What happens when a stuntman, actor/director and screenwriter walk into a Gold Coast bar? They come up with the concept for an action fantasy film that is already raising eyebrows in Hollywood no joke. Rene Perrin, Avelino `El Rico' Lescot and Susan Macguillicuddy are the trio behind The Black Sun, which recently took out the Most Ambitious Screenplay award at the 2015 International Action on Film Festival in Los Angeles.
The locals are hoping the added hype surrounding their screenplay will push the project into production and attract the eye of distributors. Lescot, a Gold Coast-based actor, stuntman and filmmaker who has worked on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Peter Pan and The Condemned, said The Black Sun incorporates several genres.
``It's enchanting and mystical,'' he said. ``It's a gypsy, action, adventure, romance, western with a strong supernatural feel that is set in the Pacific Islands, Mexico, China, New Zealand and here. ``At the moment the film industry needs something different but financially manageable and that's The Black Sun.''
He said The Black Sun's `twist ending' had helped draw attention to the project. The film follows a warrior's worldwide journey on the Matariki boat, which Lescot said is `like another star of the film'. Lescot and Perrin have an impressive international fanbase thanks to the success of their action film Among Dead Men. It won several awards for best fight choreography and generated considerable profits in DVD sales in Canada, Germany, Thailand, Cambodia, Poland, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Hong Kong. It also grossed several times its $7000 budget in DVD sales through Walmart in the US. Perrin, who has worked as a stunt performer on films such as The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Daybreakers, Nim's Island, Fool's Gold and Ghost Ship, said they wanted to combine their `love of action with a love of romance' in The Black Sun.
Balancing out the testosterone on the team is screenwriter Susan Macguillicuddy. Despite having worked with the likes of Cate Blanchett, Jessica Alba, Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffiths, Macguillicuddy said working with `the boys' on The Black Sun has been her `most cherished writing experience'.
``It's like we each started at one end of the canvas and worked our way to the middle, fine-tuning the parts of the script we liked,'' she said. ``It took us about a year and hundreds of meetings but we're happy with the finished product. ``We wanted to do something very avant garde with the genre and something new. ``Getting the Most Ambitious Screenplay award means we really pushed the genre, which is what we set out to do.''
International distributors have shown interest in The Black Sun and the trio is currently in the process of looking for investors.
Black Sun of a Gun, 9 out of 10 [based on 672 votes]
Corona Extra believes in making the most of the Summer sun. That’s why – with the help of a little geometry and a very big mirror – Corona Canada and Toronto ad agency, Zulu Alpha Kilo found a way to give you more.
Corona Sun Beam project. In Canada, this was the summer that wasn’t, leaving Canadians longing for warm, sun-filled days. We overcame urban architecture, bringing the sun to patios that would otherwise be left in the shade.
Creative Credits: Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo, Toronto, Canada Chief Creative Officer: Zak Mroueh Exec Creative Director: Shane Ogilvie CD/Art Director: Ari Elkouby CD/Writer: Jon Webber Integrated Producer: Ola Stodulska Broadcast Producer: Clair Galea Print Producer: Kate Spencer Account Team: Kate Torrance, Barrett Holman, Devina Hardatt Strategic Planner: Emma Brooks Client (Company): Labatt Breweries of Canada Clients: Kyle Norrington, Mike Bascom, Becky Lindsey Production House/Post: One Sum Agency Line Producer: Peter Schwartz Director, DOP: Ariel Levesque 1st AD/Editor: Ben Galfand Original Music Record & Mix: Pirate Toronto Media Agency: UM Media Agency Planner: Rick Kusch, Jared Aldridge, Lauren Pottie, Andrew Sazzarin PR Agency: Veritas Inc. Account Director: Catherine Thomas, Laura Ballentine, Emily McCullough On-site brand activation The Hive Account Director: Skye Brain, Lizzie Short Production Partners: Truck Design and Construction
Pointe-à-Callière presents a major exclusive international exhibition, The Aztecs, People of the Sun. Visitors will have the unique privilege of learning about the people who founded the fabulous city of Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire and the site where Mexico City was built after the Spanish Conquest in 1521. The exhibition, presented from May 30 to October 25, offers insights into the dazzling world of a people who reigned over much of Mexico for two centuries.
