Lauren Greenfield Getty Lecture - Sunday, September 26th

A quick heads up for the LA-based Lauren Greenfield fans, she is giving a talk this Sunday at the Getty after a screening of her acclaimed documentary kids+money. The Getty describes the film as:

A piercing short film by photographer Lauren Greenfield, Kids and Money is a conversation with young people about the influence of money in their lives. Born of the extremes of poverty and wealth that define the Los Angeles landscape, teens and tweens from Pacific Palisades to East Los Angeles address how they are shaped by a culture of consumerism.

And Lauren will be talking afterwards about the film and her larger body of work. It starts at 1:00 pm, admission is free and parking is $15. More details here!

We're Thrilled He's Here! Bruce Hunt Joins Chelsea

Chelsea is proud to announce the addition of Bruce Hunt to the Chelsea roster. From the press release:

A master of special effects, both Hunt’s commercial and film work showcase cutting edge visuals used in service of the larger story, effects designed for maximum emotional impact. His client list includes Visa, Toyota, Lexus, Nintendo, Volkswagen, Panasonic, and Hyundai among others, in addition to a highly regarded Tourism Australia project with Baz Luhrman. He has been named Director of the Year four times in Australia for his spot work.

There's also the matter of his film work, which is rather significant. He was a second unit director on The Matrix and Dark City, two films with groundbreaking special effects and visual signatures that have been copied ever since (bullet time anyone?). Hunt's own feature, The Cave, was no slouch either, with some serious special effects and Hunt's signature striking photography. To prove it, see the trailer below. We're glad to have him aboard!

KENNY POWERS IS BACK!

You just have to use all caps for Kenny Powers. No other font choice is sufficient. The David Gordon Green crew has put together another insane season of everyone's favorite washed up ball player, and it starts Sunday the 26th! Green directed 3 episodes of this season, similar to last year, and the saga really just gets crazier and crazier. Let's just the trailer speak for itself...

9:00 PM Premiere on HBO Tonight - Alex Gibney's "My Trip to Al-Qaeda"

As previously mentioned in this very blog, September is Chelsea month on HBO. And today is the first event! Alex's Gibney's My Trip to Al-Qaeda premieres tonight at nine, after debuting at this year's Tribeca Film Festival. Variety gives a pretty great review of the film, which can be read in full here, but here's a key excerpt:

A sobering lecture on the Middle East as well as an interesting exercise in multimedia, "My Trip to al-Qaeda" is director Alex Gibney's documentary version of Lawrence Wright's off-Broadway one-man show, developed while researching his book "The Looming Tower: al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11." With his understated style and soothing voice, Wright offers a savvy primer on the roots of Islamic terrorism and the U.S.' misguided response, while the filmed performance stylistically recalls a more restrained variant on Spalding Gray's "Swimming to Cambodia."

Check out the trailer below and tune your dial to HBO tonight!

Algebra: DGG + ESPN + W+K = Great New Spots

Actually, the math isn't that complicated. David Gordon Green teamed up with Wieden + Kennedy to make some awesome new spots for ESPN. Simple as that! These latest spots are for the Countdown, one of television's top football pregame shows, and feature the entire cast getting uncomfortably close to some of the NFL's biggest stars. The Countdown team includes Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, Mike Ditka, Keyshawn Johnson, Cris Carter, Chris Mortensen, and Adam Schefter. The two spots we're featuring here (turn on your TV to see the rest!) are "Game Picks", in which the egg scrambling skills of Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers are called into question, and "Patcakes", where Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker gets an unexpected breakfast.

Reminder: Life In A Day Shoots Tomorrow!

Everyone get your cameras ready and your interesting friends in one place, because tomorrow is the shoot day for Kevin Macdonald's "Life In A Day" Youtube project. Make your film tomorrow and you have a week to upload it on to Youtube at www.youtube.com/lifeinaday. The Youtube home page has been having a countdown for the last few days, and email reminders have been flying fast and thick, so it's shaping up to be a serious event! The above video is instructions from the main editor of the project, Joe Walker, with some helpful and inspirational words about making your film. So get ready, get filming, and hopefully we'll see you at Sundance!

The Beast Is Gone: Requiem for a Copier

So, it's not the most critical news in the production universe, but it's rocking our world in ChelseaNY. Our long suffering copier has finally been traded in for a better, (much) smaller model. This picture, taken by Lisa herself, shows the copier contemplating the stairs, for its final journey to the recycling center. RIP. All part of the natural process of Production 2.0

What A Pair! Directing Duo Borgato & Berte Join Chelsea

Another superior choice for the Chelsea roster, we are thrilled to announce the signing of Borgato & Berte. A pair of globetrotters, the duo are know for exquisite photography and offbeat moments, which combine to create emotional work of high style. From the release:

Paolo Borgato and Tommaso Bertè met in Milan in 2004, both at the beginning their directing careers, absorbing the lessons of the advertising industry while working on their own projects. They catapulted into the industry spotlight with their PSA for Save The Children. The spot won them the Shots Young Directors Award, and their 2007 spot “Human Machine” won a place in that year’s Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase.

