Collaboration

Creativity, in our business is all about collaboration. Camera and Sound. Producer and Editor. Director and Actor. And so it goes. Collaboration can be bliss or chaos. Sometimes both. When two conflicting visions vie for a voice, sometimes the result is glorious harmony. Say, as in the work of Leiber and Stoller, whose book details how they came up with some of Motown's greatest hits. What was it like? Here's an inside view of their approach to working together: "I can't remember if it's Mike or Jerry who describes their relationship as a 50-year-old argument," says David Ritz, who ghostwrote Leiber and Stoller's joint memoir. In their words, it was "long, long years of stepping on each other's words and toes and sentences."

And then there's the dynamic duo, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. In Keith's new book, Life, he describes yet another turbulent collaboration, but a winning partnership too. And that dichotomy is also the subject of a recent NPR story on the powerful energy unleashed by polar opposites.

For me, the key to a successful collaboration in music or any other creative effort is to find a way to harness that energy. I think it's normal, even predictable to have different approaches, different points of view. That's part of the creative process. But then it's about listening, hashing it out, exploring and synthesizing. You can travel parallel paths, zig and zag, but eventually you have to come together. And when you do, you can really rock and roll.

It's a Wrap

Introducing the Sniper Twins, two hiphop pals creating their own brand of viral videos for the corporate world. Barry Flanagan and Dax Martinez-Vargas, former high School buddies, attended the same film school and eventually found their way to MTV, making on air promos. But their claim to fame, such as it is, has come from doing the corporate video thing, only, doing it their way.

Their first big effort, "Computer Friends" (over 700,000 plays on Youtube) was a spec project they eventually "sold" to Seagate Technology. According to one article, "payment" was in the form of hard drives. Okay, but they clearly had a good time making the video and it's fun to watch them do a send up of office geekdom as they revel in the bits and bytes of their computer rap.

Their next effort, "Chocolate Shoppe," shows them rapping and prancing through a Hershey Chocolate Factory, plopping on their chairs doing the "chocolate drop." Sweet. And I suppose they got a lot of lettuce for their video praising the virtue of salads. And so it goes.

While I applaud their efforts, using the trappings of rap to brand a corporate image or market a product is, let's face it, a bit of a stretch. Although, given their enthusiasm, they almost pull it off. But the corporate thing gets lost in the funky egoism of their rap. It's hard to wag your finger around a coherent message and they wrap each video with the Sniper Twins logo. So dudes, what are you really branding?

I checked the Seagate Website to see how the video was being used and failed to find it. Oh well.

But kudos to them for taking the leap. And given the in-your-face flavor of new media, I'm sure we'll be hearing more from the Sniper Twins.

As a PS, check out the video they did for Reese's, Flippo's BIG Stunt. Perfect.

creativity in the digital world

Advertising has always been a magnet for the creative mind. And in the old days, you'd often find an art director paired with a copy writer to dream up the next big thing. But a recent NYT article describes a much more integrated approach for the world of digital media. A new program at the University of Colorado, Boulder addresses the need for the next gen "creatives" who must possess technical, business and creative skills.

The pace of digital media work is much faster as technology and formats continue to evolve. So Boulder Digital Works has designed a flexible project-based approach to match the ever changing digitocracy. I'll let them speak for themselves:

There are only a few dedicated digital programs in the US and they tend to focus on individual specialties, such as advertising, business, design, or technology. In real life — at leading advertising and digital agencies, start-ups, and software companies — business, creative, and technology people work in an integrated setting and are expected to be multi-disciplinary thinkers and problem solvers.

I really like that concept. So many people who work in the creative milieu are only really comfortable within their limited skill set. Which puts them at a disadvantage. To be a good editor, you need to think like a producer. To be a good producer, you need to think like a good writer. And so on. To become successful collaborators and do our best work, we need to understand our client's needs, what they're trying to accomplish and why. That gets translated to the project's goals and underpinnings...what are we doing and why are we doing it. The big picture. Everything flows from that.