Tláloc vessel. The highlights of the Montréal exhibits include some of the most remarkable remains from the Aztec civilization [Credit: Héctor Montaño, INAH]Exceptional participation by 16 Mexican museums
The exhibition, produced by Pointe-à-Callière in collaboration with the Mexican National Council for Culture and the Arts – National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), showcases some 265 items from 16 Mexican museums, including the Templo Mayor Museum, an archaeological site museum like Pointe-à-Callière itself, and the Mexican National Museum of Anthropology. The tremendously varied objects are both spectacular and moving. Masks and statues, gold jewellery, figurines of women, children and animals, stamps for creating patterns on fabric and skin, sculptures and objects relating to the sacrifices required to keep the Sun on its daily journey, chests, boxes for offerings, vases and ceramics, all reflect the mysteries surrounding this people.
Stunning artifacts
The highlights of the Montréal exhibits include some of the most remarkable remains from the Aztec civilization. Two statues from the Templo Mayor Museum, each weighting 250 kg and standing 170 cm (nearly 6 feet) tall, are sure to appeal to visitors’ imaginations. The terra cotta statue of an eagle warrior, with jagged claws protruding from his knees front and back and his face emerging from an eagle’s beak, could also represent the rising Sun. This true work of art was found in the House of the Eagles, next to the Templo Mayor, used for rituals and penitential ceremonies. The terra cotta statue of Mictlantecuhtli shows the god of death leaning forward toward humans. With his skull-like face, pierced with holes for hair to be inserted, his shredded skin and clawed hands, stained with human blood, he is a terrifying sight!
Other items with splendid colours, like the vessel representing Tlaloc, the rain god, tell us more about the Aztecs’ lifestyle and deities. This vase is considered one of the masterpieces of Aztec art, and shows the god with his typical “goggles” and fangs, in his usual blue colour. The pyramid shapes on his headdress are references to the mountains where the Aztecs believed Tlaloc stored the water that would later fall as rain.
A wooden mask inlaid with turquoise, shell and mother-of-pearl is one of the rare Aztec “turquoise masks” to have survived. It may be a reference to the god Quetzalcoatl, whose face is emerging from the mouth of a serpent. This rare piece comes from the “Luigi Pigorini” National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography, in Rome.
A ceramic piece with three faces, adorned with 13 circular gems, or chalchihuitl, evoking the 13 months of the sacred calendar, is also stunning. It decorated a brazier or a funerary urn, and shows the three phases of existence: in the centre, youth opening its eyes to the world, followed by an image of old age, and then the face of inescapable death, with its eyes closed, all referring to passing time. This sublime piece expresses the cyclical principle of duality, so important in Aztec thought, where life is reborn from death.
There are also images drawn from historic codices, photos of archaeological sites and remains, and different videos. Then there are some 150 unique hand-built and painted figurines made in Mexico to create a colourful, joyous scene depicting the vast Tlatelolco market held north of Tenochtitlan in days gone by.
Exhibition themes
The exhibition focuses on the founding of Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire, their daily lives, the Templo Mayor, and of course the question of human sacrifices and the two Aztec calendars. It looks at many themes in their rich history: the Aztecs’ migration, guided by their god Huitzilopochtli, and the founding of Tenochtitlan; the remarkable urban planning and land use development in this “Venice of Mexico”; the Aztec art of war and the tribute paid by conquered peoples, as well as their agricultural techniques and the chinampas, the ingenious floating gardens that made the city self-sufficient. It also looks at the organization of Aztec society, with its different classes, a fascinating subject that addresses the role of women, education and the administration of justice. Aztec writing and the famous codices, manuscripts made up of glyphs or pictograms illustrating the spoken language, are examined in depth. Religion, an essential and omnipresent part of Aztec society, along with their various deities and rituals, are described. And lastly, the exhibition closes with a description of the Spanish conquest and the fall of the Aztec Empire, and the legacy of the Aztecs today.
