Eliza Struthers-Jobin

D’un coté, un groupe de hip-hop burkinabé “Playerz” et d’un autre coté l’équipe Check-in films.

En commun, l’envie de réaliser un clip vidéo en Afrique.

10 jours au Burkina Faso; réflexion, préparation; repérages dans les rues de Ouagadougou; castings sauvages, tournage marathon en RED Epic de jours et de nuit.

Mélangez tout cela avec une grande dose d’excitation, de motivation, de débrouillardise, de belles rencontres humaines, et ça vous donne une idée du prochain projet de clip en cours de réalisation par Check-in Films, en partenariat avec la société Silice Events du Burkina Faso.”

Vous trouverez ici un lien vers notre album making of.

Sortie du film prévue Fin mars 2012.

Check-in films est actuellement en preparation du tournage d’un clip de musique pour le groupe burkinabé “PLAYERZ”.

À travers ce clip nous nous plongeons dans le quotidien de la rue à Ouagadougou.
Découvertes des petits métiers et de la débrouillardise locale au rendez-vous.

Tournage de jour et de nuit prévu du Vendredi 3 au Dimanche 5 Février, fin de semaine chargée en perspective. Photos making-of a suivre en debut de semaine prochaine.

À bientôt,

The Check-in crew…

En espérant que les Mayas aient fait fausse route, les Check-in’s vous souhaitent une excellente année 2012, et bien d’autres à suivre!

2012 est bel est bien entamée. Au menu en ce début d’année, clips, documentaires et instits, avec des tournages au Kenya, Burkina et au Royaume-Uni.

Ainsi que le lancement de notre nouveau site. Stay tuned!

Quand l’Afrique relève les défis de la gestion de l’eau

Du 7 au 12 Mars 2012 se tiendra à Marseille le 6ème Forum Mondial de l’Eau, un lieu de débats et d’échanges sur les questions relevant d’un meilleur accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement.

C’est dans ce cadre que Check-in Films proposera en partenariat avec l’Institut International d’ingénierie de l’eau et de l’environnement (établissement situé à Ouagadougou au Burkina Faso) une installation vidéo offrant une vision pédagogique, poétique et scientifique des défis qui sont relevés dans le domaine de l’eau sur le continent.

Habitants, jeunes étudiants et chercheurs témoignerons sur la réalité qu’ils côtoient et les travaux qu’ils mènent sur les questions de gestion de la ressource, de distribution, de qualité et d’assainissement.

L’installation prendra la forme d’un triptyque vidéo, formant un ensemble synchronisé sur trois écrans. Le tournage a commencé début décembre, et se poursuit principalement au Burkina Faso et éventuellement au Ghana. Suivez son évolution sur notre blogue!

CHECK-IN FILMS est fier d’annoncer sa participation au “Deauville Green Awards”, premier festival international du film corporate pour
l’écologie et le développement durable.

Notre documentaire “The Antarctic Ozone Hole • From Discovery to Recovery” réalisé pour le PNUE (Programme des Nations Unies pour l’Environnement) est inscrit dans la catégorie “CLIMAT”.

Cet événement aura lieu le 12 et 13 Avril 2012 Deauville.

Si vous n’avez pas encore vu le documentaire, visionnez le en cliquant [ici]

Cette semaine nous avons deux coups de coeur pour vous!

Après “Lonely Boy”, “Run Right Back” 2ème titre du prochain album des Black Keys “El Camino” produit par Danger Mouse. Sortie prévue le 5 Décembre.

The Black Keys – Run Right Back by The Black Keys

Et la petite cover de la semaine par la jeune anglaise Birdy.

Birdy – 1901 (Phoenix Cover) by Hypetrak

Nous avons trois coups de coeur cette semaine!