It took some serious mentoring on my own professional journey to help me understand all that. So I'm happy to see that world view being taught to the next gen. I guess that's what progress is all about, right?

Capturing the Stillness

The New York Times' Chang Lee has another breakthrough with his piece on Wonjun Park, an artist suffering with cancer at the end of his days. Chang Lee's video on the NYT Lens site is beautiful in its simplicity and moving in its silences. It sets the tone with comments by Park anticipating the ending of his life, as we see him submitting to another round of chemotherapy "My body started to leave my spirit."

Feeling numbed by Western medicines' attack on the cancer in his body, we see Park struggling to give meaning to his life through his art. Perhaps that is how he will be able to honor his spirit.

Once again in his Second Chance series, Chang Lee mixes photography and video to create an indelible portrait. But most profound are the moments of stillness and his use of photography to stop time and allow us to reflect, just as Park is reflecting on his art and life and art. They beautifully interwoven in this video haiku.

Now What is it Exactly That You Do?

Unsung heroes in the film and video world, editors are the interface between ideas and action. Still, it's hard to explain what we do. Ralph Rosenblum wrote a book, years ago, "When the Shooting Stops, the Cutting Begins." He worked with Woody Allen, among others and has great dramatic films on his list of credits. I liked it, and it was a great introduction to innovative thinking and the creative moment in feature film making. And a quick check at Amazon lists hundreds of books about the subject. But the feature film world always has a plot, characters and a story. The documentary editor has to find a different way to create a story. It's an elusive goal and a good documentary editor does a lot more than just put a bunch of sound and images together.
Recently a BBC editor, Bill McKenna, was named "Editor of the Year" by the White House News Photographers Association. He put together a short video, The Power of the Picture Editor, to explain what it is, exactly that he does.

deja vu all over again

While most people watch the Superbowl for the game, some put their focus on the commercials. It may be the year's most expensive advertising slot and a lot of creative energy and marketing dollars were spent honing a message. And now the spots can live on another day, namely on the WSJ website. I found it inspired. They have a feature front and center on today's homepage, inviting you to rate the best and worst superbowl TV spot.

For me, this is a great example of thinking outside the box. Here's why: they could have just had an print article about the spots or they could have put up a few sample videos of what they thought were the best spots. But by putting all the spots there and inviting readers to vote, they made the whole thing interactive and fun. And they branded each viewing with a WSJ logo and music. So you're constantly reminded the spots are brought to you by the Journal. It's an innovative and creative way to make yesterday's news fresh and inviting. And of course the companies like it because people get to see their commercials again for free. So everyone wins. Which is the best result for out of the box thinking.
You can check it out at

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-SUPERBOWL09.html

My favorite is the Bud Light Swedish commercial featuring Conan

Howtoons

Dan Bailes:When the Web first became popular, it was all about something new. Soon, every organization had to be part of it: have a web presence, their own website, reach out and communicate. And some do that well. But too often the website model organizations seem to select is that of the newsletter or the brochure. They may work as print but are boring and unattractive on the web. You've got to tell stories. And make a strong visual impact. First, capture the eye.

We're always looking for new, effective ways to communicate. Which brings me to Howtoons. What is howtoons? Take the old boring how-to idea and express it in comic book mode. Like it's part of a story. Howtoons. http://www.howtoons.com/

The whole concept of the site is exploratory. Go there and you'll see what I mean. You have to move your cursor over an illustration and you get a message. You can check it out or move to another picture. You're immediately engaged and curious. You want to know more. And when you go to check out some of the how-to concepts, they're also illustrated, comic book style.

It works very well for what it is, a way to get kids to explore, learn something and do an activity that could be both educational and fun. Okay, you say, kids stuff. But why do we adults often act as if we think that communications for us should be educational and dull?

I think it's because we too often focus on the message and not enough on how we package the message. What's the best way to say what we want to say? That's where the creativity comes in. And hopefully, the fun.