Wacky Japanese Commercial directed by Wes Anderson starring Brad Pitt

Wes Anderson has joined the ranks of several other Hollywood types that have shot commercials for zany Japanese products. This ad for Japanese Cell company Softbank Mobile was directed by Anderson and is apparently inspired by the 1953 French Film "Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot." I not going to pretend to know anything about that film, but the spot definitely has that signature Wes Anderson/Hotel Chevalier feel to it. Oh yeah, and did I mention it stars a certain "Benjamin Button" star? (which was a rad film btw)- Yes, first name Brad, last name Pitt:



Source- slash/Film

"Hot Girl Body Spray"- Axe Commercial parody by Sans Pants Productions

FoundTrack Friends Sans Pants Productions produce wacky, wild, and hilarious short form comedy videos and post them on the interwebs for the general public's viewing enjoyment. The mature (see group portrait below) gentlemen of this comedy troop are based out of NY and have created several non-controversial (right...) videos such as "The Maury Povich Home Paternity Test," "Hitler Campaign," and one of my personal favorites "Let Me Get That for Ya" (about bathroom attendants- a topic coincidently close to our hearts).

(Our Mature and Pantsless Captains on this Voyage of Comedy)

Their latest offering, entitled "Hot Girl Body Spray" is my favorite of their most recent releases... it's a brilliant parody of those oh-so-edgy Axe Body Spray commercials. Kick back, crack open a cold one, take off your pants if you feel like it, and enjoy:

David Fincher's Nike Football Commercial, "Fate"

I love seeing artists step out of their usual channels and produce work in other categories. In this case, Nike (and a lot of their cash) got director David Fincher (soon to be Oscar buzzin' with his upcoming "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") to direct an ad entitled "Fate" for their Football line. The piece is not only directed by Fincher, but shot by one of my favorite Cinematographers, Emmanuel Lubezki (of "Children of Men" fame). To add one last bit of cinema-world goodness to this commercial, the music is a remixed version of a track from famed Spaghetti Western composer Ennio Morricone's "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" score.

"Fate" follows the lives of two football players lives from the womb to the NFL- one of them being USC Trojan alumni Troy Polamalu, the other being LaDainian Tomlinson:

N1
by videos22

Source- The New York Observer

Futuristic European Adidas "Modular Man" Soccer Ad

This ad from Adidas Europe is pretty badass- It features a vision of a what a future game of soccer might look like. The player is rocking a high tech uniform/suit of armor that is able to break down and rematerialize with the help of a little CGI. The whole thing is set to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (dropped down a key) which juxtaposes the flashy visuals nicely.

While the ad is super cool, I do have to note that it totally totally reminded me Lacoste's 75th anniversary "Let's reinvent the Game" spot... Not sure who came up with the concept first so I won't sit here and judge either piece. And now for some eye candy:



Source

Audi R8 Symphony

(The R8 fittingly parked outside of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, home of the LA Sympony Orchestra)

I'm a big fan of creative marketing and publicity stunts, so this Audi produced event totally got my attention. The German automaker asked a symphony and DJs from the group Bauhouse to create a live musical experience set to video during the R8s Brazilian launch. The Audi R8 is one of the most stylish cars to be released in a long time and apparently has the performace to match the visual flair (it was good enough for Tony Stark aka Iron Man). Checkout a pair of the performance videos below:


Audi Symphony from Bullet on Vimeo.




Audi Symphony from Bullet on Vimeo.

Source - AutoBlog (where you can checkout the rest of the symphony videos)

Nokia Skate Almighty

This weekend Nokia launched Skate Almighty in London to promote the Nokia music store. Essentially an outdoor roller disco with DJ sets from Norman Jay MBE, Zero 7, Guilty Pleasures, Bodyrox, Seamus Hall and Graeme Park, I was lucky enough to nab some of the free tickets and "rock n rollered" to music old and new. It moves to Birmingham next weekend and then onto Manchester - definitely worth an hour of mayhem on the roller rink floor!

"Rain of Madness" Trailer - The Making of "Tropic Thunder" Mockumentary

I caught an early screening of "Tropic Thunder" at work recently, and it was pretty damn funny. In fact, it's the funniest movie I've seen in a long time- it lives up to the awesome trailer, and looks like Robert Downey Jr is once again the reason to see a big summer movie this year. Dreamworks/Paramount has done a great job with the viral marketing of the film thus far. In the most recent phase of the campaign, the studio has released a trailer for behind the scenes mockumentary about the "making of Tropic Thunder," entitled "Rain of Madness."

For those of you who aren't big war movie fans, "Rain of Madness" is a parody of "Hearts of Darkness" (the awesome documentary that chronicled the insane chaos on the set of "Apocalypse Now"). Now kick back and watch hilarity ensue:



** Official "Rain of Madness" Site

** Official "Tropic Thunder" Site

The Joker Reveals New Dark Knight Poster

Awesome... the Joker has used Warner Brothers' viral marketing campaign for "The Dark Knight" to reveal his twisted take on the movie poster. 16 days to go...

(click to enlarge)

More to hold over all the fans until July 18th- an exclusive trailer released by Comcast:

Ed Norton vs Guiellermo HULK Jimmy Kimmel spoof video

The "Incredible Hulk" movie is out at theaters, and apparently it isn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be. In typical fashion, the star from the film Ed Norton, was out and about making the talk show rounds- checkout this hilarious little spoof stunt they did on the Jimmy Kimmel show:



Pretty funny, but not as funny as the "Tropic Thunder" viral video with Robert Downey Jr aka Iron Man/Tony Stark. Checkout the "Incredible Hulk" film's reviews here.