Commençons avec un peu de bon son :

Comme on est Vendredi, un petit son electro pop pour l’apero avec cet excellent remix des suédois Nicky & The Dove par Josh Legg aka Goldroom

Niki & The Dove – Mother Protect (Goldroom Remix) by Goldroom

Et pour dimanche, une belle reprise du tube de Robert Palmer par le duo californien Kisses

Johnny and Mary (Robert Palmer Cover) by Kisses

The Carpenter, la première d’une série de courts métrages sur les métiers de la fabrication est apparu il y a quelques semaines. Nous restons toujours aussi captivés par les choix de plans et un graphisme bien attachant.

Bienvenue sur notre nouvelle rubrique “Check this out” !

Retrouvez chaque semaine nos inspirations et nos coups de coeur vidéos et musicaux du moment.

Pour cette première sélection, Alexis notre DA musical nous fait redécouvrir un morceau du groupe britannique The Heavy datant de 2009, savoureux mélange de rock et de soul.

Sinon, on adore la nouvelle pub de Rip Curl. Tournée entièrement avec des caméras GoPro, la vidéo réussit un effet 3D étonnant. Voyez par vous même:

Le mois de Novembre s’annonce chargé chez CHECK-IN FILMS.

L’équipe parisienne est en pleine préparation et coordination des projets à venir:

Prestation lightpainting, tournage floral, animations 3D, film sur la collaboration d’ingénieurs en France et en Inde. Nous croisons les doigts sur la validation d’un tournage express de 5 jours à Bali à la fin du mois.

 

Du coté de notre bureau Africain ça ne chôme pas non plus, Thibault est parti pour 10 jours d’aventure dans la brousse burkinabé pour un reportage avec l’organisation internationale “Action Contre la Faim”.

Quelque part au Burkina Faso

 

Enfin, nous profitons de ce post pour vous présenter la nouvelle recrue CHECK-IN FILMS: Eliza Struthers Jobin.
Après 6 mois de stage, cette charmante canadienne de 26 ans spécialisée en audiovisuel, web et multimédia rejoint les rangs de l’équipe CHECK-IN.

Eliza Struthers Jobin/Check-in crew

 

Eliza, acceuillie par Philip & Lulu (mascotte du bureau CHECK-IN FILMS/DCONTRACT)

 

I know I usually steer clear of posting other people’s work on my blog, but I just couldn’t help myself. In the form of some Monday morning inspiration, I give you the Living with a Lion editorial. They just don’t make them like this anymore! I have no idea what the background is on these images (if anyone one does, please do share) but they appeared in an issue of Life Magazine in the 1970′s.

While I can’t vouch for the conditions the lion(s) were treated to during this shoot, I can at least be left with a sense of wonder upon seeing the pictures. Most of the time I feel a little gross looking at wild animals in editorials because of how they’re being portrayed and/or used.

But the idea of a giant animal – the king of the jungle! – taking up with your average american family, is just completely spellbinding to me, and it evokes more than a few of my own childhood fantasies. Blame it on C.S Lewis (or the t.v adaptation of his book The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe,) but at nine years old I could wholeheartedly imagine myself being bff’s with Aslan. Sharing secrets, having sleepovers… The whole deal.

What can I say. All kids are strange and weird in their own way. Happy Monday.

I spent a whirlwind 48 hours in London recently, rubbing shoulders with economic big wigs (Bridget Rosewell is one very smart woman,) and many an Olympic site planner/chair/manager. London’s 2012 Olympic Games are just around the corner, and this past week’s jaunt across the pond can be credited to a very interesting conference about the legacy that these games will leave on the city.

Hosted by the Vinci’s City Factory, speakers reiterated one after another that the games would not leave behind desolated sports arenas once the crowds dissipate and all the fanfair is over. China boasted on of the best Games ever, but now the various sites that were built (to the detriment of a number of historic Beijing communities lest we forget,) just sit there gathering dust…

London plans to avoid this by turning to what many would call the more sketchy part of the city, East London, into the official Olympic grounds. But what’s interesting here isn’t that they’re setting up major sports infrastructure in an area that looked like a wasteland until quite recently. It’s that an olympic comitee has finally considered that once the Games are over, crowds the size of the ones drawn to the Games do not manifest themselves again, ever.

