BEHIND THE SCENES from The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Again I'm letting my inner (quickly becoming all consuming) nerd out with this but I love these stills from Star Wars. I'm sure the images need no introduction but it should be said these images will be published this month in a Making of Star Wars : The Empire Strikes Back.

Originally posted on Vanity Fair's website

OOPS, by CHRIS BECKMAN

Chris Beckman blew me away with the editing on this appropriated video pieced together with Youtube clips. I watched it 3 times today. His use of sound makes the transitions between clips work so well. While your watching it, turn down the brightness of your screen and or close your eyes and just listen. Beckman is the 2010 Vimeo Award Winner in the experimental category. These video vignettes may not stand on their own but Beckman 's editing creates a story of our shared experiences that stands as a memorable testament to modern life.

MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS | Lara Vs The Savage Pack by Lucinda Schreiber & Beatrice Pegard

I love this. I am constantly inspired by the things I find on Vimeo and booooooom.com. Forget Youtube. Vimeo is all you need, unless you're looking for cat videos. Directed by Lucinda Schreiber & Beatrice Pegard. Lucinda Schreiber also directed that beautiful “Autumn Story” video which can be found on booooooom.com.

Max Oppenheim and Black Hole

I have a long history of obsession with the illustrated medium. From pencils and crayons in elementary school, comic books in middle school and sharpies on walls in high school I still love the medium. As a photographer working digitally I love seeing artists recreate illustrated art into a photographic medium. Max Oppenheim and prosthetic artist Bill Turpin have taken the series Black Hole by Charles Burns and made the series that ended in 2005 relevant again in 2010.






originally found at Zupi
Zupi . Contemporary Art, Illustration and Design Magazine / From comic books to photography

EL GUINCHO | BOMBAY by MGdM - Marc Gómez del Moral

I love the styling and editing of this video. It reminds me a lot of Alejandro Jodorowsky and has a catchy beat that has been in my head all morning. The video is by MGdM, Marc Gómez del Moral, a Spanish Cinematographer with quite an impressive body of work. Check out his website www.marcgomezdelmoral.com for more.

MR. ANDERSON'S BIRTHDAY by Thomas Broening

If you're not familiar with Thomas Broening's photography consider this your cue to look into his work. He's local to San Francisco and I've been an admirer of his work since 2006. Recently he's been doing a series of shorts around a character named Mr. Anderson. I really like his transition to video because he's using the medium to tell a story. A lot of photographers have tried making the jump to video. Video has become more accessible with the digital SLRs, however pursuing a medium just because you can doesn't necessarily make it a worthy pursuit. A friend of mine, Zan McQuade, scribbled into my notebook a paraphrasing of a quote she heard Braden King say at an event she was covering at Sundance that has stuck with me. I looked it up today to share.

"The film or the song or the painting isn't the thing," said King, adding that it's the medium to get at the mystery. Film, to King, is "a piece of fabric you can drape over an unseeable thing to give it form." -Zan McQuade from Obsolescence and Sustainability.

Maybe it's my education in journalism, my boyhood love of comic books or my obsession with film that causes me to pine for good story telling. None the less, Broening is successfully using video as a mode to tell stories which I really appreciate. Plus, today is my birthday and I think "Mr. Anderson's Birthday" is great.

MUSICAL DESIGN INSPIRATION

LCD Soundsystem is quickly becoming one of my favorite musical influences. I think James Murphy might be a musical genius and his influence on what is current and relevant in the world of design and video is more than notable. Michael Vadino's work with LCD Soundsystem dates back to their first album. The video below is from the "That's Cool, But Can You Make It More Shit?" exhibition at the Tom Dunne Gallery of Vadino's work and was featured on the LCD Soundsystem site.

IKEA for the cats

IKEA released 100 cats into a London store for their new commercial. Mother London is the agency responsible for this part of the campaign. If you've ever been to an IKEA you'll recognize a bit of personified and anthropomorphic cat behavior. It has viral written all over it. I saw this posted on AdFreak and heard about it on NPR this morning. Youtube is already overloaded with cute cats and I can't begin to imagine the play this is going to get. Watch the making of below and the ad here.

RIGHT PLACE by KOSAI SEKINE

This short by Kosai Sekine about an idiosyncratic and eccentric store clerk finding his place won Best Short Film at Young Directors Award Cannes in 2006 and Best Foreign Film Award at New York City Short Film Festival. I love the use of color, type A product positioning and musical scoring. The short reminds the viewer that we all have our right place, no matter how misplaced we may feel. More of Sekine's work can be found here.

NAN GOLDIN SHOOTS SCANLAN & THEODORE

I've been a fan of Nan Goldin's available light photography since I discovered her work in Journalism school at The University of Kansas. This most recent shoot is like a PG version of her early work's in the late 70's and early 80's. I still find her work compelling and beautiful, especially the inclusion of Erin Wasson as the subject and model.
A slideshow of the shoot is available on the Scanlon & Theodore site.

PROCRASTINATION by Johnny Kelly

I'd like to say this doesn't apply to my life. It does. I blogged about it, another way of procrastinating.

Procrastination from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.

BLEU DE CHANEL AD BY MARTIN SCORSESE

I've always loved Scorsese's lighting and story telling. At first I was skeptical of a Scorsese directed ad. The 1:01 run time of this ad is perfect. His lighting, styling, camera work and colors are on par with his other work. I love seeing an artist branch into a different medium while staying true to their stylistic vision.

iandi

I published a new series of animations yesterday called iandi. I did the series in collaboration with Katherine Mathis, founder of Revolver Studios . These web based animations are inspired by the works of Robert Longo and the effect duality of personal identity has on human interaction.

Explosure by Tierney Gearon

The work in Tierney Gearon's series Explosure struck a strong cord with me today. Her work with film is truly an art form. Using double exposure in camera and using no digital post production or retouching her work is almost serendipitous while calculated. The subtle and suggested narratives paired with the ghosting images gives Gearson's work a surreal and ethereal quality. I am truly inspired by her work. These images came from her site www.tierneygearon.com

Todd Selby

Tom Sachs by Todd Selby

My friend, Jason Black, re-posted a NY Times article about Todd Selby, a New York based photographer who documents people in the places they live. The photographs are simple yet captivating in their exploration of the personality of the subject through their accommodations and surrounding environments. I particularly like the work he did of artist Tom Sachs at his studio, Robert Longo (I'm a huge fan of Longo) and Erin Wasson. Read more about Selby in The Times and check out his website.

Robert Longo by Todd Selby
Erin Wasson by Todd Selby