D&AD Next Director Award

There's a very exciting new awards show on the scene. Earlier in the year D&AD launched the Next Director Awards at Google HQ in London. Joining forces with MOFILM and YouTube, the awards aim to discover and showcase the next generation of talented directors from around the world. 

ARE YOU NEXT? 

It's open to all aspiring directors of any age, providing they have less than two years industry experience as a director, and any work can be entered from short films to music videos as long as they are 5 minutes or under. 

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE

All shortlisted directors will have their work showcased worldwide by MOFILM. The Winner receives a D&AD Next Director Pencil, a mentoring scheme, a production grand from MOFILM, appearing in D&AD Annual 2015 and tickets and flights to the D&AD Awards Ceremony in May 2015. 

The first shortlist was announced yesterday after much deliberation and fierce competition. Laura Gregory who is the foreman of the jury comments, "Themes of loss, love, perversion, depression, addiction and nutty humour prevailed. The shortlist is a balance of every of every element and the best was almost a unanimous choice. The overall quality was excellent."

We're super happy to say that one of Great Guns' new signings Joseph Oxford has been shortlisted in the first round for his touching short film Me + Her - which you can watch HERE

You can watch all the shortlisted films BY CLICKING HERE

Tempted....? Well we have good news! There are 2 more deadlines over the next 6 months, so you still have 2 more chances to enter. Submit a film you've already made, take a leap and get out there and shoot that film you've always wanted to shoot... and then ENTER IT. 

Here are the dates you need: 

15 October 2014 - Round Two Deadline 11 November 2014 - Round Two Judging 28 February 2015 - Round Three Deadline 20 April 2015 - Round Three Judging 21 April 2015 - Annual Judging 15 May 2015 - Annual Ceremony

Good Luck! 

The Gunners x 

#NextDirectorAward

lots of food and a bit of culture

We're writing this after our fantastic first Directors Lunch of 2014. We had a brilliant time at The York & Albany but more on that later... 

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We'll pick up from where we left off in the last blog post. We were talking about Klaus Thymann teaming up with BBH London to shoot a short film on Brazil's street kids. 

Well the film went live last week and has already racked up over 4000 youtube views.

The film is part of the joint initiative with BBH and The International Exchange (TIE) 'A leadership development programme that combines the expertise of corporate communications and the needs of NGO's to create positive sustainable change'. In this case it was for Ruas E Praças. 

If you're interested in helping out you can visit their website and get involved. 

You can read the official press release HERE

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Andy Morahan spent last Sunday filming Benjamin Britten's 'Peter Grimes' live from the London Coliseum to over 200 cinema screens nation wide. 

Lucky audience members got the chance to see the whole production from different cinemas across the UK. 

Have a read of the review on the ENO website

Did you see it? if YES let us know what you thought on twitter or in a comment on this post.  

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We finished off the week with a lovely get-together at the York & Albany at the top of Parkway in Camden. 

We like to get a group of our directors together with producers and creatives from advertising agencies for good food and great company a few times a year, and this thursday was our first one of 2014. 

Hendricks & cucumber 

Andy Morahan & Michelle from Leo Burnett's 

There was lots of great food and plenty of 'try this!' and 'shall we share?' going on 

chilli salami and olive pizza 

herb crusted cornish cod with leeks and a shellfish bisque 

The York & Albany burger 

Classic Caesar salad 

We spent the afternoon catching up with old friends, meeting new ones and laughing. a lot. 

the team photo. 

Thanks to all who came - we're looking forward to the next one!

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Up and coming things to look out for from the Gunners is a new spot for The Fabelists that Olivier Venturini shot a few weeks ago. It's currently in post-production so watch this space for updates on that very soon! 

Just to tick you over until its release, here's a behind the scenes picture from the shoot. 

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We realise this post has been very food-indulgent so we might as well stick to the foodie theme. We've got a brilliant pub to recommend for one of the best roasts going. 

It's actually apparently not raining in London all weekend - which at the moment is a bit of a miracle. 

Get yourself out of bed and cure that foggy Sunday head with lunch at The Princess of Shoreditch. 

photo credit

nestled on the corner of Paul Street just off from Hoxton Square and a stones throw from the City and Old Street, the pub boasts both a lively downstairs bar and a more relaxed upstairs eatery. Despite being over 200 years old it manages to escape that old man pub feel, while keeping it cosy. 

Gloriously simple british pub food at its best. 

