"The Developer", A Beautiful Samsung Gear Spot Celebrates A Real Project by The Messi Foundation.

More and more, traditional :30 and :60 second spots from large marketers are paling in comparison to their branded content that they are calling "short films" - if you can call a two minute digital video a short film. The latest is this beautifully produced musically-inspired spot for Samsung (who also recently released "Dreams," a 2:57 minute digital short for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, that was cut down to a minute long tv commercial for air, and is shown at the end of this post).



Told from a child's perspective, "The Developer" is a musical short film by Samsung featuring world-renowned footballer and Unicef Goodwill Ambassador, Lionel (Leo) Messi, and the hit single "Royals" by hot New Zealand Pop Star Lorde.


above photo of Lorde by Simeon Patience.

The beautiful 2 minute branded content was created by Leo Burnett, Chicago and is a dramatic retelling of an actual project completed by the Leo Messi Foundation. Directed by Adam Hashemi the film has wardrobe designed by Paco Delgado, who was the costume designer for the film version of Les Misérables.



In case you didn't understand what's happening in the spot (and I'm not trying to be pedantic here), a mysterious stranger arrives in a low income neighborhood and captures the imaginations of the children who live there. He is "The Developer" and the children view him with a deep suspicion.

Together with his Samsung GALAXY Note 3 and GALAXY Gear, The Developer effortlessly masterminds a secret construction project. Using the latest in Samsung technology including Action Memo, Pen Window, Scrapbook and hands-free call capability on the Gear, The Developer orchestrates and executes his mysterious mission.

The children watch in awe. They reflect on their current situation by singing New Zealand Pop star Lorde's breakout hit "Royals," a song about overcoming her own humble beginnings.

The spot concludes with a beautiful new pitch that has been constructed in the toughest part of town. The Developer is revealed to be the world's reigning football star, Lionel Messi, fulfilling his personal mission* to help under privileged children.



The events in this story are a dramatic retelling of actual projects completed by the Leo Messi Foundation.

* The Leo Messi Foundation

CREDITS
Client: Samsung
Spot: "The Developer"
Agency: Leo Burnett, Chicago
Executive Vice President, Creative Director: Shannon McGlothin
Senior Vice Presidents, Creative Directors: Brandon Rochon, Adam Kennedy
Creative Directors: Guy Seese, Brian Murphy
Senior Vice President, Account Director: Radim Svoboda
Account Director: Benjamin Haynes
Account Executive: Cameron Zick
Senior Vice President, Executive Producer: Jen Dennis
Producer: Keith Jamerson
Vice President, Music Director: Gabe McDonough
Senior Music Producer: Chris Clark
Senior Vice President, Global Strategy Director: Huw Gildon
Senior Vice President, Strategy Director: Steven Yuan
Senior Strategist: Marton Harsanyi
Production Company: Furlined
Director: Adam Hashemi
Executive Producer: Eriks Krumins
Editing: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Mikkel EG
Executive Producer: Carol Lynn Weaver
Music Supervisor: George Drakoulias
Sound Designer: Gus Koven, Stimmung
Mixer: Loren Silber, Lime Studios
Music Production Support: Amber Music
Postproduction: The Mill


"DREAMS"
In case you haven't yet seen the complete cut of Dreams, here it is:


Credits for Dreams:
Advertising Agency: Leo Burnett, L.A. / Chicago, USA
Global Chief Creative Officer: Mark Tutssel
Creative Directors: Shannon McGlothin, Brandon Rochon, Adam Kennedy
Designer: Luis Farfan
Creative: Sarah Kraus
Account Director: Radim Svoboda
Account Director: Benjamin Haynes
Account Executive: Cameron Zick
Executive Producer: Jennifer Dennis
Producer: Sean Pinney
Production Company: Prettybird
Director: Roc
Editorial: Peepshow London
Editor: Andrea MacCarthur

For more information about the GALAXY Note 3 and Gear, click here.

Miley Mocks Herself (And The Government). See The Whole Funny SNL Music Video.

In case you missed it - whether on purpose or by accident, Miley Cyrus' hosting gig on SNL certainly had its moments, the best of which was when Miley and the cast parodied her own song, "We Can't Stop" by giving it a political twist.



Cyrus dressed as Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann with Taran Killam as House Speaker John Boehner suggestively danced and vamped to the new lyrics, which presented a raunchy Republican celebration of the government shutdown.



