Creative Resources to Live and Die By
Hi there! It’s Sandy - Director at Nowadays and, more importantly, for the purposes of this blogpost, a firm believer in sharing and talking about literally anything that I love.
I don’t believe in gatekeeping. And why should I? It’s hard enough getting into the creative industries. When I first started, the mountain of obstacles seemed paralysingly intimidating. But it was due to the helping hands, the recommendations and the conversations people were willing to have with me, that eased me into it all. If I could do one thing now, it’s to be that person who’s there to help others too. Now, I think it’s time I gave back in the same way.
Recently, I’ve started seeing a shift - content creators on TikTok, IG Reels and Linkedin are putting forward their knowledge, resources and tools, for anyone and everyone to learn from. At Nowadays, we’ve been doing our little bit by hosting Ask Away Thursdays - an open invitation for those aspiring to work their way through the production industry, to come and ask their burning questions and get our honest opinions!
Seeing all of this inspired me to put together a list of tools and resources that have certainly saved me (and my work). For the more seasoned creatives who’ve been around the block a few hundred times, you may already be familiar with some old favourites like Shotdeck, Filmgrab, Pinterest, Short of the Week and even Deck of Brilliance. These remain a brilliant and an important part of my everyday toolkit, however, here are some additional gems that you may not have clocked!
A masterlist of various filming, animation and editing techniques - Eyecandy includes a breakdown of each technique, and a whole list of gifs for reference too! I’ve definitely used this tool as a way to not only figure out what the hell that one shot is called, but also as a little inspo tool to think of different ways of doing things!
An AI image search engine - simply click on an image you like the look of and travel down a clickthrough rabbit hole to reveal more images of a similar style. Same.energy has come through so many times when I’ve needed to collect moodboard imagery.
A search engine that uses AI collate and presents a list of stills and shots that depict whatever you’re searching for. You get a couple of free searches, or you can subscribe to their Basic plan for 14.90 euros a month. Even with a limited free use, Flim’s been pretty handy in helping me figure out what films and references have the look I’m going for.
A handy tool for image searching and moodboards. This tool collates images from around the web and categorises them based on your selected colour palette. As a previous designer, this tool has been handy for any moodboards and colour schemes I’ve pulled together. Particularly useful for art direction!
Ever wondered where you heard that one line from that one thing? Yarn.co comes through! Simply search a phrase and you’ll get a collection of clips from film and TV that have said that exact line. I’ve so far only used this for fun honestly, but you can see the appeal should you need to check whether your lines are overused or not!
A handy tool for those in advertising - Spectacle sorts ads into different categories. You can filter results based on the style, mood, industry and more! I’ve used Spectacle for more specific advertising and commercial reference searching, the filters definitely help!
I’m hoping any creatively road-blocked people out there can breathe a slight sigh of relief as they stumble upon these resources. There’s loads more out there too - feel free to drop your rec’s as well! And hey, if you’ve got more questions, maybe check out our next Ask Away Thursday that’s coming up in November!
Over and out!
Sandy xoxo
Lights, Camera, Accolades!
Dust off the shelves folks, we’ve got awards coming out our ears!
Well, not really, that would hurt. But we have had a few significant wins for our work recently and we’d love to take a moment to share with you all.
Firstly, our film ‘Hidden Opportunity’ for Impetus was entered into the EVCOM Clarion Awards under two categories, and came away with awards for both. The EVCOM Clarions celebrate true excellence across cause-driven corporate film, live events and experiences, so it's fantastic to be recognised for our work in this field. ‘Hidden Opportunity’ picked up a highly commended in Brand Communications, and a gold in Social Welfare.
We also picked up quite a few trophies at the Telly Awards. This one is a global award competition which honours excellence in video and television across all screens, and we've collected not one, not two…but 7 awards for our films! As well as winning big at EVCOM, ‘Hidden Opportunity’ picked up a silver in Directing and two golds for Social Impact & Cause Marketing at the Tellys.
Our side project, Wigmakers, was recognised with two Silver trophies for Videography and Short Form Documentary. First premiering at our Nowadays relaunch/15th birthday party, Wigmakers is a short form documentary about how two individuals’ experience of loss led to an unexpected change in career direction. It was directed by Jon Beagley, Nowadays Editor-turned-director, and the result.. Well, we are pretty big fans of it! Check it out below.
Last but certainly not least, our film with NSPCC about online safety picked up a silver in Public interest/awareness and a gold in Cause marketing.