Who were the Aztecs?
The story of the Aztecs began around the year 1000, when a warrior tribe, probably driven by famine, set out on a long southward migration. Despite many difficulties on their odyssey, they persevered, trusting in the god watching over them to reveal the place where they could finally found their city. And so it was that in 1325 the Aztecs, or Mexicas, founded the city of Tenochtitlan, building a temple on an island in marshy Lake Texcoco, in the central Mexican highlands. The capital was divided into four districts, watched over by the gods associated with the four cardinal directions. In a sacred precinct in the centre of the city stood the main temples, including the Templo Mayor or “Great Temple,” which would become the heart of their city and the centre of their spiritual and material universe. The Aztec Empire lasted almost 200 years, until 1521. They built lavish palaces, temples and markets there, creating an immense metropolis with a population of about 200,000 at its height. Theirs was an imperialistic society that relied on diplomacy and near-constant warfare to expand their empire and collect tribute in the form of regular “taxes” from the peoples they conquered.
A highly innovative civilization
Tenochtitlan was founded on a shallow, marshy lake. The Aztecs were able to increase the habitable area of their city by planting pilings and installing platforms to hold sediment from the lake. Thanks to this ingenious system, the city was crisscrossed by canals, and chinampas, or true floating gardens, were created where they could grow various crops. These remarkably fertile gardens produced up to seven harvests a year, feeding much of the city. The system was also used to recycle the city’s organic waste. The Aztecs developed trade in cocoa, maize and other crops, which were sold in markets of all sizes, and produced striking ceramics and magnificent gold and silver finery.
A life governed by gods and calendars
Like many other Mesoamerican peoples, the Aztecs divided their universe into three main levels: the sky, the Earth – an island with the Templo Mayor at its centre – and the underworld, inhabited by the god of the dead and his companion. The god and goddess of duality were the source of four creative principles occupying the “four roads of the universe” corresponding to the four cardinal directions. For the Aztecs it was important to constantly maintain the balance among the divine forces – a delicate exercise governed from day to day by following two calendars that dictated not only the maize planting and harvesting cycle but also the rituals required to appease some 200 different gods.
The Aztecs considered time to be cyclical, and human lives to be influenced in turn by their gods, at regular intervals, as spelled out in the two interlocking calendars. The solar or annual calendar lasted 365 days and consisted of 18 months of 20 days, adding up to 360 days. The remaining five days were seen as highly inauspicious – it was best to avoid all activity on those days! In every month a major god was honoured. Since this calendar governed agricultural activity, it included many feasts dedicated to the rain god Tlaloc and to plant deities.
The sacred calendar also dictated religious ceremonies and important dates. Each day was defined by a glyph or written sign (there were 20) and a number from 1 to 13. These signs and numbers combined in an unchanging order, and the same combination of signs and numbers repeated until the 13 x 20 possibilities were done, that is for 260 days. Every 52 years, the solar and sacred calendars aligned once again. For the Aztecs, this was a time of fear and anguish, since they didn’t know whether it signalled the end of the world.
The importance of the Sun and human sacrifice
The Aztecs worshipped the Sun, and feared that it would disappear if they didn’t perform various rituals. Just like many other pre-Columbian civilizations, they also engaged in human sacrifice. These sacrifices were considered offerings and an essential part of the various rituals associated with their religion and daily life. Victims were put to death to nourish the Sun and the Earth. When the rains failed to appear and crops were at risk, for instance, the Aztecs would sacrifice children to regain the favour of the rain god. Different kinds of victims were sacrificed: warriors captured in battle, slaves, people condemned to death for offences, and children.
Highly significant codices
The Aztecs had a special form of writing. They transcribed their language, Nahuatl, using a combination of glyphs, figures and graphic elements. These manuscripts, known as codices, are an inexhaustible source of details about their economy, and include tax rolls, property registers, politics, history, education, religion, sacred rituals and science. They are key to our understanding of Aztec civilization.