Designs for the arenas and sports locales include modifiable buildings. Parts of the infrastructure – entire seating sections, walls and portions of buildings – will be taken down post-Games and shipped off (the comitee hopes,) to Barcelona for the next Summer Games. Landscapes will change too, with bridges becoming narrower once the masses leave, for example.

In some cases, entire arenas will dissapear. In others, sports complexes will be modified so that everyone can enjoy the facility, and not just the pros (the BMX center for instance… Jumps and circuits will be modified and made more accessible).

A few interesting ideas about the social impact to be felt post-Games were also thrown around. I for one have my fingers crossed that the analysts are right, and that the reinvigoration of East London will raise the “life chance” (aka social status) of those living around the grounds (Hackney area for example…) giving the kids growing up around there the infrastructure they need to be on par with the rest of the London crowd.

I don’t know if East London will become “London’s new center”, but it was certainly interesting to hear some intelligent reflexion about money, infrastructure, power and development an how each pertains to an area completely modified for the games. Let’s hope that London’s Olympic legacy is a good one, because their logo certainly isn’t (zing!)

Stellar Distance whosawhat?

Now that my intelligent-but-curious sounding title has got your attention, I hereby give you a recap of the last few days of my life! Don’t feel cheated now, there are free goodies to be had if you read all the way through.

*Ahem*

The last few days have been a weird amalgamations of time, the kind where hours flow into one another but moments pass at a snails pace. It being a Sunday, and me being in France, (thus everything being closed,) today seemed the perfect day to take a moment and get some ideas – of which I have a tone these days – down on paper.

For those of you who follow my tweets, a proper recap of my recent 48 hours in London was part of my Sunday “moment of reflection,” and should be going up later this week.

Otherwise, I’ve been itching to try a little animation. Besides a quickie stop motion video I did a few weeks ago, further experiments in that realm will no doubt start as soon as I can get my hands on a tripod and jot down the semblance of a storyline. To be continued… (excited!)

Gathering my thoughts at La Bellette in Montmartre

I’ve also been coming across a slew of really free resources online lately. No really. (See?? Goodies!!) So if you’re into the whole “self-teaching” thing, or are just curious about random topics like say… Quadratic Inequalities, or perhaps you’ve been wondering about Stellar Distance Using Parallax hmm? Khan Academy is worth a peak. There are slightly more accessible topics to check out too: art history, geography, current economics, chemistry, and world history for example.

If you’re itiching to easily learn code, I highly recommend loosing a few hours to CodeAcademy, where computer-speak becomes just easy enough that it’s fun! For budding web designers, there’s also Don’t Fear The Internet, which provides a great overview of what all the HTML and CSS jargon people keep talking about is.

My other go-to favorite is Method & Craft, which I’m sure many of you are already familiar with. But just in case you’re not, it’s a site devoted to the method and craft (duh…) behind graphic design. Interviews, videos and tutorials abound, there are hours of Photoshop secrets and InDesign shortcuts to learn on here.

Last but not least, the most recent addition to my rss feed : A List Apart which features articles and anlysis that will prove interesting to anyone who has ever designed a website.

The multifaceted nerd: Wired, Elle Collections and Monocle.

Reading material for the Eurostar home last week.

Sunday morning in Paris: a pancake breakfast in Montmartre. All the fixens were present – orange juice, coffee, tea, fruit, bacon, pancakes of course, and a can (the kind you have to pierce to make a spout) of Quebec maple syrup. We showed a couple of Frenchies what brunch is all about.