In this campaign, we worked with the NSPCC to start conversations about the dangers of abuse to children via online portals, whether that be through gaming, chat rooms, or social media. 1 in 5 children are internet users and NSPCC recognises how extremely important and urgent it is to make those online spaces safe, especially when tech companies are prioritising clicks over child safety.
That’s it from us! As always, a huge shout-out to the crew/talent/team whose hard work made it happen.
If you’d like to see more from us, you can see our latest work here.
Smiley Charity Film Award Finalists
Exciting news has been travelling around the Nowadays Studio as the rumour trickled in that we are finalists for not one, but two of our films in this years Smiley Charity Film Awards.
The Smiley Charity Film Awards are purely for the the charity sector and their cause-based films. All films are scored by an expert panel of judges on cinematography, script, acting, emotional response and concept. Although we do occasionally throw our hat in the ring and enter our own work for awards, for the Smiley Charity Awards, the work has to be entered by the charity who commissioned the film. Both Scout’s and NSPCC have entered our work in the long-form category, meaning not only are we double finalists, we’ve also got a a bit of a Nowadays showdown going on!
For the first Nowadays finalist, we worked with NSPCC to bring everyone the story of ‘Pantasourus’ with Natalie Dormer as our narrator. We created a set that invited the young viewers to feel right at home - working with vibrantly coloured props and furniture, even adding guest appearances from other adorable animals sitting in on Natalie’s performance.
Our second finalist is the Scout’s Remembrance Day Film. Scouts asked us to help mark the 100th Poppy Appeal anniversary with a very special video - and that’s exactly what it turned out to be. This was a conversation between three generations: a World War II veteran, a 10 year old Scout, and the Duchess of Cambridge, all talking about the importance of remembrance. A very memorable shoot for the Nowadays Team indeed.
Last year we were very grateful to receive first place in our category at the Smiley Charity Film Awards for our Scouts Ambassadors video. Featuring some of the U.K.s most well known hero’s, if you haven’t watch it yet - you can check that out here. As for this year, we’ll be crossing our fingers and toes until the awards are announced on the 21st of March (and who knows, maybe it’ll be a tie!).
As always, massive thanks, to the crew/talent/team/clients who made these films a reality.
Spring Nearly Summer Awards Update!
Spring is fully sprung and Summer is just around the corner and we’ve just got some great awards-based put-a-spring-in-your-step news to share.
First off, we’ve been shortlisted at the EVCOM Clarion Awards. The Clarions are right up our street and celebrate cause-driven films and a bunch of stuff that really matters, so we were particularly chuffed to be shortlisted for four of our films: Frontline (NSPCC), AMR is Now (FAIRR), DofE and Made Me (both for Scouts). Feel free to give those a watch whilst we wait on the final results!
But the real spring awakening was hearing this week that we’d been awarded not one, but five silvers at the Telly Awards!
The first film to collect its silverware was No Fixed Address recognised in Branded Content: Social Responsibility. In this mini doc we share the story of a man named Corky and his journey into and out of homelessness. We partnered with Guardian Labs and HSBC UK on this one who are working with local housing and homelessness charities to provide a bank account to people with no fixed address.
Our next winner was AMR Is Now awarded in Branded Content: financial services and the Public Interest and Awareness category. This film was created for AMR (antimicrobial resistance) week to raise awareness of the emerging crisis surrounding the use of antibiotics in factory farming. With just a week from ideation to delivery we have to thank the quality chop house, editor Ned Champain for turning around the edit.
Last summer, in the midst of the pandemic we worked on an important piece with our long-time friends at the NSPCC. Our film Frontline was made in response to an unprecedented upswing in the need to support children who have been affected in isolation. Our aim with this film was to portray a dynamic NSPCC whose frontline services are still here for children as the Covid crisis entered a critical new phase. This film was awarded in two categories: Promotional video: Social Impact and Not-For-Proft.
As always, we are very thankful to all the sensitive cast, crew and clients involved in every stage of our filmmaking process, and we can't wait to see what we work on together next.
'What Made Me'?
Last year Scouts asked us to stop by their annual Christmas lunch to film with a group of their top Ambassadors (think British adventurers, Paralympian swimmers, pole-trekkers, the list goes on…) and tell the story of how Scouts had impacted their lives over the years.
Jade Slaughter, a Senior Creative Producer at Scouts told us it was the first time they’d ever brought together such a wide range of Ambassadors and we felt pretty lucky to meet them all in one go. Thankfully, they’re all individuals more than used to working in high pressure situations because we had to move very quickly to pull it together.
