Jam Donut 2010!

Jam Donut from Jono Sandilands on Vimeo.

This week I've been having fun with my new camera on a little promo project for 'Jam Donut 2010' which is a BMX & Skate session in Lerwick next month.

The whole idea of 'Jam Donut' is for it to be fun and to raise awareness for the need of a skatepark, as well as a heap of competitions and of course, skating.

I got asked to do a poster for the event but I had a great idea for a little promo video for it too. At first I wanted to take slow motion footage of a doughnut being shot by a pellet gun, but this proved to be a bit too ambitious. So I rethought the idea with more brainstorming and came up with the wheel crushing the doughnut and jam oozing everywhere.

So after digging out my old, cheap BMX and giving it a bit of a clean up, inflation of tires and a trip to the shop for a load of reduced jam doughnuts, I set the shot up...

First attempt - on my own - camera rolling - focus in on the first doughnut - climb up on table - pick up bike (of course I planned to edit this) - BAM! ... flat doughnut, no jam, nothing ... BAM! ... "oooh a little bit. Maybe it'l do, see how it looks..." Rubbish. Clean up. Reshoot.

Second attempt - on my own again - pot of jam from cupboard, knife and spoon - open top of doughnut - fill - cover with part of first doughnut - camera rolling - up on table again - BAM! ... some jam comes out top and side, under wheel. Doh!

Third attempt - Dad onboard (I'm living at home again for now) to help the bamming and jamming up. - Dad proceeds to cut a huge slit and spoon half a jar of jam into side of doughnut - ridiculous jam oozing doughnut - dad up on table - me dedicated camera man - BAM! - does a backflip somehow - still intact - BAM! doughnut basically opens and gives full view of jam. ha ha. We're getting there...

Attempt four - Bit of problem solving from my Dad - "wonder if it would work better heated up" - BINGO - these are old doughnuts - the heat will make them nice and soft again - yusss - Now we're on fire - using hole in side of doughnut, fill with jam using DIY pipette - microwave - hot! hot! - extra filling of jam after heat - BAM! woooaw! Ha ha! Jam explosion just missing the camera and landing on the floor behind - that worked toooo good! "Ok one more, we're going to nail it..."

Fifth and final doughnut - hot again - extra, extra filling jam - but this time, no sudden force (or BAM!) - Perfect! Check out the video.

Nothing like help from your Dad and a bit of trial and error! Thanks Dad!

Other info: Text added in After Effects.
Audio: Teenage Bottlerocket - Skate or Die.

Edit: Just adding the poster thats going around shops etc...

Promote Shetland Process

My latest completed project was to produce a set of illustrations to be featured in the themed itineraries of Promote Shetland's 2010 Pocket Guide.

The guide will be quite unusual, quirky and something that people would want to keep as a souvenir of Shetland. The publication will be predominantly pre-arrival material and will be Promote Shetland's main marketing tool aside the web. (www.shetland.org)

Promote Shetland asked me to come along and present to them some concepts for possible styles that could work in the guide. They had quite liked the work and the papercut style I achieved whilst working on the Gman: Contemporary Craft project, which had been seen around Shetland Museum & Archives where Promote Shetland are based.

Straight away I knew that a handcut paper style would suit what they were looking for. I thought I would experiment with a random 'Shetland scene' - trying to achieve a 3D depth of field with layers of paper - some textured/patterned - built up on top of each other.

You can see what I was trying to do with the scene, didn't really work fully as intended, but the piece still allowed me to show the concept, and I could physically show how the idea could work with development and studio photography.

I also presented a really rough mock of another idea using blocked out shapes and text, using another random 'Shetland scene' - for example purposes.

The team at Promote Shetland agreed for me to take this concept forward for each of the five themed itineraries: Bird Watching & Nature, Island Hopping, Walking, Archaeology and Shetland with Kids.

I worked on tightening up the style and kept a consistency throughout for the final papercut pieces.

Each papercut started life as a quick rough sketch of the idea, then drawn out and traced backwards onto GFSmith Colourplan White paper and delicately cut. I always find it interesting looking at the original sketches for other designers and illustrators so here are some sketches:



It was important to really concentrate as some parts of the original drawing were wrong and had to change as I cut, because of technical issues, keeping the image together. Sometimes if I went ahead and made a cut, I would loose an integral part of the papercut, so I always had to be one step ahead and be prepared to be flexible with the image. I feel this really helped the final pieces.

When I receive a copy of the guide I will post pictures of how Promote Shetland's designers took the papercuts and applied them to the style of the whole Pocket Guide. I found it quite intriguing to see how another designer worked with them. I will pick up on that when I post the finals.
Thanks for looking.

The Hurt Locker Screenprint

Today I screenprinted The Hurt Locker poster with assistance from Andrew Morrison. Very pleased with how the prints turned out.

Edition: 16
Size: A4

War is a Drug

With news of movie The Hurt Locker being successful at this years Oscar awards this week, it seemed perfect time to publicise Shetland Arts' screening of the movie later this month.

The Hurt Locker opens with a quote: "The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug". The quote comes from the 2002 best-selling book War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, by New York Times war correspondent and journalist, Chris Hedges.

Below is my process and final, rejected poster for the film. (They would prefer to use the existing artwork for marketing)