NOT - News On Trend è la newsletter mensile di informazione su innovazione e tendenze in campi quali eventi, marketing alternativo, pubblicità, media, entertainment, fenomeni sociali powered by Filmmaster Group
NOT is celebrating its 50th issue with a
broad smile on its face, and two major bits
of news. The first is that, in partnership
with Filmmaster Events, NOT is also to be
distributed in the Middle East and in the
Gulf states. With its 15,000 subscribers,
it’s set to become the most
widely-distributed Italian digital trend
magazine in the world. The second piece of
news is that we decided to dedicate this
issue’s cover not to an individual artist,
but to Steve Jobs: the figure who, more than
any other, has shaped this first decade of
the third millennium with his visionary
flair. He and he alone could win the title
“Trendsetter of the decade”. From 2012, with
our readers, we’ll be awarding that title
each year to the men and women who prove
capable of changing customs and styles,
coming up with new things, and tackling new
territories.
And, albeit on a smaller scale, we too have
come a long way since that first PDF issue
on 6 July 2006. Facebook didn’t exist, the
internet was still mainly a tool used for
work rather than for real life, and just a
handful of those in the know were starting
to talk about virals, events and guerrilla
marketing. We thought the title of our
magazine was very cool indeed, and we
started out with a mailing list of 300
addresses.
We’d like to take you back on that little
journey of ours through a video compilation
of all the NOT covers, from the first ones,
inspired by fruit and veg (we liked the idea
of freshness), right up to those
commissioned from Italian and international
artists.
They include major starts such as the very
young (at the time) Banksy or Vezzoli,
upcoming talents such as Viale, Berruti,
Catalani, elusive gurus such as Pischedda
and Gottardo and, today, a technical
virtuoso, namely Matteo Fumagalli, who has
created this graffiti-style homage to Steve
for us.
What else can we say? That we’ll continue to
do this job with the same passion as always.
With a special thank you to all those who
have worked on this little, big adventure in
various ways. Firstly to K-events, then to
Filmmaster Group who believed in our hunch,
and who invested in innovation, under the
watchful eye of Stefano and Francesca.
Thanks to Rosella & Valentina (our muses),
to Daniele, Gianluca, Simone, Karim, Andrea,
Alessandra, Gregorio (the fabulous headeris his), Marianne, Stuart, Giacomo,
Adriano and everyone at Kappademia. Thank
you. Because nothing in the world is more
indispensable than the superfluous.
At last, a flashmob worth writing about! Not
because the ones seen so far weren’t of
interest, but because this one has a noble
purpose behind its inspired action.
Tests on human beings, because at the centre
of the action is mankind and how we behave
in relation to our environment. The dilemma
is: if you leave an empty plastic bottle on
the ground, how long will it stay there? And
above all, will anyone pick it up and throw
it in a rubbish bin?
That’s essentially the idea behind the
flashmob carried out in a Canadian shopping
mall. A man leaves a plastic bottle on the
ground near a rubbish bin. Tens of people
walk by, all ignoring the bottle. But all at
once, a young woman sees it, picks it up and
bins it. And then the unexpected happens…
watch the video!
Vast crumpled handkerchiefs tossed into a
basket inside a bookshop in Rome’s city
centre. At first glance they look like
headscarves, the cheap kind sold mainly to
tourists. But no, they’re much more than
that. They’re the Crumpled City Maps by
Emanuele Pizzolorusso, a design project that
was sparked off almost by chance in the mind
of this 25 year-old from Puglia. Fashion and
design have often turned their attention to
creating geographical maps and atlases, so
much so that there’s an international
movement of collectors interested in the
most innovative items in this product
sector, continually experimenting with new
graphics and materials. Emanuele’s maps are
made from fabric that can be crumpled, and
are therefore easy to read and put back
again; this completely does away with that
awful, much-feared exercise of map-folding,
a notoriously exasperating feat that has led
more than a few couples to the brink of
divorce. Each map presents a city with its
10 “soulsights”, particularly special spots,
and each city has its own symbol: a car for
London, a moustache for Paris, an apple for
New York, a crown of laurel for Rome, a bear
for Berlin, a bicycle for Amsterdam, a
high-heeled shoe for Milan, a sun for
Barcelona, fish for Lisbon, a flower for
Tokyo and a yacht for Sydney. 21 grams in
weight, for 12 euros: handy, fun and cheap!
