David 'Frosts' Nixon

This movie is about David Frost's famed TV interviews with publicly humiliated ex-president Richard Nixon in 1977. The agreed eight hours of interviews was spread over four days. Six hours were devoted to less controversial topics and the last twenty five percent was solely on Watergate.

Michael Sheen plays and captures the essence of David Frost, who comes across as a likeable talkshow host, who proves he is 'tougher than he looks' when it boils down to doing a hardcore politcal interview, rather than his usual more light-hearted enertainment chats.

Nixon would gain a hefty $600,000 and 10% of the profits no matter how he faired in the interviews, either recieving the absolution he wanted from the american public or simply recieving further public humiliation. However, Frost was putting his financial security and professional credibility on the line. He showed confidence and an entrapreneurial spirit in his risk taking. Through his stamina and strength, he stayed focused while he was not recieving any network support or sponsorship.

The four sets of interviews were more like battles or fights with both components sittting opposite each other in their armchairs, Frost in one corner and Nixon, confident yet sweating in the other. The two battle for the spotlight and success of the interviews. Either Nixon wins and is seen in a more flattering sympathetic presidential light, or Frost wins by getting something out of Nixon that the american public have been waiting for for over three years, an apology and admission of guilt. Im sure without me spoiling it, you can guess how this narrative story ends.

I really enjoyed the film and was pleasantly surprised and impressed at how the storywriter made the simple plot into a captivating account of what 'made' Frost an international name. Like always with true stories which are turned into films, there is always some embellishment. For example, the phone call from Nixon to Frost on the eve of the final interview and where Frost gives Nixon the Italian shoes as a gift.

The UNIQLOCK

I wanted to share with you a piece of digital work I found inspiring and timeless...excuse the pun, the Uniqlock. The Uniqlock piece is great because it enables the site to be updated all the time with Uniqlo's different ranges with each new season. I think the Uniqlock is both a beautiful and engaging idea. It is available on a varity mediums including a desktop widget and screensaver . Every five minutes a new performance of dancers dressed in the brand clothing, elegantly grace the screen. The Link to the Qlock is: http://www.uniqlo.jp/uniqlock/ and information/results on the brief set is listed below.

The Brief: 
UNIQLO was seeking an innovative way to build its brand awareness internationally,
and promote its business expansion into the global market.
We recognized the 70 million blogs worldwide as a powerful buzz-building media,
and created a functional and entertaining blog widget for the bloggers to spread the brand globally.
The campaign concept we developed was the fusion of a CLOCK which functions as a blog utility,
time signaling MUSIC, and DANCE performance videos with UNIQLO clothing.
We named it UNIQLOCK. As a 100% UNIQLO branded widget, this automatically became a tool 
to connect UNIQLO and the world's bloggers.

The Launch And Execution: 

As a teaser, we uploaded 16 audition videos onto YOUTUBE.
Then we launched the UNIQLOCK site to start distributing the blog widget.
The numerous dance videos and the clock counter appearing seamlessly one after another makes 
the viewers eager to see more.
Since the widget plays all-year round, 24/7, the dancers change their outfits according to the season.
The bloggers were motivated by seeing the website’s world map which visualized the expansion 
of all of the users.Screensavers and shop installations were also released to enhance 
the UNIQLOCK experience, from personal desktops to the UNIQLO stores.

The Results: 
Over 27000 widgets from 76 countries
Over 68 million views from 209 countries (the wedgets + the website)
Over 500 thousand views on You Tube (the audition videos)
Over 175 thousand downloads (the screensavers)
0 >> 619 thousand web pages (google)
(To Date: 10th January, 2008 )

GOOD SHEEEEEEEEIT!

About a year ago i was introduced to what is now one of my favourite-EVER TV dramas....THE WIRE. It has recently become more popular and well-known as it has moved from a niche audience on SKY, to the mainstream audience of BBC 2. I found it highly addictive and incredibly watchable...watching the first three series in about a month, which equated to roughly over 30 hours of viewing!! 

 

The 5 season show is centered around the police and their ongoing efforts to curtail drug crime and its spin-off problems in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. The creator of the show David Simon describes the show as "really about the American city, and about how we live together. It's about how institutions have an effect on individuals, and how whether you're a cop, a longshoreman, a drug dealer, a politician, a judge or a lawyer, you are ultimately compromised and must contend with whatever institution you've committed to." 

 

The style of the show does not make it easy for the viewer to just drop back in at any time. Much like The West Wing, one must watch and listen extremely carefully throughout.  Missing even one minute could lead to missing one chunk of information vital to the storyline. The verbal language used throughout, introduced in the first series is new to us and therefore takes time to get used to. The way shared vocabularies define groups and structure worlds is shown through the language also.

 

The realistic and gritty script writing is a key part to the success of the show. The creator of the show spent a year with the Balitmore police, driving around in the cop cars to gather hands on research. The realism and authenticity are enhanced with the casting of real life gangsters, policeman and politicians into the roles that they have lived in real life. In fact, many of the former criminals who act on the show were previously arrested by the real-life cops who also act on the show. 

 

The structure of the show becomes more and more complicated as the series go on. More characters are introduced throughout and hardly any of the previous cast leave.

 

The theme song to the series is "Way Down in the Hole". It is a gospel/blues, inspired song, where in each season a different recording and style of it against a different opening sequence is played. This small detail is something I look forward to at the beginning of each series.

 

One of my favourite characters in the show is Clay Davis, who is a corrupt Maryland State Senetor with a reputation for pocketing bribes. I find his elongated manner of cursing “sheeeeeeeeeit” very comical… you can see an example of this in the link below.

