Art&Graft: Glug Write-up

Finally - it's Art&Graft’s write-up of last week's Glug Summer Party, held at the rather spectacular House of Vans in the arches beneath Waterloo Station. If you haven't heard of or been to Glug, it's a series of regular events for the design and creative communities. Glug events are based around a series of talks by industry leaders and informal networking (or as they call it, Notworking™). For this event, Art&Graft's Creative Director Mike Moloney was invited by our friends at Found to give the headlining presentation in the event's Cinema Room, which they had been asked to curate. The Art&Graft team spent most of the evening in the Cinema Room, where we were treated to talks from motion's finest and brightest talents.

First up, Weareseventeen (a team of directors, designers and animators) gave a talk with a refreshing slant: perspective. After introducing the studio they addressed the impact of technology on our lives: that we curate 'perfect' lives through our smartphones whilst ignoring what’s really going on around us. Their studio animation 'Mr. Selfie' explored this phenomenon, reminding us to look up and see the bigger picture (the irony of several audience members still gazing at their phones during the presentation was not lost on us!). Another project, a studio film called 'Infinite Horizon' also carried the theme of perspective, this time through the eyes of an astronaut looking down on Earth from space. Apparently when Earth is seen from this perspective, some astronauts undergo a cognitive shift in awareness: conflicts disappear, and the human race is seen as a singular planetary society. What we took away from this was the idea that sometimes we just need to take a step back and take it all in, and remember what’s really important.

Next up, Jen Herrera from Las Bandas Be Brave (an agency representing a roster of talented directors) gave a brilliantly energetic talk about what exactly is involved in pulling together a great music video. Jen led the audience through each stage of production: from pitching and putting together directors' treatments, through to costing, casting, and finally shooting the video (and all the highs and lows of each stage). We felt that this would have been a particularly valuable insight for those just starting out in the creative industries as Jen was very thorough and honest in her description of the processes, also offering a few tips for those who specifically wanted to get into directing music videos.

After a short beer break, the unfailingly awesome directing duo Us treated us to a highly engaging and inspiring presentation introducing their creative processes for some of their most famous projects: The Sunday Times ‘Icons’ (which has won too many awards to list here), Wiley's Numbers in Action music video (another award-winner) and the new Cadbury Puddles TV ad they directed for Fallon. We gained an insight into their creative inner workings and thought processes which were enviably genius, and also brilliantly funny. One of the highlights was an early treatment for the Sunday Times ‘Icons’ promo. This had been roughly shot on a London park bench on an overcast day, and rather hilariously showed how they’d used a cycling helmet to indicate a transition to a Daft Punk cyborg head – imagination knows no bounds! What we particularly loved about Us was their ingenuity: for example using mirrors to create the perfectly flat puddles in the Cadbury’s ads, the seamless movements to create the Sunday Times ‘Icons’ promo, to the synchronicity seen in Numbers in Action.

Finally, last but by no means least, headlining the cinema room was our very own Mike Moloney who led the audience through some of our most cherished projects: Gizmosis, The Walk, 1150 Canyon Road, our famous Christmas Card (which definitely raised the most giggles of the evening) and Trip: our award-winning safety film for Virgin Atlantic. As well as introducing the processes behind some of our favourite projects, Mike also gave the audience a clear insight into the principles that underpin everything we do here at Art&Graft: the craft, creativity and painstaking attention to detail that goes into every single project, whether this is a playful studio project or an important piece of client work.

After the talks had wrapped up it was time for a well-earned beer (or two…) and some long-overdue catching up with old friends and colleagues. We were among the last to reluctantly leave as the lights were switched on at around midnight. An inspirational, fun and creativity-infused evening was had by all, and we’re already excited about what the next Glug has in store.

Photo credit: Paul Bence