Felix Baumgartner: The Real Superman.

“Alright now, the whole world is watching now. I wish you could see, what I can see. Sometimes you have to get up really high to understand how small you are. I’m going home now.”

Muhammad Ali X Yasiin Bey (X Louis Vuitton)

In the words of Hypebeast "There stands only a handful of hip-hop emcees who have been able to successful transcend the musical culture and find high-fashion relevance. Yasiin Bey is one that immediately comes to mind as a longstanding personality known just as much for his outspoken position in the culture as well as his smooth flowing rhymes."

Yasiin Bey's (aka Mos Def) latest demonstration of his talents is a couple of short performances of quotes by a man with just as sharp and smart tongue, Muhammad Ali. Though not perhaps in the same league, there are many similar traits between Bey and Ali; provocative, mindful, intelligent, witty and semantically superb.

Louis Vuitton "Word" - Directed by Stuart McIntyre from Steam Films on Vimeo.

Bey brings such energy to the show, it feels like Ali is in the room. Credit also has to go to Stuart McIntyre for the direction of the video as the mood and pace perfectly reflects the speeches. Not entirely sure what Louis Vuitton have to do with this, but it's something...

Louis Vuitton "Dream" - Directed by Stuart McIntyre from Steam Films on Vimeo.

Vans X The Diggest: NYC

There's a lot to appreciate in this video, some amazing riding, great soundtrack and some lovely shots. But what I really like in this Vans film is the feel of it. You can feel New York City through it. The realness, the grit, the feel that the city is yours for the taking. And that is a direct reflection of the brand and of BMXing, making the film a real natural fit between the three, which makes it all the genuine.

Prada X Ben Kingsley X Helen Bonham Carter X Roman Polanski

For Prada's latest project, a short film, they decided to go all out and get actors Ben Kingsley and Helen Bonham Carter to team up with Polish director Roman Polanski. In a beautifully considered and carefully put together piece, Bonham Carter goes to see her pyschiatrist Kinglsey who fails to listen to her but instead falls for her Prada coat. In a slightly bizarre scene he finds the coat irresistible and simply must try it on. Despite a dodgy end line, a lovely piece of content by the fashion house.

Jamie XX X Quayola: Structures.

Enigmatic producer Jamie xx is at the forefront of contemporary musical experimentation. Jamie xx has created iconic remixes of Adele and Florence & The Machine, as well as finding the time to make the critically acclaimed remix album ‘We’re New Here’ with the legendary
Gil Scott Heron.

For RizLab Project 1, 'Structures', Jamie xx has been collaborating with multimedia artist Quayola, whom he has long admired. Their work will culminate in an exclusive live event in Shoreditch on 22nd September. If you weren't lucky enough to win tickets, we will be capturing the event and posting here on RizLab - so check back soon.

Looks like a great project here from Rizla.

Danny MacAskill: Original Trickster.

There's many things to admire about Danny MacAskill, there is his blind determination to try new things, the sheer precisions of his riding, the beauty of his videos and even the music choice in the form of Ben Howard. But what I admire most about the rider is his ability and drive to find new and original places to show of his abilities all across the world. It really makes his videos and his tricks so much more interesting and impressive. Good show.

Danny MacAskill Does Cape Town.

There are hundreds of thousands of trial and BMX videos out there by thousands of different riders, but for me what sets Danny MacAskill apart is the quality of the videos. This quality is largely enhanced by the beautiful and unique locations that are picked for his videos. Far from the local skatepark or the local city center at night, Danny decides to ride the Scottish Highlands, or the rough streets of Cape Town. For this project by Leica cameras, Danny MacAskill proves what he does best, riding fences, jumping buildings and bridges, and a few little bunny hops.

Nike 6.0: The Pool

This is what Nike is all about, and what other brands need to take notice from. Nike combine the talent of professional sportsmen to put on an event that is watched by the immediate community, but is then shared around the world for all to watch. It is this knowledge of their target audience and the skill to produce what they want to see that puts Nike up with the top brands in the world.

In their latest project, for their 6.0 department, they decided to covert Dagenham's local swimming pool into a skatepark and they get some very, very good BMXers to rip it up. Seriously some of the tricks are insane. Watch.

