Brandcast Media

Cool little slide show with facts about social media- not sure where the facts are from or how they’re supported, but they sound about right! Check them all out HERE.

Wow! That’s a lot of time. Found the article over at Gizmodo, and it goes to show how integral Facebook has become as a form of communication (well, in America at least). The orginal article can be found HERE but an interesting fact to point out is that, according to the article, that equates to about 100,000 years or 36.8 million days. That’s a lot of Facebook. Goes to show the power of Social Media!

Read in interesting short article over at Gizmodo, furthering the continuous debate about mobile phones and their relation to brain tumours. Evidence seems to be in favor of the phones this tim! Check out the full article here:

http://gizmo.do/oubhVg

Because sometimes these events need livening up…

OK so here’s something which comes in the top 10 most creative ideas Ive seen for a while, and it involves balloons:

Generic timelapses have bored us from the television world to the corporate world for far too long now, but I think this one, recently featured in Gizmodo (http://gizmodo.com/) is pretty awe inspiring:

Timelapse – The City Limits from Dominic on Vimeo.

Another ad that we like here at Brandcast. Nicely directed with high production values and a funny pay off… it almost makes me want to do the vacuuming. Almost.

Here’s something you definitely didn’t need to see, but will undoubtedly make you go, “whooo, wow, awesome” or possibly, “who spends time on things like this???”. Either way, its certainly a sure fire way of erasing a disk!

Hats off to the creatives on this one! Great concept and execution from Saatchi & Saatchi.

Sleep deprivation but not getting too grumpy yet….

The results of the Televisual annual top corporate video company survey are in, and Brandcast Media  are proud to have been voted no. 25! We have been placed in the top 50 for past 3 years in a row,  going from strength to strength every year, and this year is our best position to date.

Televisual announced their top 50 in the latest edition of their magazine. To be awarded a place  companies are judged across a number of criteria. Scores are awarded for a company’s size (turnover  as well as permanent staff numbers) and also its reputation among its peers and any awards won at  annual IVCA Awards and New York Festivals International Film & Video Awards.

The energy seen in the top 50 companies is a great positive sign that ‘green shoots’ are beginning to  show in the corporate video production world. No one would say it’s been easy, but with the results of  surveys like this, we can show that even in tough times, we can continue to achieve year on year – the  only way is up!

Well done to everyone who was placed in the top 50. Next year we’re aiming for number 1!

To read more about the awards and look at the full list of companies in the top 50 visit the Televisual website.

Lizzie’s first Brandcast birthday! Sergios on Great Portland Street served up a host of delicious treats for us. Lots of birthday fun!

This is an incredible short stumbled across recently. Bruce Branit’s “World Builder” short film is a impressive piece of storytelling. While it begins initially with a lot of technology, it is an impactful and rewarding human story that is one of the best short films I’ve come across for a few years. Enjoy!

On the weekend of 20th – 22nd May 2011, Charlie Janki Kelly and Emily will travel to Fort William to conquer the UK’s highest mountain, climbing the strenuous 4406 feet (1343 metres) to the peak of Ben Nevis and back down again… all in aid of the Wellington Appeal which raises essential funds for the British Red Cross and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Please sponsor us! Link is here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/Brandcast

When I was younger walkie-talkies were one of my favourite things. Before the days of mobile phones, when you had to use the house phone to call your friends (conveniently situated in the hall, so your parents heard everything) the long range walkie-talkie I had with my friend who lived up the road, was probably the best thing that ever happened to me (before my very first mobile phone – Nokia 5110 with SNAKE!). These were the toys that allowed girls to gossip, and boys to play war games for hours on end. So, wouldn’t the best app ever be one that turned your iPhone into your very own walkie-talkie?! Well, let me introduce you to HeyTell!

HeyTell is a free, cross-platform voice messenger that allows you to instantly talk with whoever you like. No account needed, just start the app, choose a contact, and push the button to start talking, turning your iPhone into the ultimate walkie-talkie! It’s basically like WhatsApp but with voice, and therefore I’m nominating it as the best app ever. The other best thing about it, is that it saves all your messages (even the sent ones) so you can listen to them the next day, or months after and it’s really funny. Really good when you can’t be bothered to text, but don’t really want to chat on the phone. The only bad thing (I think) is its name…not very descriptive! Boys, you can also pretend like you’re Jeremy, James and Richard from top gear on a challenge, with inter-car-communication. Go to the app store and download, you will love it I promise.

