Our UPEI TV ads are running now on CBC stations across the region. This video is a compilation of all four, but you can see them individually on the YouTube playlist.

Netflix had two items: The Art of Flight, and The Art of Flight: The Series. I started with The Series (which offers a behind the scenes look at the making of the film), because watching something in 25 minute increments is a little more manageable these days.

I was blown away. The scale of the production was unbelievable, and some of the footage the filmmakers were capturing was unlike anything I’d seen before.

After finishing the short TV series, I watched the 80-minute movie. Even more incredible.

The film is, essentially, snowboard porn. There’s not much in terms of structure, which is how these “documentaries” normally go, but it is interesting to see people who are the best at what they do pushing themselves to their limits.

If you’re interested in filmmaking at all, check out The Art of Flight. Also, if you can, watch The Series before hand. It’s really neat to see how the film looks after knowing everything they went through to get it done.

The Art of Flight on Netflix Canada.
The Art of Flight: The Series on Netflix Canada.

Dave and Ty went busking for Movember bucks last week. Though I’m not growing a ‘stache for Movember this year, I went along with them to film their escapades.

The video was shot on my iPhone 5, and cut and posted to Vimeo with Final Cut Pro X. Though FCPX did a better job at handling the video from the iPhone than FCP7 would have, getting around the interface takes some getting used to (which I have not).

As mentioned, the original song comes from a bizarro episode of Star Trek in which Spock is forced to sing Bitter Dregs. Here’s that clip.

Interested in your own MOriginal Love Song? Follow @davyay on Twitter and wait for him to announce the next round next Friday morning.

Running behind kinds with with the camera at their height produces magic every time. Using a wide angle lens lets you never have to worry about your shot (because you almost always have something).

This year was no exception. We welcomed Brian Williams into our living room every night, and followed the drama live during the day when we could. That also means we heard a lot of words from CTV’s broadcast sponsors. Below is a highly scientific list (based on personal opinion) of the best commercials that ran in Canada over the past two weeks.

The Canadian Olympic Team

This one didn’t run very often (and I think there may have been a 30 second version) but I loved the cinematography and editing on this one.

Procter & Gamble

The parent-athlete relationship was a theme across several brands’ ads throughout the Olympics, but P&G’s 60-second spot gave us the opportunity to see the Olympians through their parents’ eyes. A clever tear-jerker.

Bell

Far from a tear-jerker, Bell’s Any Screen, Anywhere ad was one I never ever grew tired of. The music and the editing held me every time it ran.

Nike

Saving the best for last, Nike’s commercial was standard athletic inspiration Nike fare, but I felt like it really took the Olympics and made the athletic drive relatable to those sitting at home. Despite watching the world’s best athlete’s perform for two weeks, it was the shot of the woman catching her breath after completing a marathon in this ad that made me want to get off the couch. The last scene in the ad made me laugh every single time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz1gWajl0g8

I was playing around with Google Maps the other day, and came across the Create Map functionality which allows users to plot their own locations. Soon after, I had plotted a few of my favorite places around Charlottetown. I know it’s nothing new, but I’m just starting to see its potential.

The map, embedded above, is something I’m going to keep up with. It’s part personal archive of favorite places, part local-guy-crafted tourist guide. There’s only seven locations on it now, but it’ll grow.

“It isn’t easy to love something as much as you love a child. It’s like looking into the sun.” — P. S. Hoffman

A short video I shot the other evening as Claire and I were playing outside.

“Silhouettes” by The OO-Ray

The movie is actually an extended animated version of an 1984 Burton short film of the same name. He made the film for Disney before he’d done a feature, but you can tell from very early on that this is a Tim Burton movie. If you have 30 minutes to spare, it’s definitely worth checking out. It even features a young(er) Daniel Stern, known to most of us as Marv from the Home Alone movies.

Rachel and I caught The Hunger Games last weekend. Neither of us had read the book, but I was pretty eager to see it regardless. I’d heard great things, and when we saw that it was playing on three screens at Empire Theatres in Charlottetown, we figured it wouldn’t be completely packed.

I’m not going to completely analyze the film here, because there’s more than enough of that going on online. Like most, I liked it quite a bit. I thought about it for days, and am interested in seeing where the rest of the series goes. Performances, directing, editing were all great.