Try booking a table downstairs as there's a bit more atmosphere, and definitely make a reservation and it gets busy. 

You can find all the info you need HERE.

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We've gone a bit old school in the London office today and have had Billy Joel blasting out all day so our weekend tune has to be Everybody Loves You Now

Happy weekend folks! 

The Gunners x 

A Gunners Weekly Roundup 2

We seem to be getting busier and busier - which is incredibly exciting for the Gunners team. We figured the best way to keep our readers up to date was to start a weekly roundup (more a fortnightly roundup but weekly has a nicer ring to it!) 

A few weeks ago we ended our week on a high by taking a group of creatives to dinner at the Hospital Club. This wasn't any old dinner, it was the launch of super-star La Maison Bouffe chef Maria Elia's new cook book 'Smashing Plates'. 

we started with scallops, soutzouki and watermelon and beetroot, apples and feta curd salad

followed by marinated lamb with feta curd, peas and artichokes and topped off with an amazing dessert of chocolate soil and goat milk & green coffee panna cotta. divine.  

Maria went on to appear on Sunday Brunch that weekend and cooked up a storm for a bunch of celebrity guests. One of the guests at our dinner loved the food so much she took home a copy of the book and whipped up the sesame buns the following day! 

While all this was going on Laura, Sheridan and one of our young directors Karel Van Bellingen were in Las Vegas for the LIA awards. They spent a week there immersed in talks, judging and meetings. 

Above: Laura and Sheridan speaking at the LIA's. You can read more about the whole event and the speakers here

Karel had a slightly different LIA experience going as one of the young creatives. LBB caught up with him post Vegas and he spilt the beans on his creative heavy week in the desert. Read all about it here.

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Back in the UK we found out that Ilya Naishuller has been shortlisted for a UK Music Video Award for best International Alternative Music Video for Bad Motherfucker. The awards are next week so watch this space! 

The good news didn't stop there... Sauna International / Great Guns director Mikko took home 3 awards at this years Golden Drum Festival for his spot 'Monsters' for Fragile Childhood - the special prize - virtuoso for Cinematography, a Grand Prix in PR and a Gold for the film. You can watch the amazing case study here.

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We also did a few interviews. The first was director Ram Madhvani speaking to Little Black Book on his new film for Greenlam. 

A fun, charming spot with Bollywood flair, Ram talks to LBB about the whole process. Here's a short blurb from the interview:

LBB> The idea seems to really chime with what's going on in India at the moment - do you see the ad as a political statement?

RM> It’s more of a social statement. If you give people beautiful things they will have better thoughts and therefore they will become better people. Better design leads to a better world. 

Yes, it does resonate with what is happening in our country. The election is around the corner. Though the film is a satire, it is pitched innocently. It's not cynical. It's meant to be charming. 

You can watch the spot and read the rest of the interview here

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The second interview was with 'King of Pilots' David Nutter who spoke to the Directors Guild of America on his amazing career so far.

Packed full of his feats, his advice and how he likes to work, this interview packs a punch and you can read the whole thing here.

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In other news, our director Klaus Thymann has been working with his not-for-profit organisation Project Pressure and has travelled to the Pallin Glacier Tunnel to document the effects of climate change. You can watch the feature on the Guardian website here.

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Turn is continuing its festival round and has just been accepted into the Toronto International Short Film Festival which is Bafta and Oscar recognised as well as the Big Apple Film Festival in New York. You can keep up to date with all the Turn news via Facebook www.facebook.com/turnshortfilm 

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And finally we end this Gunners Weekly Roundup with a screening and cocktail evening for Director Calum Macdiarmid. 

We launched our new website www.greatgunsshorts.com and our hashtag #greatgunsshorts this week by screening Calum's short films Liquid Spirit and The Farm at China Whites prohibition theme lounge Mankind&Reason. 

The evening was enjoyed by creatives and media over Gunners Fizz, Liquid Spirit bottled cocktails and Great Guns branded Truffle Popcorn. 

As always you can keep up to date on daily happenings via our twitter feed @greatgunstv or by facebook www.facebook.com/wearegreatguns 

Check back in a few weeks to catch up on all our latest news! 

A Gunners Weekly Roundup

It's been another busy week at Great Guns - we've been shooting around the UK, prepping for the LIA awards, jetting off to Dusseldorf, doing interviews, screening our short film at Raindance and launching book trailers. 

