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And, Thursday came loaded with action of a different kind. I woke up early to catch the long queue outside the Palais for the 10 am morning show of the much awaited - SAATCHI NEW DIRECTORS SHOWCASE 2013: Hosted by Professor Richard Dawkins, who opens with a visual journey from genes to memes, with a showcase that had the internet as a liberator at its heart. This year's showcase was called 'JUST FOR HITS' of the Internet kind.
Dawkins introduced memes as replicators or imitations copied from brain to brain or blog to blog, species to species, spreading like many other viruses of the mind. The Internet meme is mutating and hijacking the original art or image in the present. And Memes spread through human culture. For ALL CREATIVE ART IS MUTATION IN THE MIND. Holographic projections took over and blew everyone's mind using memes of Dawson and his introduction.
The New Directors are listed below with a short memo on each film and note that is live feedback as I watched them.
1. JAKE FRIED: MAD MUTANTS
An animated portrait of the human face from past to the future, illustrated largely in black n white featuring the monochromatic beginning of a human mind that mutates into various forms.
2. OHJI INOVE : DON'T JUDGE A FILM BY ITS COVER
Another graphic novel animation featuring popular Book covers and film poster graphics animated in epic scale and sounded like a music video.
3. MAX JOSEPH: SAVE THE RAINFORESTS
A Day in the life of You. A normal guy who quits his job to save the rainforests in nicaragua. You don't have to do all this, just Follow the frog. A beautifully edited film with simple yet stunning storytelling.
4. CASPER BASLEV: HORROR BY DESIGN
Haunting sound design and visual design that changes a regular festive family dinner into a scary episode. Well made and seriously great casting and performances.
5. ONE PIXEL WIDE: CROWD SOURCED COMMENTARY
A multi frame music video that integrates the various touch points of today's life from twitter feed to facebook feed to what not, interlinking the various words in the song to various #keywords.
Cool idea for content showcases.
6. NABIL: WHO KILLED THE BOSS
A beautifully shot short story of mutiny in the ranks in the corporate world where various secretaries who appear to have killed their bosses and stepping out into their new freedoms, treated like vampires meeting after the big boss kills.
7. DAITO MANABE: STUNNING SILHOUETTES
Cutting edge visual arts in a graphic design led music video that uses simple grafitti to stunning impact. Using light an sound to bring alive a silhouette dancer.
8. BEN LIAM JONES : HELP I WANNA PLAY.
Capturing a Kids ambition in Football in the midst of all the trails and tribulations of growing up between in a crazy home with an abusive father. A film for a Child Helpline that presented the case with very real and gripping storytelling.
9. LUCIO ARESE: ARCHITECTURAL GRAFITTI
Crazy Visual Grafitti in a very industrial space can entirely change the mood and the space itself.
10. JUSTIN ANDERSON: TARANTINO IN THE MAKING
Sexual explicit storytelling about a bunch of vampires who prey on an ordinary woman in a nightdress to transform her into a vamp for Agent Provocateur Lingerie. Justin has the potential to rock the scene soon.
11. PETER ATENCIO: PERILS OF PEEING IN YOUR PANTS
A funny short story about how peeing in your pants can lead to a crazy chain of events and a full circle like in this case. Peter has the potential too.
12. ILLYA Neisenher: ACTION STATIONS
Action and a thrilling Chase sequence shot like a music video meets a Gaming video with the camera as the protoganist or game player.
13. WONG PING : DIRTY MIND MEME
Oriental animaton about XXX content that makes you go sick.
14. MILES JAY : MUSIC VIDEO MAGIC
Beautifully shot video of a fire chasing a young couple as they run far far away from it. It takes a thousand miles to reach the sky and water to kill the fire.
15. IAN CHEUNG : MORE MADNESS
Another mindless rabbit humping and pumping the dance floor while a hunter and his dog try to kill it.
16. GEVORG KARENSKY: CHASE DEMO
Another thrilling chase sequence and action movie potential director. Insteresting use of street signage as visual grafitti and stunning sequemcing of events without being brutally explicit.
17. VELLAS : THE BEST OF THE SHOWCASE
Reincarnation of black and white film
A film about a war photographer who died in some war somewhere and he is reborn as Leika film, celebrating the rebirth of black n white film. Great storytelling and brilliant visual language, made this stand out among all the others.
18. JOE PEASE : PAINTING WITH SHADOW GRAFITTI
An entire film made with Skating and shadows of skating.
19. RYAN HOPE : DIFFERENT WORLDS
A film about a soldier about to commit suicide by popping the grenade in the middle of a war and his girl who feels his death from a thousand miles away.
(The author is national creative director - JWT India)