Whilst the Segway was a great concept, lugging it onto the tube or up stairs didnt look particulalry easy, and there was perhaps something extra geeky in how you lean against the handles. However, the Solowheel looks less geeky (the jury is out on that one) and is far more practical. Is this the walking of the future?

watch?v=WOOoFEKiK8A&feature=player_embedded

The centre-piece of American Football, NFL, the Superbowl XLV, is considered by many brands as the number one place to get your ad shown. With a monumental guaranteed TV audience both domestic (US) and overseas – this year is estimated the most watched Superbowl of all time with an estimated 162.9 million viewers, many brands pull out all the stops for a place in one of the ad breaks (costing an estimated $3 million for 30 seconds.) With competition amongst brands so high to produce something memorable, Superbowl Sunday usually turns up a few gems. Here’s our pick of 2011…

And Contender for the most over the top…

Ever bought something and realised you could have bought it down the road for £20 less? Im sure most of us have, I certainly know I have, but Google have developed a new app which allows you to quickly check you’re getting the best deal when you’re out and about. Not only that, it even scans barcodes for you, and takes pictures of book covers, how easy is that?! But most importantly, its free. Surely it’s a must have? I know Im impressed…

Rockstar Games does LA Confidential. Murder, lies, extortion, kidnapping, femme fatales, suits, trilby hats and plenty of bourbon.

As a cop, you need to be able to tell when people are lying, so it was vital Rockstar conveyed the actors’ performances and facial expressions accurately. As well as traditional motion capture technology, they used some fancy new 360-degree close-up cameras. Have a look see…

 Team Brandcast are hoping to raise £5,000 in sponsorship for the Wellington Appeal. The money will go support the lifesaving work of JDRF and the British Red Cross by doing the Ben Nevis Challenge in May – the training starts now! If you’d like to help or register, click here for details.

Panasonic have just brought out a new video camera, nicknamed by some the “DSLR killer”. There seems to have recently been a craze for shallow depth of field (that cinematic look) and vibrant, HD images which a DSLR with a large sensor and interchangeable lenses is able to produce. However, they have  a lot of compromises, such as awful sound, shakey images and reduced recording times. The AG-AF101 seems to be the perfect compromise, offering all the pros of a prosumer video camera AND all the pros of a DSLR, without any of the cons. Sure, it might cost £3k more, and it may not be the most aesthetically pleasing camera ever, but goodness me the image quality it produces is nice… here’s a random video of some Japanese stuff to prove it:

What do you do in Texas when you have a few hours to kill and your friend has taken it upon herself to be more strict about your diet than you ever believed possible? Well, as the eating my body weight in burgers and fries was not allowed, we had to find something else that was just as traditionally American as over eating and just as much fun.

‘I want to fire a machine gun.’

Was the confident response when I suggested visiting a shooting range. So, what the lady wants, the lady gets! It’s American as a 10,000 calorie double slice of apple pie with a side of cheese cake and onion rings and it appealed to our James Bond/Angelina Jolie fantasies.

A quick internet search turned up the Bullet Hole shooting range, which gave us a choice of rifles, machine guns and handguns and the sort of policy that allows you to hand over a small amount of cash and a driving licence in return for fully automatic weapons and enough ammunition to take on a small country.

Still, they were very friendly and with a range officer who gives you the confidence boosting feedback that ALL of your shots would have been kills and a positive attitude to allowing us to pose with various Military grade ordinance, it’s good clean fun for all the family and apparently the Walther P22 is ‘ideal for home defence’, which certainly makes me feel safer in the home!

Well it had been nearly a month since we’d been on a plane and there was a big oncology meeting, so we really had to go to Milan. None of us wanted to, but when you are the agency that manages the digital content for a leading cancer journal, there are some burdens that you just have to bear and excellent Italian food and wine aside, this was definitely work. I mean obviously there was a bit of sunshine and we did spot Rutger Hauer in one of the restaurants, but mostly, we filmed high quality interviews and round table discussions with leading European oncologists at the 35^th European Society of Medical Oncologists (ESMO) meeting in the Fiera Milano conference centre… And drank a beer or two with the locals in the bar, by the hotel.

Eastern Europe. Cold, dark, brutal communist architecture, outdated engineering, unfriendly people – mistrusting of the west. Apparently not in Prague. Brandcast’s first trip behind the iron curtain was an absolute delight. Lovely friendly people, stunning old buildings, beautiful autumnal sunshine and the aptly named Skoda Superb always on hand to glide us through the streets. Only the economic oddity of everything being ‘about a tenner’ caused any consternation… How much is the cabbage soup in pounds? About a tenner. How much is a pizza? About a tenner. How much are 2 beers? About a tenner. How much are 3 beers? About a tenner… Are you sure we’ve got the exchange rate right? Probably not. Still, with 15 interviews and podcasts from the International Gynecologic [sic] Cancer Society (IGCS) biennual meeting in the can, we can’t complain and that Irish bar looks lovely. Now.. How much is a pint of guiness?

This is the latest RKCY/Y&R spot for Virgin Atlantic, directed by Traktor. It’s follows on from their previous spot celebrating the airline’s 25th anniversary. With reference to James Bond title sequences I guess it’s looking to put the some the allure back into flying. However, it’s so far removed from the actual reality of flying, coupled with the flat dialogue at the end, dispelling all notion of glamour and making it more reminiscent of a spoof of the dream sequence from The Big Lebowski than a Bond.