Earlier in the month, I stumbled upon an upload of a documentary (on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network alas), of the designer/filmmaker and all round creative bod Tom Ford. I’ve always been impressed with Ford’s visual sensibilities. From the first bold Tom Ford ads (a barn storming collaboration with Terry Richardson), to the exquisite detailing and storytelling on display in ‘A Single Man’.

In this documentary (the opening titles are visual travesty I might add), we see Ford explain his methodology, we get a bit about his backstory, and the whole the story of his meteoric rise within the hallowed halls of Gucci and Dior.

But this gets really interesting when the doc digs into his creative perspective. What drives him, and also, crucially, that he doesn’t just see himself as a fashion designer. Ford understands that creativity as a skill, is universal. As he puts it:

“The clues for everything that’s going to come next are here now. And either you’re a sleuth and you’re thinking about it cerebrally or you feel it. There are no right or wrong answers – it’s intuitive”

With that sentiment, Ford nails what a creative should be about. Seeking experiences and stimuli, but also not just chasing a trend, or a fad. It’s that intuition which makes creating stuff so… good. Think about it, when you’re designing, art directing, directing, drawing or even strategising, there is a moment where the feel is right. You don’t need to over-explain, or over justify. It just feels right. This makes creativity something that really can’t be taught. It’s in the bloodstream. It’s gives you the strength of your convictions and belief in what you want to tell to the world.

It also helps you keep a clear course, when others haven’t seen, or disagree with your view. His aesthetic, his point of view, his perfectionism cross creative boundaries. But they are all bound by intuition. Which is really why watching this doesn’t just feel like a throwaway bit fashion fluff. This is a true craftsman at work.

The lovely Camilla wrote a post about this same doc. I would say she was copying my thinking, but that would be rude . Her words are much more jazzy than mine, (‘rock-hard Branding’, brilliant) and brilliantly bring to life whay Tom Ford’s Brand is so seriously on target. (Desire and attention to detail). But you should take the two blogposts combined might as a clear signal that this video is well worth your time.

You can read her post here.

Richard, July 2006. Amazingly, this is London Fields.

Dazed Digital have quietly launched a little online experiment in collective memory. One that is actually close to my heart, as it seeks to immortalize (or memorialize?) East London from 1997 – 2012. The Secret History of East London, from it’s about section, is as much a response to the Olympics and the changes they have imposed on East London as much as looking back at the rapid evolution of a district, that in 15 years, Shoreditch, and then wider East London lodged itself firmly into the cultural conciousness of the city, and the world.

It also serves as somewhat of a pause. A moment to reflect (certainly for me) on a district lived, loved and loathed in equal measure. I vividly recall my first visit to Shoreditch in early 1999. The bars, such as Dragon and Showrooms were just springing up, the Blue Note had passed, the 333 was an essential stop. The area felt new, dangerous, and alive. I’ve still got (almost) all the Shoreditch Twat fanzine’s from that time. (They are still funny BTW). St Martin’s days were inevitably followed by a blur of nights and days in the east-end playground. The move eastward to Hackney started full time in 2005. Shoreditch inexorably became it’s current Essex horrorshow, (punctuated by mini revivals of interest with nights such as Boombox). Then London Fields become a cramped and cliched caricature, full to bursting. And now most recently, Dalston go from no go zone to must be seen zone in under 2 years. The Secret History of East London is an apt title, as it does feel like there is nothing ‘secret’ left in East London. Different venues and experiences get assimilated in record time. (See the breakneck speed of Chatsworth Road’s emergence as an example). The thrill of discovery and pioneering in East London has been blunted. It’s finally just another part of town.

So an online exercise like this has the potential to be a strong nostalgic moment. The guys and girls who were 20/21 tearing up the east side of town back when the Libertines were rolling out of the Albion Rooms, are now 30+ and moving up, and in some cases, moving on. Whether settling into an urban (whitewashed) suburbias of Islington, DeBeauvior, Clapton or Stokey, or jetting off to find their fame and fortune. There is (and should) be movement afoot. East London has rightfully established itself as the playground for the young, the carefree and more often than not, the skint. When we were all at St Martin’s it felt right to be there. Safe in the knowledge that it would be that stepping stone. So, when you want to go and earn the big bucks and the power (whether it be in Advertising, Fashion or wherever else) you head to Paris, Milan, Tokyo or my own personal exit strategy – New York City.