At the end of last week GG Director Calum Macdiarmid traveled to Dusseldorf for the BBDO Directors Lounge where he showcased his new short Liquid Spirit as well as his new trailer for 'The Farm' the new novel from Tom Rob Smith. 

Calum and Julia at BBDO 

Calum, Kelly and Robert at BBDO 

You can read all about the BBDO Directors Lounge on here on LBB and check out the all the other work that was showcased that evening. 

Calum got back from Dusseldorf and went straight in to making preparations for the launch of 'The Farm' on Vimeo, Facebook and Twitter while also doing a brilliant interview for Shots.  

Here's a short excerpt from Shots:

S: The film is very stylised and visually powerful but doesn't give much away in terms of story; was that a purposeful approach?

C: Yes, very much so, Tom was keen not to give too much away and spoil the book. It’s a detective novel as much as a thriller and from a technical point of view anything too overt could easily have spoiled it.

It was a game of teasing the audience unlike with Hollywood trailers where they tell you the whole story up front. This was perfect for me as I sometimes use a more expressionist style to communicate a sense of emotion and tension. In this way I was able to be more sensitive to the emotion in the writing.

Read the rest of the interview here: Young Macdiarmid had a Farm

You can watch the trailer here: The Farm

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We've started the festival trail with Turn and it kicked off with a screening at LA Short Film Festival at the start of September. This time we were in London at Raindance where Turn took to the screen for a second time...

Turn director Stuart Gillies 

You can follow all things Turn related through our Facebook page: TURN FACEBOOK and you can also watch the trailer here: Turn Trailer

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In other news Guns Director Ron Scalpello wrapped on his 2nd feature Pressure last week and has gone in to post production at Great Guns HQ in London. Screen Daily did a great post on his new film, read it here: Pressure 

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Laura Gregory & Sheridan Thomas are off to Vegas for the LIA awards. Gregory is on the judging panel and both her and Thomas will be speaking alongside some other great creatives. Read about what's coming up at the LIA's this week here: LIA 2013

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To round off a great week, Great Guns and Bang have been shortlisted for 4 Shots awards in the Interactive (Subaru), Branded Content (Neft), Mobile (Nike) and Music (Bridgestone, Bang) categories. Have a look at the complete list here: Shots Awards 2013

Check back next week for brand new Gunners news! 

what's your hervé?

Great Guns director Calum Macdiarmid has just shot this spot for Hervé Léger and online designer outlet net-a-porter. 

dark and sexy, the spot beautifully captures the new line of Hervé Léger dresses available on www.theoutnet.com
(discounted designer womenswear from the team behind net-a-porter). 

Calum's unique edgy style and photography extends to this sultry film whilst still capturing a sensuous tone, he comments: 'for net-a-porter I reunited with Nick Bennet, the DOP I worked with on Worship, to concentrate on an aesthetic beauty film. Thanks to an open minded client we had lots of time to play with lighting ideas to create some fantastic effects.'

 watch the film and explore the clothing line here 

for more of Calum's work watch his reel here

keep up to date with all things Great Guns by following us on twitter @greatgunstv

 

cool yourself down with this icebreaker

Tom Ward and Coca Cola team up for White Valentines

China is not only the world’s most populated country, but its also a tough place to find a suitable partner, so tough that they’ve created ‘Marriage Markets’ where parents gather to try and find a match for their children.  

White Valentines comes exactly a month after Valentines Day. It’s a day where roles are reversed and women can approach men to make the first move. So last White Valentine’s Day, Leo Burnett came up with the concept of Coca Cola being the ultimate ‘Ice Breaker’, creating a moment that people can share together.

The idea: plant a vending machine full of ice cold Coca Cola’s with tightened caps in the most romantic park in central Shanghai. The outcome: girls buying the bottles of Coke would need to enlist the help of a male passerby to open the bottle.

This accidental approach is quietly crafted by Coke and creates a meet cute for couples that may never have met otherwise – the ultimate aim being one of love.

Watch the spot directed by Tom Ward for Great Guns here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuCdbn9u3v8

Agency: Leo Burnett Shanghai/Hong Kong

Executive Creative Director: Julian Hernandez

Creatives: Joaquin Lynch, Federico Munichor

Agency Producer: Grace Fong

Director/DOP/Editor: Tom Ward

Exec Producer/Producer: Janene Fitzgerald & Nick Dodet

Post: Digital District Shanghai