Friday 30 August 2013

Look who is back!



Be On The Scene has had a lot of interesting activities past and present. One of the activities that stood out for me was the previous music contest back in May.

A gentleman by the name of Tony Goff joined this contest and surprised us all. He came out of nowhere and captured the voter’s ears and hearts in his successful attempt at winning over all. He ended up with more than 3000+ votes.

In a surprising turn of events, Tony has come back this month to join in on our current music contest in what he describes as, “We want to hold on to the BOTS title”
Will Tony do it again? I decided to catch up with him and find out what he has been up to.

So Tony, welcome back, how did you find your last experience with us and the event?
I thoroughly enjoyed the last competition. It was a lot of fun but very hard work. The experience after it was great! I had a great time headlining the bots event and doing the interviews.

You seem to be a very busy individual, what have you been up to since the Contest?
Since winning the Bots  music contest, I have been very busy with the EP dropping, which I knew was going to be hectic but winning just added to that, and things are looking very positive at the moment. I have been playing many festivals, doing radio interviews shows.  I’ve also just recorded official music video for upcoming single (Snakes and Ladders) with Digital snowball.

 Tell me about the experiences you had shooting the videos?
Shooting the video was a lot of fun. Videos on my YouTube page are mainly location videos now. Please check them out and share. A lot of travelling was involved and we were very lucky to work with digital snowball with new single snakes and ladders

You have joined forces with Mayamada co-founder Nigel Twumasi and have something in the pipeline; can you share a little info for our readers?
With Nigel from Mayamada, it’s still early days but there are talks of event together plus more, but I can’t share too much as its all still a working progress


Lastly, do you think you are going to win the contest again?

Will I win? Who knows...? I don’t enter to come second though!


Check out Tony’s music and see all his upcoming events through his BOTS Profile as well as other BOTS members that are taking part in our online music contest. Your votes will allow the winner to spend a day in the recording studio with Stuart Epps, who has worked with Elton John, Kiki Dee, Oasis, John Lennon and Led Zeppelin. They will also get the opportunity to headline out live Event at Madame JoJo’s on September 19th, as well as Premium Membership with BOTS, a written and video interview and cash to spend in a music store of their choosing!

x
Romy

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Tuesday 27 August 2013

Feature Film Shot on a Sony Ericsson






With technology increasing at a rapid pace and costs increasing, I thought it would be nice to reflect on the technology that is often over looked.

In 2006, Writer and Director Aryan Kaganof and Cinematographer Eran Tahoor, embarked on an incredible journey to shoot an entire feature film called “Sms Sugarman”, on a Sony Ericson k7501.

Sure, there have been short films in the past, but no one had shot an entire feature film of 81min, with a crew of eight mobile phones.

Eran Tahoor explains in a recent blog (link below) that the Sony Ericson was the only phone available at the time that shot 30 frames per second, rather than 16-18fps. The footage was able to be transferred onto traditional 35mm film stock.

The results are astonishing, the footage is clear, but warm and saturated in a way that allows you to feel as if you were there. It does help that the Actresses were able to film their own scenes; in particular, a raunchy, erotic scene between the actresses, as the film follows the life of a South African pimp and his call girls.

The Sugarman crew was able to work much faster and closer than tradition film crews as they didn’t need all the Camera and Grips gear. They shot the film in twelve days with six hour shoot days.

It goes to show that we are not limited by mainstream and that anything still goes in terms of creation.

To view the film and to find out more, visit www.smssugarman.com

Enjoy!

Romy


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Friday 23 August 2013

Vogue: A day in the life of...




It’s Friday and I want to keep things light today, so I wanted to share a video that was done by The Guardian on a day in the life of Vogue from Market Editor of the British Vogue Emma Elwick-Bates.

This short documentary is for all our fashionistas out there who dream of being in Emma’s shoes. This 6 min clip gives you a small insight into the world of editorial and what a typical day might entail.

I hope you enjoy it and I wish you a safe and happy weekend.

