I’m making this post quite late, largely because of two
reasons. One, on the night that all this
occurred, I got back at around 1:30AM and was honestly not in the right state
of mind to write anything. (Despite the
claims that creativity flourishes while disoriented, I don’t like to test that
outside of finals week.) Secondly, the
Internet was out last night. And so we
find ourselves here, playing catchup.
Tuesday morning began bright and early with a talk in the
Lumiere theatre from acclaimed fashion photographer Mario Testino. Interviewed by Elaine Welteroth, the Editor
in Chief of Teen Vogue, the talk titled Beyond
the Image. Connection. Integrity. Impact., was a lot more of a profile of
the artists himself than a discussion of creativity and learning.
That being said, Mario was very adamant that the most important
thing about creativity and the business is to be true to yourself. While this might sound like a cliché, Mario’s
background as a Peruvian immigrant into the French advertising world provides a
unique insight into what it means to be original. After spending a lot of time trying to
emulate English and French styles in his photography, Mario came to a
realization: “I’m not English, I’m not French.
I’m Peruvian…. If you’re true to yourself, you might be the one that
people want to follow.” He learned a new
style of his own artform by following his guts and knowing how to please his
clients. If anything, he’s a good
businessman.
Speaking of good business, immediately following this talk
was a talk from iHeartMedia featuring Ryan Seacrest and musician Halsey. For reference, I adore Halsey. Perhaps this
makes my impression of this talk a bit biased, but I honestly enjoyed getting
to know more about Halsey’s writing and how she forged her own brand. She focused on the fact that social media turns
every individual into a brand, especially in an age when hiring agencies look
at social media to begin to understand potential employees. Even further, she discussed creativity from
an organic perspective, discussing how brands need to change and respond to
consumers while still keeping on brand.
Further, I tweeted at Ryan Seacrest to do a Dawg chant, and
he replied, so that’s kind of a win.
After this talk, I went straight to the Debussy to catch 7 Things I’ve Learned with Ian Glass,
the creator of several acclaimed podcasts including Serial, The American Life,
and S-Town. Glass was brilliant, discussing the factors
that build a good story, and how audio and visuals can combine to build an even
more compelling product. As a film
major, I was enthralled. I loved his
breakdown of what makes a story: Catalyst, Conflict, and Resolution in order to
answer a question or theme. Often, this
can offer social critique. In the end,
though, the story itself doesn’t matter nearly as much as how you tell it; the
medium can make almost any story compelling.
I remained after this for another talk in the Debussy hosted
by DRUM OMG. Creating Global Cultural Movements brought Hamish Hamilton to the
stage, the director of Done & Dusted, a live entertainment company that has
headed the Super Bowl Halftime Show, the Grammys, and the 2012 Olympics Opening
Ceremony. Hamilton’s largest message was
to embrace the unexpected. Businesses
need to take risks, and he provided several examples of when they paid off, as
well as times when it didn’t. Overall,
however, the risks themselves are what makes stories and advertising touch the
hearts of audiences.
Following this, I took some time to go watch some Russian
advertising and get a head start on both my commercial reviews (which I’m
working on), as well as my international advertising project. There was not nearly enough Russian
advertising to watch, but there seems to be a clear aesthetic of post-modernist
meme culture, and the stereotypical Russian desolation that we all know and
love.
My final talk of the day took place at the Innovation
Lions. Hyper Reality: Risks and Rewards of Surreal Visuals in Advertising,
hosted by Shutterstock, brought filmmaker Keiichi Matsuda to the front to talk
about his latest film, which ponders on the consequences of integrated
technology and
innovation to the detriment of social human life.
God, I hated it.
In all honesty, I hate most dystopias. Simply put, most people do them wrong. One of the only good dystopias that has been written in the 21st century
was The Hunger Games series. Besides that, no good dystopia has been made
since the Cold War. I actually wrote in
my notes that real dystopia needs to focus on the loss of freedom or the threat
to what we consider to be moral values of society. Instead… Hyper-reality was just cynical. Cynicism is, in my opinion, just another form
of lazy writing.
The film itself was well put together, despite the
overarching clichés of technological dystopia that were embedded in its plot
and concept, but it did provide possible views of what could happen. However, I still like to think that
corporations are run by human beings.
To end the night, we went to the awards show, which included
the cyber awards, the category that I’m studying. Of the golds, I think that my favorite was
probably A Love Song Written By a
Murderer from Peru. (Even further, I
think it should have gotten a Glass Lion.)
And finally, the parties.
Tonight, I’d RSVP’d for the Pixels of Fury design competition up on the
Terrace. The party went late, and the
designs were ridiculous. I was
particularly fond of the design that parodied Fearless Girl – with a naked man on a red carpet. Even more, I realized that, even under
stress, design is always fun.
Nearly every talk makes me want to change my major. (Too bad I love film.)
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