Isle of Ideas - Thoughts on Things, Stuff & Gedöns » Documentary

Doomed: A Biological Cartoon!

Dirk — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:17:27 +0000

Do yourself a favor and take a look at this quirky animated 10 minute short by Guillermo García Carsí & El Señor Studio. Inspired by the wildlife documentary format made famous by David Attenborough it features animal species whose instincts seem to doom them to an absurd and comic extinction, a somewhat irritated narrator and some of the oddest creature animation ever …

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The Centrifuge Brain Project

Dirk — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 11:51:20 +0000

German filmmaker Till Nowak created this hilarious fun mockumentary featuring the fictional Dr. Nick Laslowicz from the equally fictional Institue for Centrifugal Research (ICR) and a number of terrifying and absurd roller coasters.
In the short film – which has won numerous awards – Dr. Laslowicz talks about his “achievements in the realms of brain manipulation, excessive G-Force and prenatal simulations” and explains, why “gravity is a mistake”. It’s all bogus but it’s delivered with such earnestness (there is even a working Facebook page and website) that one starts to wonder ….

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A Bird Ballet

Dirk — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 17:54:50 +0000

Just because it’s so damn beautiful: Very few of us have the honor of being present when nature decides to be truly poetic (isn’t it always?) Filmmaker Neels Castillon did and he had a camera handy.

We were shooting for a commercial with my D.O.P, waiting for an helicopter flying into the sunset, when thousands and thousands of birds came and made this incredible dance in the sky. It was amazing, we just forgot our job and started this little piece of poetry…

Make sure you watch it HD …

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Ken Burns On Story

Dirk — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:31:53 +0000

In advertising we talk to clients about what story they want to tell with their brand. So what makes a great story? For legendary filmmaker and documentarian Ken Burns – the only person who has an iMovie effect named after his signature style – the answer is both complicated and personal. In this short documentary about the craft of storytelling, he explains “his lifelong mission to wake the dead”. For an even deeper insight you might head over to an interview recently featured on The Atlantic.

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Sunshine People

Dirk — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 10:47:51 +0000

‘Sunshine’ is a pitch perfect short documentary about an American advertising producer in Shanghai who tries to sell fast food to the Chinese. To me these 15 minutes really speak truly and resonate deeply and delicately. If you’re in advertising, watch it; if not, do it anyway:

Thx to Nati for for the nudge. (You were right:)

Projekt Yosemite

Dirk — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:38:42 +0000

For weeks now everybody has to endure really crappy weather where I live. Rainy, dark and kind of frustrating. If I could go away right now here is one very possible destination. Definitely watch it fullscreen.

More info on the project here.

A Robot Sex Movie

Dirk — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:05:16 +0000

Sometimes it just needs a minute and I’m hooked. This time it’s the short documentary “The Meaning Of Robots” featuring “Mike Sullivan, age 65, who has been shooting an epic stop-motion robot sex film in his apartment for the last 10 years. Obsessed with constructing the miniature robot porn stars, his apartment now overflows with thousands of them.” Here is the 1 minute trailer (slightly NSFW):

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The self-portrait project

nati — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:38:50 +0000

How many self-portraits can one take in 12 years? The answer is 4,748. This is the amount of photos Jeff Harris has taken of himself since 1999. What started as the effort to record one year of his life turned out to be a truly life-altering experience. While some photos are auto-time self-portraits many others are taken with the help of other people, not only family and friends but also total strangers or even celebrities such as Billy Idol. Jeff Harris seems to really live every day of his life to the fullest. This, definitely, is not the usual 365-days-project.

Jeff Harris: 4,748 Self-Portraits and Counting from We Know Music on Vimeo.

Click here to visit Jeff Harris’ website and check out his pictures from the last 12 years

Ink and Paper

Dirk — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:03:45 +0000

‘Ink and Paper’ is a beautiful and bittersweet short film by Ben Proudfoot about a letterpress company and a paper store who are the only ones left in the wider Los Angeles area and who are – appropriately – located next door to each other. An inspiring insight into nearly forgotten crafts and people who are passionately keep them alive. If you happen to be in LA go visit them. You find adresses and some links on Ben’s Vimeo page:

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A Wonderful World

Dirk — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 07:54:45 +0000

RKCR/Y&R has created this montage to showcase the extraordinary content the BBC has produced and to implicitly pay homage to David Attenborough’s final appearance on the BBC. The 2 minute spot shows clips of wildlife footage voiced over by Attenborough quoting the lyrics to Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World”. And it is a wonderful world indeed.

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