X
Romy

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Wednesday 21 August 2013

Why you should be wearing Mayamada






Nigel Twumasi, the brains and creative co-founder behind the brand Mayamada, has been with the Be On The Scene Community since its birth over two years ago.  Since joining he has been hard at work developing a brand that is soon to be the talk of the town. I was fortunate enough to be able to meet him personally and get an insider’s view of the brand and hear all the exciting news of upcoming plans.

We met at our offices and Nigel, sporting the recognized logo t-shirt, was everything I thought he would be…interesting, charismatic and driven. We begin our interview.  


BOTS: Tell me a bit about how Mayamada came to be

Mayamada was born over email between friends and one of the emails involved making t-shirts and selling them to universities. That never happened, but none the less we were all very excited about it, but it ended up being a group of five people down to two, myself and Lao.  After about a year of trying something that clearly wasn’t working, we decided to start again, changing everything except the name. We also brought in someone to work with us on the artwork side of things while we focused on our strengths such as branding and coming up with ideas.

We both have a background in engineering but with a common interest in Japanese culture, anime and creating characters. Some years ago, we started without any clue on how to do it, but the idea was there and we found out very quickly that there was so much more to it. It’s not just designing a t-shirt and putting it out there. Its developing a fashion brand, how to market it, things we didn’t give much thought to in the beginning.

When I was younger, I liked the idea of starting a business, not necessarily a clothing line, but I have always wanted to create something from nothing. I did a lot of programing so the process of building something from an idea appealed to me.
There have been a few difficulties in trying to communicate who we are as a brand. But solving that is by accepting the challenges and getting over failure, and taking a step back, starting over and keep going.

BOTS: So, what exactly does mayamada mean?

Mayamada is a mash up of the Japanese name “Mayazuki Yamada”. When we first started we wanted to create a persona that represented us. We decided to shorten it as in Japan, that is what they do with some names. So we  shortened it and combined the two. It is technically a made up word, but it lets us put our own meaning to the words.


BOTS: Could you explain your logo?

The current logo was part of the rebranding and we started off playing with a few logos, (see pictures)
And then we started looking for an artist, and she mentioned that our original logo didn’t match what we were doing, so we took a step back to reasses and we thought about what we wanted to achieve. That was when we came up with a fantasy TV network so that was something that allowed us to think a bit further out of the box. When looking for a logo, we were searching through Japanese Kanji (one part of the Japanese alphabet) and this particular “lettering system” was kanji for shellfish, but I noticed that when you flipped it upside down, it looked like a television set. I thought, hey, that makes sense. Let’s go with it.

BOTS: Let’s talk about Mayamada TV.

Mayamada is a fantasy television network with an all-star animal cast.  Within the world are original characters that come from one of the shows in the network with their own back story.
We want to create something that promoted imagination  and this  allows us to come up with different ideas and create characters and stories for our t-shirts. This was a way for us to be comfortable with the ideas we were playing with, and Mayamada allowed us to do something like that.

BOTS: Where did you find your illustrators?

We started with free-lance artists who were great as it got the job done, but we loved the idea of someone on the team. We went to the MCM Expo (comic book expo) we started looking around in one of the sections called artists alley and we had the idea of “just looking around” we stumbled across an artist by the name Pinali and we decided to explain to her what we were doing. She wanted to be a part of it. That was a couple of years ago and we have been working with her ever since.

BOTS: You had some great exhibitions of Mayamada at trade shows and launches, how did you get this far?


We have indeed. With Tutti Frutti, the frozen yogurt shop. It was the same scenario as when we were looking for an illustrator, we were simply looking around and saw the opportunity and presented it to them. Lao was out and about in Covent Garden and stumbled across the shop and took a picture. He then showed it to me and it seemed to be a perfect fit for our brand. As a new business, it was easy to set up and they were quite willing. We did a launch there- check out the video 
We have simply kept in touch and we will be returning on 24th August to their Brighton Branch.
We have a plan and idea and it’s just about approaching people, some people say no, but others say yes. You only need one or two people good to work with. If people can see what your goal is and what your product is, it makes it easier to want to be apart of it.