Sunday afternoon in Paris: big, blue, empty skies, freezing cold, humid air, and four riders crazy enough to head over to Bercy and ride on the elevated cement blocks that circle the stadium. We chassed the sun for a bit and finally decided to just ride off the cold. Three and a half hours later no one could feel their toes, so we called it a day. In the midst of it all, I landed my first barspin of 2012 (I’d only landed my first barsping of 2011 aka ever (!!!) in november!) Thanks to Stefano for the great shots!

I was thrilled when just last week, Sara handed me two copies of Scrivener. I’ve been waiting for months to see how the most recent issue of the creative review had turned out, and not just because some of my work was being featured in it. Though I will admit, having my first photo published in a magazine was very exciting.

   

I would say it’s comparable to the first time you see your words published somewhere. Your words. There. On paper. And if you’re lucky, you have a byline. (In my case, I got a byline and a fun bio! Clic above right to enlarge).

However, with a photo, it seems almost more intense. Images are the first thing that people focus on when flipping through a magazine. Of course, a good layout helps grab and re-focus the reader (Vivien did a really wonderful job with Scrivener) and when readers are too tired to concentrate on the text, they get lost in the photos. Besides shocking titles, it’s the first and last thing they notice…

Of the selection of photos I’d sent in, I’m so excited that they settled this one. I really love the story it conveys, and it’s a great testament to what was an amazing day of creating just for the sake of it. Couldn’t be more happy with how it turned out.  (Though, tiny correction… it should read Vaufrèges 1)

New year, new beginings, fresh starts and all that… 2012 officially marks the year that Eliza stopped hiding behind her blog name. It also marks the first and last time that I’ll ever write in the third person.

Une Fille Comme Les Autres has had a good run. As did My Empty Closet (blog attempt no.1, by the fashion obsessed undergrad I once was…) But as the updated bio to your right suggests, I spend the bulk of my time nowadays trying to speak just slowly and clearly enough that those within earshot might be able to decipher the millions of ideas and opinions clammering around in my head.

If I can’t get them out verbally, I’ll write. I’ll draw. I’ll program. I’ll film and I’ll edit. I’ll even dance if that’s what it takes! Really, I’ll do just about anything but sing… actually, no. I did do that. Once. But there’s a reason I only did it once.

My point being, in case it hasn’t become clear in the last year, my interests have veered slightly away from fashion. I still love it, I just don’t want to talk about it. To be honset I much prefered the days when that blogosphere was more about D.I.Y projects and discussions. It’s since become, well… we all know what it’s become.

So I’m retiring the name. Up to now, Une Fille Comme Les Autres was the last remaning vestige of my days as a fashion blogger, as a shy blogger (outfit posts always felt unnatural to me) and as a blogger who seperated her online identity from her offline identity*.

From now on, this is just A Blog, by me, Eliza. Hi.

Ironically, just as I retire the name, French fashion magazine Jalouse puts out a video by the same title. Seems fitting and ironic in the most wonderful of ways, totally describing what I wanted the name to express when I originally picked it for my blog. Enjoy!

*[I remember once actually turning bright red when someone mentioned my fashion blog to a friend. What was I ashamed of? Not that I blogged. I was ashamed of the blogosphere I represented. If you want to read some interesting ideas about that, check out what Danielle has to say. I agree with it all, and couldn't have expressed it in better words. Hers is among one of the few fashion blogs actually worth reading these days. One of the few fashion blogs that features any kind of written content actually. And while I would love to stand up say that I vow to be one of the fashion bloggers going against the blogosphere's narcissistic current, my interests as a creator of content have evolved beyond just fashion - because don't get me wrong, I still oggle over every Prada collection - and into storytelling in the largest sense of the word. What stories are worth telling? That's what interests me.]

 
Issue no.5 of A.R.T Bmx is officially on newstands around the world and I’m super excited to say that a) you can find my name on page 94 and b) I’ve officially been published in a 4 page spread in a French magazine! Woop!