The first edition of the Beijing
International Film Festival was held between
April 23-28, bringing together directors
like Darren Aronofsky, Robert Minkoff, John
Woo, Feng Xiaogang and Peter Chan; producers
such as Jeremy Thomas, and an endless list
of Chinese actors, most notably Jackie Chen,
Raymond Wong, Sammo Hung, Zhang Ziyi and Fan
Bingbing. Of course, many of these names
mean nothing to us, but from a cultural
perspective this festival was incredibly
important for China. It marked a major goal
for the State Administration of Radio, Film
and Television and the Beijing Municipal
Government, and over five days the festival
presented some 160 films from 42 different
countries. These included 3 Idiots by
Rajkumar Hirani, an Indian film made in 2009
that became a real hit, and is hotly awaited
in the West. In India the film took 1
billion rupees (around 30 million euros) in
just the first 4 days, overtaking Avatar and
2012, with a record number of projections
with 1760 in India alone, and 366 abroad,
which is a lot for a Bollywood movie!
Perhaps because it stars Aamir Khan, the
ultimate Bollywood star; perhaps because
it’s acted in both Hindi and English, or
perhaps because it pokes fun at the Indian
school system, 3 Idiots won awards for best
film, best director, best script, best
dialogues and best actor at India’s 2010
Filmfare Awards. Now all that’s left is to
see it!
A desire to go back to basics? An exercise
in design? Or is it simply that retro
styling never goes out of fashion?
In short, the concept is that technologies
move forward but, deep down, we have to
admit that the taste and charm of vintage
products is still going strong.
British company Spinning Hat has designed
The Typescreen, the official keyboard for
the world famous Apple iPad. As if by magic,
the Bluetooth keyboard turns the futuristic
iPad into a real “analogical” 1950s-style
typewriter.
The new Spinning Hat Typescreen lets you
enjoy all the ultramodern functions offered
by iPad while preserving the pleasant
“touch” of a true typewriter.
A limited edition, it can be bought from
Spinning Hat for just $57!
It had all traits to be a true and realistic
news but, after a couple of days, we
understood it was an unusual trick played on
AprilFool's day, never seen before.
Just take an Ipad, popular among those who
love tecnology and design, and bring it
close to a fascinating instrument, quite far
away from the Apple world: typewriter.
Thousands of people thought they could buy
this particular keyboard ... But apparently
the same website unveiled the joke a couple
of days ago.
Congratulations! we fell into your trap! (
A little cardboard house on wheels, towed by
a bicycle, went through the streets and
squares of Milan during the Furniture Fair,
promoting furniture designed by Roberto
Siena (Palindroma) and the wall paintings of
Sergio Tanara (iwantmyalky).
From April 14-17 the house toured the city,
stopping at a series of pre-arranged spots
which were announced through social
networks, inviting passers-by and the
curious to visit it. Or simply to reflect
upon possible alternative ways of conceiving
the idea of home.
The idea was a provocation from two artists
and designers who were inspired by the
alternative communication codes used by
“flashmobs” to describe an all-new way of
living.
They turned the idea of a house into an
“individualised” concept that’s totally
original and spontaneous. A concept that,
partly thanks to the new forms of digital
communication, is ready to tour the world –
on a bike.
Nanotechnology is an obscure field that’s
difficult to get a grip on, even for those
who know more than a little about
technology: it’s a field of applied science
that involves manipulating the atomic
structure of objects in order to change
them. While many consider it as a trend in
modern science, it hasn’t yet been fully
exploited because it carries numerous
implications, first and foremost because it
intervenes in the traditional concept of
what’s “natural”. So to think that
nanotechnology products could be presented
and sold like any other mass market product
is a big step forward, as well as a mighty
challenge. That challenge has been taken up
by The Next Nature, with its brand new
project entitled Nano Supermarket: a
travelling shop that sells products made
using the principles of nanotechnology.
These include medicinal sweets, interactive
paints, wines whose taste can be changed
using microwaves, invisible security sprays…
objects and products that are undoubtedly
innovative and useful, but not yet easy to
understand. This experiment is currently
rocking the streets of Pamplona. It is
certainly useful for opening up the debate
about how we want to shape our future, and
for creating potential, everyday scenarios
for research into new technologies.
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment,
Design and is a fantastic non-profit
project.
TED is an organisation founded in 1984 by
Richard Saul Wurman. Every year, it holds
conferences to bring together the most
brilliant minds in technology, design and
“useful” thinking with the sole purpose of
spreading knowledge and finding new
inspirations for the whole world.