"It's almost like letting yourself fall in love a little bit everyday".

Scott Schumann is the face, behind the camera, behind the fashion blog The Sartorialist. For those unaware of the blog, The Sartorialist is one of the most popular fashion blogs that features blogging in it's most simplistic format, pictures, and nothing else. The pictures are simple glimpses and spots by Scott as he wonders the streets for fashion finds that intrigue and inspire visitors and feed into hundreds of comments per post. I love these mini documentaries as you find our a little bit more behind the man or women behind something that you admire and it can give you that little bit of inspiration or insight into how to achieve your goals.

From an advertising perspective, the link between Intel and The Sartorialist appears to be somewhat tenuous but associating themselves with one of the true influencers of the internet and fashion culture is smart. It's more than getting Kate Moss or Emma Watson to appear in an advert, it's building an association via content that people want to watch because it interests and entertains them, it is the very essence of what advertising is to me. Also the slogan "A Visibly Smart Film" is, er, smart.

Anyways, watch.

Red Bull: Way Back Home ft Danny MacAskill

Following the Youtube success of Inspired Bicycles, Red Bull took Danny MacAskill back to his hometown of the Isle of Skye. It features him tricking over all different parts from city centers to desolate locations, all beautifully captured:



This video is pretty stunning. The locations, quality of filming and pretty tidy tricks from Danny all add up to something special. I've got a lot of time for branded documentaries, it's a great idea for a brand to attach themselves to usually a culturally significant person and it provides audiences with something of real interest to watch and share. Being the village boy that I am, I'm also a fan of seeing people going back to their roots as a completely different person, yet deep down still the same. It's nice.

"I love it when a talk plan comes together"

A favourite ad campaign of mine, over the past few years has been Orange's work with films, the "Don't let a mobile phone ruin your movie" campaign. In the latest offering Orange join up with The A-Team to bring you The O-Team (apologies for poor quality):



In the trailer we discover that Mr T doesn't have to get in a plane after all and that Hannibal loves it "when a talk-plan comes together". This adverts are always funny and fresh for each film, poking fun at their own corporate image and often actors and films at the same time. A great partnership.

Music Monday 14.

Kid Cud/Rostam Batmanglij/Bethany Cosentino - All Summer



As the title may suggest, this is yet another song made for the summer. Converse have dragged together Kid Cudi, Rostam Batmanlij (Vampire Weekend) and Bethany Cosentino (Best Coast) and asked them to kindly produce a song for them. Which they did. Cudi's and Cosentino's voices work well with each other, the drone of Cudi and the excited poppy Cosentino, with Batmanlij on drums, it sounds very rather nice. Plus it's a great video, I want a big cardboard head of my own.

Kano - Upside



The UK hip-hop scene is not my favourite place to be, however I've been a fan of a lot of the stuff that Kano has produced in recent years, not all of it, but some of it. Upside features the lovely voice of Michelle Breeze on the chorus as Kano raps the verses, a big contrast, but it really works. This song is going to get some big radio play. (Apologies for 1 Xtra chatting all over the song)

Swedish House Mafia - One



The song has been out for a little while now but I only caught the video this weekend. And I love it. This is a track that is just begging for a big club type video, although it does that in some sense, it does so much more. There's an amazing use of colour and shots and imagery in the video, that sets it apart from every other dance video, whilst staying true to what the song is for.

Kid Cudi X Converse

Kid Cudi. Legend.

Jay-Z and Absolut: Everybody wins.

After seeing a cheeky clip of this mini documentary, there has been a lot of hype for this mini documentary. In just 15 mins, there's interviews with Jay-Z, clips of him rehearsing for his September 11th charity gig, as well as the big man drinking...yes, you guessed it, Absolut.

I think this is a great piece of branded content. Not only was it intelligently leaked and teased to audiences over the past couple of weeks, Absolut have produced something that people actually want to watch. To me, this is the key for the future of advertising. Doing a dissertation on virals, I am really beginning to understand the need to produce content that consumers want to watch and share with their friends. Who cares if there's 30 seconds of Hova drinking some vodka, the rest is really great footage.

Enjoy the stunning and clever filmography in black and white, as Jay-Z does what he does best, talk sense and rap sense. Well done Absolut.