I am going to highlight one thing that left me wanting a little more, though: I know this is based on a YA novel, and I’m aware that thematically, it’s pretty similar. That said, this movie is about children and teenagers who are taken from their homes and forced to kill each other for wealthy folks enjoyment. That concept is absolutely horrifying, and this horror is largely ignored. At the very least, it’s never fully examined, and because of that, the characters seem pretty flat.

I’m not a fan of disturbing cinema, and I know there’s other films which tackle this subject much more aggressively (Battle Royale is now near the top of my to-see list), but to ignore it the way The Hunger Games did left me looking for a little more when I walked out of the theatre.

Starbucks trying to get in on The Hunger Games success.

The film was, at best, okay. Frankly, I didn’t much care what happened to Thor nor his pals back in his home world of Asgard. I didn’t really buy Natalie Portman’s falling in love with him after he ends up on Earth, and fish-out-of-water elements of the story never quite hit what they were going for.

When compared to the rest of the Avengers prologue, Thor is certainly the weakest, and I’m not alone in feeling that its fantasy elements contrast the sci-fi of the other movies and characters. Not unlike Captain America, it spends a lot of its time hinting at what is to come in The Avengers, making the plot annoyingly unfocused (again, not unlike Captain America).

And yet, I had fun watching it. There’s a lot of comedy, and the action (no matter how sparse and exaggerated it was) was entertaining. It felt like an expensive B-movie.

If you plan to see The Avengers this summer (and I hope you are), then Thor is something you’ll check out in advance. If not, you can probably find a better way to spend a couple of hours.

With The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Spurlock once again puts himself on the line—only this time it’s all in the name of financing the film we’re watching. The documentary is about product placement advertising in film and television, and in attempt to demonstrate the practice to the fullest, the director seeks out companies to sponsor his movie.

The film is hilarious. Martin Spurlock is a fantastic character, it’s very well edited, and I laughed throughout the entire thing. Some of the best laughs came from the eventual product placements themselves. As we learn about the deals Spurlock is landing, the companies’ products and locations start to appear more and more throughout the film. The placement is blatant and often exaggerated, offering a little wink to the audience.

The people Spurlock managed to get access to is actually quite amazing. There’s a slew of A-list directors talking with him one-on-one, and he sits down (and jokes with) the likes of Noam Chomsky and Ralph Nader.

As much as I enjoyed the movie, I can’t say I learned much about product placement. The movie becomes more about advertising—and the constant assault of ads—in general. Spurlock even travels to São Paulo to talk to the city about their initiative to rid the city of “visual pollution” and outlaw outdoor advertising. What does this have to do with the documentary’s theme? I’m still not quite sure.

The film is certainly entertaining, but not as informative as I’d hoped. At 88 minutes, it’s definitely better than a lot of the other material out there. It’s on Netflix Canada, if you’re interested.

If you can find it playing in a cinema, I’m sure the producers would appreciate it too: the film’s biggest sponsor, POM Wonderful, gave them one million dollars, subject to the film grossing at least $10 million at the box office. To date, they’ve raised less than 10% of that.

Weeks went by, and I forgot to write it up. I finally decided that tonight I would draft it, though upon thinking about it, it’s been too long since I watched it, and my review really wouldn’t do it justice. So, I’ll just go ahead and post my notes and you can try to decipher (as I am doing) what I thought of the film:

Liam Neeson is tough. Movie about men, and in many ways, masculinity. What is masculinity?

Wolves are like monsters. Interestingly filmed flashback moments.

Few times where I felt like the actor was telling us what was going on. Not over the top, but not necessary.

Visual effects are mediocre by times. Distracting. Took me out of the moment.

Heard rumours of the film having an Oscar run in the fall. Can’t see it.

There we have it. If you’ve seen it, I’d be curious to know what you thought of it too. No spoilers, kids.

As soon as I saw it, my heart sank a bit. I don’t know if any of the aforementioned fine folks are even familiar with the aforementioned Campus Sessions, but they are similar enough that I’m sure they assume I’m a big dumb copy cat.

I honestly had no idea this project existed until this morning, but I still need to give them props for coming up with the idea (and executing it beautifully) first.

Check out all the Small Town Sessions videos.