Media Archives | Page 6 of 7 | Bristol Creative Industries

Lawless and Inspired have combined to bring together the UK’s best emerging street-artists and their influencer networks, allowing agencies and brands to tap into visual culture. Artists include Jody Thomas who created the 15m high Greta Thunberg wall mura, which highlighted issues of climate change and was featured on the BBC, across national press and went viral on social media.

The Lawless Inspired partnership aims to harness the power of today’s creative pioneers, to deliver physical/digital projects that excite and inspire. Alex Kopfli, Director at Inspired notes ‘by joining forces, we essentially offer agencies and brands a turn key solution, delivering creativity through artistic talent, brought to life by impactful real-life productions merged with digital creativity. The concepts are then distributed to an authentic and sizable audience online through our network.’

Since Lawless launched during the Covid Pandemic, the niche influencer agency has started working with brands to deliver artist-led creative solutions, adding a stamp of cool and credibility to brand campaigns and executions. Lawless Studio has already built up an impressive roster of artists, with the likes of Jody Thomas, Jack Watts, Nerone, Bond Truluv and Shay Casanova, reaching a significantly growing audience of 760k followers as a combined network, quality audiences loyal to each artist they follow, and trend setters in their own right.

Josh Moore of Lawless Studio calls out Inspired’s ‘exceptional track record in delivering first-class brand experiences for the likes of Wavemaker, Mediacom, M&C Saatchi and Fuse’ is the missing piece to the puzzle of delivering stand out creative solutions.

‘We now have the production capacity and logistical know-how to give brands access to creative pioneers and allow them to create amazing content, to give credibility and authenticity to brands through their output, and also reach huge dedicated followings through their social channels.’

#HoodDocumentary writer/Director Tyrell Williams releases timely interactive short comedy “A Little Hungover” at Encounters Film Festival with pioneering Bristol-based interactive filmmaking creation platform Stornaway.io

Stornaway.io are incredibly proud to announce the release of Tyrell Williams’ A Little Hungover, the first independent short film to be created and delivered using our next generation interactive filmmaking platform Stornaway.io.

Directed and shot by Williams under lockdown with cast and crew in 4 remote locations, A Little Hungover is a hilariously awkward and timely interactive comedy in which naive employee Sam (Patrick Elue) takes a video work call with his boss Alex (Elizabeth Hammond) after a big night out.

By choosing how he responds, the audience get to navigate the thin line between being honest and being employed – and then to watch and replay as his boss’s mind games become increasingly toxic and unpredictable.

Should Sam fess up or keep telling lies to his boss? In 2020, the rules for young employees are more uncertain than ever.

Tyrell, famous for his viral Youtube and BBC3 mockumentary series #HoodDocumentary, had a vision of a crossover between film and game. To realise it, he partnered with Bristol based start-up Stornaway.io, whose trail-blazing interactive film-making platform aims to challenge Netflix for the ability to create highly entertaining interactive shows. The film was funded by a small grant from West of England Creative Scale Up.

“I learned about Stornaway.io at a moment when the future of storytelling was so uncertain. They’re pioneering a practical and affordable way to create exciting interactive narrative films, and importantly, they were continuing and evolving the relationship between artists and audiences.” says Tyrell.

Stornaway.io’s revolutionary drag and drop tools allowed Williams to work remotely writing and editing the interactive story collaboratively with Stornaway.io founders Ru Howe and Kate Dimbleby.

“Normally, an interactive production like this would be a hefty software development project requiring developers, large team and budget and some chunky hardware – and you wouldn’t get to test how it plays, until the very end, when it’s too late to change anything,” says Howe, Stornaway.io’s designer and co-founder.

“The really new thing about Stornaway.io is that you can do it all in a web browser without coding, and instantly edit and playtest your story from the idea stage right the way through to delivery. With interactive and immersive storytelling, that is powerful ”

Since their soft launch during lockdown in May, Stornaway.io has been working with high-end TV production companies like Plimsoll Productions (Netflix’s Night on Earth ) and Drummer TV ( Gymstars, The Boy on the Bicycle) developing programme ideas for streaming platforms.

