Sunderland Uni Employability Day

Last Monday saw me travel back to my hometown to attend an employability day at the University of Sunderland.

The day started at 10am where myself and 6 other ex Sunderland Uni students took to the stage in front of a room of full of 2nd and 3rd year students all biting at the bit to get into the creative industries. My fellow speakers were all in different areas of creativity from illustration, to 3D design, advertising and digital design. For me, being one of the oldest graduates, it was great to hear from a couple of the panel who’d only been out of uni a year or so and had started to find their feet. Some of the panel had decided to stay in the northeast, some of us were in London and others freelanced from home – a fantastic and eclectic mix of creatives, perfect for the mix of eager students who had joined us.

After some informal introductions from the panel, Shirley Wheeler of the university asked a few questions about life in industry. The information which, I suppose we take for granted is priceless to students about to embark on an adventure into the unknown. There was discussion about freelance, where to live, how to get in and to be honest the general feeling was that it really depends on your chosen career and what suits you. Freelance for advertising students isn’t necessarily the right way to go at first but it might be more suited for an illustration student.

One thing that we all agreed on, one of the most important things in any creative industry, the one thing that we all need to do is NETWORK! Yes you need a great portfolio but it’s no use if you don’t actively seek the people who are going to give you a job. My advice for anyone wanting to get in and not really knowing where to start would be: Decide what work really floats your creative canoe and find out who did it. Find out the company and find out the actual person or team responsible for it and get in touch with them. This is pretty easy with things like LinkedIn and Facebook BUT try a nicely worded email first. ‘How do I get their email you might ask?’ Have a go at ringing up the company and usually they’ll give it to you. When sending your email be polite and concise, say how much you like their work and ask if you can pop in and see them. You may get ripped to pieces on your first ‘crit’ but at least you know someone and you’ve heard what they have to say. Take the criticism on the chin, take what you like from it and leave the rest. These people aren’t God and you should have your own opinions. Then do these meetings again, and again and again and again. One day you’ll meet a person who’ll like you’re work and will be willing to give you a chance. Then the real work starts!

So back to the Uni visit. After lunch I met with the level 2 & 3 students on the advertising course and had a look at their work. Ian Fletcher from Leith gave the guys one on one crits and I took the rest of the students and did a little show and tell session and going through their books as group. A few of the guys I’d met before in London so it was great to see how much they’d grown in confidence and how their thinking had matured.

It’s vital for any student to get as much exposure to industry and as possible. Thinking about a job can’t just happen when they’re due to leave. he employability day at Sunderland was a great way to expose the students to this and I was happy to share it with eager students who I’m sure will find jobs in their chosen fields. Let’s do more of these please!!

Sir John Hegarty talks at ICA

This was quite a cool talk to Jazz up the beginning of the week.

Sir John Hegarty, best known as the Worldwide Creative Director and founder of BBH was at the ICA ready to face some questions about his life, his work and his recently published book: Hegarty on Advertising; Turning Intelligence into Magic.

As an Art Director by trade, Hegarty started out wanting to become the next Picasso, when his tutors noticed his knack for producing ideas. He was introduced to the VW campaign from DDB New York and realised that advertising could be witty, intelligent and inclusive.

Hegarty deemed himself part of the 'lucky' generation alongside David Abbott, John Webster and Charles Saatchi, who he ended up working with at his first agency, Benson & Bowls. He took this over a job at Y&R who were paying more money. Lesson 1: "Don't chase the money, chase the opportunity."

Back then creativity was seen as a service not something in it's own right, 10 years they had to fight to get clients to see that creativity was the magical ingredient to create a point of difference and engage people

Now. Hegarty said, is the best time to get into advertising. There's no waiting to get a chance to do your first TV ad just stick it on YouTube. Lesson 2: "Technology is a tool for creativity."

He went on to say advertising is one of the most difficult jobs there is. All of us have to come in every day and have a new idea. Hegarty used Mick Jagger as an example and stated that he (Jagger) can sing Jumping Jack Flash (written in 1968), all over the world and get a massive applause every time the track ends. In advertising yesterdays idea is precisely that, yesterdays.


So how do we stay fresh?

We need a philosophy to stick by and to stay committed to. Hegarty's derived from art and how it revered and began to question itself. Irreverence is Hegarty's philosophy. And how artists disrupt and continue to disrupt their predecessors. Lesson 3: "Write from your own philosophy and beliefs."

