June 22, 2017 – Cannes Lions Day 6: #DayAfterHumpDay #WhyAmISoTired

The Internet is working, I am writing my blog, and I am exhausted.  Which makes no sense, because last night was my early night.  The Internet was down, and I had no choice but to read and sleep.  So I did that: I read and slept.

Why am I tired?  Body, brain, will you just get your shit together?

That being said, today was a good day, even if it started an hour late than I’d meant it to.

We started off the day with a coffee at the PRWeek cabana, and then a talk with Facebook Blueprint.  Which, by the way, is a brilliant platform, and I plan on getting my certification in July while I’m on break in between semesters.  I learned so much from this session, and now I’m actually curious to apply these techniques to film itself.  An entire feature-length film that can be played in vertical format on a smartphone?  I’m excited to see what I could do.  The obvious answer is to make a horror movie, because the limited shape would heighten viewer frustration and anxiety.  At the same time, would you be able to raise as much tension?

Even from a business perspective, the Facebook talk was enlightening in so many ways.  Facebook manages to provide as much convenience as possible for advertisers, and I just wonder what I could possibly do as a college student to start utilizing the platform.

After this talk, I went to the Inspiration Stage to attend a talk from Alibaba.  What Happens When Hollywood Meets Silicon Valley? was… disappointing.  Similar to the Mario Testino talk from a few days ago, it was more of a recounting of experience than an actual lesson or discussion.  Even further, the talk itself didn’t have a clear message.  It felt more like David Hill was patting himself on the 

back for a good job; to be fair, it was an amazing job that he did with the 11.11 shopping festival.

The best session of the day, though, was the Future Five: Female Directors to Watch.  This also wasn’t really a lesson, but it was a showcase of female directors and short films that had premiered at the VOWSS film festival just yesterday in Cannes.  The films were riveting, and showcased the talent of a new generation of directors.  My favorite was a short animated entitled Tough, directed by Jennifer Zhang, about Chinese culture and the immigrant narrative.

I managed to get in contact with the directors of the festival, and while I’m not a female filmmaker, I now have the resources to help a lot of my friends that are in the EMST program.  Even further, I can still be involved with the festivals in the future, if I want to.  And to be honest, I’m very tempted.

There was another amazing session today, and that was with Mattel.  Back to the Future of Branded Content: The Story of Mattel (Re-Imagining Content) depicted the amazing business decisions that Mattel made with their Barbie brand.  And even further, the changes worked towards a greater good for children all across America, if not the world.  What this walk was evidence of was the power of content to drive a business forward, as well as the great versatility that a brand can have in terms of mediums of content.  Books, movies, streaming, and toys all make up the Barbie brand, and each contributes greatly to the overall reputation of the company.  Not to mention, I just love Barbie.

Directly following this talk was another presentation in the Inspiration Stage: What Makes a Great Entertainer?  What followed was a kind of convoluted presentation on the culture of K-Pop, but with heavy emphasis on the value of visual elements in entertainment and music.  Ironically, visuals are almost more important than the music itself: music videos promote styles and cultures, and live performances drive heavy revenue.  Even further, the fan to fan interaction creates its own culture in fandom that drives the reputation of a brand.

Unfortunately, K-Pop isn’t unique in this aspect, no matter how much the presenter really wished that it was.  K-Pop is just like any other form of popular music culture.  The main benefit of this talk was breaking that pattern down to something that could be understood as a formula for success.

My last formal talk of the day was at the Entertainment in Focus stage, where Leo Burnett & Sky presented Content Lessons Through the World of Entertainment.  I… Um…

I’m really not sure what this presentation was supposed to be about.  I’m actively looking down at my notes from it right now, and maybe I’m just really tired, but all that I got from it is that “individual ideas work hard to make money and succeed”.

Um.

Anyways, I dropped by the YouTube beach to pick up the Pride Festival schedule and a free “Tree” shirt, got some Dutch fries, and made my way to the Night School.

Which was pretty freakin’ awesome.  I got to dress up as a pizza.  I got to draw a representation of a gay Georgian wedding on a nude beach?  And… wearing Lady Gaga’s meat dress to a dog park.  And………

I got a free T-shirt there too.

Basically, I got free stuff.  It was great.  And I got to throw balls at the main speaker.  There really just… isn’t that much more to say.