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Creature + JanSport + Bonnaroo = Amazing

A few of us Creatures had the splendid opportunity of venturing out to Great Stage Parkon, a 700-acre (2.8 km²) farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles southeast of Nashville.

Why, you ask? Well, for Bonnaroo, of course! If you aren’t sure what that is, click here.  Ahmazing. 

Lucky for us, one of our amazing clients, JanSport, participates as a sponsor every year. This means we get to play too. 

It’s a pretty rad idea: 

JanSport invites concert-goers to paint their hearts out on various 15x5 foot canvases, and, over the course of the year, we turn the painted canvases into limited edition, one-of-a-kind backpacks (proceeds of the backpacks to to Big City Mountaineers). 

Awe.Some. 

This year was round two. We were excited, and having done it once before, we were ready. 

We arrived a few days before the concert so we could set up the tent and get all our goodies ready. We knew to expect heat, and humidity, and mud up to our eyeballs, but when the wall of 300% humidity hit us upon arrival, we were not prepared. IT.WAS.HOT. 

But we’re troopers. And we were able to get our tent panels hung, our wooden easel built (thanks to John Haile and Bob Horn) with minimal dehydration.

Thursday, June 10^th the festival began. Droves of music and art lovers filled the farm, and soon our tent was a flurry of excitement. JanSport lovers filled the tent ready to paint their hearts out, so their artwork would eventually become a backpack. 

We had repeat visits from folks who just couldn’t get enough. 

We even had people come back who had painted last year, looking for their art that had been turned into a backpack. 

Even in the blistering 98-degree heat and 3000% humidity, folks loved to paint! 

Not only did we get to share the JanSport love with 75,000 sweaty festival-goers, we also were able to see some amazing acts. 

From Kings of Leon, Stevie Wonder (or as we like to call him, the 8th Wonder of the World), Jay-Z (ahmazing!) and Dave Matthews, to Steve Martin, Conan O’Brien, and Aziz Ansari, our nights were filled with music and laughter, good food and good friends. 

And sweat. Did I mention how hot it was? 

Be sure to check out JanSport’s Reclaimed Art Canvas website to see all the beauty that came from the week. 

Inspirational. And hopefully we’ll see you at Bonnaroo 2011!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

A few people here at Creature put in some extra hours outside of work to make sure we spread some holiday cheer. Enjoy!   

 

http://singingchristmassandwich.com

The Give Music Video Teaser

We're always up for a challenge, and even more up for a good cause. That's why when Singer/songwriter John Roderick of The Long Winters approached us about doing a music video for The Give, we jumped at the chance. 

The challenge of course was to do a music video with a small budget and even less time. To get this done we assembled a dream team that included Director Branson Veal, Lenz Film, Olin Padilla (Editor) and Angela Morgan (talent). We then propped for 4 days straight, painted through the weekend, and got little sleep. Despite the exhausted state we were in, we knew all the while it was worth it. 

We recorded the song on December 7th at Clatter & Din in Seattle:

                                                 

Art Director Kristi, Copywriter Sarah, Producer Kaylin, & Director Branson 

                  
 

                                    John At The Studio 

We started filming on the 8th at 3pm in the Creature conference room, which you won't even recognize in the video. That's what 4 days propping will get you. Thanks to a lot of coffee and some dedicated folks, we went all through the night and wrapped at 6:00am the next morning.

The video itself combines both stop motion with real time motion to create a great story.  We even got animal talent, Mischa (one of our designer's dogs) to make an appearance in the video...SO CUTE!  Stay tuned for the final cut in the coming week...

Great new old music

Thanks to a friend in NYC, I've come across this great album. It's old but recently has had a surge in popularity. The story of the artist is almost as awesome as the album itself. Here's the cover. Check it out on iTunes and then check out the link for the story of Rodriguez.

http://www.sugarman.org/afterfact.html#sleeve

CD's to listen. download. and enjoy

We have been receiving crazy amounts of comp CDs from lots of different music publishing houses. They will now be kept on the Art Department shelf in the conference room. Feel free to listen, and download them. Please put them back on the shelf when you are finished with them- so everyone can use them!