However, one of Stornaway.io’s original aims was to put its technology in the hands of new generations of media-makers.

“We were delighted to be introduced to Tyrell, who had a topical idea that needed to be done in a fast turnaround low-budget independent way, under lockdown.” says Howe

It is fitting that Howe should open up this technology for young filmmakers. Alongside his day job working for broadcasters, Howe was one of the world’s first vloggers, whose online persona ‘Wolfie’ made Tik-Tok type videos (as far back 2003, even before YouTube) lip-synching to songs and movie scenes from his desk. His 2005-10 projects Fatgirlinohio and Twittervlog pioneered what we now recognise as the classic YouTube daily family vlog, playing with increasingly lo-fi mobile and pocket devices and the intimate connection with his audience – becoming the world’s first mobile vlogger to Twitter in 2007, and always working to enable other film and video makers to embrace affordable technology and workflows. Along the way, he created the first ever interactive film on YouTube (Indecision, 2008).

As he points out, “Until now, interactive production has been difficult and expensive. Charlie Brooker said that making Bandersnatch for Netflix was ‘like doing a Rubik’s cube inside your brain’ because there weren’t any tools aimed at professionals, so ‘everyone went a bit bananas.’ Stornaway.io changes all that.

We’re releasing discounted licenses and working with film schools to get this ground-breaking technology into the hands of the next generation while the high end market works through it’s long-lead times and post-Covid slowdown.”

Interactive trends are visible in the mainstream, Stornaway creative director Kate Dimbleby says,

“ Even in linear TV, you see this agency being given to the viewer with things like Fleabag talking to camera or I May Destroy You ’s multiple endings. This is going to be a decade of massive innovation in storytelling and narrative structure and a big blocker to that has been the lack of tools and outlets for creators.”

Having never worked on an interactive story before, Tyrell says :

“The software was easy to navigate and useful for me as a writer to have at hand. It made it easy to understand how the film would unfold in its interactive form. There’s something very immersive about doing this as a writer – an interesting relationship that forms between creatives and audience that shares qualities with immersive theatre.”

Stornaway.io’s simple creative-focused design unlocks the potential of this new form for the 2020s. It makes it really easy for creators to dream up otherwise impossible interactive ideas, to give their audiences agency and craft different paths and perspectives through their stories.

A Little Hungover will be released on September 18th at the Encounters Immersive festival, and will remain available there for a limited release this autumn. Stornaway.io will release their new version with a 30 day free trial and new features.

Stornaway.io’s second independent interactive short, founder Ru Howe’s Life Moves Pretty Fast, filmed in multiple locations across Bristol, will be released at the beginning of October, also at Immersive Encounters. For more information go to www.stornaway.io or contact [email protected]

It’s been a long three months of no sporting action due to Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. But last week saw the football world return to some sort of normality. Both the Premier League and Championship football will finish the season behind closed doors, with fans having to make do with televised streaming of the games from the safety of their own homes.

Despite the fanless matches, the return of football has been much-anticipated by fans everywhere. With strict social distancing measures in place, staff and personnel permitted to attend the live games will be limited. It’s been a quiet few months for our sports photographers, who are usually kept extremely busy capturing all the football action, week-in and week-out. With the sport resuming, they’re as excited as ever to head back. Except for this time, it’s a little different…

Here’s what JMPUK’s Head of Photography, Rogan Thomson, had to say about his return to football in the “new normal”:

“My first week back working in football after the 3 months Covid-19 enforced break has all been a bit surreal. With the Sky Bet Championship season looming our client Bristol City, first of all, required a shoot of fresh stash from new kit provider Hummel, ahead of them going on sale this week in readiness actually for next season.”

“This shoot was to be carried out under strict social distancing measures put in place by the club’s designated Covid-19 response officers. First of all, we could only have access to two players, and only myself and the club’s media representative who was shooting video were able to be on set with them. We had to maintain 3-metre social distancing at all times and the shoot had to be outdoors where the risk of Covid-19 transmission is reduced. The 3m distance from the subject presents challenges with achieving angles I might normally lean towards on a shoot of this type. We shot around the back of a stand at the stadium but with new unseen product were limited on locations by staying out of sight from the flats and houses that overlook that area.”