The 'truth' is also one of the most powerful strategies you can employ, do it with wit, intelligence and sometimes even humour and you'll engage your audience.

Hegarty stated that he's never read the Harry Potter books and being an Art Director he was surprised he'd written a book himself! He went to a talk with JK Rowling, and when asked which child she had in mind when writing, she said "no one, I wrote it for myself." Even though you may think you're writing for a client or 45 year old yummy mummy, produce work that's yours and work that you're proud of. Lesson 4: "Creativity is an expression of one's self."

"I work in advertising, I don't live in it." stated Hegarty. We need to reference things outside of our own little bubble, to not be consumed by it all. When asked about his favourite brand, The Church, he said. "The Church is the greatest brand I know." It's in the centre of town, it has 10 commandments (and we all know how many brands have ripped that off!), it's gone global, they have worked with the best artist going; Michelangelo and the musician Bach, to name but a few. And their logo, forget the swoosh, people have been making this shape for centuries!

So with that in mind, what's Heagrty looking for in the next generation? With a flood of technology pouring over us, he's still determined to find inquisitive minds with a point of view and who can take an idea and put it down in such a way that makes you want to look at it again and again and again. Fundamentally we are story tellers and we should spend our time crafting rather than executing. Lesson 5: "80% idea, 20% execution."

It's a struggle to find great creative people, look around and what you see is 90% shit. Movies are 90% shit, paintings are 90% shit and advertising, well about 95% of that is shit. That's because people are relieved when they get to good and think then can stop. Only a few people will have the courage to rip it up and start again, in the possibility of creating something great. Lesson 6: "Good is the enemy of great."

You. You have the power to change the fortune of the company you are in, you have the power to change the way the world works if you want to.

And so to that, some amazing words from the great John Heagrty who wears suits that don't look like suits and wears jazzy socks because he's mates with Paul Smith. The last and final lesson, Lesson 7: "Never be ordinary."

Kap Bambino

The new promo for the track Obsess by Kap Bambino features actors expressing a range of emotions. Shot by Carl Burgess

Kap Bambino - Obsess from More Soon on Vimeo.

The Sweetest Kill

An awesome track paired with a pretty gory video. Claire Edmundson's video for Sweetest Kill by Broken Social Scene from the band's 2010 album Forgiveness Rock album shows a girl who kills her boyfriend in a pretty violent way.
The video was in part funded by Canadian music television stations MuchMusic and MuchMore, though both stations ended up banning it.

Best of Bug 2011

BUG sees Adam Buxton (of Adam and Joe fame) piecing together some of the most creative music videos along with their real life hilarious youtube comments.
If you haven’t been to one you should.

Last night saw us down at the Southbank centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hall to see Adam tackle the best selection of videos this year.

Here's my best bits from the night:


Manchester Orchestra: Simple Math directed by Daniels
The Daniels so called because both co-directors are named Daniel. Tell a dreamlike story of a car crash for this title track from Manchester Orchestra's new album.




THE CHASE - I Like U directed by David Freymond
A low budget video with lots of charm. Painted heads and hands make up patterns and figures in a black landscape. It must have taken these guys ages to do this.




Hooray For Earth – True Loves by Cyriak Harris
After Effects motion graphics meets MC Escher in this epic animated vid




Going to the store directed by David Lewendowski
This is a short was made for the final episode of "Everything," an anthology series at Channel101. It shows a figure who seems to have had all of his upright joints removed as he wonders to the shops to the music of Jean Jacques Perrey's "Little Ships"

Another E4 Esting

So my mate Jason and I have been out and about shooting another E4 Esting and in this one we basically find Jason aka super E4 Man fending off purple water balloons. With his super powers he manages to turn them into the E4 logo.

Here's a sneak preview of our first days shoot

And now fully edited and in all it's glory is the final thing. Give us a YEY here and check out the other entries.

Hat Party Hat

It's my birthday on Sunday and one of my mates is putting on a pretty special party. It is the third party of it's kind and everyone has to wear at hat. It's aptly named HAT PARTY - The Third and shall be happening in a warehouse in Shoreditch this Saturday 18th June.

I had a litte bit of tinfoil left after the E-Stings ident and so I decided to cover my hat with yet more tinfoil and add Christmas lights with battery pack for added effect.

See whatcha think...

HAT IN ACTION!!