The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a bizarre film directed by Terry Gilliam. He has directed some of the strangest movies out there such as Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, Monty Python & The Quest For The Holy Grail, 12 Monkeys and the Brothers Grim.

In his final film Heath Ledger played the role of Tony, a lost man with no recollection of who he is or what he does.  Heath died during his last performance in this film before it could be completed. The director decided that it would be a shame to not complete the movie because of all the work that Ledger had done for the movie. Gilliam wanted to finish the film as a tribute to the great Heath Ledger.

The Imaginarium is a film of two halves. The first half contains the scenes that Heath Ledger manages to complete before his passing and the second half was improvised by the talents of Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law to replace the late Heath Ledger. The beginning half of the film is grounded in reality and set amidst the depressing urban grey of London, while the second half is set in bright and colorful worlds where the Imaginarium finally comes to light.

They spend the beginning half of the film introducing us to the characters and the dynamic of their relationships. The story is a familiar one that has been used many times, boy has a crush on the girl who is attracted to the new bad boy who randomly just shows up, the father has made bets and deals with the Devil that promises him the fathers first born child at the age of 16. Luckily the director has a talent when it comes to turning old and used story into something completely different that stretches your imagination to great heights.

The drama comes fairly late into the film. You can see that the director wanted to use as many shots of heath ledger as he could to try and keep his dominance as the lead actor of the film and to leave us with his final performance. I feel he did a great job and tied in the roles of Depp, Farrell and Law perfectly into the film where the actors fitted into their roles perfectly. In my opinion that could of changed the order of the roles in the film. It must have been hard for them all to complete the film but they all pulled through in the end and created an amazing movie.

The film takes many twists and turns and leaves you drawn to the screen because it takes you a while to finally work out the ending, and even then you could still be left stumpt. It’s a pity Ledger didn’t finish the film but the entire crew did a good job to put the movie together in the end.       

Drive Dry Campaign

The campaign created by the ad agency based in Cape Town called Foxp2, is one of the most visually striking ads I have seen in a very long time.

The ad is for the “don’t drink and drive” campaign. The imagery is an image taking from inside a cop car with three of the most bloodcurdling looking gangsters you could ever imagine to be locked up with. The copy clearly states “who’s driving you home tonight” and in my opinion it fits perfectly. They didn’t try to beat around the bush with what they were trying to say, it is straight to the point and creates an amazing campaign.

With the past drive dry campaigns they have mainly concentrated on the death side of it, basically saying that when u drive drunk you may never drive again. They have now moved on to the side that puts the thoughts into your mind about what happens if you live through any situation that may unfold before you. I am sure prison is not a very exciting place and if you end up spending a night there, you can only imagine the Hanes crimes that go on from within those walls. Would you like to be apart of that?

The ad strikes the core of your being and makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on edge. It plays tricks with your mind and makes you imagine what a night with people like that would be like. All in all it is a great ad and a great campaign, its quick simple and gets the right message across.   

Free Diving with a 7 - Gill Cow Shark

With the task of getting out of your comfort zone at hand and the deadline creeping closer and closer, I decided to attempt something that I have wanted to accomplish for a while, free dive with a cow shark.

There is a peculiar feeling that runs through your body the moment you wake up with a cow shark dive lingering over your head. There is a completely different mindset that you have to get into before you attempt a free dive amongst a large number of sharks. With a short car journey before you reach the launch pad there are many different thoughts going through your mind, the most recurring thought is the obvious one, “I really don’t want to get eaten today” and no matter what you do you can’t shake those thoughts.

Once at the launch site there are still many things to do before you can get into the water.  You have to go through a 10-minute battle to get your 10mm wetsuit and then a very formal safety briefing before you can jump in. After an extensive amount of time getting myself into the right mindset for the dive, I jumped in and started the long swim to the dive site.  

I have dived in some of the most exhilarating dive spots in the world over the last 2 years. Crystal blue water, with translucent coral reefs stretching as far as the eye can see. Being able to be in the presence of other creatures in their natural habitat is an experience within itself, but to be in the presence of a shark is another feeling all together. Childhood movies, such as Jaws, always play over in my thoughts. However by accepting the fact that I am but a visitor in their home, respect is paid and all fear subsides whilst tranquility prevails. Every shark I’ve swam by and had the privileged opportunity of observing holds a special place in my memory and heart.

Cape Town waters are a divers nightmare. Unclear waters, spine chilling temperatures and unfamiliar techniques make diving a little bit edgier. There is a spot in False Bay where you can dive with schooling 7 gill Cow sharks, one of the only places in the world where you can see them in such great numbers.

For a long time I have wanted to dive with these sharks but the looming thought of the cold Cape Town water always prevented me. After been given this assignment I decided to finally get in the water with the sharks but with a little twist. Instead of using the conventional scuba equipment, I decided to free dive instead, to take me further out of my comfort zone and stretch my limits. 

Before you can experience the tranquility of the cow shark you have to complete a 100-metre swim to the kelp forest where they dwell. While lingering on the surface attempting to catch your breath before you submerge yourself into the dark waters below, gives you the feeling that you may become an easy snack for any passing great white makes your bones stand on edge.  Presenting yourself on a dinner plate for any passing great white, while floating above the kelp forest, while attempting to catch your breath before you submerge yourself in the gloomy water below makes your bones stand on edge.

Hyperventilating 3 times for your lungs to reach full capacity before you begin your decent into the unknown. Using the kelp as your guideline to the ocean floor pulling yourself slowly down into the murky water below. You get a very eerie feeling while on the seabed with numerous sharks carving their way through liquid skies, until they disappear into the ominous glow of the kelp forest. With a total bottom time of just over a minute, your experience with the prehistoric beast is brief. The sharks have a playful feel to them coming in close and on occasion inviting you stroke them, all this while on a breath hold is an experience unlike no other. It shows you the true personality of sharks and not what Hollywood portrays them to be.

The day spent amongst these majestic creatures was truly an eye opener for me, an experience that I could never really express with words. Seeing a shark that close and that calm completely takes your breath away and will leave you speechless.

The ads that I have previously been writing about, have been very striking and to the point. You could pick up what the creative team wanted to say almost immediately. This ad is completely different.

It is an ad for Eyemo eye drops. The eye drops are a medication of sort dealing with irritation of the eye, but when you look at the ad the message is not clear, the only part of it that is clear would be that its for eye drops. It is a pretty big surprise to me that the company decided to publish this ad, my only explanation for it, is that this was their only idea and the team was lazy. They could have taken the idea in many different directions but in the end decided to go with this ad, very peculiar.    

The ad is not the worst I have seen and in many ways it could be so much better. The idea was good and if they pushed it a little more the ad would of worked. So all in all good effort but not good enough I feel.