Jacob All Trades #313
Projections, Red Herrings, NFL, AOC, Warwick v. Tupac, Einstein(s), Deakins, Math, Mice and More
Shabbat Shalom, y’all! And Happy 2023. I ended 2022 by projecting my New Year’s montage onto the abandoned Sears near our house and then watching our kids sleep while my wife went to a party. I know, I know, I’m a wild man.
On January 2nd we walked over to see the Rose Parade, which was pretty cool. I’ve always wanted to go. Also, they apparently don’t do the parade on New Year’s Day if it’s also a Sunday because of Jesus.
I’ve also been thinking about what my creative goals are for 2023 and started a discussion thread on the All Trades chat. Check it out below (mobile only) and join the resolution creative goals discussion!
Or, if you’d like to tell me about your creative goals in the comments section, that works too. I’d love to hear about them!
Party on,
Jacob
HERE’S AN IDEA: ONE RED HERRING PER QUARTER
I work on a lot of projects at the same time. Maybe too many. But, I have a lot of interests and a diverse skill set… so, shrug emoji. I also realized during the pandemic that I’ve spent a lot of my career chasing what people like, or what I think might sell (usually I’m wrong anyway).
Over the decade between my mid-20s and mid-30s, as my desire to be responsible and financially secure increased, I stopped working on projects that were just for me. I had this big epiphany that I was happiest when I was working on at least one project that was just for me. I (somewhat jokingly) call these ‘Red Herring’ projects because they seem like a distraction from the goal.
After two years of that, I’m more creatively fulfilled than I’ve been in a long time but I have so many projects on the back burner. So, this year I’m trying to limit myself to one red herring per quarter. If I can’t finish it in one quarter, I have to table it completely for another three months and pick up something else. Whadya think?
CONSUMPTION JUNCTION
Three things I’ve seen, heard, or otherwise experienced recently that have been on my mind.
I’ve never been one for football anyway, but Jesus Christ the NFL is bad. After it was widely reported (and even challenged and then confirmed) that the NFL wanted to keep the Bills game going after Damar Hamlin’s collapse, this article from mid-2021 started recirculating. The AP article reports that the NFL will stop assuming black athletes have less cognitive function to recover after traumatic brain injuries… which buries the lede that THE NFL THOUGHT BLACK PEOPLE HAD LOWER BRAIN ABILITY THAN WHITE PEOPLE. AND THEY STUCK WITH THAT THINKING UNTIL 2021. AND THEY ONLY STOPPED BECAUSE THEY LOST A BILLION DOLLAR LAWSUIT.
Bad Lip Reading is a HIT MACHINE and they don’t need my help to go viral but I was dying to know what AOC talked to Paul Gosar about so I’m glad they cleared this up. (Also regardless of what’s really being said you can see how pained she is trying to politely exit a conversation with someone she doesn’t want to be anywhere near (remember when he posted animated videos of her being murdered?)
This BuzzFeed News article about former UN Ambassador and musical icon Dionne Warwick gathering a group of ‘90s rappers (including Snoop and Tupac) at her house at the height of their fame is the stuff of legend. Allegedly, she made them call her “bitch” to her face and challenged them to think of how the representation of women in their music affected the treatment of women in real life.
A GOOD LONG READ
I really loved The Fablemans. Immediately after we finished the film I devoured this interview Letterboxd’s Brian Formo did with Tony Kushner about ‘the explosive circumstances under which The Fabelmans gradually came about.’
FUN FACT
Both of these men were named Albert Einstein at birth.
Albert Brooks (left) changed his name when he began in showbiz for obvious reasons. His brother, Bob (Einstein), did not.
BEAUTIFUL DATA
Before seeing this video, I’d never heard of the Riemann Hypothesis – let alone understood it. Now, well, I guess I still barely understand it, but at least I’ve heard of it and this video is a testament to the power of design’s ability to make data captivating.
INSIDE DESIGN
Recently, I laughed during the opening credits of Billions and my wife asked me why. I’ve designed some title sequences and in addition to trying to nail the tone of the show/film without stealing focus – there’s an additional design challenge: everyone’s contracts.
Lead actors get top billing. The more important they are, the earlier they appear in the credits (unless they’re so important they’re saved for the end).
So, what happens when you have multiple big-name actors in a show? Well, sometimes you go alphabetical, sometimes you go highest on the screen, sometimes you go left to right – but if there are two leads in the show, and their teams both insist they get top billing, you get what I like to call the ol’ 7/10 split.
I love imagining the conversations:
“Damian will do the show, but only if he gets top billing.”
“Mr. Giamatti already gets top billing.”
“Okay, they can both have top billing. We’ll put them on the screen at the same time.”
“No. You read left to right, so it would look like Paul’s first and Damian comes second.”
“Well, he does come first – alphabetically. Geee-amatti.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“The alphabet is bullshit?”
“Okay, fine, what if Paul is first left to right but Damian is higher on the screen. Top to bottom Damian is first, but left to right Paul is first.”
[long pause]
“Fine.”
I’d love to know how this practice originated. Maybe I’ll pitch it as a story to 99 Percent Invisible or something and see if I can get paid to investigate.
CREATIVE RESOURCES
There’s a whole series of videos where GOAT DP Roger Deakins breaks down elements of cinematography and they’re all great but here’s the one about lighting.
HERE’S A LITTLE SOMETHING
I’ve been trying to get Wilder into making stop-motion videos with his toys. Here’s a little video we made of one of the Marshmallow Mice exploring our kitchen.
I’m particularly proud of the postures that sell ‘climbing up’ since the mouse figure has such limited range of motion.
Alrighty, that’s it for this week. Feel free to leave a comment or share the newsletter using the links below.
Party on,
Jacob