Source

Hilarious Tropic Thunder Viral Video Promo

So the MTV Movie Awards were on last night, and as usual the movie studios used it as an opportunity to promote their films. The funniest moment from the show was definitely this "viral video" featuring Robert Downey Jr, Jack Black and Ben Stiller promoting "Tropic Thunder." Let's just say Iron Man kicks Kung Fu Panda in the family jewels and hilarity ensues...

The Dark Knight's got milk

I think it's pretty clear that the FoundTrack team (and everyone else on the bloomin' planet) cannot wait to see the new Batman film, so we're loving the new ad for the "Body by milk" campaign featuring our favourite dark knight.

To get more fun stuff like wallpaper, icons and pics check out the body by milk website where you can also win a competition to be featured as a sidekick in an actual Batman comic. Oh yeah, and one more thing- If you're the only person left on earth that hasn't seen the Dark Knight Trailer yet, check it out here.

** For all the best in Dark Knight news, make sure to checkout Batman On Film, and SuperHeroHype

Source: Coming Soon

Miramax films come to life in London

Miramax and HMV have teamed up to promoted Miramax's newly repackaged dvd back catalogue by having famous scenes reinacted in-store in London's Covent Garden. The Teatro Vivo theatre company, known for performing their own unique interpretations of established classics in unusual spaces, will be responsible for the perfomances. The iconics scenes will be from Pulp Fiction, Clerks, Chicago and Scream. Unsuspecting customers may also be brought into the action with the chance of winning dvds for their participation!

The performances begin at HMV in Covent Garden's King Street from 2pm on Thursday 29 May...go and check it out!

Source: London is Free

Addictive TV's Iron Man Remix

Addictive TV is an awesome group based out of the UK that is hired by marketers to "remix" video such as movie trailers, music videos and commercials to make a more viral and unique product out of the original. Take a look at this remix of the Iron Man Trailer they did that ends up turning all the sound affects and visuals into a new electro/breakbeat/hiphop beat:



A little more on Addictive TV in their own words:

We're the London based audio/visual artists and DJ/producers known for our film remix cut-up work - particularly our breakbeat remix of The Italian Job that landed us work for tinseltown. In 2006 we remixed the Antonio Banderas film Take the Lead creating an audiovisual dance track viral for the films promo campaign. The viral also won an award from Adland, the advertising industry website and online archive of commercials.

You can checkout some of the work mentioned above at Addictive's Myspace page.

Dark Knight Trailer and Poster

(click to enlarge)

Last Sunday, Warner Brothers released the new trailer to director Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" - the sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins." Thanks to an amazingly creative viral marketing campaign involving a scavenger hunt and secret packages from the Joker himself, the trailer and the poster above have spread around the interwebs like wildfire. The film doesn't even come out until late July, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be the best movie of the year- the competition might as well start waving the white flag. This is due mostly in part to the fact that Nolan & company- with their indie aesthetic- have actually set out to make a good movie, not just a good comic book movie.

While stars Christian Bale, the late Heath Ledger, and Aaron Eckhart have been getting a lot of press, the true star of this new trailer in my opinion is the cinematography of DP Wally Pfister- he received an Oscar Nomination for Begins, and I'm sure he'll be getting one for this chapter as well. Here's the streaming version of the Dark Knight trailer, but do yourself a favor and go download the Quicktime version:

Wacky Publicity Stunt- Gnarls Barkley releases backwards version of new LP

This is sure to go down as one of the more bizarre publicity stunts in recent music industry history. Super duo Gnarls Barkley (Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse) is releasing their new LP "THE ODD COUPLE" as a free online download. But wait you say- this isn't anything new, both Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails did it recently, right? Not like this they didn't- LOL, you can only download a backwards version of the album, fittingly entitled "ELPUOC DDO EHT." Funny enough, this album backwards is way better than a lot of current music being played normally.

You can checkout this little experiment at the link above, or for the original version of their single "Run", download FoundTrack's March '08 MixTape.

Source- Nah Right?

Undecided in 2008? Vote Harvey Dent...

Looks like Warner Brothers' viral marketing machine for "The Dark Knight" is back in affect following a respectful pause in light of the late Heath Ledger. With the blessing of Ledger's family who released a statement asking WB to continue it's marketing efforts for the "Batman Begins" sequel in full force, continuing what has to be to the most creative film marketing campaign ever. The trades are assuming that this is a campaign to release the new trailer for the film.

Earlier today, fans started getting vote soliciting calls on their cell phones and emails, only they weren't from Barack Obama or Hillary, they were from Harvey Dent, the future District Attorney of Gotham City whose schizophrenia tragically turns into the villain Two Face (LOL). The call leads you to a campaign site that provides bumper stickers, signs and more that the masterminds behind the viral stunt hope you will print out and photograph yourself with in public. I believe in Harvey Dent, do you? Click the link below to experience some of good clean nerdy fun:


** UPDATE - Checkout this submission by a genius mystery contributor *wink*wink*

Carmen Electra has a crush on her Boyfriends at FoundTrack

Check it out! Our first celebrity crush!:



While in the imaginary land we live in, the above is true, in reality as I'm sure you've realized by now, it's just another viral film-marketing stunt- this time for the uber-horrendo spoof movie, "Meet the Spartans." Sorry for subjecting you guys to news relating to two potentially horrible movies in one week, but the above was too good to resist. Have a crack at it yourselves, over here.