"Nothing" might be the smartass answer; humanists are supposed to think, rather than believe.
But for the non-pedant, this series of short films sets out to show what ordinary people think about a a range of moral questions, from simple ones like, "why are you good?", to more challenging ones like, "what do you believe about physician assisted suicide?"
After calling an open audition, we interviewed over 150 all round Scotland in late September and these films are the result.
They're simple, but I like them and I hope you do too.
As my directing career seems to be gently coming to an end, I feel less and less shy about posting blasts from the past
This dates from some time in the late 1980's when my friend Dave Ramsden was managing a neo-punk band in whom he had great hopes, and as I too had great hopes at the time, we came to an agreement that if I could make a promo for less than £100, then we could all dream of stardom together.
It cost £89.00 in total, which covered lunch for the crew, batteries for the playback machine and a stick of lipstick. Shot by Ali Walker, who went on to do Queer as Folk, Taggart and many other prime time dramas, it also features some rare live footage of the band, shot by me on VHS (refer to Wikipedia if you're under the age of 25 and have no idea what that is) and then re-shot off monitors in slo-mo for a grainy, textured feel.
I remember meeting a member of another Scots band of the time, Win (You got the Power) who told me that they'd been in Barcelona and had seen this on a monitor in a bar somewhere and they thought it was really cool and like the Jesus and Mary Chain, which at the time was praise beyond price.
It was probably the only time it was ever shown anywhere, but as things do, it's finally turned up on YouTube, with the audio about 2 seconds out of sync, but hey, that's rock and roll!
I'm delighted to see that ILKA has been released into the world!
I used to work with superstar Scots hairdresser Irvine Rusk back in the 80's, before he went to the States and created his eponymous multi-million dollar company, which he later sold.
A couple of years ago, he called me and asked me to create a name for 'a green, natural, back to basics, Scottish hair & beauty company'.
My partner Juliet Wilson and I did more than that: we found the name, ILKA (Old Scots for 'every'), we came up with the positioning - wild, rather than organic - and we even found the ingredients!
Now after much development, the brand is out there, competing in the massively competitive US Hair & Beauty marketplace.
It was great fun working with Irvine & Louise and I'm sure ILKA will be a great success.
You know where this ad is going almost from the start, and while it is undeniably charming, what makes it really interesting is the way it shows how Mother has managed to protect and exploit its Intellectual Property.
Balkan Hip Hop may not be your bag, daddy-o, but I like this promo.
It was made possible by the generosity of Prelinger Archive, which hosts more than 60,000 "ephemeral" (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) films and makes them available through a Creative Commons license. http://www.archive.org/details/prelinger
Dara explains how companies have hijacked the libel laws to suppress free speach. Forgive the lousy sound quality and add your voice at http://www.libelreform.org/sign
Derrick was our focus puller in the Seychelles - he's also beginning to operate and light his own work in London. This is just a small selection of shots he took while we were over in the Seychelles.