The Aztec heritage
When he first saw Tenochtitlan and its many canals, Hernán Cortés of Spain compared it with Venice. But despite his admiration for the city, he had no scruples about laying it to waste in 1521. Cortés left Cuba with about 500 men, on a mission to secure the interior of Mexico. After being greeted with splendid gifts by Moctezuma II, Cortés soon took the Aztec Emperor prisoner. The destruction of Tenochtitlan marked the end of the Aztec Empire and launched the colonization of all of Latin America.
Today the Aztec civilization is considered one of the most remarkable in human history. Many archaeological digs and different museums celebrate their exceptional contribution to world heritage. Mexico City, the country’s capital and largest metropolis, was built atop the ruins of the superb city of Tenochtitlan. Today it is home to some 22 million people. The Aztec language, Nahuatl, is still spoken by about 1.6 million Nahuas. Today’s Mexicans also carry the memory of the Aztecs in their name. When their god Huitzilopochtli guided the Aztecs to the site where they would found Tenochtitlan, he called his people Mexicas. Even today, a divine eagle perched on a cactus devouring a serpent – the sign that the god had sent to the high priest of the Aztecs to tell them where to found their city – adorns the Mexican flag and banknotes. And one can still travel by boat along the canals built by the Aztecs, in Xochimilco and other districts of Mexico City.
Ray-Ban And agency Cutwater San Francisco continue summer campaign "Colorize".
The basic offer of a cult brand of sun glasses in this season are multi-coloured versions of the most known sun glasses Ray-Ban Wayfarer. Colour palettes in a collection infinite set which Cutwater and Ray-Ban have tried to show at the first stages of campaign. In the end of March on YouTube there was a roller about improbable abilities of a chameleon to change colour under colours of frame Wayfarer.
Mockery at a chameleon
In new virus preview trailer Cutwater has concentrated on one colour of sun glasses — on red. Two guys have thrown off a huge ball of red threads from the pickup. The ball has started to be unwound, going down on abrupt descents of streets San Franciscos and as a result has untangled the guy in red sun glasses Ray-Ban.
High end fashion retailer AllSaints release a sexy new short film/commercial — "Sun City, It's Getting In Here" shot on location in London with the very beautiful model, dressed in AllSaints Silia Bikini and The Walker Leather Jacket.
A provocative tale of displacement and individuality, the short film was entirely devised, shot and edited in just two long hot days in the capital last week. By confronting the clichés and conventions of swimwear advertising, Sun City demonstrates AllSaints' spirit for creative disruption.
The short was directed by Paris-based Director/Photographer Jonathan de Villiers and inspired by one of his editorial shoots.
The production company: Wanda London, used their connections to obtain rare authorization to film on a working barge not usually licensed to carry passengers. (The only time the Port of London Authority have previously made an exception was during the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations). So this was a unique day for AllSaints and their bikini clad model, the sight of whom prompted even the river police to get their camera phones out!
By confronting the clichés and conventions of swimwear advertising, Jonathan de Villiers, demonstrates AllSaints' spirit of creative disruption.
The final film was enthusiastically received by the client and we look forward to further collaboration between Jonathan, Wanda and All Saints in the future.
Credits: Client: All Saints Creative Director: Wil Beedle Director: Jonathan De Villiers Executive Producer: Abi Hodson Director of Photography: Alex Barber Assistant Director: Will Jasper Editor: Ed line
Dolce&Gabbana continues to build Italian traditions into own adv campaigns. The cult fashion brand has presented a new series of prints which pick up a rhythm of the previous photo-sets (so, in last year are created posters with the Madonna in an image of the Sicilian housewife, also hot photos of the men, into styles of ancient Roman demigods). This time for advancement of a collection Spring/Summer 2011 brand has decided to remain within the limits of the traditional concept, having emphasized rough hot Italian emotions.
On prints the macho photo-models: Noah Mills, David Gandy, Adam Senn, Tony Ward, Sam Webb, Travis and Sam Whitman play roles as strict fathers, the Italian peasants and fishermen. Photos are literally impregnated by the hot southern sun, salty water, slightly audible smell of man's sweat and a fresh sea breeze. Men really enjoy heavy physical work...