So, who’s actually in the film? Bear Grylls, Megan Hine, Helen Glover, Ed Stafford, Dwayne Fields, Ellie Simmons and Steve Backshall. Oh, and we only had twelve minutes with each individual! When it comes to working with Scouts it was very much a challenge accepted.
The biggest mountain to climb was the lighting. With only five minutes between interviews and seven different people to film (and everyone’s “good side” to factor in), we had to find a clever way to avoid resetting the whole operation again and again.
Becca doing an excellent job of standing in ahead of the Ambassador’s arrivals.
In true Scouting fashion, we manufactured a lighting setup that was built out of three sets of scaffolds and very much worthy of a DIY award. It saved heaps of time and, frankly, made us feel like we’d earned ourselves a brand new Scouts badge. We’ll also hand it to Director of Photography Tim Fok for working impressively fast and making everyone look suitably impressive.
The icing on the cake was Jade reflecting on the film, “Each [ambassador] has been on an impressive personal journey, demonstrating the huge range of skills and values – including resilience, courage, and kindness ... With their usual storytelling expertise and beautiful cinematography, 3angrymen have captured that.”
It felt great to push ourselves to find creative solutions on the shoot day. We loved working with a group of people who have clearly pushed the boundaries, travelled far and wide and had their own share of ‘close shaves’ over the years. A pretty big hit of motivation heading into 2020! If you fancy taking a look, you can find the full film here.
Stay angry.
3
Creativepool Top 10
2020 has definitely been one for Black-Mirror-esque Debbie Downer distractions, so when the news pinged into our inboxes that Creativepool had served up their Top 10 Production Agencies and that we were one of them, we were extra-specially chuffed!
Every year Creativepool awards and celebrates the latest and greatest in the creative industry in their coveted Annual. Over the years we’ve been lucky enough to snatch some of the awards and have been consistently featured in the CP annual (this is our 4th year in a row - not that we’re counting!), but this is the first time we have made it to the Top 10 of anything!
To add a little icing sugar to the top of the Top Ten cake, our film ‘Actually I Can’ for Leonard Cheshire picked up a fabulous bronze award for Best Production. If you missed Actually I Can, you can watch it here, it’s a beauty and we’re dead proud of it.
Of course, you don’t get to win film awards or get rated a top production company without a bunch of help from brilliant crew, talent and clients - so thanks as always to them. And an extra thanks to the lovely people at @creativepool for continuing to recognise our work and commitment to connect talent and champion creativity.
Shout out to all the other nominations and winners of the Creativepool Annual Awards 2020!
To check out the full 2020 Annual shortlist and read more about the work, go here.
Bronze, Silver AND Gold!
Now there’s an intriguing title, right? Bet you can’t guess what this post is about… Well, there are only so many ways you can announce that you’ve won another award (or, in this case, three!) but hey, we’re not going to let that get in our way.
The Evcom Clarion Awards celebrate the best CSR based work, which in layman’s terms roughly translates to work that is about doing good for society. So not the latest and greatest, Ray Winston-est Bet365 advert, nor the most innovative campaign for signing up child soldiers. We’re talking about companies doing their bit, giving something back, telling those sort of stories.
Last year we were very grateful to receive a Silver Clarion for our Every Day TVC for the NSPCC. And around the same time, not long after we had unwrapped our lovely wooden award and popped it on the shelf, we started work on the two projects that have gone on to win this time around.
The first of these, winner of Gold for Brand Communication, was Actually I Can for disabilities charity Leonard Cheshire. The film we made told the story of Charlie, a young man in a wheelchair and his journey from “I can’t” to “I can”. You can read more about the project and watch a sweet behind the scenes film over here.
It turned out to be a very productive Autumn for us as we also began working with Guardian Labs, developing a piece of branded content about homelessness for HSBC. The final film, No Fixed Address focused on the many obstacles standing in the way of a recovery from becoming homeless, not least having to manage everything with cash. Again, you can find out more on this handy little blogpost we prepared earlier.
The film ended up picking up Silver in Brand Communication (pipped by our Leonard Cheshire film) and Bronze in the Social Welfare category.
All in all a very proud day for us here at 3angrymen. We’re on a mission to make films that matter so getting recognised at an industry awards that champions doing good means a lot. Thanks, as always, to the crew/talent/team/clients who made the films a reality.