The Steve Jobs You Didn't Know

Fast Company published an adaption from the upcoming book Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart Into a Revolutionary Leader by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli. 

"Steve cared," Cook continues. "He cared deeply about things. Yes, he was very passionate about things, and he wanted things to be perfect. And that was what was great about him. A lot of people mistook that passion for arrogance. He wasn’t a saint. I’m not saying that. None of us are. But it’s emphatically untrue that he wasn’t a great human being, and that is totally not understood.

I can't wait to read this new book about Steve Jobs, it's just getting positive review after positive review. John Gruber at Daring Fireball gave a glowing review of the book after reading a pre-release copy.

The book is smart, accurate, informative, insightful, and at times, utterly heartbreaking. Schlender and Tetzeli paint a vivid picture of Jobs the man, and also clearly understand the industry in which he worked. They also got an astonishing amount of cooperation from the people who knew Jobs best: colleagues past and present from Apple and Pixar — particularly Tim Cook — and his widow, Laurene Powell Jobs.

It will certainly be refreshing to hear him portrayed as a three dimensional character and not just the ranting figurehead of Apple in the Isaacson book. 

Google Compare - Student becomes teacher

Creative Director - Robert Waddilove

A film we recently created with the Google Compare team , to kick off the launch of the product in the US, starting in California. We wanted to make an emotive film focusing on the benefits of the product, rather than a more prescriptive film listing the features. That's what the website is for, right? 

I love the relationship of the Grandfather and Granddaughter - such good performances, they feel so natural and real. The locations in LA gave a literal warmth to every shot and having an old Mustang (even if not a Bullitt era one) made for a film as much about Americana as it was about insurance. 

This was an approach I love to take with this type of branded content/ad, and there's been some great comments on the film on YouTube already, I hope it gets a bit of media spend behind it for a little more exposure.

Had a great time on the shoot - here's some Behind the Scenes shots I grabbed too

We also made a 45second shorter version, which focuses more on Grandpa's need to get insurance (over doing up the car).

The problem with action movies today

Fantastic video essay on the many problems with action movies today. You could really open up some of these points to all movies  in general (and even content & ads!).

So well argued by Chris Stuckmann, I was nodding the whole way through. I especially loved all the contrasting examples of brilliant action movies and why they work so well. No surprise it all boils down to character and story. Characters you believe in, that evoke an emotional response from the audience, whether you love or hate them, and a great story.

Via Kottke

Local

Loved this skate film, what really struck me was the way nature was a huge part of the visuals. Usually we're used to seeing concrete jungles in these type of films, all grey and covered in graffiti. No denying there is plenty of concrete here, but so much green from grass sprouting through the concrete, the yellow from the sun, and that moon shoot. 

Something else of interest is how it reminded me of a film I always used to reference for beautiful slow motion, was this skate film shot in Paris. I loved the music and how it was almost melancholic somehow. And at the time (6 years ago) the slo-mo was so new so there was so much wow around it, and what was possible. Now we can shoot 240fps on our phones, but I still love this skate film. 

Via Coudal

Adam Curtis. Journalist

We begin with his viewers. "They are quick, clever, intellectually confident, but not intellectuals," says Curtis. "They feel intimated by a lot of the snobbery and elitism that still clings to certain areas in this country." He contrasts this with the "rigid definition of how you are supposed to think" allegedly found among intellectuals, with their attachment to theories. "My audience isn't interested in that," he says - and nor, he seems to imply, is he.

Lovely write up on Adam Curtis in Creative Review, this quote especially was interesting. Always great to hear how people perceive their audience. Curtis' summary of his audience is bold and even quite challenging, but feels bang on. 

In the piece there's also a great insight into his trademark use of Arial/Helvetica in his films, and what his intention was with that. Surprisingly comparing it to the approach taken in South Park:

"The people I really admire are South Park because South Park, who I know lots of people think are silly, are not. They are actually brilliant journalists because they have the ability to boil stories down into good, tight little bits. When I use little bits of text I'm doing what I got from South Park, which is to simplify everything right down."