But East London has matured, it’s not that stepping stone. It’s a home. A place to settle, and bring up kids. In fact, it’s more of a playground for those (like me) who want to (and can) have their cake and eat it. They can still be plugged into the hipster urban middle class consciousness, but also afford the trappings of expensive meals, and fine wines. The very people who dulled the East London experience, are the ones who made it fun and interesting the first time around. Dazed’s online mausoleum shows shows off the best of East London as it found it’s feet, and some of these moments highlight the best of what made(?) the area so special. But doesn’t answer the question of what’s next. That’s probably half the fun.

So as the warehouses raves fall away to memory,  (I *vividly* remember the Output Records 2005 warehouse party) and are replaced by the gastropub’s and the handmade boutiques, this digital wake for East London is a reminder of all the best things about this contradictory part of town. Dazed might be right, it might not have a future full of innovation, and certainly I might not love London much anymore, but I’ll always have East.

Check the map here.

If this is true, then I LOVE this, and I hope that Nike embrace it. Two filmmakers were asked to make a film for Nike (I assume about the FuelBand, but I’m not sure…). Instead, they put that money to getting around the world in the shortest time possible. (Which happened to be 10 days). It looks like alot of fun, and while some of the motivational quotes might not look out of place on a Athena poster, they most certainly have the desired effect, as well as showing how flexible (and therefore; awesome) #makeitcount is as a call to action.

But you’ll keep watching. Some of the copy lines are great, and the Forrest Gump-ness of the whole ‘run across America’ thing is nicely captured, and overall, it just sort of makes you smile. Will it fit into the great pantheon on Nike ads? No. Does it fit with a brand that consistently delivers surprising ideas and takes chances? Yes. Judge for yourself.

(P.S – You can watch this IN 3D!)

Lets start the month with a timelapse. Not this time, of a wonderous desert scene, Koyaanisqatsi-esque moving cityscape, but a timelapse of one of the most famous movie sets of all time. Created by special effects artist Jeff Desom, he blends together all the scenes from the courtyard of Rear Window. Widely acknowledged as one of Hitchcock’s finest works. This is one of the few films that stands out as much for it’s art direction and set design as it’s storyline. (BBDO NY used a similar framing device when creating their HBO work some years back). Desom blends all the shots together from that set to create a film that actually both pays homage and elevates the originals achievement in set design complexity.  It’s also a pretty impressive technical achievement on it’s own terms. Here’s the original 1954 trailer for a comparison.

It’s a year ago this week that I had the profound privilege of being at Madison Square Garden (and the ridiculous after party at the Tribeca Grand Hotel), and saw the final ever gig of LCD Soundsystem. The band that pretty much documented my 20′s in the mid 2000′s. Even from their earliest records, LCD (and James Murphy) always felt like musical kindred spirits, the soul of crate diggers everywhere, and fundamentally hard-wired into the greatest city on Earth. So it was only appropriate that their final gig was a 20,000 people 4 hour barn stormer, packed with unforgettable moments.

While my memories will always be unique, it sent a glorious chill down the spine to know that there was a film being created of that night. ‘Shut Up And Play The Hits’ in fact does more than just become a memorial of one night, but, as this interview with the directors (Via The ever excellent Creators Project) explains, is also a mediation on that all-too-rare ability these days to go out at the top of your game. What happened when the sun rose at the Tribeca Grand? the drink had been drunk and the records had been played? I know I felt a state of shock, so god alone knows what is was like for James and the LCD Gang.

It’s a novel approach, the trailer (see above), gives you a pretty good sense of what that night was like. But for prosterity’s sake, here’s a couple of videos from the final song (and the emotional ‘New York I Love You’) as well as some after party madness that showed that New York, and the world weren’t quite ready to give the band up that easily.

I cannot wait to relive it again.