BOTS: What kind of items can I expect to find in the Mayamada collection?

We started with T-Shirts with a range called Samurai Chef, which is a cooking show where contestants make food and it gets judged by the Samurai Chef who attacks it with his Samurai Sword. The other is hot lunch which is a show about a crew of food thieves who pull heists on several restaurants in an effort to bring down an elite cabal of chefs. We have logo based designs too. That’s what we started with.
We have also started to do snapback caps, bags, oyster card holders, posters and hoodies, jumpers and vests and comic books. We want to expand to all different products.

BOTS: What kinds of people are buying your products?

It all depends on the product. There are things that appeal to both genders. For example, the T-shirts are still the best sellers to men.
There are a lot of anime followers that are drawn to the brand, but interestingly enough, we have also found that people who wouldn’t cast themselves as anime fans but are aware of it, want to get their hands on a T-shirt



BOTS: What is your favorite piece?

I love them all! But for arguments sake I will have to say I like Samurai chef because a lot of the time I like to be random and that is a bit of a random design and humorous. In saying this, some of our new designs like one featuring Norio, which is Raccoon dog character, are quickly becoming my favorite.

BOTS: Why have you chosen the colour scheme?

Well we chose red and white for the logo as those are the colours of the Japanese flag. In general we like colors like red, white, blue, yellow and they are prominent in the designs. It wasn’t a conscious decision as we chose what our favorite colors are. In the beginning we didn’t worry about what shades or hues we wanted to use, now as the brand is developing, we are starting to think of things like that. These are all things we are learning along the way.
It also comes down to what colors people would wear. For instance, men don’t seem to mind the bright colors, but women prefer to go for neutral colors like black, grey and white. 

BOTS: So what kind of people would you like to see wearing your designs?

This is something we are looking at, and I haven’t always liked thinking that we can shove a t-shirt on a celebrity and for it to become an overnight success. I want the product to be great on its own without having to resort to that.
However, that being said, it does help with visibility and credibility. In terms of the person I would like to see wearing Mayamada? That would have to be anyone that’s creative. I love creative people, whether its music, art, dance or something that sets them apart.
The brand itself is creative and the designs will work for them.

BOTS: Why should people be wearing Mayamada?

It’s a brand that promotes imagination and creativity. It’s a positive thing that needs to be celebrated on a day to day basis.

BOTS: Where do you see your brand in a year?

I would like to be stocked in boutiques and independent retail locations. I also want to increase our brand awareness and eventually set up our own store in future. We want to create a completely branded store that is an experience rather than just a retail store.We definitely want to go further with our Comic Books which are currently stocked in Mega City Comics, Orbital Comics and The Big Green Bookshop. It’s all about taking it further and further.


BOTS: So,where can we find you?

The best place to find everything you want is from www.mayamada.com where we have our online shop that stocks everything we make.
From time to time we also attend different exhibitions so the next one will be at the London Anime Convention so you can find us at our store there.

Hopefully in the next coming months we will be in shops so stay tuned! 

Tuesday 20 August 2013

Make The Most Of Open Mic






I wanted to talk about something I have noticed in the last couple of weeks of hosting an Open Mic.

Many, if not all of the musicians that grace the stage, have to battle with a loud audience to get their information across, such as where you are able to find them to hear the rest of their music. Often this information falls on deaf ears or might be forgotten by the end of the night.

By all means do what you can to get people to hear you and where to find you, but this day and age, people tend to be lazier and lazier and this should not affect you. You have to adapt to the way people receive information these days, especially at a crowded venue. 

As a musician, you often have people approach you and ask to exchange email addresses, but these are often people with a bit of confidence. What about the individual at the back who really liked your music but was too nervous, or thought it wasn’t the right time to approach you? They leave with the thought they would connect with you through Facebook, only to discover they couldn’t find you.

Open mic is a platform to help a musician promote themselves and it is heavily advised to bring as much promotional material with you. Whether it is your EPs which should be displayed as you are performing or flyers in which you can hand out after your performance.  This is a great way for people to put a face to a name as well as to find out about any upcoming gigs.

