Ukoko

I am so excited about the film version of Dave Gibbons’ & Alan Moore’s Watchmen. One of the most influential comics ever when it came out in the eighties, the film adaptation finished principal photoghraphy a few months back and has several more months of post production to go through before it’s release in 2009. There is a scene with a bank of TVs showing footage and commercials (presumably in Ozymandias’ HQ) and the production company are offering fans the chance to fill them with thier own Fan-Generated videos… but first the backstory.

For anyone not familiar with the Watchmen comics / graphic novel, it’s hard to explain what a landmark it was in the evolution of comics and how it’s release helped to move superhero comics away from the juvenile and into a more mature, literate position. Watchmen is a story of aging heroes, failed dreams and masked vigilantes who are no longer wanted by society……. imagine a Mike Leigh version of The Incredibles and you’re mostly there.

Watchmen (and The Dark Knight Returns) both came out in 1986 and practically pinpoint the exact moment when superheroes really started to get character. Until then, character depth was limited to Peter Parker being a bit shy with girls. Alan Moore’s work, like that of his contemporary Frank Miller has been directly responsible for re-defining comic-book and paved the way for the darker, richer film-adaptations we see today. However, unlike Frank Miller, Moore seems to shy away from the cinema remakes, asking for his name to be taken off V for Vendetta, and disassociating himself on more of his creations including The league of Extraordinary Gentleman and the Keanu Reeves led Constantine (a character Moore originally created in Swamp Thing that spun-off into it’s own series).

In addition to the iconic source material, the film of Watchmen is directed by Zack Snyder with production design by Alex McDowell, one of my favourite production designers - I worked for Alex on Breaking and Entering (directed by the late, great Anthony Minghella) and not only is he a gifted Production Designer but a really nice guy too.

But I digress. This is supposed to about the competition, so here’s the links:

the production blog was at:
http://rss.warnerbros.com/watchmen/

some more info at
http://www.youtube.com/watchmenmovie

And the competion rules etc are here:
http://watchmenmovie.warnerbros.com/veidtadvertisingcontest/rules.html

Oh, and Frank Miller’s The Spirit site is here:
http://www.mycityscreams.com/

Diesel have been running this international, giant sized art competition for 5 years. The premise is simple: Paint, draw, photograph or design something to go on a really big wall. The results are then displayed, on location in fantastic places from Barcelona to New York….. and it’s finally come to the UK, specifically Urbis in Manchester.

I must admit I’m a bit disappointed by the choice of location. This isn’t because I’m a soft southern bastard and would’ve prefered a London location - although I am and I would have - but because they’ve chosen some unusual building shapes and striking urban environments in the past which gave a real sense of dressing a space. With Urbis, you get a rectangle on the side of an exhibition centre that’s not especially dissimilar to a standard advertising hoarding and you can’t help feeling it’s going to look like an advert whatever you do. Still, creativity likes nothing more than something firm to push against, it’s a great brief and opportunity to show off your work and ideas.

More info on the links below

http://www.diesel.com/cult/wall/manchester/

Manchester Deadline: 18th May 2008
Exhibit: June 12th - July 20th
Canvas Size:29×18m

Just watched a wonderful, refreshing, down to earth presentation by David Heinemeier Hansson from 37 Signals‘ - the people who brought us Basecamp, BackPack, Highrise and that awesome Omnicom spoof site back in the nineties and one of the people behind Ruby on Rails.

As someone brought-up in Essex with a family in the second-hand car trade, my idea of business has always been at odds with the VC backed, buzzword driven valuations†† (I mean how can Twitter be worth 75 million USD) and we all have a friend trying to create the next myspace or youtube and giving it away for free ;), this presentation on good business sense is like an affordable photo on GettyImages, a rare and precious thing.

There are no secrets in it, you don’t need to buy the book or subscribe to the service and, in fact, you won’t learn anything that good old common sense won’t tell you. It’s just clear, simple, straightforward old-skool business talk, updated for the digital age. Genius.

Startup School 08

A pair of Docs, DMs, Doc Martens…. immortalised in song by Alexei Sayle, worn with pride by workers, skinheads and Brighton queers, the iconic Doctor Martens have launched a new design competition with the winner going into a limited production run. So many options I just can’t decide what to enter….

Just discovered the awesome WPhone, a plug-in for WordPress which formats your admin nicely on iPhone/iPod Touch. Haven’t given it the full run through yet but seems to have solved a few Ajax hassles I had. Given the sudden rise to dominance of the iPhone as a mobile browser (number 1 in US, number 2 in UK) it’s an excellent complement to ContentRobot’s iWPhone plug-in, which displays the public side of my WordPress blog neatly in an iPhone stylee.

So the “Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations” comes into effect in May 2008. For those of us even remotely involved in the creation and practice of buzz marketing, word of mouth and some aspect of Viral marketing, it could start flashing warning lights and we should probably all read-up on the new laws coming-in next month.

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising is warning that this law represents greater restrictions on commercial communication via the internet, social networking and word of mouth communications. In some cases, such as Seeding viral ads on the internet without clearly stating you are a representative of the brand, it could spell trouble.

Now, while this has the best of intentions and really should be a good thing, it does make it hard for some of the more original areas Viral marketing to get going. Take , for example, the viral and extended reality concept behind the new Batman campaign:
http://ibelieveinharveydent.com

Is that clearly related the new film? How about the site at:
http://www.ncc-1701.com

Is that obviously a film site for the new Star Trek movie? Or is the latest Lost viral, another from the JJ Abrams camp, which uses an unfolding narrative to told a backstory in the run-up to the new series of Lost
http://www.find815.com

These may not be breaking the law, because they aren’t UK based, but it might prevent us UK based folk from using the same kind of engaging and creative narratives in future if we have to explain the punchline upfront. None of these are harming anyone. In fact part of the fun and engagement factor of these is *being-in-the-know*. People join-up to be one of the select few, the insiders, the ones who actually went out and campaigned in Seattle, Denver, and all over the US for Harvey Dent, a fictional character - and possibly made an ironic and important political statement at the same time. I’m not convinced it would happen if it had Batman logos all over it.

You can get the IPA’s take at:
http://www.ipa.co.uk/news/news_archive/displayitem.cfm?ItemID=2237