There was also rigorous protocol regarding the clothing the players would wear, which came in sealed packets and could only be handled by the individual players themselves. Finally, I was required to wear a face covering and gloves and to disinfect my cameras before and after the shoot. All in all, we had happy players and a happy client so not a bad return.”

“Next up was a behind closed doors friendly for Bristol City away at Southampton, and an opportunity to get a taste of the new regulations we will face in the sports photography business at stadiums all around the country. Southampton were following Premier League protocol on the day but it will largely be the same in the Championship as well.”

“Everyone is expected to arrive at the ground in separate cars, and we must leave enter the ground wearing a non-surgical face covering, and keep them on until we later return to the car to leave. We also cannot enter now until 60 minutes before kick-off. To get into the stadium my temperature was taken with a non-contact thermometer, and questions asked about Covid-19 symptoms. Normally I’d head straight to a photographers room but these are no longer operating. On this occasion, there was only me and Southampton’s club photographer but in league games, there will now be greatly reduced capacity.”

“The stadiums are now split into traffic light zones telling everyone where they can and can’t be. Anyone in the red zone must be subject to regular Covid-19 antigen testing. Essentially we can now work in the green and amber zones, which is the stands and in certain pitchside spots at certain grounds, but movement may be limited (eg no changing ends at half time). We are also now expected to leave the stadium ASAP after a game and file images from the car ideally. All this is manageable if frustrating, but the leagues have planned this return meticulously and they are prioritising everyone’s safety which is reassuring.”

“As for the images themselves, we now have lovely empty stands to contend with. For photographers that means ugly backgrounds. Shooting down from the stands cleans up your picture, although it could be argued this is such an unprecedented time those ugly backgrounds maybe tell the reality of Covid-19 football better. It’s a whole new world for us, for now at least…

Mercury and BAFTA-nominated IDLES announced their third studio album ULTRA MONO yesterday, alongside the album’s first single, GROUNDS.

JonesMillbank, a Bristol-based video production company, have been working with the band and record label since March to produce and create content for the album, including the music video for GROUNDS, Spotify canvas content for the band’s new and existing tracks, and further video content yet to be released.

The music video for GROUNDS was directed by in-house Senior Creative Rob French and produced and edited by the rest of the team.

“We’ve all been incredibly excited to work with IDLES, and this project has been particularly difficult to keep quiet about” said Russell Jones, Director at JonesMillbank.

“Music videos are a new direction for us and it was an amazing opportunity to work with a band that have such a strong narrative to their music and videos, a cult fan base, and of course hail from Bristol.”

“It was equally exciting and anxiety-inducing to hear the single be released live on the Steve Lamacq show and see the buzz around the new album, ultimately crashing IDLES’ website.”

Shot entirely on RED Helium 8K, the majority of the music video sees lead singer Joe Talbot driving in Bristol for which the RED was rigged to the front of a Tesla Model 3.

Rob French, director of the music video, says “IDLES have such a unique and distinctive brand we wanted to address the project progressively while acknowledging sensitively what the band represent and where they are in the universe at this moment.”

“We wanted to introduce cinematic elements whilst retaining an honesty and accessibility the band have curated organically over their career. Shot across five sunrises in total it was important to try and capture the colour which would offer such a distinctive opposition to the driving, raw monster of a track that is GROUNDS.”

“The narrative which was interpreted straight from Talbot’s songwriting sat perfectly at this time of day. We needed a two minute, twenty second-ish route for the one-shot drive and it was very intentional to be rooted in a built-up residential area with a particular opening frame, leading to a one way road and finishing at a fork. Needless to say Google Maps and recces were intrinsic to the planning.”

The album is due for release on 25th September 2020 and can be pre-ordered from idlesband.com. The music video and behind-the-scenes stills – to be updated – can be viewed at jonesmillbank.com/work/idles/grounds.

They create award-winning videos, TV commercials, animations and photography, working exclusively in-house with a talented team of multi-disciplined creatives, telling authentic stories long before it was cool.

