Our experimental short film about OUBEY was shown publicly for the first time on 23 March 2010 at the Opening Event of Oubey’s web site.

This film is a portrait of a German artist who voluntarily isolated himself from the public for ten years to create more than 1200 paintings. When Oubey finally began considering the possibility of a new exhibition, he was killed in a traffic accident in August, 2004, at the age of 46.

The project.

The project MINDKISS posthumously realises his plan. Dagmar Woyde-Köhler, initiator and head of the Mindkiss project, commissioned Stefan Sagmeister / New York to design a book about the project and as:if Film Matters and Less Rain / Berlin to create an experimental cinematic portrait of Oubey.

Our aim was to explore not only the complexity of Oubey’s world, but also the material potential of his work and, not least of all, himself in the artistic process. In a first stage we selected private super 8 and video clips from Oubey’s legacy as well as HD material we shot in his studio to edit an 11 min long cut of the final version.

For the final piece up to 100,000 particles are animated simultaneously in 3D, each one corresponding to a pixel of the movie. They align, dissolve, mimic the motion within the movie itself and react to the user. All of this is precisely timed to fit the story arc and the music. Everything happens in real-time, nothing is prerendered. The software is running in Adobe Flash.

Oubey’s interactive portrait is accompanied by a mesmerizing soundscape of french composer Kangding Ray.

The movie has a running time of 11 min and can be downloaded only until April, 4th at http://www.oubey.com/en/loft/welcome

(Links to PC and MAC versions are on top of the page, the link under the image is just a short trailer.)

Fantastic pictures by Mr. Koxvold, on Flickr. Reminds me of some of our Less Rain stationary, after being in the sun for too long.

Partner agency Less Rain wins gold today at the London International Awards in the Online Games category, with the Red Bull Soapbox Racer. Sapient, Tribal DDB and Dentsu were left in the dust.

The Soapbox Racer is currently also shortlisted for a British Interactive Media Award.

Following the recent nominations we are now competing for a Webby as well, in the coveted category Interactive Advertising / Game or Application. And again, we need you! Please vote for the Red Bull Soapbox Racer at the People's Voice Award for a chance to win a Good Deed of the Day-Medal.

Update: Soapbox Racer wins the People's Voice Award. Thank you, people!

The Red Bull Soapbox Racer wins the "Best in Class" Award at the 2009 Interactive Media Awards. Congrats, Less Rain!

ECO2 is a concept for a desktop software, that automatically measures your computing habits, e.g. how many servers you connect to, which online worlds you explore, or how many print-outs you make. It then calculates your electronic CO2 footprint.

Your footprint is visualised directly on your desktop as a slowly greying and finally decaying landscape. Linked to a donation system, you can offset your electronic CO2 footprint and turn your desktop back into a bright, clean environment, while simultaneously trees in the real world are planted.

Desktop Widget / Air Application

CO2-calculator

The desktop application can be minimised to widget form; or extended into a full CO2-calculator to offset all your household's CO2-emissions.

ECO2 was developed as a self-initiated project. It won first place at the "IID Green Day", a competition in Tokyo around "green ideas". Our presentation was based on the idea that virtual avatars produce very real CO2-emissions, too.
 

This year Less Rain is the only German agency to win a coveted Webby Award, aka "The Internet Oscar". Nominated from almost 10.000 entries, our Red Bull Soapbox Racer won the People's Voice Award in the Game or Application category. Thanks again to everyone who voted!

Andreas Lutz wins the only other Webby going to Germany, in the Student category for his portfolio "Because clicking is so 90s!". Congratulations!

Following the nominations at the Webbys, FITC and The One Show, the Red Bull Soapbox Racer is now also nominated at the Clios 2010 in the category Beverages / Non-Alcoholic. We are pitted against the Coca Cola Happiness Machine by Definition 6, a nice example of a viral video done right:

Video-Trailer

Der Reporter Paul Hacket kommt per Zufall einer Verschwörung auf die Spur - Vampire versuchen, die Kontrolle über einen Flughafen zu erlangen. Ihr Plan ist, Reisende zu infizieren, um so das Vampir-Virus rasend schnell über den ganzen Globus zu verbreiten.

Paul erkundet den Flughafen

In diesem Point-and-Click-Adventure schlüpft der Spieler in die Rolle von Paul. Beim erkunden des Flughafens trifft er auf Angestellte, die es zum Kampf gegen die Vampire zu mobilisieren gilt.

"Destination Death" wurde in Kooperation mit der BBC entwickelt, und dient zur Vertiefung von Sprachkenntnissen bei 14 - 16-jährigen. Das Szenario des Flughafens erlaubt, Alltagssituationen wie Einkauf, Arzt- oder Restaurantbesuch in verschiedenen Sprachen nachzuspielen.

Die schaurige Vampirgeschichte sorgt für eine weniger alltägliche Dramatik. Sie orientiert sich visuell an Comics und Filmen für Erwachsene und wirkt somit besonders anziehend auf Jugendliche, die herkömmlichen Lernmitteln wenig Interesse entgegen bringen.

The title says it all. The Red Bull Soapbox Racer is nominated at The One Show. 36 days to go...