The Real Italian Machos
For Woman's D&G Collections Spring/Summer are selected graceful Izabel Goulart, Isabeli Fontana, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Maryna Linchuck. While their men work under the destructive sun, beautiful women are doing the house duties with not smaller pride, than the queen manages state affairs. Despite external pride and coldness, they a spirit of passions — if they laugh, all around rejoices together with them but if they cry it is the most bitter tears. The charming ladies dressed into elegant dresses, fine underwear and may break any men's heart.
Known artists and designers have participated in advertising campaign creation «Rare prints» for exclusive series of sun glasses «Ray-Ban Wayfarer».
Traditionally colorful and bright summer collection of a brand was updated by an author's adv prints from artists and designers: Vahalla, Matt W. Moore, Aesthetic Apparatus, and Ames Bros.
The Well-known Illustrators for the Well-known Brand
Short 15-second video-clips are logic continuation of prints and show unusual characters from a collection of «Rare images».
The creative belongs to agency Cutwater (San Francisco), production by One Small Step, director Tomorrows Brightest Minds.
Trafalgar Square, London. 23 January 2012. 6.51am. A spectacular sun created by art collective Greyworld as part of Tropicana's Brighter Mornings campaign brightens up Trafalgar Square.
The Trafalgar Sun which took six months to create is 30,000 times bigger than a football, has a surface area of 200m2 and weighs over 2,500kgs. Its internal light source produces 4-million lumens of light, the equivalent of 60,000 light bulbs, making the artwork visible from space.
Beyoncé debuts her new song "Standing On The Sun" in a new ad for the H&M 2013 Summer Collection. The film was shot in Bahamas and directed by Jonas Åkerlund.
The ad is entitled "Beyonce as Mrs. Carter in H&M" features the superstar in a black bikini and other flattering outfits from the collection. Beyonce says "It was a beautiful shoot on a tropical island, it felt more like making a video than a commercial."
Christmas in Australia. There's nothing like it. Sun, fun and Santa....on a surfboard.
In ALDI's first major Christmas ad campaign, a jolly race of fun-loving Surfing Santas hit the waves with a scrumptious ALDI ham to celebrate the Perfect Aussie Christmas.
Diesel has started new adv campaign «Diesel Island» within the limits of strategy «Be Stupid».
If you do not manage to advance the outlooks on life in an old society, it's necessary — to keep away from those who does not accept innovative principles, and to organize the own state. Diesel continues to throw brushwood in a movement fire «Be Stupid», starting new advertising campaign «Diesel Island».
Freedom Island for Free People
Is a story of desperate young people which were tired of a boring society with all its interdiction dictated by «big brother's mind». The young people has landed on paradise islands to create the new nation to take all best principles of the device of the existing countries and forever to eliminate social injustice.
People on a photos, it «the pioneers, which profits on Diesel Island in search of rescue from tyranny, an economic crisis, political corruption and reality shows», begin new life in which there is no place for silly restrictions of the usual world.
The army of these people consists of pair-three the person, armed with soft pillows, inhabitants of this kingdom of rest project ecological means of transportation (for example, the car which copes from a strength of wind), and also gradually steal Wi-Fi from neighboring countries. Being children of a wind, the sun and freedom, they do not accept all totalitarian powers.
Solar energy is great. But in a 'low-on-sun' country like Belgium, you're better of with a system which combines solar and traditional energy.
TBWA Belgium's new commercial shows ever so gently how renewable energy and natural gas go together very well, hand in hand, as best friends. Thumbs up to whomever did all the knitting for this spot, it must of been a long process but well worth it, the ad is a joy to watch.
Credits: Advertised brand: Aardgas www.gaznaturel.be Advert title: Best friends Advertising Agency: TBWA, Brussels, Belgium www.tbwagroup.be Art director: Michael Mikiels Copywriter: Eric Maerschalck Creative Director: Jan Macken Account Manager: Thomas Vande Velde TV production: SAKE TV producer: Mieke Vandewalle, Johanna Keppens
A an eye pleasing new TV ad for Bell Canada tells their customers they can catch all the London 2012 Olympics action on all your screens, mobile, TV or online. The commercial features the music and song by Graffiti6, song title is Stare Into The Sun.
