Insightful blog from legend Dave Trott

Alcatraz is an absolutely amazing place. It was where people who couldn’t be allowed to escape ended up.

People like Al Capone.

The worst of the worst.

A prison on a piece of rock, surrounded by water.

A lot of water.

Once you got sent here, you weren’t going anywhere.

This must have looked like the end of your life, as the boat approached it.

The last time you were going to see the outside world.

And it gets worse.

You’re locked in your cell 23 hours a day.

The cells are stacked up in blocks 3 stories high.

There are no windows in any of the cells.

And, although you’re alone, there is absolutely no privacy.

Just a grill at one end.

For the guards to watch your every move.

The cell measure about 8 feet long by about 5 feet wide.

What does that actually mean?

The tiny bed takes up half the space.

Your head is touching the grill.

Your feet are touching   the toilet.

Next to the toilet is the basin.

Attached to the wall is small shelf, eighteen inches square.

Below it is another, smaller shelf.

This is your table and chair.

All your waking hours are spent sitting at the table, or lying on the bed.

There is no room to walk.

I tried to imagine spending the rest of my life like this.

(Because, once you’re sent to Alcatraz, you never leave.)

I wanted something to remember it by.

 

Something to remind me what it must have felt like.>

So on the way out, I went through to the gift shop.

Just like the rest of the tourists.

And I saw a massive pile of metal cups.

Exact replicas of the ones that convicts drank from.

I wanted to buy one.

But most of them were spoiled.

They had ‘Alcatraz’ printed on them in big letters.

So they weren’t the authentic convict cups.

They were just a tourist version: a souvenier.

It ruined the illusion.

So I searched the entire pile looking for a cup without the name on.

But every cup had Alcatraz on it.

And while I was looking, dozens of people were buying them.

I went to another gift shop.

And the same thing happened there.

I looked for a cup with no name on.

While dozens of people bought cups with the name on.

As we were leaving the island I found a third, even larger gift shop.

And I went carefully through this pile too.

Just as I was giving up I found a cup with no name on.

I grabbed it before someone else saw it.

But I needn’t have bothered.

It was at the bottom because no one wanted it.

I took it to the cash register to pay.

The lady said, “Oh look, this one doesn’t have a name on. It must be defective. I’ll get you a proper one.”

I said, no thanks I want this one.

She said, “You want one without the name on?”

I said, yes please.

She said, “We really should send this back as a reject you know.”

I said, but I prefer it this way.

She said, “It isn’t any cheaper you know, I still have to charge you the same price.”

I said that was okay and did they have anymore like it?

She looked at me as if I was mad, “Without the name on? Why would anyone want it without the name on?”

It was a conversation that reminded me of something I heard recently.

Rory Sutherland was speaking at the IPA.

He said, “Creative people have a fear of the obvious, and yet they have to present their work to people who have a love of the obvious.”

Isn’t that odd?

We fear invisibility, they fear visibility.

We fear not standing out.

They fear standing out.

We seek risk.

They seek security.

Their start point is, “I want what everyone else has got.”

Our start point is “I don’t want what everyone else has got.”

Until Rory said it, it never occurred to me.>

That anyone could think the obvious, the expected, and the conventional was a good thing.
Not at the cost of visibility.

That’s why it always seemed to me that the most important sentence on the brief was never written on the brief.

Unseen Gaza Trailer

Powerful trailer created for a special edition of Channel 4's Dispatches programme that focused on the Israeli offensive in Palestine and the subsequent ban on Western journalists reporting from the area. John Snow narrates, and we all love a bit of Snowy.

Canal+ Closet

This witty AD from French TV channel Canal+ demonstrates how a great story can sometimes get you out of a tight corner. The endline reveals that our hero is in fact a scriptwriter for Canal+ and therefore used to spinning great yarns.

Trippy Video Technique

Ray Tintori promo using the 'datamoshing' technique which messes with the way video encodes using something called 'motion compensation' to cut back on bit rates. Looks like somebodies been doing a lot of drugs to me.

Diane Birch - Valentino Music Video

No posts for ages and then 3 in one day, i must learn to be more consistent!
Just remembered stumbling across this music video the other day. It was all shot in a single take, amazingly. And it has a lovely old fashioned feel to it that makes it seem like it's from the past. Plus all the clothes are absolutely amazing, i want! i want!

Google Super Bowl AD!

My favourite AD from the Super Bowl. This is so simple, yet such a beautiful idea.

Nike April Fool!

"Ma Mamma didn't raise no fool" Mr T.

Can Nike do no wrong? I love it that they've taken a break from being seriously cool and done something silly cool for April fools.

MTV Shadow Puppet Idents

Came across these MTV idents recently, when i was looking into shadow puppetry for a concept. I love the mismatch of rock music and traditional asian media. Like Avid Merrion's swearing teddy bear, there's always some fun to be had when puppets act silly.

Smokin' Hot Wheels Ads!

Some oldies but goodies from Ogilvy New York.

Smokin' Hot Wheels As

CREST FLOSS ADS

I love everything about these Crest Ads by Saatchi & Saatchi New York. Simple, clean and clever. I wish I'd done them.