 

The key elements of the show including the gritty and authentic dialogue and verbal language, authentic and realistic storylines, ultra-realistic characters and complexity of stories, are designed to draw the viewer in and make you really live and breath the drama. If you haven’t seen it yet, I really recommend you do…it really is some GOOD SHEEEEEEEIIT!!

Hitting The Right Note

At the beginning of the summer holidays I was walking done Carnaby Street in London, when I saw a large crowd gathering around someone who was playing the piano really well. I have walked down this street many times before, am Im sure I would have noticed the 60's-style psychedelically swirly painted piano.

As I drew further into the crowd I noticed written on the Piano 'Play me Im Yours'. This made me think that these instruments had been placed there for us the public to utilise and enjoy. Hopefully the only confident enough to take a seat infront of the keyboard, would be someone who could bring a tune to the ears. When returning home I wanted to know why this piano had be placed there and if there were any more in and around London.

An assortment of 31 keyboards have been placed around some of London's landmarks, waiting for inspired music to be played. This 3 week long project is running from the end of June till 14 July and is backed by Mayor Boris Johnson. It has been produced and promoted by a non-profit organisation Sing London and City of London Festival, the idea originating from artist Luke Jerram (whose pianos have been appearing in public places all over the world since 2008).

The pianos will now be owned by the people of London and are there for them to take ownership of their urban environment. Each has been painted and decorated to suit its surroundings. For example pound signs for the instrument outside the Bank of England and one placed on Portobello Road market will feature fruit and veg. To keep the music tuneful, each day a tuner will travel to all the sites to maintain the up keep of the pianos For extra security, each piano is chained/locked to the nearest bench or billboard.

Hopefully the public's music responsibility and sense of good spirit, will keep these pianos in good condition. The project also puts trust into the public to protect and cover the piano and its given songbook when it rains. These pianos can not just be used for impromptu performances, 'round the piano' events and also are available to be booked to help promote an event or show.

Personally I am a big fan of this art project, as I feel it gives the city a sense of public/community spirit and a singsong can also brighten up a dull,gloomy,rainy day. Its not often you can bring a big group of complete strangers together in the street and get them all singing and smiling.. Participation art, I think is a great idea.

Here are some video examples of 'round the piano' events and members of the public getting up and giving it a go on the keyboard:

D andAD New Blood Exhibition

On 2nd July I was invited to attend the D and AD New Blood Exhibition, where my nominated work for the D and AD Student Awards 09 was being displayed.  The exhibition was held in the Olympia National Hall, London. It showcases graduate talent to people of the design and advertising industry. 

I really enjoyed walking around the show and seeing the variety of work show cased from the different creative courses offered at the different universities both up and down the country and internationally. From our Uni (Leeds) choosing a variety of briefs for our Graphic Design Course Module, set by D and AD, I was interested to see how other students had responded and their different ideas to these, compared to work of fellow colleges at my Uni.

To create awareness of the event, a campaign titled "Il be there" included photographic posters of leading characters within the design and advertising industry (including Neville Brody). These were sent out to students and creative industries, to encourage them to give their word to attend, upload their own photo and leave a comment for others to read. This selection of photos were commissioned by LBi. They are slightly tongue in cheek, but mainly tried to focus and stress the point that the students will be the most important people who will be at the event. 

To the right is a response to a brief, where you had to only use typography to create a series of cover designs for Faber and Faber Film's range of books. For me this concept was maybe an obvious and straight-forward one, but one i feel had been executed well and given strength by its exhibition design and structure. 

Below is a response to the Crisis sponsored brief, where you were asked to create an innovative piece of direct mail that raises public awareness of homelessness and the work of the homeless charity Crisis. The target audience was huge, 300 million to be precise! Most charity direct mail is guiltily chucked away and sometimes even before the recipient has bothered to open it, due to recognising early enough that it was something that would possibly want your help and your money. I think this execution where the main information is concealed within a ordinary-everyday wallet, is a clever way to get people to be intrigued about who's wallet has just been posted through there door or 'what is inside this wallet?' to open it up and read what is in inside.

She Says Presentation

I was asked as a nominee for the D and AD Student Awards to speak at a She Says Event in London on the 1st July. She Says aims to get more women in and to the top of the Digital Industry, as currently there seems to be a lack of us! They hold events where top females from the Industry share their thoughts and help people get started with their career or help them work their way up. They are also really willing to give you information on anything you want to know about advertising and where to look for it, one to one mentorship and feed you some snacks and drinks...all for free.

Prior to the event I collated all my work and produced a portfolio to be passed around and a pdf version to aid me in my presentation. I was not sure what to expect on the night and whether my presentation was right, but along with the other three women who presented we all gave an individual talk which showed our current selection of work and interests any all went well. 

The night was fun, interesting and relaxed. After the presentations we met with other women in the industry and learnt how they got their jobs and what they thought of our portfolios. From this I was offered a two-week work placement at a Digital Agency in London called LBi.

BODY WALLPAPER

I stummbled upon body wallpaper after researching Guido Daniel, shown in a previous blog. These set of beautiful images I found, really caught my attention with their incredible attention to detail, especially shown in the crocadile skin image below:From masterfully painting the wallpaper design on to these female bodies, I feel it has created a 3D illusion that is playful and fun. The already beautiful pattern on the flat background is exsentuated through placing the hand painted pattern on to the female body.

Below a peaceful mood is created through the facial expression and subtle colours. The flowing patterns seem to have wrapped over and around here locking her in a certain state beneath them.

This ballerina style piece is one of my favourites, as she really seems to be wearing the wallpaper! Almost like she has tightly slipped underneath the dress. The dark black line drawing of the outline of the dress work well creating a contrast between the background and generating a lively playful mood.