High in the Italian Alps, thousands of stick-like images of people and animals, carved into rock surfaces, offer a tantalising window into the past. Archaeologists believe that the earliest of these 150,000 images date from the Neolithic but that most originate from the Iron Age. The UNESCO-protected ‘Pitoti’ (little puppets) of the Valcamonica valley extend over an area of some three square kilometres and have been described as one of the world’s largest pieces of anonymous art.
An event taking place next Monday (18 January 2016) at Downing College, Cambridge, will give the public an opportunity to learn more about a fascinating project to explore and re-animate the Pitoti of Valcamonica. Displays and hands-on activities staged by seven of the institutions involved in the EU/European Research Council-funded ‘3D Pitoti’ digital heritage project will show visitors how archaeologists and film-makers have used the latest digital technology to explore an art form often portrayed as simplistic or primitive.
The exhibitors from Austria, Italy, Germany and the UK will show that the thousands of Pitoti can be seen as “one big picture” as dozens of artists, over a period of some 4,000 years, added narratives to the giant ‘canvases’ formed by sandstone rocks scraped clean by the movement of glaciers across the landscape. The images are etched into the rock surfaces so that, as the sun rises and then falls in the sky, the figures can be seen to gain a sense of movement.
Displays will introduce visitors to the scanning, machine learning and interactive 3D-visualisation technologies used by Bauhaus Weimar, Technical University Graz, and St Pölten University of Applied Sciences to record, analyse and breathe life into the Pitoti. Cambridge archaeologists Craig Alexander, Giovanna Bellandi and Christopher Chippindale have worked with Alberto Marretta and Markus Seidl to create Pitoti databases using Arctron’s Aspect 3D system.
The scanned images of the Pitoti are stored in the rock-art research institute in Valcamonica, Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici, and have given the project’s team an unprecedentedly rich resource to play with in exploring the power of graphic art in combination with other media.
The 3D Pitoti team members attending next week’s event will engage with visitors who will be given the chance to experience the scanner, UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), computer sectioning, and the Pitoti ‘oculus rift’ virtual reality experience, made possible by using advanced imaging systems which are creating a new generation of ‘real’ images. The live demonstration of the interactive 3D Pitoti children’s app, developed by Archeocammuni and Nottingham University, is likely to prove popular with younger visitors who will have the chance to handle the technology and ask questions. Also taking part in the event will be the renowned craftsperson Lida Cardozo Kindersley who will demonstrate the art of letter cutting as an intensely physical process.
Eleanora Montinari [Credit: CCSP/3-D Pitoti with permission of Marc Steinmetz/VISUM]Archaeologists increasingly believe that the Valcamonica images may have been one element in a kind of ‘proto-cinema’ that might have involved other ‘special effects’. “When I first saw the Pitoti, my immediate thought was that these are frames for a film. Initially I envisaged an animated film but over time I’ve come to realise that the quality of colour, the play of light and shadow, and the texture of the rocks, make the Pitoti much more sophisticated than 2D animated graphics. That’s why we need to work in 3D,” says Cambridge archaeologist and film-maker Dr Frederick Baker, one of the founding participants in the project.
“Many of the images at Valcamonica are contemporary with classical Greek art but are an under appreciated form of art. I believe that the Pitoti are an example of minimalism, an early precursor to work by Alberto Giacometti and Pablo Picasso. They can be just as powerful as the classical art of Athens and Rome in their own way. By showcasing our project in the neo-classical setting of Downing College, we are highlighting this clash of visual cultures and using the digital to raise the appreciation of what has been seen as ‘barbarian’ or ‘tribal’ art.”
Members of the 3D Pitoti team captured thousands of images of people, sheep, deer, horses and dogs found on the Valamonica rocks. The digitised images gave the project a ‘casting directory’ of thousands of ‘characters’ in order to create imagined narratives. The creation of moving images using pixels, or dots, echoes the making of the Pitoti which were pecked out of the rock by people striking the surface with repeated blows to produce lines and shapes.
