An absolutely adorable short titled, “When ‘Toy Story’ met Search Stories” by a Google partnership with Pixar’s Toy Story 3 by BBH. Buzz Lightyear googles “to infinity and beyond” and learns the true reality in the form of search engine results page. Toy Story 3 in theaters this Friday.

via Less, But Better

This surfaced on the interwebs. Mick Jagger briefs Andy Warhol the latest design of Jagger’s album. The Rolling Stones letterhead and Jagger’s signature lends to the authenticity of the document. Notice the direction of the brief is closed with a “Love, Mick Jagger”.

In a move that aims to enhance the storytelling experience, HBO has unveiled a four-panel video installation called the HBO Cube of the HBO Imagine campaign. Located in the Meatpacking District in New York City, the Cube is a unique new installation that offers four different perspectives on the same scene simultaneously. In telling the same story on four distinct points of view, each side of the cube stands alone as an engaging film, and as a piece of a larger puzzle. As viewers move around the cube, they watch the story unfold from different perspectives, forming different perceptions, and often misperceptions, of the characters and plot.

“There is always a twist and turn on things. Instead of creating a linear 30-second piece, the story is told at four different angles and you can see how parts of the plot can be hidden. But as you walk around the cube you will see that each shot of the cube is part of a much bigger story. ” said Greg Hahn, Executive Creative Director at BBDO.

The video cube was envisioned by BBDO and The Barbarian Group. It features two films, Heist and The Affair by Noam Murro of Biscuit Films. Each are two minutes in length and played twice successively on a rotating basis.

“We wanted to engage people in storytelling in a way that lets them explore and process the information. To be open to these experiences, it’s in HBO’s DNA. They want to show you something in a fresh perspective. It’s bold and it’s an extension of who they are,” replied BBDO’s Executive Creative Director Michael Smith.

If you can’t physically go and view the cube, you can view the interactive version online. The Barbarian Group created HBOImagine.com, a microsite that features an interactive storytelling experience where you choose what films you want to see. There are over 41 pieces of content, including short-and-long-form video, audio files, and news stories that are connected to each other like a web. The user can navigate the story by unlocking and viewing the content. As you uncover the characters, the connections and the motivations driving them are revealed. The interactive feature is great because like in gaming, the story develops deeper with more surprises as you watch the layers of the plot unfold.

The opening attracted a huge crowd and people were certainly interested in display. Although a few colleagues that I spoke to said they did not follow the cube or the plot through to the end of the short films, I still think it’s an ingenious idea. Playing with the plot angles, its interactive site pulled me in for a good 15 minutes which is an incredible amount of time. (Five seconds is the average time a person spends on a website, when captivated, before moving on to something else.)

The HBO Cube is currently displayed in New York (Gansevoort and Little West 12th) from Sept 17-19. It is set to travel to Philadelphia (Old City District) and Washington D.C. (Plaza at Adams Morgan) in October.

HBO Imagine

With a peculiar sculpture piece based on a system of “Dendroids,” American artist Roxy Paine has created a 130-foot-long by 45-foot-wide stainless-steel sculpture at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Roof Garden. It is an interesting combination of concepts – Paine uses both mechanical means and the innate logic of natural forms to create his “Dendroid” tree-like sculptures. Like in nature, these are a series of vascular networks, tree roots, mushrooms, and fungal mycelia. His meticulous research and observation of a variety of tree species help him to understand the nuances of how a tree grows. Paine has said:

“I’ve processed the idea of a tree and created a system for its form. I take this organic majestic being and break it down into components and rules. The branches are translated into pipe and rod.”

Employing the “language” that he has invented for each of these fictive species, Paine’s trees are “grown” through a laborious process of welding together the cylindrical piping and rods and manifests itself with the green and concrete surroundings of New York.

Maelstrom (2009) is Paine’s largest and most ambitious work to date and is showing now until October 25 at The Metroplitan Museum of Art Rooftop Garden.

Installation images of Roxy Paine on the Roof: Maelstrom

Installation footage of Roxy Paine on the Roof: Maelstrom
[via The Met]