Just a helpful thought
X

Romy

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Friday 16 August 2013

Hip Hop Beyond Beats and Rhymes

A documentary by Bryon Hurt


                                                          "Have you seen a  Hollywood Movie?"

A few weeks ago, I was granted a wonderful opportunity to discuss all things hip hop with one of our members. He is a strong believer in wanting to create a hip hop revolution that doesn’t involve violence, masculinity or sexism.

At first I disagreed that hip hop culture was based on this as I am a lover of old school hip hop, such as Ugly Duckling, Sage Francis and A Tribe Called Quest and the reason for my chosen artist has been because I find the lyrics beautiful and universally friendly. This might come as a surprise to most of you as I am pretty much a girly girl, but my music taste is quite eclectic. 

It bothered me in the sense as what I saw and heard from these artists, was very different from what was actually being said. I never took offence to lyrics, nor guns used as a sign of masculinity, so I did some research and I came across this amazing documentary by Bryon Hurt called “Hip Hop- Beyond Beats and Rhymes” It came to my attention that one of the topics was how Hollywood movies have blunted our perception of what is the norm.

Watch the first part of this amazing documentary (they come in a series) and share your thoughts and feelings about this topic with me.

X
Romy




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Tuesday 13 August 2013

John Cleese on Manifesting Creativity




John Cleese, a legendary Actor and Writer, best known for his work on Monty Python, Fawlty Towers and A Fish Called Wanda, talks to a group of students on creativity, how to cultivate it and how to put yourself in the creative state of mind.

Following his earlier discussions in 1991, which is an absolute must see if you haven't before, (See Link Below)  Cleese explains how modern technology can stilt the creative process.

 He has had numerous educational discussions, sharing insights into writing mishaps and how to combat them. In this video, he speaks about the importance of the unconscious mind and traits that commonly inherits successful creative people.



I hope you enjoy this and feel free to comment and share!

X

Romy

(John Cleese 1991 discussion http://youtu.be/f9rtmxJrKwc) 


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Thursday 8 August 2013

Street Art & Optical Illusions




The Wikipedia definition of Art is: A diverse range of human activities and the products of those activities

Diverse is the word I would like to focus on today.

What does the average person think about when you tell them you are an Artist? The first thing that comes to mind is that you are a traditional individual who paints on a canvas.

We, as a community know there are hundreds of different art forms and millions of different mediums used. Take this video for example. These are pieces from all over the globe, which focuses on street art and optical illusion.

These pieces are some of the most photographed art in the world and I’m not talking about professional photographs, I’m talking about the average Joe, being blown away by it and taking a picture. Sharing it through his or her network of friends.

Now I know, people often laugh at the tourist who is posing alongside a bit of street art, but it is no laughing matter, for that person is going to show people back home through sharing the picture through social media. Surely this is the quickest way to spread your name as an artist.


I really hope you like this video if you haven’t seen it before and I’m interested to hear what different mediums all you artists use.

X
Romy

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Tuesday 6 August 2013

Florence Welch on the songwriting process


Today's blog stems from this video, featuring London-based Singer/songwriter Florence Welch, a perfect example of someone who started out just like some of our members did, by making music with friends and preserverance which lead to the start of her career by catching BBC Radio's attention.

Did you Know that Florence And The Machine Rose to fame partly because of the support from BBC Introducing?

 In this clip, she takes us through her influences and how she gets  pen to paper.

x
Romy
romy@beonthescene.com


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Friday 2 August 2013

Sacrifice what you are for what you want to become.

"If you want success like you want to breath, you have to give up sleep
sacrifice what you are for what you want to become."


Eric Thomas is an American and former professional  football player turned motivational speaker that has gained immense popularity, with some videos gaining over 9 Million views.

 In this Speech, Eric delivers probably one of the most inspiring texts ever spoken and its completely befitting for a Friday. He discusses the difference between wanting to make a success of your life as opposed to being a success.

I hope you enjoy this as much as i do!


x
Romy

romy@beonthescene.com

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