Dr Sue Cobb, from the University of Nottingham, who led the international team of scientists, said: “Thanks to the 3D Pitoti project, archaeological sites and artefacts can be rendered in stunningly realistic computer-generated models and even 3D printed for posterity. Our tools will give more people online access to culturally-important heritage sites and negate the need to travel to the locations, which can be inaccessible or vulnerable to damage.
“We overcame a number of technical challenges to innovate the technology, including developing weatherproof, portable laser scanner to take detailed images of the Pitoti in situ in harsh, rugged terrain; using both a UAV and glider to take aerial shots of the valley for the computer model and processing huge masses of data to recreate an immersive, film-quality version of the site in 3D.
Michael Holzapfel (left) and Martin Schaich (right) [Credit: ArcTron/3-D Pitoti with permission of Marc Steinmetz/VISUM)]“With our new story-telling app, users can scan and animate 3D Pitoti images to construct their own rock art stories from the thousands of fascinating human and animal figures discovered so far. The aim is to show to public audiences that with archaeology there isn’t a single answer to the art’s meaning –there are theories and interpretations — and to teach the importance of the rock art as a biographical record of European history.”
Next Monday’s event will include a test screening of a 15-minute 3D generated film called ‘Pitoti Prometheus’ which reimagines the story of Prometheus (who, according to legend, created men from clay) by animating digital images captured in Valcamonica. The fully finished film will be launched later in the year.
The film’s 3D engineer Marcel Karnapke and film-maker Fred Baker (contributing via Skype) will take part in a discussion at the end of the day, enabling the audience to ask questions about the film and the unfolding of an ambitious project which breaks new boundaries in terms of European cross-disciplinary collaboration.
“We use the word ‘pipeline’ to describe the process by which we’ve scanned and channelled the rock art images through time and space to bring them to mass audiences,” says Baker. “It’s a pipeline which stretches well beyond what we’ve produced and future technologies will undoubtedly open up new understandings of art forms that communicate so much about humanity and our relationships with each other, with the environment, and with imagined worlds.”
Next Tuesday morning (19 January 2016), a series of talks and workshops, aimed primarily at academics, will take place at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. The two days of events are the official culmination of the 3D Pitoti project. For details of Monday’s event, which is free of charge, go to http://3d-pitoti.eu/
Source: University of Cambridge [January 14, 2016]
Feeling adventurous? Well now you can let Virgin pick your next vacation destination. Instead of booking a trip, you can book a weather. Yes, a weather, because that's what more often than not can ruin even the most well-though-out perfect vacation. Weather you're going somewhere windsurfing and you're in need of wind, a skiing holiday and you need snow (obviously) and minus degrees or a beach bum looking for sun — this is what you need. Although, this would appeal to the more adventurous traveler or the one that doesn't really have a specific destination in mind. Technically it's very simple. Virgin would scan the weather forecasts right up until your departure date and take you as far as your money stretches in order to also provide you with the perfect weather to match your soon-to-be perfect vacation.
Credits: Advertising School: Miami Ad School, Hamburg, Germany Instructors: Tara Lawall Art Director: Glen Hansen Copywriter: Otilia Dobrea
Smirnoff launches it's "Crazy Nights" new TV ad created by JWT.
The song in the commercial, "Crazy, Crazy Nights" is a cover of the original Kiss song from 1987. It is sung by Sun For Moon and was arranged by Big Foote Music. Credits: Chief creative officer: Peter Nicholson Executive creative director: Matt MacDonald Creative director/art director: Scott Bassen Art director: Paul Sidharta Creative director/copywriter: Chuck Pagano Copywriter: Juhi Kalia, Ai Lin Tan Planner: Yusuf Chuku Director of integrated production: Clair Grupp Director of content production: Sergio Lopez Producer: Andrea Curtin, Carrie Lewis Director of music production: Paul Greco Account executive: Amy Frisch, Sandra Ciconte Project manager: Terea Shaffer Director: Samir Mallal Production company: Smuggler Post-production: Lost Planet Editor: Hank Corwin, Paul Snyder Editing house: Lost Planet Music: Big Foote Music Song: “Crazy, Crazy Nights” (Paul Stanley, Adam Mitchell) Media agency: Carat
The One film is the new Dolce & Gabbana web film uncut featuring Scarlett Johansson. The 90 second web version reveals the provocative yet effortless femininity of the eternal diva.
Directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino. Music and song in the ad is "A Place in the Sun" by Franz Waxman, performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra.
Logan & Sons Director Paul Minor recently set out into the mountains of Northern California to shoot “Wild Nights,” a wistful 60 seconds of sun-soaked beauty for Canadian brewers Moosehead.
“Wild Nights” follows five friends on the perfect hike, an ambling journey that ends just as night falls and the group settles in above an expansive vista with a cooler full of ice-cold Moosehead beer.
Client: Moosehead Beer Title: “Wild Nights” Creative Ad Agency: Sid Lee Creative Director: Ryan Spelliscy, Dave Roberts Writer: Laurent Abesdris Art Director: Lorne Covant Agency Producer: Clare Cashman Production Company: Logan & Sons / Steam Films Director: Paul Minor DP: Ulrik Boetzen EP: Matthew Marquis Producer: Rick Brown Editorial: Panic & Bob Editor: Matthew Kett Color Grading: Alterego Colorist: Wade Odlum Audio: Eggplant Track: Lord Huron “Ends of the Earth”
Back in January Nike and ad agency W+K, Portland created the awesome "Count on Kobe" Nike Basketball ad, but now looking back on it did they inadvertently jinx the NBA star?
"This is how the world works" are the first words we hear as the poetic voice goes on to say..."The sun shines. The grass grows. Kobe Bryant arrives to practice at 3 … the other 3" and when we get to the "Earthquakes shake. Bakers bake" line the jinx is in...just saying.
Credits: CLIENT: Nike Project: "Count on Kobe" Ad Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore. Creative Directors: Alberto Ponte, Ryan O'Rourke Copywriters: Edward Harrison, Brock Kirby Art Director: Sezay Altinok Producer: Chris Capretto Account Team: Jordan Muse, Rob Archibald Executive Creative Directors: Mark Fitzloff, Susan Hoffman Agency Executive Producer: Ben Grylewicz Production Company: Elastic Editorial Company: Rock Paper Scissors VFX Company: A52 Music+Sound Company: Search Party Mix Company: Lime
So what's new in the coffee world? Thanks to a Canadian and founder of "Black Ivory Coffee" Blake Dinkin, there is an insanely new coffee that not only passes through an elephants digestive system (that's right elephant dung!) this coffee is so exclusive it sells for an incredible $1100 a kilo.
Dinkin says he's heard all the jokes, "There's always going to be an element of [poop] jokes in doing Black Ivory Coffee," Dinkin told the Associated Press. "But the reason why it's taken me nine years to develop this is I'm really trying to make a serious product."
A DELICACY CREATED THROUGH RELENTLESS PASSION
Ten years in the making, BLACK IVORY COFFEE is created through a process whereby coffee beans are naturally refined by Thai elephants at the Golden Elephant Triangle Foundation www.helpingelephants.org in Chiang Saen, northern Thailand. It begins with selecting the best Thai Arabica beans that have been picked from an altitude as high as 1500 meters. Once deposited by the elephants, the individual beans are hand-picked by the Mahouts and their wives and then sun-dried and roasted. Approximately 10,000 beans are picked for each kilogram of roasted coffee; thus, 33 kilograms of coffee cherries are required to produce just one kilogram of BLACK IVORY COFFEE.
COMMUNITY INVESTMENT
As a result of our commitment to elephant conservation and welfare, 8% of our sales will help fund a specialist elephant veterinarian to provide free care to all the elephants of Thailand through the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation. Additional funds will also be used to purchase medicine as well as to build a new laboratory. Production of BLACK IVORY COFFEE also provides valuable income generation for the wives of the mahouts to help cover health expenses, school fees, food, and clothing.
And, this crap ain't cheap, in some five-star luxury Thai resorts a serving sells for $50 a cup!
