November 2014

Community / News

2nd D&AD Next Director Award Shortlist Announced; Last Call for Entries

The second shortlist for the inaugural D&AD Next Director Award — open to filmmakers with less than two years commercial experience — has been announced, and features two music videos amongst the nominees:

  • Andrew Belle: “Sister”, a music video directed by Will Morgan Holland
  • Roy Kafri: “Mayokero”, a music video directed by Vania Heymann

The other five new films added to the shortlist are:

S, the following films comprise the second shortlist:

Shortlisted directors are selected by an all-star panel of industry leaders including David Bruno, Dougal Wilson, Laura Gregory and Juliette Larthe, and will each receive a production grant from MOFILM to work on a commissioned brief.

The full shortlist of films, including the 16 previously selected following the first round of judging, can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/NextDirectorAward

David Bruno, Senior Creative at Google Creative Labs commented, "It's a pleasure to be part of this search to select the director of tomorrow. I've been overwhelmed by the standard of the work that I've seen and believe that these initiatives are essential, so that the true talent out there don't remain undiscovered and find the opportunities that they deserve.”

Laura Gregory, D&AD Trustee, Founder of Great Guns and jury foreman commented, “The second round of entries was a movement away from the 'dark' inaugural session earlier in the year.  Perhaps it reflects the mood of the seasons. The charm of Mayokero made everyone smile for lost memories and the thoughtful observations made by Emile Rafael in his documentary ‘Alan Moore’ sat comfortably alongside any director with years more experience. Bacardi's ‘A Graphic Novel’ was pure entertainment and got better with each viewing, one of the few that had us all chuckling. I can't wait for the final round!

The third and final entry period for the 2015 Next Director Award is now open. Filmmakers are allowed to submit one entry per deadline. Films do not have to be commercially released and must be less than five minutes in length. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday 4 February 2015.

The winner will be announced at the D&AD Professional Awards Ceremony in May 2015...

Watch It

Take That "These Days" (Henry Scholfield, dir.)

A tricky video boasting lots of in-camera effects that take you from a bed to outerspace and beyond... all without ever leaving the video set.

Henry Schofield, director: "we want it to feel a bit tongue in cheek, a bit unexpected"... So went the conversation at our first meeting and 10 days later I'm trying to keep a straight face as Mr. Barlow and Mr. Owen stroll onto set with ginger permed wigs, with Howard moments later looking like an uber-tanned auditionee for Towie. 

Besides their every-take-perfect professionalism and their great ideas... I gotta say, the guys are super down to earth and up for not taking it too seriously. Needless to say it was a brilliant experience working with them.

In one shot we're going from studio, to bed, to cheerleaders, to bathroom to kitchen...etc. Some furrowed brows and maybe a moment to two of "will this work" self doubt, but with a dream team of Katie Dolan as EP, Alicia Farren producing,  Mikey Hollywood on production design, Ashley Wallen killer-chroeographer and Ben Todd keeping an all seeing eye on aesthetic, we felt like an A-Team all ready to Macgyver like put it together. 

News

YouTube Awards to Return in 2015

While 2014 will go by without a YouTube Awards, the folks at YouTube have made sure that the 2013 debut was not a one-shot: The second YouTube Awards will go down in March 2015 with KIA Motors as a sponsor and Vice Media as executive producers...

Details are scant, but a YouTube statement hints at significant changes with fan involvement in both choosing and creating the videos with involvement from "top directors and creators"...

To be continued...

Watch It

The NSFW Marilyn Manson, Eli Roth and Lana Del Rey Horror Video You CANT See

Update: Told you this probably wouldn't last long... In a way this looked like two unrelated projects put together... Perhaps someday we'll find out.

As you can imagine, the Marilyn Manson vaults likely contain some fucked up shit. That said, who knows how "real" this newly released (leaked?) clip is, as it combines Manson's 2012 video "No Reflection" with previously unseen footage that includes Lana Del Rey getting raped by horror director/actor Eli Roth — a piece of film that Roth discussed with Larry King last year:

 "The footage is so sick, it's been locked in a vault for over a year. But Manson is a friend — he came to my Passover Seder."

Spoiler Alert: It's NSFW and will likely disappear from the Internet and back into the vault as mysteriously as it arrived — kind of like Elijah at your seder — this time secured under a more foolproof lock and key.

And as updated above... Now it's gone.

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