Shatter Sessions

To celebrate the Museum of Glass’ 10 year anniversary and new branding we wanted to throw an event that showcased glass in a new way. Instead of displaying glass formed into art we wanted to display the destruction of glass as an art form.

We decided to organize a concert where bands and audience members could shatter glass with sound waves. We designed and created what we called “Shatter Boxes” where people could attempt to shatter wine glasses by manipulating the sound waves inside the box with controls mounted on the outside. A larger Shatterbox was available for the audience to interact with and a smaller Shatterbox was on stage for the bands attempting to shatter glass with their sound. Toward the end of each band’s set, the audience would crowd around the box to watch the wine glass begin to vibrate and come to life before being destroyed.

To promote the event we had mobile demonstrations of the Shatterbox in action, along with posters and a TV spot (shot at 5,000 frames per second) where we witness the convincing and eerily beautiful results of sound waves violently shattering glass.

Shatter Sessions TV from Creature on Vimeo.

A Creature Farewell

Last week’s champagne Friday we had to say goodbye to the fantastic Mr. Eric Larkin, who is headed back home to the East Coast.

He left us on this memorable note:

Eric's Goodbye from Creature on Vimeo.

Good luck Eric, you will be missed!

The Funmaker Recital Series

It’s happening here at Creature. As you may have read, we did a music video here recently for the Long Winters to provide some content for www.giveseattle.org. You can also check it out here. Lots of great previously unreleased tracks from the bands that participated. For our part in this non-profit charitable event, we received some karma, a fun shoot with talented performers, and a Wurlitzer Funmaker organ. As far as we can tell, it’s from the 70’s. I’m not sure why anyone would buy a Casio or any other keyboard when you can pick up one of these things of beauty for like $40.00. It does it all. But with unequivocal style. The keyboard has three levels. It simulates banjo, has the full drum kit, and everything else you can imagine. The only thing our amazing Funmaker doesn’t have, is someone to exploit its glorious sounds. John Roderick of the Long Winters is on the list to be one of the first to perform at our Funmaker Recital Series. The plan is simple. Every 4th Champagne Friday or so we’re going to bring in artists to spend a little time playing the hits of their choosing on the Funmaker. We will most likely document this for those of you who want to witness some choice organ numbers. We’re looking for talent. So, all would-be Funmakers please send Hilary an e-mail. We’d love to hear what you’ve got. Champagne will be served of course.

Thanks, Jim

Happy Holidays, everyone!

A few people here at Creature put in some extra hours outside of work to make sure we spread some holiday cheer. Enjoy!

http://singingchristmassandwich.com

The Give Music Video Teaser

We're always up for a challenge, and even more up for a good cause. That's why when Singer/songwriter John Roderick of The Long Winters approached us about doing a music video for The Give, we jumped at the chance.

The challenge of course was to do a music video with a small budget and even less time. To get this done we assembled a dream team that included Director Branson Veal, Lenz Film, Olin Padilla (Editor) and Angela Morgan (talent). We then propped for 4 days straight, painted through the weekend, and got little sleep. Despite the exhausted state we were in, we knew all the while it was worth it.

We recorded the song on December 7th at Clatter & Din in Seattle:

Art Director Kristi, Copywriter Sarah, Producer Kaylin, & Director Branson

John At The Studio

We started filming on the 8th at 3pm in the Creature conference room, which you won't even recognize in the video. That's what 4 days propping will get you. Thanks to a lot of coffee and some dedicated folks, we went all through the night and wrapped at 6:00am the next morning.

The video itself combines both stop motion with real time motion to create a great story. We even got animal talent, Mischa (one of our designer's dogs) to make an appearance in the video...SO CUTE! Stay tuned for the final cut in the coming week...