The Disco Queen's Reign Has Ended. Donna Summer Has Danced Her Last Dance.

The Queen of Disco, Donna Summer, has died at the age of 63 after a battle with lung cancer. Known for such pulsing anthems as "Last Dance," ''Love to Love You Baby" and "Bad Girls," Donna's songs became the soundtrack for a glittery age of sex, drugs, dance and flashy clothes.

Her family released a statement saying Summer died Thursday morning and that they "are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy."





Donna Summer Downloads, Albums and CDs

You will be missed. We loved to love you, baby.

The Nike "Biomorph" Launch Spot for Their Flyknit Running Shoes And How It Was Done.

Nike tapped David Rosenbaum of Mothership to conceive the :51 second short that launched its Flyknit technology and shoe collection. Inspired by the concept of body schema, David developed a story in which the shoe becomes a seamless extension of the runner’s foot through a progression of organic visuals, and took the piece from start to finish.

"Biomorph":


To develop an accurate visual expression for the innovative weaving process director David Rosenbaum met with Nike engineers and watched the shoes being made on customized industrial knitting machines.

The making of "Biomorph":


Credits:
Andy Walker, Nike/Dave Gold (music), Elias Arts, creative directors; Ed Ulbrich, Digital Domain, chief creative officer/Mothership, president; David Rosenbaum, Mothership, director; Paul Cameron, Mothership, director of photography; The Bergeron, Nike/Tiffani Manabat, Mothership/Nicola Wiseman, Digital Domain/William Lemmon, Digital Domain, producers; Jesse Canright, Nike/Tanya Cohen, Mothership/Digital Domain/Ann Haugen (music), Elias Arts, executive producers; Barb Freeman, Nike, production manager; Birthe Lauchengco, Mothership, production supervisor; Scott Gemmell, Mothership/Digital Domain, head of production; Rachel Mariscal, Digital Domain, digital production manager; Colin Woods, Digital Domain, editor; Richard Poulain, Digital Domain, storyboard artist; Brian Creasey, Digital Domain/Casey Benn, Digital Domain/Dave Carlson, Digital Domain/Gideon Vandergrift, Digital Domain, generalists; Kevin Culhane, Digital Domain, animator; Ken Jones, Digital Domain/Eric Ebeling, Digital Domain/


Learn more about the Nike Flyknit collection here

Incredible Sound Mix and Editing Give New Life To Pixar's Monsters, Inc. in Boo Bass

This three and a half minute visual and audio re-invention really impressed me. Boo Bass, an awesome remix by Nick Bertke, is a catchy composition using sounds from Disney Pixar's 'Monsters, Inc.' with fantastically edited footage from the 2001 movie by David Kabisch.





Nick, known as Pogo, records sounds from his favourite games and movies and pieces them together like a jigsaw puzzle to create completely new music. His videos have collected over 40 million views on YouTube, and he's produced remixes for Disney Pixar, Microsoft, Showtime, the United Nations and more. See his work here.

And check out more of the editing work of David Kabisch aka goldpikpikcarrots on his YouTube channel here

You can download this great remix here

The Fiat 500 by Gucci Promoted With These Four Short Films By Various Directors.

About a year ago, I gave my readers a good look at the Fiat 500 by Gucci (and the chic matching accessories).

Now, Gucci's Creative Director, Frida Giannini, and Fiat invited Jefferson Hack (Editor in Chief of Dazed & Confused and AnOther Magazine), NOWNESS, Olivier Zahm (Editor in Chief of Purple Fashion magazine), Franca Sozzani (Editor in Chief of Vogue Italy), and Alexi Tan (Film Director) to produce a short film with FIAT's 500 by Gucci as the inspiration.

The results are the following four short films of varying lengths starring the 500 by Gucci seen through the eyes of some of the most visionary creatives in the world today.

Vogue presents "Reverse to Perfection" for Fiat 500 by Gucci Reverse to Perfection, a film by Francesco Carrozzini where luxury recaptures its place:


Purple presents "Polaroid Papillon" for Fiat 500 by Gucci, a film by Olivier Zahm featuring Betony Vernon at the Museo Casa Mollino, Torino:


"The Race", a short film by Will Davidson. The Fiat 500 by Gucci, an exhilarating embodiment of Italian spirit stars in The Race - a short film exclusive to Dazed directed by Will Davidson:


"Assembly line", a short film by Chris Sweeney. Chris Sweeney's film for the 500 by Gucci fuses two power houses of Italian design with a playful twist that brings the 500 to life in a completely unexpected way:



Get a good look at the Fiat 500 by Gucci and some matching accessories.

