:
In this animated version of a poem by creator Anna Akana, “The Moment I Threw Your Toothbrush Away,” lush, expressive animation brings her words to life and places the whole universe in the still, small quiet moment of deciding to throw away an ex’s toothbrush. Poetry, like animation, has that power, to build and expand tiny details until they’re the only thing you can see.
Featuring animation by Bethany Radloff and music by Alexander Arntzen, this video is a gorgeous treat, both spiritual and romantic, sad and sweet.
Full poem:
…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56KN6BvyoGI
The Tiny Kitchen Makeover campaign by Sofi is incredibly cute and satisfying to watch. Especially for people who grew up with dollhouses. Via Adweek:
Viral marketing agency Butterbar worked with Jannette Le, an architect and model enthusiast based in Melbourne, to create the video, which is aimed at social channels. A behind-the-scenes video offers more insight into the process of making the 1:30 clip, which took about three days of shooting, in addition to about three months Le spent crafting the model with her assistant.
“All of the floorboards were individually stained and laid,” Le, who acted as art director on the video, tells Adweek. “Cabinetry and furniture were hand-carved and then buffed and scratched to look worn. The marble countertops were hand-painted. We tried to use as many true-to-life materials as possible, to make it as realistic, so the doors are made a real wood, we used real wallpapering glue so that the peeling appeared authentic, and the floors were really made of vinyl.”
Adds Karen X Cheng, creative director at Butterbar, “Prior to the shoot, we spent months creating a 3-D model of the kitchen and then building all of the parts to assemble on shoot day. We were fortunate to have real architects on the team to build all of the details perfectly to scale. Though we had a perfect ‘before’ kitchen prepared ahead of the shoot day, the biggest challenge was that prior to the shoot day, no one had seen the ‘after’ kitchen. We of course had a 3-D model of the ‘after’ kitchen, all the components, and had mapped it out so all the pieces would theoretically fit together, but it was not until the shoot that we could see if it would work for real. It was a relief that it all came together.”
Parents, stop putting naked pictures and videos of your kids on social media. Kids for Privacy is a new campaign by the Child Rescue Coalition, aimed at retaking hundreds of hashtags on social media. Via The Drum:
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and the Child Rescue Coalition has created a campaign with David&Goliath to educate parents about overexposing their kids on social media.
The pro bono campaign uses popular hashtags parents often use when posting innocent pictures of their children, but puts a twist on them by having kids pose with signs saying ‘Privacy Please’ over their faces.
The movement, launching today (April 3), comes from the ‘sharenting’ trend of parents sharing their kids’ pictures on Instagram using hashtags like #pottytraining, #nakedkids and #kidsbathing. While this might seem cute it overexposes children by showcasing private moments that shouldn’t be shared with a large audience, making them vulnerable to pedophiles and sex offenders. Specifically, the 100-plus hashtags parents used in these situations serve as flags on social media leading predators to pictures of children.
The Child Rescue Coalition (CRC) is a nonprofit organization that enables law enforcement to track, arrest and prosecute child predators.
As part of the campaign, David&Goliath also created a 60-second video that is narrated by a child and explains the initiative from their point of view. In addition, D&G created an educational hub on Instagram called @KidsForPrivacy where parents can learn about the dangers of overexposing theirs kids on social media and get tips on how to protect their kids’ privacy online.
The BBC has made a film of China Miéville’s seminal science fiction book, The City and the City. We didn’t even think it would be filmable. From the BBC:
David Morrissey says: “I am delighted to be working with the brilliant Tony Grisoni again on this exciting project. I am a huge fan of the original book by China Miéville.”
China Miéville, three-time winner of the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award, published The City And The City in 2009 to dazzling acclaim, drawing comparisons with Kafka, Orwell and Philip K Dick. He says: “It’s been fascinating and moving to witness the translation from fiction to script, and to work with Tony (Grisoni) and Tom (Shankland) and everyone on this production. What they’re making feels both familiar, sending me right back to the book, and yet very much their own, something I’m eager to discover. I’m extremely impatient for it!”
Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama, says: “The City And The City is a truly extraordinary story and Tony Grisoni and Tom Shankland’s vision of it is as humane as it is skilful. I’m delighted that we have such a brilliant cast led by David Morrissey and a production team that have come together to make this distinctive drama for BBC Two.”
Executive producer Preethi Mavahalli says: “Set in divided cities where communities live cheek by jowl, choosing what they see, and ‘unsee’, this is a story that explores the way we live together today. The City And The City is a noir thriller with a fantastical twist which will quite literally break boundaries with its unique take on the murder mystery.”
Google put cameras on a few Akita Dogs in Akita Province, Japan, to get shots of their street view from an adorable and unique angle. From The Verge:
The very best way to get directions is to have a very loyal dog leading you, and now thanks to a partnership between Odate city in Japan and Google, parts of the city can be toured from the viewpoint of a very fluffy Akita.
Odate is part of the Akita prefecture, the birthplace of Akita dogs. The dogs are an important part of the city’s history — Shibuya station even has a bronze statue of Hachiko, an Akita famous for his loyalty to his owner (he continued to wait for him at the train station nine years after his death). To honor the breed’s ties to the city and give everyone a hardy dose of cute, two working Akita dogs named Ako and Asuka were brought in to capture pieces of the city from their point of view.
With cameras attached to dog-friendly harnesses, the two Akitas traversed a snowy mountain trail, Odate’s open-air hot spring foot bath, Roken (“Old Dog”) Shrine, the statue of Hachiko, and naturally, the Akita Dog Museum. Each glimpse on Google Maps not only gives you a dog’s-eye view of the locations, but since the cameras are affixed to the Akitas’ backs, frames filled with their adorable poofy heads. Turn around and you’ll see their floofy tails. These are very good boys.
If this looks familiar, you may recall that another dog accidentally became a tour guide on street view last year, when it crashed a series of shots on Kakao’s Daum map in South Korea. Odate’s might be on purpose and to aid in tourism, but I like to think this is the beginning of a trend. More doggo guides, please.
Dwayne Johnson has an ad agency – yes, we’re not kidding – and they’ve just debuted an ad for Under Armour. Of course the Rock is in it. Via AdAge:
Dwayne Johnson is serious. It shows in the sweat on his brow, the throbbing of his veins and and the intensity in his eyes when he hits the gym in a pair of new videos promoting Project Rock, his brand tie-up with Under Armour.
The work is the first campaign to come out of Seven Bucks Creative, the creative agency that Johnson and his business partner Dany Garcia founded in September.
Themed “Build the Belief,” the effort comprises footage of Johnson and others in the throes of real, grueling workouts. The lead video includes a voiceover by Johnson recounting the work and perseverance that took him from just seven dollars in his pocket to his success today. “When your back is up against the wall,” he says, “the only way out is to put the work in.” Another “Superzoom” video homes in on Johnson as he’s doing tricep dips, an enormous chain hanging around his neck, the soundtrack growing in intensity with each rep.
The campaign specifically promotes the “Chase Greatness” collection of Project Rock shoes and athletic gear, but it’s designed to position the brand as more than a product line, according to Seven Bucks Chief Marketing Officer Chet Gulland, the former Droga5 executive whom Garcia and Johnson hired to lead their creative shop.
“We wanted to take a minute to think big again and rearticulate the vision, with an eye to being more inclusive to men and women around the world, no matter where you are or are from,” Gulland says. “As long as you’re willing to put in the work, then you’re part of Project Rock.”
That thinking also went into how the films were made. Photographer Ture Lillegraven shot Johnson in his own Iron Paradise gym, doing his real daily workout. “For Dwayne everything with Project Rock is real, no posing, no set-up shots,” Gulland says. “So we all quickly knew we had to capture him in his gym in the way the world hadn’t seen yet. It’s like he’s going to do his workout and we’re going to plan everything around that, but we’re not going to ask him at any point to do that again. From a production standpoint, it was really interesting and we had to orchestrate to get the shots we needed around what was a very real authentic and obviously intense moment.”