Tuesday, August 10, 2010
CultureLab featured on Fox 4 News-Dallas
Positive things continue to happen for us; CultureLab is very blessed. Here is the video of the news story that ran last night, hope you enjoy!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Revisiting '09 Predictions::Lo Fi Storytelling+Inception
We work hard to stay versed in all things related to global urban culture, creative aesthetics, and technology. This posting aligns with what we are passionate about in taking notice of the trends that impact marketing, product development, entertainment, and pop culture.
Almost two years ago, CultureLab published its list of trends to watch in 2009. Three of those 2009 trend predictions relate to this post. Specifically predictions #14, #15 and # 18:
2009 Trend Predictions
"#14 Renaissance of creativity in business, politics, music, and entertainment: watch for new music genres, new art forms, new ideaologies, and new ways of film-making"
"#15 Low budget but creative aesthetic in fashion, film, and music, “Thrift Chic”
"#18 The role of narrative and storytelling will grow in all art forms and advertising/promotional outreach"
The last couple of weeks I have been spending a little time researching aesthetics as it relates to web design and music video, and it hit me that we were pretty much dead on in our predictions from 2 years ago. CultureLab knew that we were in a severely depressed economy and that the creative world could not escape the impact of the macro economic climate.
Web Design
Web design is being democratized and less Flash focused. Wordpress and the thousands of affordable templates made available, provide people with the tools to have beautiful web pages without the investment of $400 an hour web designers. Also due to the popularity of the iPhone, web design has to be viewable in Mobile OS and thus less layering of flash elements.
Web design is also getting simpler: less bells and whistles, more photograph heavy, clean design, and social media focused. Take note of the redos of:
Creative Control
LA Times
Dallas based streetwear brand Unkommon Kolor
Inception
Two years ago CultureLab did focus groups for General Mills and Saatchi NY. Most of the subjects were teens from the La Guardia School of the Performing Arts in NYC. I was amazed at how they all seemed to thrive off of the notion of complex storytelling. Narrative and storytelling meant everything to them.
Fast forward to 2010 and the prominent role of storytelling has taken off relating to brands, commercials, and entertainment. It was no surprise to me that Inception was one of the top films of the summer with its storytelling complexity, multiple narratives, and deep dive into the science of sleep. Christopher Nolan proved with Dark Knight that he is the 21st century storyteller and the financial results of his movies speak for themselves.
Lo Fi Storytelling
Finally, the collapse of the recording industry has decreased the budgets of many artists for music videos but as they say, you can’t keep a good artist down. Erykah Badu’s new video with Rick Ross is proof in the pudding of our prediction that storytelling and a “thrift chic”aesthetic would rise to the top. Directed by the lo fi production duo of Coodie and Chike (pronounced Chee-Kay), Erykah proves again that a fascinating storyline is what you need to keep people interested. This video is a continuation of the controversial Window Seat/Get Munny video and see for yourself what good lo fi storytelling is all about:
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