500 by Gucci

Paul McCartney Directs Natalie Portman and Johnny Depp in "My Valentine" video

“My Valentine,” the first single off Sir Paul McCartney's new album “Kisses on the Bottom” was directed by one-time Beatle himself and features the sickeningly stunning Natalie Portman and super sexy Johnny Depp.



Paul's daughter, fashion designer Stella McCartney, styled the black and white video which features the two stars simply signing the words to the song with hand gestures.



The guitar melody you hear throughout (despite seemingly played by Depp in the video) is actually played the legendary Eric Clapton.

“The inspiration is Nancy [Shevell],” said Paul McCartney, referencing his new wife (he reportedly sang the song at their wedding.) “The actual video itself is inspired by Irving Penn’s photography.”

He later told the crowd at the video's Los Angeles premiere, that his daughter, Stella, encouraged him to make the video: “I said, ‘I’m not sure I want to do a million-dollar video.’ She said, ‘So do something really simple. You know, Natalie. Ring Natalie up and ask her if she’ll do something.’ I said, ‘That is a good idea.’ So I rang her, and she was so kind to agree to do it. Then I realized it was a guy’s song, so then I rang Johnny. And he very kindly agreed to do it. A week after Stella had mentioned the idea, I was back here filming it.”

Buy or Download Paul McCartney's Kisses On The Bottom or My Valentine here

A Dramatic Ad For Belgium's Launch of TNT Is The Second-Most Shared Video To Date.

To launch the high quality TV channel TNT in Belgium, TNT’s Antwerp ad agency, Duval Guillaume Modem, came up with a very dramatic idea.

To promote the American drama station TNT Benelux, whose tagline is "We Know Drama," a large red button was placed in the center of an average Flemish square in an average Flemish town on April 10th, 2012. A sign with the text "Push to add drama" invited people to press the button.

Watch what ensued:


Todd Wasserman reports for Mashable that this fabulous and compelling ad for the launch of the Belgium cable channel TNT promoting “drama” is the second-most shared video of all time.

According to Unruly, a video research firm. The ad, which was released on April 11, has been shared 3 million times. Only “The Force,” the 2011 Super Bowl ad from Volkswagen, has been shared more.

David Waterhouse, head of content for Unruly, says the TNT ad — called “A Dramatic Surprise on a Quiet Street” — may well surpass “The Force” soon since one in seven people who saw “Surprise” shared it vs. one in 12 for “The Force.”

The ad, which appeared on YouTube on April 11, is now up to 21.5 million views.

Splitscreen: A Love Story by James W Griffiths. Shot Entirely on the Nokia N8 Mobile Phone.

As Adam Fraser reports on Nokia's conversations blog "Arm eight filmmakers with two Nokia N8s each, a $5,000 budget and ask them to produce a short film within a few weeks and what do you get? A bunch of amazing mini-movies, that’s what. However, there can only be one that wins the top prize of $10,000 USD. That award goes to JW Griffiths, for his movie – Splitscreen. You can see it below.

Love. It’s been the subject of many a movie since the dawn of, well, movies. Splitscreen is about two people falling in love who come from different parts of the world. Using two perspectives at once on the same screen, we’re able to follow each person’s journey through life as they embark on a journey to foreign lands, only to bump into each other half-way across the River Thames on Golden Jubilee Bridge."

Here’s the winning short film, Splitscreen, Shot entirely on the Nokia N8 mobile phone.



Director: James W Griffiths
Producer: Kurban Kassam
Director of Photography: Christopher Moon
Editor: Marianne Kuopanportti
Sound Design: Mauricio d'Orey
Music composed by: Lennert Busch

Get the music on iTunes: tinyurl.com/6acl6yp

Toy Boarders - A Peaceful Twist On Toy Soldiers For A New Generation.