National domestic abuse charity, Refuge, has partnered with McCann to launch a new short film starring awarding-winning actor Maxine Peake, drawing attention to the shocking rise in violence against women during lockdown.

Peake stars alongside TV, film and stage actor, Lex Shrapnel, in Surfaces, which is available to view on the Refuge website, – refuge.org.uk/surfaces – and through its YouTube channel from today. To drive traffic to the hard-hitting film, a 30-second teaser trailer will run on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, alongside a rich media digital display campaign and Spotify audio campaign.

The 11-minute story written by McCann Bristol’s Group Executive Creative Director, Jon Elsom, and directed by Steve Reeves, features characters Alix and Richard. The married couple in their 40s started a whirlwind romance five years ago, which quickly descended into physical and mental abuse towards Alix. Filmed entirely over a real conference call, lockdown has just started – but Alix isn’t at home and Richard is ‘worried’ about her whereabouts.

After two days of unsuccessfully trying to reach her, Richard finally gets through on a video call. At first, his wife seems cool and distant, saying she’s simply left him. But all is not as it seems. The conversation gradually reveals the horror of Richard’s controlling coercion and abuse throughout their relationship. As the story unfolds, we understand that Alix has lived her marriage to Richard in lockdown – isolated and in fear. Ironically, it is the COVID lockdown and her one hour of exercise that provides her with the opportunity she needs to escape to a refuge. Alix has finally found safety and expert support, and is taking the first steps to rebuilding her life free from violence and abuse.

Surfaces sends a clear message of hope to survivors. Whether they have already fled their perpetrator, or are still living in constant fear, it tells them that there is a life after abuse, and that support is available – and that they are not alone. Refuges are still open and the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is still running twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The film ends with details of how to get in touch with Refuge and access its Helpline.

Since the PM’s request for people to stay at home in March, calls and contacts to Refuge’s National Domestic Abuse Helpline have recently rocketed by 66 per cent, with visits to its website rising ten-fold.

On the launch of Surfaces, Sandra Horley CBE, Chief Executive of Refuge said, “This short film is a stark reminder of what lockdown has been like, and continues to be like, for victims of domestic abuse. As restrictions slowly lift and an end to lockdown is in sight, it’s important to remember women across the country will continue to experience abuse.

“Women watching Surfaces will not only identify with Maxine’s brilliant depiction of an abused woman, but they will also know that they not alone. Refuge is here around the clock, providing specialist, confidential, non-judgmental support. If, like Alix, you are frightened of your partner, reach out and contact us.”

Jon Elsom, Group Executive Creative Director, McCann Bristol, said, “The insidious menace of domestic abuse is especially heart-breaking right now, with so many women and children trapped during lockdown. I hope this film helps spread awareness that even if things seem normal, you can’t always trust the surface of things. Each of us might know someone being abused, and not realise it. But there is a way out. There is help.”

The film is a follow-up to the spectacularly successful Turn To Us campaign created by McCann Bristol for Refuge in 2019. It featured reversible poems that told two opposing stories depending on which way they were read. Top to bottom, they depicted family bliss. But turned on their head, they reflected the reality of families under siege from abusive men. The campaign collected a Cannes Lion, D&AD Pencil, One Show Pencil and nine Creative Circle awards.

Bristol City Council have commissioned City of Hope, a poem and accompanying film to reflect on Bristol’s time during the first few weeks of COVID-19.

Promoting empathy, positivity, reassurance and above all hope – both for the city and our future – the piece acts as a reminder of the rich and varied communities and cultures that make Bristol so special.

The poem was written and performed by Vanessa Kisuule, Bristol City Poet, with the film produced, directed and filmed by JonesMillbank, a Bristol-based independent video production company.

“It’s a challenge bringing any poem to life and aligning with the writer’s vision and intentions, not least when dealing with a difficult topic and all the production considerations during lockdown” said Russell Jones, Director at JonesMillbank.