At the heart of this project is, then, the
intention to spread valuable knowledge. TED
manages to do this partly thanks to its web
portal. The website offers an endless
goldmine of hints, ideas, inventions,
debates, talks and advice relating to
various different fields. It’s an
intellectual treasure trove that produces
new and interesting ideas every week.
www.ted.com is truly a window onto the
world, where anyone can enrich their
personal knowledge.
Barely had we announced the new arrival (we
mentioned him in issue 49 of Not) that the
first excellent results came through for one
of Filmmaster’s exclusive talents. Indeed,
Marco Gentile is behind some of the films
selected for Italian Special, the DVD
featuring the best of Italian advertising,
to be released with the April issue of Shots
Magazine. The magazine is considered the
most important and influential source of
information for the international
advertising industry, and it chose Shadows
and Movement - both directed by Gentile,
the former for Freddy, the latter for the
Roma Europa Festival – to be included in its
special feature on Italian creativity. This
is a major seal of approval for one of
Italy’s most promising directors, who has
joined Filmmaster’s stable of directors on
an exclusive basis around a year ago.
At 19 he directed his first short, “BV-01”,
which was a finalist in the prestigious
Hollywood International Film Festival
together with works by Steven Spielberg ,
George Lucas, Quentin Tarantino and Tim
Burton. Today, he’s 25 and busy writing
several film scripts, but he found time to
dust off his director’s chair and make the
extraordinary ad for Nike Basketball, in
which he shows off his fantastic talent for
using visual effects and advanced
post-production techniques. These skills
have brought him to the attention not only
of Filmmaster (who represents him in Italy),
but also of producers at major Hollywood
studios such as Warner Brothers, Sony
Pictures and Dreamworks. This very young
director’s entry into the Roman production
company is further proof of Filmmaster’s
capacity for talent scouting. “Alessandro
Pacciani fits Filmmaster’s requirements to a
tee”, said Karim Bartoletti, Partner and
Executive Producer at Filmmaster. “A
creative, curious mind who at just 25 has
attracted the attention of three continents,
Europe, America and Asia… a software
programmer turned director, who taught
himself on the strength of his passion…
couldn’t not be one of us”.
A JUDGE IN THE HOUSE
Bartoletti
is the only Italian to have been chosen for
the Film Craft Lions 2011 jury.
Filmmaster is very proud indeed: Karim
Bartoletti will be the only Italian on the
international jury tasked with judging the
technical quality of advertising campaigns
on June 25th at the Cannes
Festival.
Karim is one of the main players in national
and international advertising production,
and has some 15 years in the industry under
his belt. He began his career in the US at
DDB/Chicago. After 12 years in the States he
returned to Italy and joined the advertising
production company Filmmaster, where he was
made partner in 2006.
“I’m very honoured to be taking part in one
of the world’s greatest advertising
festivals. This festival is particularly
important as it has the force to attract and
showcase the world’s best communication
campaigns. I am extremely pleased to have
been chosen to judge the festival’s category
which awards commercials and content that
stand out for its technical quality,
covering filmmaking, directing, copywriting,
cinematography, editing, music and
animation”.
To mark the launch of the new Nissan Micra,
K-events organised a tour starring an
energetic marching band which crossed the
city for two consecutive weekends.
The band played on top of a branded
double-decker bus which made its way through
the city centre, with a series of fun,
animated performances that were aimed at
promoting the new Nissan Micra by engaging
with the public. To the rhythm of the P-Funking
Band, the tour visited Milan’s “hotspots”,
from Piazza della Scala to Piazza Castello,
from Corso Buenos Aires to Corso Venezia to
name but a few.
The on-the-street project by K-events was an
incredible success: 22,400 folders were
distributed, and thousands of new contacts
were taken. The web campaign was viewed
5,266,179 times, leading to some astounding
figures: 1331 active users, 1141 page
clicks, 36,416 post views. Nissan Micra –
music to the city’s ears.
Matteo Fumagalli was born in Milan in 1976.
He has a diploma in visual communications,
specialising in cinematographic animation
techniques, lives and works in Milan. He is
a multi-faceted artist using everything from
pencils to walls, from modelling to
decoration, from doing to undoing. He works
as a freelance creative and illustrator with
K-events, the events and show agency in the
Filmmaster group, and also works on
editorial projects.
The contents and the contents of this
digital magazine are the result of revision
by the editors of NOT.
Each image is the source. We reserve the right to accept
any further reporting. Where the source is not indicated, the authorship of the image is
attributable to the editor.
Photos are taken from the site sxc.hu