Move over green Army Men, now we've got green thrashers to play with. AJ's original Toy Boarders are skate, surf and snowboard inspired plastic action figures that - like little classic toy soldiers, are plastic, green and ignite the imagination - but unlike toy soldiers, do not promote violence.





Allowing your child to turn your the outdoors, your home or any object within it, into a skate park, the 8 differently posed boarders are true to form and nicely detailed - although there's not a single female in the bunch. ToyBoarders poses include Pushing, Nose Grab, Smith, Cruising 1, Cruising 2, Nose Manual, Tail Grab, and Ollie and come 24 pieces to a package for only about $5.









above individual and detailed images courtesy of Plastic and Plush



You can even use them as cake and cupcake decorations.



AJ's also sponsors video contests monthly. Make a Movie like the one shown below using your AJ's TOY BOARDERS. Every month AJ's will feature your video on their site & the winner will receive a free skate deck. Submit your Videos to them contest@ToyBoarders.com


above: the above video was shot within 4 hours in ProMerch Flagship Store by Shaiful Yahya using AJ's Original toyBoarders. Music: Lupe Fiasco - Kick Push


AJ's Toy Boarders 24pc Skateboard Figures



A special thanks to Sean Alvarez for tipping me off to these!

Rugby Never Looked Like So Much Fun. JWT London's Serious Play For HSBC.

JWT London has created this wonderful spot for HSBC as part of their Rugby Sevens sponsorship. Starring former England and British Lions player Jason Robinson and past Australia captain George Gregan, the fast-paced and exciting tv ad was shot by director Paul Middleditch of Plaza Films and beautifully edited by Andy Packer.






The spot (shown below in its entirety) features real life Green Army Men, Cowboys, Centurions, Ninjas, Luche Libre, Elves and more engaged in an exciting game of Rugby played through the streets of Hong Kong.

It captures the popular trend of spectators wearing fancy dress at the tournament and the seriousness with which people take their costumes. It is also intended to represent the bank’s dedication to the growth of the game both at a professional and a grassroots level.



What a fun way to raise awareness of HSBC’s co-title sponsorship of the 2012 Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens tournament.



Title HSBC “ Serious Play”
Agency: JWT London
Global Creative Directors: Axel Chaldecott, Daniel Hennessy
Art Directors: Miles Bingham, Kevin Masters
Copy Writers: Kevin Masters, Miles Bingham
Director: Paul Middleditch
Production Company: Annex, Plaza Films
Editor: Andy Packer
Editorial Company: Annex Films London
Editor: Peter Whitmore
Editorial Company: The Editors Sydney
Sound: Sam Ashwell
Song: “Lonely Boy” The Black Keys

Fresh Guacamole, The Follow Up to Spaghetti Western by Adam Pesapane, aka PES.

The latest stop-motion short, Fresh Guacamole, by Adam Pesapane, the artist known as PES, is a feast for the eyes. The follow-up to his Spaghetti Western is a claymation stop motion film in which he crafts homemade guacomole from random household objects, everchanging during the preparation.



If you never saw his most famous stop motion video, Spaghetti Western, which won several awards including *2009 Sundance Film Festival Winner, *TIME Magazine voted #2 Viral Video of the Year and the *2009 Audience Award, Annecy Animation Festival, watch it below:


PES is one person, not a film collective or a production company.

"Clicking on a PES film is to open a safe and suddenly see a million ideas glittering and exploding," says Director Michel Gondry. "The only reason you close the door is to re-open it just after and discover what will pop this time." - Paste Magazine

PES Channel on YouTube

Cartier Premieres Gorgeous Short Film, L'Odyssee de Cartier, A Visual History of The Brand.

Carter has been airing this three and a half minute commercial, L'Odyssée de Cartier, which is a beautiful three and a half minute film consisting of seven chapters, shot by Bruno Aveillan for the luxury brand.



The new Cartier film, which took two years to make, is a journey between dream and reality and the very first time Cartier has decided to create a cinema epic focusing on its 165 year history, its values and inspiration, its artistic and universal scope. The lush visual story features the Panther, the historical icon of the House of Cartier.








The dedicated website features the seven chapters of the brand's Odyssey film, the making of, information about the musical score and other bonus features. Learn how they trained the three panthers and other interesting information at their site.



L'Odyssee de Cartier