“We’re used to working to tight deadlines too, but with a topic so of-the-moment time really was of the essence. In-all we went from commission to final delivery in little over 2 weeks with signoff from multiple stakeholders and council partners, including the Mayor. Fortunately the weather was largely on our side!”

City of Hope is the second film within Bristol City Council’s We Are Bristol series.

“Covering our home city during a state of lockdown was a strange but inspiring experience” added Adam Millbank, Director at JonesMillbank and Co-Director of the film.

“From our initial conversations with the poet, to discovering the incredible efforts being made by people across the city, it’s been an uplifting and eye opening project.”

“It’s not an understatement to say that we witnessed a city pulling together to help everyone in some way.”

With this piece of art Bristol City Council aim to create an open dialogue, show the wonderful times that will come again, and above all remind that #WeAreBristol.

Aspect is launching a series of webinars, in the coming weeks, taster exercises from our Cinegy video planning methodology to collaborate and share with fellow brand marketers ideas and strategies to address brand role and communications in this changing landscape of Covid19

In the first webinar we’ll look at how the changing landscape affects the role of brands and explore the pitfalls and opportunities when creating video content during lockdown.

Join our free webinar and gain a perspective from brands like Brita, James Villa & dBs Music, as well as a small panel of Aspect video experts, as we consider examples of recent branded content and ask the questions:

· What factors determine the success of some pieces of video content and the failure of others right now?

In 30-40 minutes, get inspired by the best of what other brands are achieving and take away a practical checklist of ideas and opportunities to get rolling with.

Speakers: In each seminar there will be a small panel of contributors including:

Clickbait title aside, JonesMillbank, a Bristol-based video production company, are currently producing a timelapse of a sandwich going moudly over the course of 3-4 weeks.

This timelapse – to be run in reverse – is being created as a promotional asset for an online course on food waste to be run by EIT Food later in the year titled ‘From Waste to Value’.

With EU consumers being the target audience, the themes throughout the course are relatable, with a particular focus on the mass production and resulting waste of one of the world’s food staples: bread.

“As well as videos, animations and video diaries throughout the course, we wanted to bring the title of the course to life, so to speak. Plus we and the academics alike were genuinely interested to see what would happen to a sandwich if left for 3 weeks!” said Russell Jones, a Director at JonesMillbank.

“The resulting reverse timelapse video accompanied by voiceover will give us a bold image to use as a trailer to promote the course.”

“Given the current situation, we wanted everyone to be able to follow the sandwich’s journey, and so the photo timelapse is available to view live along with facts and stats about bread.”

“It’s a bit tongue in cheek – is this what lockdown has brought us to? – whilst actually being genuinely interesting, in a sort of morbid curiosity way.”

You can follow the life of the sandwich at https://sandwich.jonesmillbank.com which refreshes automatically with a new photo every 6 minutes.

You can also learn more about EIT Food, register for updates and find out when the course launches later in the year at foodunfolded.com.

They create award-winning videos, TV commercials, animations and photography, working exclusively in-house with a talented team of multidisciplined creatives, telling authentic stories long before it was cool.

The University of Bristol has commissioned JonesMillbank to develop and produce its 2021 undergraduate campaign content including its flagship brand film.

JonesMillbank have been working with the University since 2017 for a range of departments, faculties and spin-out companies, but this represents the first brand-level commission.

Working alongside the University’s own teams and other agencies, content will attract both a domestic and international undergraduate audience, as well as acting as the University’s flagship brand film for other markets including postgraduate, research and recruitment.

Russell Jones, Director at JonesMillbank, said: “We’re thrilled to be given the opportunity to work with the University on this brand-level content. We know this highly regarded institition and their students well, and we’re equally passionate about the City of Bristol and the benefits each bring to the other.”

“Targeting this young audience is incredibly challenging, with ever-evolving consumption habits, high expectations and a conscientious view of the world, and we’re incredibly excited to help the University reach out and tell their story.”

The project has begun production with initial content being published from early 2020.

JonesMillbank are passionate about creating engaging and effective video content.

They work with a wide range of clients on a vast array of projects including The Royal Mint, Battersea, the NHS, Nestle and University of Winchester alongside over 30 other education institutions.