The full video:


"Cause we came to shut it all down now, no government around now, if you're not ready for healthcare, can I get a 'hell no,'" Cyrus sang while dressed as Bachmann, spanking Uncle Sam, licking Killam as Boehner, and holding and licking an Abraham Lincoln doll. "Government workers on a furlough, even though you're already paid low ... everyone in line for early child care, anyone who planned to see a grizzly bear, we are so shut down yeah."

Some of the best moments:


Miley licks an Abraham Lincoln doll at one point:


The original video's bears are replaced with the GOP elephants:

Ellie Konig and Quang Dinh Know How To Do A Wedding Video. Take Note, Soon-To-Be-Marrieds.

above: Quang and Ellie captured in their on-site reception photo booth, one of over 800 pictures by which they now have to remember the special occasion (courtesy of Quang Dinh's facebook page)

Like most newlyweds, the lovely Ellie Koning and handsome Quang Dinh wanted to capture the afterparty of their Aug. 11th nuptials on video. Unlike most couples, they used small Seattle-based production company Super Frog Saves Tokyo to do the job. (On the company's official facebook page, the folks at SFST they say they made this video for their "boss.")



The video was shot at the reception site Sodo Park in Seattle Washington in a photo booth, a now popular trend at weddings. The result is a recorded total of 4 minutes and 27 seconds of sweet jubilation unlike most painfully tacky wedding videos.


above: one of the photobooth still images from their wedding

It's been featured on MSN, Glamour.com, Jezebel and more and is rapidly turning Ellie and Quang into social media stars.


above: a still from the video

Shot at super high speed on the RED Epic camera, this 160 frame per second video unfolds in slow motion to Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” and captures the guests with simple wedding favor props like confetti, bubbles, poppers and silly string in a photo booth.



The joyful and ebullient energy conveyed is so much better and more touching than drunken statements made to camera or master shots of a dark room full of spastic dancers.

Congratulation to the happy couple, shown below in a more subdued and romantic photo from their wedding (photo courtesy of Ellie's facebook page):


Contact Super Frog Saves Tokyo to do your wedding video, or any other cool storytelling video you may need at video@sfst.com


http://www.sfst.com/

The Blonds Dress Their Second Barbie Just Like Kylie Minogue - The Blond Gold Barbie® Doll

above top: The New Blond Gold Barbie and below: Kylie Minogue wearing The Blonds in her Get Outta My Way music video.

This is the second Barbie® imagined by celebrity-dressing fashion duo The Blonds. The first, The Silver Diamond Barbie Doll was a big hit amongst collectors and fashionistas. And their very special one of a kind Pink Diamond Barbie was auctioned to benefit charity amongst much Barbie buzz.




Now, the Blond Gold™ Barbie® hits the market. She may look familiar to some of you, especially to fans of music artist Kylie Minogue. Not mentioned on the Barbie Collector site - or anywhere else that I can find, is the fact that the doll's outfit is a replica of the one created by the Blonds for Kylie Minogue to wear in her Get Outta My Way video :



Just like Kylie, the blonder than blonde doll is clad from head to toe in gold. Chain details adorn her golden corset and and inspires her long earrings, golden armbands and even the same ring as worn by Kylie in the video. Gold eyeliner and false eyelashes complete the look.









Unlike Kylie, the barbie doll does come with a mesh woven gold cape and a stand inspired by bars of bullion.

Details:
The Blonds Blond Gold Barbie® Doll
Body Type: ModelMuse™
Arms: New Left and Right
Skin Tone: Tropic Tan
Facial Sculpt: Lara
Fashion Sewn On?: No
Eyelashes: yes

Included with doll: Stand, corset, shoes, arm cuffs, earrings, claw ring, cape.
There is a limit of 5 dolls per order. For the adult collector.

$150.00
Gold Label®, Designed by: Bill Greening
Release Date: 8/8/2013

Buy The Blonds Blond Gold Barbie® Doll

© 2013 The Blonds LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Direct Exclusives are currently available in the U.S. only from The Barbie™ Collection catalog or at TheBarbieCollection.com.

The Classic Rock Ballad 'Beth' by KISS From Her Point of View (And The True Story).

Anyone who grew up during the 70s and 80s is familiar with the song "Beth" which was written by guitarist Stan Penridge and sung by KISS original drummer, Peter Criss. The song, to which many of my peers slow-danced in school gyms, has been featured or sung on GLEE, American Idol and in numerous movies. We often speculated as to who this "Beth" actually was - and apparently we were not the only ones.


above: at the risk of simultaneously dating myself and freaking out my readers, I actually still have my original single of Beth.