I covered the Pitchfork music festival held in Paris at the end of October with photographer Peka Devé snapping some amazing pictures along side me. It was an amazing time (the all access passes helped) and I would do it again in a heart beat.

The event had all the trappings of a great outdoor festival, minus the outdoors (aka scorching heat, bugs, rain…) while normally that might actually put me off going (despite the bugs I do love the spirit of an outdoor music festival) the windy, rainy autumn nights of the City of Lights made indoor hot dog stands and log cabins seem quite charming indeed! Not only that but I got to watch the Godfather of Indie Rock perform – that would Bon Iver for those wondering – from the side of the stage! I was practically in the sound booth (until the sound guy ever so politely asked me to get the hell out of his way… oops. The Lykke Li sound man hadn’t cared! I didn’t realize they weren’t the same person… #liveandlearn …)

Ah, and about Lykke Li. I also got to watch her performance up close and personal! Very emotional and dark, as to be expected. Her band was drinking champagne back stage afterwards and chatting quietly amongst themselves in Swedish and being all mysterious while all the other artists mingled loudly. I nearly got to interview Lykke Li but the timing was off. To bad. Did you know that she doesn’t believe in happiness? I really wanted to ask her about that… Next time!

There were tons of other great performances on the docket, including Aphex Twin (!!!) But in case the mags title didn’t give it away, A.R.T BMX is mainly about BMX culture : from the bikes themselves, to the gear, to the riders and all the events they compete at. What’s the tie in to the Pitchfork festival? For one, Converse was a sponsor, and for two, apparently (this suprised me too,) Lykke Li is a go to artist for BMX videos. Who’d of thought… Anyways, I promise I’m not just tooting my own horn. The magazine is definitely worth checking out if you’re into bike culture. The quality of the pictures alone are worth the 6 EUR! Speaking of which, get your own copy here.

 Oh! And I happened to have a proper camera with me for once, so I played around filming while I took in the event. Check out my quick edit below!

 

I’ve been spending a tone of time at La Gaité Lyrique lately… It’s no wonder, Pictoplasma is in town. I won’t go on about it here, because I already have over here. Will say that it’s one of the best expo’s I’ve been at that location. They seem to finally be figuring out how to best use all the space they have.

It was so nice to go back there and not have my visit be in honour of The Thesis (the Gaité was kind of my go to spot during those long months… they allow open access to a ridiculously well upkept range of books on all topics digital & art related.)

Below you’ll find a few of my personal snapshots from the festival as well as a few shots from another expo happening up on the 4th floor of La Gaité – Infamous Carousel held the 7th digital influence expo there. It was pretty interesting to get to actually interact with most of the objects on display (a few were off limits to the public and press for fear of electrocution.) A lot of it was rehashing Arduino, but there were a few suprises too. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in town. Though maybe not if you’re sensitive to sound…

While I’m not normally one to use other people’s content in a blog post, I can’t help but share with you some really interesting thoughts on the current state of Industrial Design as evoked by Allan Chochinov over at online design mag Core77.

Chochinov recently wrote 1,000 words on the critical dichotomies of design (also the title of the piece) for Core77′s Apocalypse 2012 series (yea, I know, the series makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside doesn’t it…) Below are a few snipets from his article, which you can find in full here.

A really interesting read that will definitely make you think, and maybe even ask yourself a few questions. It certainly made me wonder about design philosophies. I particularly enjoy the last snippet in the list I’ve included below. There’s no arguing money is important, but as you’ll read, an increasing awareness in what else is important is occuring, which is really exciting for designers and those who use their designs alike.

***

“We are at a moment in history when, as designers, we are at our most powerful. There is almost nothing we cannot make, enjoying the triumphs of research and development in materials science, manufacturing technology, and information systems. We can get any answer we seek through social networks, peer communities, or hired guns. We have sub-specialties at unimaginably thin slices of expertise—from ubiquitous computing to synthetic biology—and a plumbing system in the Internet that is simultaneously unprecedented in human history and entirely taken for granted.”

