Still from the Ode To Ford ad written by Ogilvy London and directed
by Noam Murro. Now the victim of a rather funny YouTube-hosted spoof

In this day and age, it’s never been easier to doctor audio or visual material with tools on our computers. When we posted up the latest Cadbury’s ad from Fallon (that features a host of airport vehicles racing each other to the soundtrack of Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now) a few weeks ago - almost immediately people responded by posting links to spoof films or versions with soundtracks tweaked for maximum hilarity. On one hand spoofs are made to poke fun at an original piece of work – but on the other, they acknowledge the original as a valid cultural reference point. So you could say, you know you’ve made it when your work is spoofed or parodied…

Isles of Scilly film part 1 for adidas ‘Dream Big’ campaign by 180 Amsterdam

As UEFA Euro 2008 rapidly approaches, the footie-related advertising cometh. This latest football fare comes from 180 Amsterdam for adidas, and consists of a series of films shown online based around the theme ‘Dream Big’. The films’ twist is that rather than concentrating on the big teams that are vying to win Euro 2008, they look instead at some of the world’s smallest teams, and stresses that they too can dream big, no matter how tiny they might be.

Happiness video, Goldfrapp, directed by Dougal Wilson, production company: Colonel Blimp

For your Friday pleasure, here is a selection of great new videos we’ve spotted recently. First up is another gem from Dougal Wilson, his second in a row for Goldfrapp. This one’s for new track, Happiness, and, appropriately enough, is pretty much guaranteed to make you smile. Unless you’re a commentator on Antville, where the video has caused rather a storm of debate. A quicktime of the video can be viewed here.

From the Flexifuel ad for Ford by Glassworks

Last night Tate Modern played host to the Escape Awards, the annual ceremony held by the London-based computer graphics and VFX school, Escape Studios, to honour the work of the UK’s best CG talent. Nominees included Framestore CFC, The Mill, MPC and Glassworks with a wide range of work up for each of the eight awards, ranging from student shorts to CG for Doctor Who, Harry Potter and Guinness. Well done to Framestore, who took three of the big trophies – click through for the full results…

Over a 25 year period, Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky made just seven feature films and three student shorts, yet his cinematic work stands out as one of the most significant contributions to moving image history. In films such as Solaris, Mirror and Andrei Rublev, Tarkovsky dealt thematically with the notion of memory, childhood and dreams and became a master of the long, unedited shot and distinct formalistic approach to filmmaking. Many studies of his work have also observed the links between his films and the visual arts. Black Dog Publishing is behind a new, comprehensive volume dedicated to his life’s work and we have an exclusive extract to present here on the CR blog. The following essay, by Mikhail Romadin (the art director on Solaris), looks at the relationship between Tarkovsky’s films and painting.

Ryan Ebner’s film for Marié Digby’s track Paint Me In Your Sunshine, based on the colour yellow

What is the relationship between sound and colour? It’s a question pondered by psychologists and artists over the centuries, and now, finally, Gap clothing has also entered the debate with their latest project, The Sound of Color.

A branded content campaign which aims to launch Gap’s brightly-coloured Spring 2008 collection through non-traditional means, the Sound of Color saw the clothing company, in conjunction with San Francisco-based production company Rehab, approach five bands and ask them to write a song based on a specific colour. The Blakes, a Seattle-based Indie band, took blue; Dntel, a member of the band The Postal Service, took on red; hip-hop artist/producer Swizz Beats was given green, singer/songwriter Marié Digby yellow, and The Raveonettes opted for black and white.

Once the songs were complete, they were then given to five directors who were asked to create videos to accompany them. While they were requested to reflect the colour associated with each track in their films, the directors were otherwise given a free rein to create the films however they liked, without consultation with the musicians.