Shut Up And Play The Hits premiers at Sundance Festival

The Internet has gone suitably Mad Men mental as Season 5, after a 17 month delay, finally returns to our screens (well, in the US anyway…). Having done a quick refresher of Season 4 this week, it’s quote easy to forget how brilliant the show is. It’s nuanced writing, it’s slow burn qualities (albeit diluted when you watch a few back to back), and of course, it’s obsessional attention to detail.

Newsweek has dedicated this weeks issue to the return of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce with these wonderful (and sometimes awful) retro ads for modern day brands. The brands that really nailed it? The ones that were around in that era. The collection shows how hard it is to do retro without it veering into pastiche. Having got a collection of vintage TIME magazines from around 1966/67, these ads really nailed the colours, and printing qualities, not just the art and copy.

The second thing that has broken this week is this weird fan mashup. 8Bit Mad Men is what happens when Choose Your Own Adventure, meets 8bit Arcade Game, meets 1960′s adland. Surprisingly, it works. It’s a hell of alot of fun, and is just another example of the devotion to detail that fandom of Mad Men generates.

Having read some of the preview reviews for the show, the quality of the two hour season premiere is undiminished. With so many questions left unanswered, and new plot-lines beginning to flower (Don & Megan etc…), it will be brilliant to see how the Mad Men evolve as the Summer Of Love approaches… (Which is nicely theorized in this article in the LA TImes; ‘How Groovy Will Mad Men Get?’)

Flutter.iois a smart little app with a lot of potential in it. (Gizmodo covered it here). Simply put, it uses your webcam to help pause and play spotify and/or iTunes. The app works pretty well so far, and the novelty (and connivence) is worth it for price of entry alone. This feels like an area of gesture that hasn’t been explored that much, which leads me to think that the app has a lot more to bring to the party than just putting your palm in front of the camera and playing/pausing apps. So it’ll be interesting to see where this goes. (On a side note Flutter, your website isn’t much to shout about, the getty images vibe is not cool. Please sort accordingly…)

Via Darrell Whitelaw)

Marvel’s grand 4 years (plus) in the making film of the Avengers is now mere months away. The studio has done a masterful job of teasing the film. From the ‘wait until the end of the film’ clips from the Marvel films (Iron Man 1/2, Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America), that led to the teaser of the first Avengers trailer last year, through to this months monster 3.00 trailer that left most fanboys on the floor dribbling with anticipation. Marvel has set the bar high for the film.

As you would expect for a film backed with such a fervent fanbase, some things have started to appear on the Internet that utilise fan and remix culture to give a different spin on the action. This example (paired with the 3.00 minute trailer for comparison),  uses slices of the 1960′s cartoon versions of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to mirror the trailer. It serves no higher purpose, but is a great illustration as to how far the Marvel Universe has evolved since the Golden Age in the 1960′s, (animation techniques and all), but also makes you feel that the film luckily, will not stray very far from where the Avengers always was. Slightly ludicrous, but awesome fun.

We’ll have to wait until May to find out for sure if the film has delivered on it’s roots. But it’s another proof how the internet and remix/fan culture can find different points of view that help explain and expand an original idea.

(Via Creative Social)

Having worked on a number of luxury projects a few years back, I can attest how much fun they are to work on, especially when the brand itself throws some dough at it.

Cartier’s new ‘ad’ (it feels much more like a film in truth), has certainly had money thrown at it as well as the kitchen sink, and all that cash on straight up on screen, it’s suitably bonkers as a result. Ostensibly an ad about Cartier’s history, and a celebration of the Brands 165th Birthday, it’s 3 minutes of Dodgy metaphors and strange leaps of narrative and some sublime, beautiful visuals. The spot is directed by Bruno Aveillan, who has previous with Louis Vuitton, Shangri La Hotels among others. (They are worth watching for their own lapses of sanity, trust me).

In an age where luxury brands are grasping the nettle of how to innovate in the digital arena, creating un parallelled access for their customers and fans, this feels like a massive throwback. But, conversely, it’s is so well put together, so ambitious, you can’t helped but be impressed. A real guilty pleasure. So, for once, let’s indulge ourselves.

(Via Brand Channel)