“At the same time, unbelievably, we have never been in worse shape: We are witnessing the collapse of every natural system on earth. Take your pick—on the ground we’ve got clear-cutting, desertification and agricultural run-off. Underneath we’ve got fracking and groundwater contamination. In the air, greenhouse gasses; in the oceans, ice sheet melting, acidification and Pacific trash vortices; in space we have the ghastly and ultimately impossible problem of space debris (we won’t beable to leave even when we’re ready to, and nobody will be able to get into help us if they wanted to). We carry body-burdens of toxic chemicals leached and outgassed from our homes, our cars, our food packaging. The consequences of industrialization metastasize out to slave factory labor, massive river diversions, obesity, malnutrition, gender inequality, rampant poverty, minefields. We tax our economies with war machinery instead of fueling healthcare and education provision. We feel helpless on the one end and hopeless on the other.”

“We need to acknowledge the fact that this time, and our place in it, are truly remarkable: We are equipped with our most powerful tools, right when the world needs us most. This is an astounding proposition for design.”

“In the old design model, we had ‘problems’ and we had ‘solutions.’ A designer’s job was to take a problem—a brief, a market need, a new technology looking for an embodiment—and to solve it: Here’s the problem; here’s a solution. Next problem please.”

“We are now recognizing that this worldview is unbearably naïve and not a little arrogant; that problems are not static, they’re dynamic. They are moving, organic and fundamentally systemic. You might say that they aren’t even “problems” at all; they are “problem spaces”—a term progressive designers have been using for years. But I’d argue that you don’t “solve” problem spaces, you negotiate them. And that this negotiation requires new kinds of processes, fluencies and participants. This is the new design practice that is emerging all around us: it’s inter-, trans- and multi-disciplinary; it is tactical; it concerns itself with things like resiliency and sharing ecologies, and pays as much attention to meaning as to money. And it explores entirely new kinds of currency and value—currencies like participation, and reputation, and access, and happiness.”

Somewhere in Colorado, June 2011

I just realized that a few months back I teased you all with a preview of the documentary I was working on with the United Nations without ever following up with the actual film. Well folks, today I give you the final cut! This project brought me from Paris to England and over to America in just under two short weeks of intensive shooting and interviews. It was a ton of work, and didn’t permit for much sleep, but everyone who participated in this project is pretty happy with the results: a short doc that walks you through the evolution of the Ozone Hole and where the scientific community stands on the issue today.

It was really interesting to do a doc on such a serious and well documented topic. In the past I’ve worked on lighter subjects (fashion, sports, music, daily news) so delving into something of this nature was a challenge. As was trying to make a complex subject appealing to the viewer. But like I said, everyone’s pretty content with how it turned out. Take a look below!

(Also, yes, that is my voice narrating the film… Quite a fun first time experience! I’d definitely do again if I had the chance.)

Two weeks ago the Bike Film Festival came to Paris. Always a grand affair, bike afficianados came out in droves for the events surrounding the fest. (For some reason, in Paris the BFF always has a tough time getting people to actually go to see the films. Its not so much that kids don’t want to see the movies. I’d venture its because we’re all so obsessed with our bikes, we prefer riding them around together than anything else, but I digress…)

Among the events, the Fixed Freestyle Au Nom d’Une Pipe 2 trick contest. For the second year in a row, it was held following the bike polo matches, at Espace des Blanc Manteaux.

Check out the video put together by the boys over at Soundtrack, who captured the the debauchery in all its glory.

In other news, I was forced into a very uneven showdown with the only other girl present at the event. Saskia is already hitting double peg grinds while I’m still trying to get a proper bar spin off the ground. But we had fun and thanks to us being two in the girls division, Saskia took 1st place and I took 2nd! A default win that scored me an awesome new bike bag, and a BMX pedalboard. A for effort!!