Drenched Goldfish

A follow on from the trumpet playing hamsters, goldfish was a natural choice for a bottled water company Drench, and i like it.

Nuformer Building Projections!

I could watch this all day long. Enjoy!

MAKEUP SHAKE UP

To describe Alex Box as a makeup artist seems like a gross understatement. Her work is so fantastical and theatrical it blows the mind. Every face she paints is a living, breathing art installation, blurring the lines between what is beautiful and just plain wierd. Box’s unique style has earned her huge recognition working with a raft of famous photographers and fashion designers.

I’ve just ordered her book ‘ALEX BOX by Rankin’ and cannot wait to get my mitts on it. Hmm I think this calls for a weird and wonderful fancy dress party, so I can paint my face like some glamorous creature.

WILD BEASTS.....GRRRRR

Wild Beasts are no doubt the best thing to come out of Kendal since Kendal Mint Cake. Hayden Thorpe's deliciously hypnotic and strangely eerie vocals are like nothing else. I find their new album Two Dancers the perfect antidote to a busy office, with Wild Beasts in my headphones I'm instantly transported to a chilled out summer meadow, the perfect head space to write some tricky copy or think concepts. The video's quite cool to. As soon as payday arrives I'll be booking my tickets to see them at Manchester Academy March 20th.

Hair em, Scare em

No this post isn’t about me forgetting to shave my legs. Much to my excitement, Hair ’em Scare ’em arrived for me on Friday. I saw it on Creative Review and thought it looked like it might have some brilliant inspiration between its pages. I wasn’t disappointed either. Hair ’em Scare ’em is as fantastic as it is weird. Presenting a captivating collection of graphic design, photography, illustration, art interior design, fashion and even jewellery design. If something’s hairy and cool, it’s in here. My personal favourite image is Florence the horse in the wig (Photogrpher Julian Wolkenstein).

Published by Gestalten

Edited by Robert Klanten, Matthias Hubner and Sven Ehmann

BOY A

Imprisoned by a horrendous cold, I spent all weekend glued to the sofa with a Kleenex in one hand and a hot Ribena in the other. The silver lining? I got to watch a lot of telly. I won't bore you with the mediocre...

I wasn’t keen on watching 'Boy A' to be honest. I knew it was based on a child criminal’s release from prison many years later, and I thought it’d be too upsetting. But I’m glad I did, as it’s a very tastefully done and thought-provoking piece of cinema. The film opens on Eric being handed a new pair of trainers and a new life by his mentor Terry. He is asked to choose a name ‘Jack’ and then released into Manchester to start living again. Jack has been in prison since he was about 11 and he’s now mid twenties. We watch him attend his first day at work, have his first kiss, first beer and first signs of happiness in years. However, Jack’s new life is marred by guilt for the heinous crime he committed as a child, and the film is interspersed with flashbacks from a troubled childhood and the events leading up to the crime. I didn’t expect this film to surprise and challenge me in the way it did. By forcing you to empathise with Jack on some level it questions your entire mindset on criminal behaviour and punishment.

I was going to post the trailer but it’s basically one big spoiler, so instead here’s the website.

http://www.boyamovie.info/

Touchy, touchy, touch screens all around.

Wow. It seems that, as soon as i get my head around one techy gadget the next one pops up. This little magic box is apparently 'an interactive projector that instantly transforms any flat surface into a touch screen. It frees multimedia content from the confines of the small screen, allowing users to interact with that content just as they do on their hand held devices – using multi-touch technology.' I don't know if it's that useful, but hey it's definately cool and beats carrying a bulky screen around i suppose. Have a little click on the link for a more techy description and video.
http://lightblueoptics.com/products/light-touch/

Have you ever wondered how the man who drives the snow plow drives to the snow plow?

My little snow covered Alfa reminded me of this vintage VW spot. It's simplicity and charm still shine despite the grainy picture, no wonder it won DDB New York a cannes gold in 1964.

Matthew Shave Fashion Photographer

We used London fashion photographer Matthew Shave for an Imperial Leather campaign last year. His work is so beautiful it has a surreal otherworldly quality, he's a thoroughly nice chap too. Check out his website it's full of visual treats.
www.matthewshave.com

NINE

Saw Rob Marshall's new film 'Nine' last night and absolutely loved it. Daniel Day Lewis plays Guido Contini an eccentric yet charismatic film director with a passion for the fairer sex. And who could blame him when he has Penelope Criuse, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Marion Cotillard and Fergie to choose from! I usually find musicals a bit tedious, but Marshall manages to weave in the songs and choreography so flawlessly, I was hooked from the word go. Magnifico.

Didsbury, twinned with Lapland.

I woke up this morning to find Jack Frost had visited us overnight and transformed the whole of Didsbury into what looked like a film set from the Chronicles of Narnia. Abandoning the car, I skipped to work in my little orange wellies like a kid at Christmas. And taking a detour through Didsbury Park I quickly snapped these shots. The snow was so icing sugar soft, I couldn't have hoped for a better start to my new blog.