Kevin Macdonald + Youtube = Big News!

Logging on to Youtube yesterday, you may have noticed a site takeover by a project called "Life in a Day". The idea is that on July 24th, 2010, everyone around the world is going to upload a video documenting their day and answering the questions, "What do you love?" and "What do you fear?" Then a number of videos will be selected and stitched together into a documentary/time capsule about life on Planet Earth on 7/24/2010, and the resulting film will premiere at Sundance 2011. And which Oscar-winning director is at the helm this unprecedented, crowd-sourced, new media extravaganza? Chelsea's own Kevin Macdonald! Which you probably guessed from both the headline of this post and the video of Kevin discussing the project, but it's always fun to have a dramatic reveal.

Shoot coverage is here and Creativity coverage is here. And there is also the CNN story here and the official Google Blog entry is here. And I'm sure there's more to come! You've already seen Kevin talking about the project, so here's the trailer video:

Another Super Cute Kid, Just Because

Following up on our picture of Orson, here's the photogenic Ruby, daughter of Chelsea director Charles Mehling. Despite looking in the lens in this shot, she is not actually directing, that job was left up to Charles. In this case, a massive 20 day shoot in southeast Asia for Proctor & Gamble in China, the results of which will get posted here in the not too distant future.

Lauren Greenfield's Girl Culture at the Getty

Lauren Greenfield's photography is no stranger to museums, but this is a big show, even for her. Greenfield's monograph Girl Culture is featured in the Getty's newest show, Engaged Observers: Documentary Photography Since the Sixties. Drawing from the work of a very small and influential group of photographers, the show is about photography "situated between journalism and art... essays that delved deeply into topics of social concern and presented distinct personal visions of the world." Chelsea always has a number of Greenfield's books on hand, and Girl Culture is an office favorite. The press release describes Girl Culture as:

a photographic project that delves into the ways consumer society affects the lives of women in America. Of central concern to Greenfield was the exhibitionist tendencies of contemporary American femininity. Visiting girls of all ages at home, in doctors’ offices, and out with friends, Greenfield examined personal issues of public consequence, providing an intense and intimate exploration of girls’ relationships to their bodies and the effects of popular culture on self-image. Many of her pictures and accompanying interviews focus on what she refers to as “body projects,” the daily grooming rituals undertaken in an effort to express identity through appearance. Others look at the social and consumerist influences from which these young women take their cues as well as the difficulty of living up to such expectations.

The Getty is always free, so if you're in LA, there's no excuse!

World Cup Madness - Part 2: The Argentina Story

We have not been immune to World Cup excitement here at Chelsea, and why should we? World Cup soccer is awesome, and an excellent reason to have beer at lunch. You've seen director Johan Kramer's "Bleed Orange" spots for the Dutch team (which seem to be working, as they power their way through their group), and now take a look at the giant inflatable head of Maradona, the coach of Argentina and a legendary player in his own right. This shot comes straight from the iPhone of Allison Amon, fearless head of Chelsea LA, as she toured around Buenos Aires for a shoot with Neil Abramson. Stay tuned for those spots, and now it looks like we're rooting for Argentina!

Pulse Launches Redesigned Website

Our favorite Londoners have just relaunched their website, and it is lookin' good. Chelsea partner Pulse Films London have been working furiously for the last few months on a bunch of cool projects, and managed to squeeze in some serious changes, so head over to www.pulsefilms.co.uk to appreciate the hard work.

They Just Keep Coming Aboard! Chelsea Signs Director Robb Bindler

Another great signing, if we say so ourselves. Veteran spot and documentary director S.R. "Robb" Bindler has signed on to the roster! From the press release:

...Robb Bindler, a documentary and feature director whose commercial clients include Nokia, Visa, Ford, Coca Cola, and Intel. “I remember seeing his documentary Hands on a Hard Body in theaters, and I’ve been tracking his work ever since,” said Chelsea LA partner Allison Amon. In the subsequent years, Bindler worked in advertising and on his own projects, and in 2008, he wrote and directed Surfer Dude, starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey.

Let it also be known that he's a pretty nice guy, and writes funny emails, which are big pluses for this blogger. Check out his reel on chelsea.com and here's the trailer to his (awesome) documentary Hands On A Hard Body.

Chelsea Signs Denise Blate Roederer for East Coast Representation!

Another Chelsea business update, we've signed a new East Coast Sales Representative! Here's a clip from the press release:

Denise Blate Roederer, independent sales representative, has signed Chelsea and new division Pulse@Chelsea and will be handling all East Coast sales. Blate’s other companies include Lair and Union Editorial. Chelsea partner Lisa Mehling said, “I feel so fortunate to have Denise working with us. Her creative opinion and ability to collaborate with clients has made her a highly respected and universally adored member of the industry.” The director rosters of Chelsea, Pulse, and Lair are a smooth compliment to Blate’s roster at Union Editorial, including some already established working partnerships, like Union’s Sloane Klevin and Chelsea’s Alex Gibney.

She's great and we're thrilled!