Unique insights and actionable ideas from The Darnell Works Agency’s daily quest for greatness.
Several very prestigious design awards programs are currently open for entries – I thought you would appreciate the heads-up and some brief details, which I am presenting in order of the currently published submission deadlines. Best of luck, friends!
Read moreDesign Competitions from Fast Company, Core77, Creativepool, and Communication Arts
While I have never had the pleasure of working directly with award-winning writer, producer, director, author, and creative executive James Sweigert – nor have we ever met in person – we have become well-acquainted over the past 15 years or so. The paths we’ve forged individually have never quite overlapped, and yet, through an incredibly vast shared network, our virtual connections have generated sparks.
Read moreJames Sweigert and Friends, Thanks for the Inspiring N-Men Documentary
Chicago-based one-stop cross-media production company Sarofsky is opening its doors and inviting the world-at-large to take part in a series of educational opportunities. The ongoing workshop series is entitled Sarofsky Labs.
Company principal, creative director and director Erin Sarofsky, explains her reasons for lighting this fuse: “After speaking at global creative conferences including FITC, F5, DesignThinkers, the AIGA National Design Conference and OFFF, I realized that engaging in the community is just as important to the field as doing the work. What better way to do that than by opening up our studio and inviting talented people in for a workshop? It’s intimate, personal, and offers invaluable working experience inside our world.”
Last October, Netflix released a feature documentary directed by Jonah Hill. It instantly leapt to my attention through the platform’s recommendation engine, but its buzz reached me from all directions. Still, it took my wife bringing it up in January for us to make the time and screen it together. For the record, it has changed my life.
Even in the trailer, Hill acknowledges the oddness of “a patient making a documentary about his therapist” (his words). Beyond that, I find Hill to be a fascinating and multi-talented person, and Dr. Stutz to be a bona fide gem. Even more specifically, with his process and his tools, the good doctor has helped the filmmaker immeasurably. To bring those tools to the attentions of others and facilitate understanding, Hill presents them methodically, then uses his own experiences to bring the lessons home in some surprising and authentic ways.
Read moreJonah Hill, thanks for the life-changing “Stutz” documentary
Courtesy of Motionographer: With Between the Keyframes, industry legends Austin Shaw and Erin Sarofsky take on hot topics in an effortless back and forth as they candidly discuss the crazy world of Motion Design, from their biggest mistakes to their ample frustrations to the unique insights that will tee up the next generation.
If you made it through that gauntlet and had your concept run on the game last night, congrats.
I freely admit to being a pretty big fan of Malcolm Gladwell. Still, like many people, his recent comments on The Diary Of A CEO podcast left me wondering exactly why he was trashing the idea of working from home. In the episode’s headline, he blames this phenomenon for “destroying” us. Within the in-depth conversation with host Steven Bartlett, the New York Times best-selling author overtly doubts our abilities to contribute to society, to fashion meaningful lives, and to engage professionally, from outside corporate offices.
That is the scene writer-director Josh Swade and his collaborators plunge us straight into, turning deep admiration and their all-seeing camera toward the world famous Ricky Powell, who lived that feverish dream until leaving us a year ago today at the age of 59. On film,
Read moreJosh Swade and Friends, Thanks for the Inspiring Ricky Powell Documentary
For American high school students of the mid-80s, “cable” and MTV radically impacted our perceptions of the world – and of the realm of possibilities. Driven, determined, ambitious, and male, my own dreams of success (focused in aerospace – and/or show business) took high-contrast form under the spells of John Hughes, Randal Kleiser, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg. “Risky Business” was another phenomenon of time-space that refracted my aspirations. When the bold “Real Genius” and the ridiculous and ballsy “Top Secret!” appeared on HBO, I was star-struck. Next came “Top Gun,” and the alchemy of Cruise, Kilmer and their like cinematically orchestrated by master storytellers subconsciously seized control of my outlook.
Thus inspired, I brought my A-game to the film and television industry. Along the way, through digitalization, cameras became more accessible. Despite not being in position to direct my own “National Lampoon,” I could shoot stuff for fun, experiment, and document my life.
It winds up, while he was living the life millions dreamt about, heartthrob and “Einstein of the 80s” (according to the “Real Genius” poster) Val Kilmer was also shooting stuff for fun, and documenting his life.
Read moreTing Poo and Leo Scott, Thanks for the Val Kilmer Documentary