This legendary KISS ballad gets lampooned in this four and a half minute short film directed by Brian Billow of Anonymous Content, shown below. The fictitious story of the song’s inspiration came from the mind of Bob Winter, executive creative director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky in Miami. The Peter Criss character's dialogue stays true to the song's lyrics and the video is perfectly art directed to capture the era. Only flaw? Peter Criss was actually the only KISS member in the studio when the song was recorded for the 1976 album Destroyer*.

As Winter told Adweek previously, "I was thinking that it might be fun to create a series that's like the made-up stories behind real songs."



The truth is not far off. According to Songfacts, Criss and Penridge came up with a song called "Beck," which was about the wife/girlfriend of their guitarist Mike Brand (they were in a band named Chelsea at the time), whose name was Becky. It's rumored she was a hypochondriac and was constantly interrupting their band practices with phone calls asking when Mike was coming home, and the song was a joke directed at him.

In 1976, after Criss joined Kiss, he and Penridge revived the song and with the help of producer Bob Ezrin, they changed the title to "Beth" and made it more sentimental, changing the end of the first verse from: "I know you love complaining, but Beck what can I do?" to "I think I hear them callin', Oh, Beth what can I do?"

Get the whole story behind the Bob Winter and Brian Billow version  here at Adweek.

CREDITS
Director: Brian Billow
Production Company: Anonymous Content
Senior Executive Producer: Eric Stern
Executive Producer, Production: SueEllen Clair
Producer: Paul Ure
Writer: Bob Winter
Director of Photography: Darran Tiernan
Editor: John Dingfield, Beast Editorial
Actors:
Beth: Lilli Birdsell
Peter: Steven Olson
Kid #1: Michael Hamilton
Kid #2: Robert Hamilton
Ace: Roy Green
Paul: Alec Paul Cartinian
Gene: Rocco Fonzarelli
Roadie: Jason Lee Beckwith
Performer, Beth Piano Intro: Coleman Zurkowski

*source: wikipedia

10 Great Cover Versions of New Year's 'Auld Lang Syne.'

To ring in the New Year, I bring you this unusual selection of cover versions of the New Years' Eve song to which that no one really knows the words. (thank you Mashable)

1. Beer Bottles

2. Drum

3. Ukulele

4. Punk Rock

5. Metal

6. Guitar

7. Piano

8. Saxophone

9. Bass

10. Julie Andrews

BONUS: Cats

Happy New Year!

YouTube Rewind 2012. The Top Watched Videos and A Mash-Up Of The Most Viewed Videos Of The Year.

This year, Korean Pop music transcended boundaries and took the world by storm. Cover songs, parodies, and "do-it-yourself" music videos from all genres entertained us in countries near and far. And you participated in conversations at a global scale, uploading videos to share ideas on everything from nonprofit campaigns, to political satire, to new and surprising voices and talents. Plus, all over the world, you tuned in for the most up-to-date news footage of presidential elections, natural disasters and more.

Rewind YouTube Style:


2012 was a big year for YouTube. You’ve been watching over 4 billion hours of video a month. Millions of creators are using YouTube channels to experiment with innovative forms of entertainment, explore their passions and interests, take creativity and pop culture to new levels. 2012’s top trending videos and top channels showcase this creative ingenuity in ways we'd never before thought possible.

Here's a "Behind The Scenes" video featuring a look at the making of the Rewind YouTube Style 2012 video:


Globally, here’s what we were all talking about in 2012:

Top Trending YouTube Videos (playlist):
• PSY - GANGNAM STYLE (강남스타일) M/V
• Somebody That I Used to Know - Walk off the Earth (Gotye - Cover)
• KONY 2012
• "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen - Feat. Justin Bieber, Selena, Ashley Tisdale, etc.
• Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney. Epic Rap Battles Of History Season 2.
• A DRAMATIC SURPRISE ON A QUIET SQUARE
• WHY YOU ASKING ALL THEM QUESTIONS? .. #FCHW
• Dubstep Violin- Lindsey Stirling- Crystallize
• Facebook Parenting: For the troubled teen.
• Felix Baumgartner's supersonic freefall from 128k' - Mission Highlights

Top YouTube Channels of 2012:
• boyceavenue
• ERB
• HolaSoyGerman
• JennaMarbles
• lindseystomp
• PrankvsPrank
• TheFineBros
• ThePianoGuys
• theslowmoguys
• Vsauce

METHODOLOGY and FAQS:
How they determined the top video list:
This year, YouTube looked not just at views, but also shares, searches, likes and responses to identify the 10 videos that everybody was talking about in 2012. On YouTube people don’t just view a popular video, they remix, share, and parody, building a fan community that extends far beyond the watch page. They took all of this into account to ensure that they truly captured the “watercooler moments” of the year.

