Ross Phillips’ video for Coleen by The Heavy

To help you while away the final hours of the working week, here is some of the splendid work that we’ve been looking at in CR towers recently. First up is the Radar Music Video awards, the festival promoting up-and-coming promos directors, now in its second year. Entrants were given a list of tracks to create videos for, from bands including The Good, The Bad and The Queen and Kylie, and with prizes including mentorships with production companies Black Dog, Draw and the Directors Bureau on offer, competition was tough.

Taking the biggest awards were directing team Trey Hock, Kevin Philips and Terry Duthu, who picked up the Draw Pictures mentorship, a £1000 prize from Parlophone and also won the Popular Vote, which included £1000 worth of post work at Abbey Road. Not bad. Unfortunately their video for Kylie’s Slow is not online yet however, so instead we give you the winner of the Qoob TV Student Award – Ross Phillips’ animated video for The Heavy’s track, Coleen. More on the Radar Festival is at radarfestival.com.

A&E, Goldfrapp, directed by Dougal Wilson

Sticking with music videos, here’s Dougal Wilson‘s latest, for Goldfrapp track, A & E.

Goldfish ad, Agency: Grey London, Art director: Jimmy Blom, Copywriter: Jay Marlow, Director: Foreign Office, Production company: Stink

Onto advertising now, and first up is this beautifully animated ad for credit card company, Goldfish. The ad, animated by Foreign Office, is part of a campaign where various famous folks have concocted short stories around the theme ‘Me and my Goldfish’. This one features Sir Ranulph Fiennes telling a story of he and his goldfish going for a stroll in the North Pole.

Poster from Goldfish campaign

Accompanying the TV spots are a series of posters, containing extracts from the stories. Shown here is Rik Mayall’s tale.

Vodafone outdoor ad, Agency: BBH London, Creative team: Richard McGrann, Andy Clough

Next is a nice piece of outdoor advertising for Vodafone from BBH London. Based on the theme ‘Make the Most of Now’, this giant fridge, covered with magnets depicting travel destinations (plus a relatively subtle one for Vodafone), is positioned on a long-term outdoor site in front of Heathrow Terminal One.

AMF commercial, Agency: Forsman & Bodenfors, Stockholm, Production company: Social Club, Stockholm, Director: Jesper Ericstam

If ever you feel that your life is just whizzing by, this ad for AMF Pensions is probably not the one for you. Created by Forsman & Bodenfors agency in Stockholm, it skips quickly through a man’s life, with the changing decades illustrated by different alarm clocks, all of which go off at 7am.

These New Puritans, Elvis, Director: Saam, Production company: Partizan

Saam has shot this intense video for These New Puritans’ track Elvis, which demonstrates how keeping things simple can still prove powerful. He has also recently shot this video for Janet Jackson’s new single, Feedback, which has, perhaps unsurprisingly, a rather less simplistic premise.

China Quarries #8, Xiamen, Fujian Province 2004, Edward Burynsky

To finish, here is some stunning photography from Edward Burtynsky, currently on show at Flowers Central in London. Burtynsky’s photos aim to explore the impact that industry has upon nature, with the Quarries series focusing on mining operations around the world. The exhibition continues until February 2.

Iberia Quarries #3, Bencatel, Portugal 2006, Edward Burtynsky