Is "Gangnam Style" the most viewed YouTube video of all time?
Yes. Currently, "Gangnam Style" is the most viewed video on YouTube and it will likely become the first video to hit one billion views.

Where you can see the trending videos that were popular in other countries this year:
You can see the top trending video lists for each country that has a list on the 'Browse' tab of the global YouTube Rewind channel. You can also choose from this list of country channels to visit the channels in their native languages.

Why isn't a top trending video list available for every country?
YouTube tried to make top video lists for as many countries as possible based on available information. YouTube is popular globally. 70% of views come from outside of the United States, so their global list is also representative of what people all around the world were watching in 2012.

Just how much YouTube were people watching this year?
An astounding four billion hours of video every month on YouTube.

Why they decided to make "YouTube Style" and what went into the making of this video:
For the last few years YouTube has made a video to highlight the top videos of the year. This year talented YouTube creators had billions of views on their channels and they helped entertain the world all year long, so YouTube wanted to celebrate these creators and have a little fun while they were at it.

A full list (and links to their videos) of the stars who appeared in this "YouTube Style":
PSY
Walk off the Earth
AlphaCat
KassemG 
DailyGrace
MysteryGuitarMan
DaveDays
DeStorm
PyroBooby
BarelyPolitical
RealAnnoyingOrange
FreddieW
CorridorDigital
RhettAndLink
Smosh
FeliciaDay
ChesterSee
iJustine
EpicMealTime
MyHarto
JennaMarbles
ShitGirlsSay
JuicyStar07
GloZell
ClevverTV
SmoshGames
RyanHiga

all information courtesy of YouTube

Director Dannah Nayblat Could Use A Little Help To Heat Things Up.

Director Dannah Nayblat could use your help and support to finish her labor of love, a stop-motion animated music video. It's true, I get many submissions about projects on kickstarter, but it was her explanatory video asking for help, and the goodies with which she rewards her backers, that got my attention. Of course her personal note to me, gushing with praise about my blog and my readers, didn't hurt.



Some Like it Hot is the song title of an animation music video that she's been working on in her spare time (and sleep time :) for the last couple of years, for a band named Club Des Belugas. The technique she's using is stop motion, but rather than taking a series of still photos and editing them in a sequence, which is traditional stop motion - she takes photos of the actors and place them in virtual sets that she designs on her computer.



There are several stages to the process - first she selects the photos she'll be using and edits a sketch of the scene (they shot hundreds of photos for each little scene). Then she does the artwork. Aside from creating the backgrounds, she may need to place items in the actor's hands, change the color of their shirt, re-style their hair or change their whole head... There are also many adjustments that need to be made in terms of scale and color correction so that all the components work together. Finally, she exports the final frames and place them in the video.

The whole thing is EXTREMELY time consuming (as many creatives know)!

You can see part of her work process, in the video below, to better understand what takes so long... and hopefully you'll think that the results are worth it and help fund her on kickstarter.



"Visually striking, imaginative & funny stop-motion animation video for a great song!" is the description of her kickstarter project that launched a couple of days ago and instantly became a STAFF PICK.



The band - Club Des Belugas - is based in Germany, the singer, Brenda Boykin, with her unique (award winning) deep voice, is American, and the band members are from different countries. Danna is based in Israel, but the leading male, Starskee Suave and Gilad Koriski, the photographer who captured him, both live in Los Angeles (she directed those sessions in the middle of the night, via skype...)



The israeli team includes photographer Shiran Carmel and the lovely Ester Rada, who is the female lead. Ester is a known Israeli actress, and though she isn't the performer of this song, she's a great singer in her own right (her single Save a Little Love for Me from the new Club Des Belugas album, is one of the rewards offered for your pledges). The hair and makeup artist is Zion Ashkenazi and the wardrobe was contributed by Hila Aharon.


above: Director Dannah Nayblat

Learn more about her project here, and help her turn her dream into a reality, on kickstarter.

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.

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

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