"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.
I've been having some fun recently, mentoring some students at the University of Edinburgh who wanted to make a film about Climate Change.
James, Gyles and Justin are on the post-grad Carbon Management course at the new Centre on Climate Change.
Earlier this year, they went to the Copenhagen Conference, and did a presentation that earned them a standing ovation from the delegates, but as we all know, the outcome was less than world-changing.
So they came back and lobbied the powers that be to make a film.
The powers that be gave me a call, and in the end, we made three.
Their original presentation had been based around a palindrome they'd adapted from an Argentinian TV commercial. So I suggested that they work with a poet to create their own original piece of work.
Luckily the talented Elspeth Murray was up for it, and although she was touring the States at the time, she wrote this wonderful piece.
----------------------------------
The sun burning in the desert
Waves crashing beyond the shifting shore
The awesome power of the wind
Listen ...
Life is not completely hopeless in spite
of everything ...?
I don’t believe that.
We are out of time.
Somewhere down the line,
Big business will go the same way as
small farmers.
Eventually,
Leaders will admit
that the next election is a bigger
concern
than the future of the planet
Activists have long been adamant
that our twentieth century ways
were a blessing and a curse
Time has moved on
and industrial giants
are immune to ecological persuasion
I can’t believe
Efficient technology
can solve energy problems
It is more than possible
that humans are too stupid
to stop climate change
Don’t be fooled into thinking
that governments can use science wisely
to protect the web of life
Respected thinkers agree
that innovative alliances will make
little difference
I for one cannot accept that
We can dissolve our boundaries and really
work together
So ...
what if we dare to imagine the opposite?
We dare to imagine the opposite!
So ... what if we can dissolve our
boundaries
and really work together?
I, for one, cannot accept
that innovative alliances will make
little difference
Respected thinkers agree
that governments can use science wisely
to protect the web of life
Don’t be fooled into thinking
that humans are too stupid to stop
climate change!
It is more than possible that efficient
technology
can solve energy problems.
I can’t believe industrial giants are
immune to ecological persuasion
Time has moved on
and our twentieth century ways
were a blessing and a curse
Activists have long been adamant that
The future of the planet
Is a bigger concern than
The next election
Leaders will admit that ...
Eventually
Big business will go the same way as
small farmers,
Somewhere down the line.
“We are out of time”
I don’t believe that!
Life is not completely hopeless?
in spite of everything
Listen ...
The awesome power of the wind
Waves crashing beyond the shifting shore
The sun burning in the desert
----------------------------------
Justin, Gyles and James got all their classmates together, rehearsed them and shot them all delivering a few lines each to camera and the film above was the end result.
Their second film is a bit less abstract. It was animated my man, Chossy, and I think it's a thing of considerable beauty, especially given that it's all done with stills from the Getty Archive. Those voices you recognise are the well known broadcasters, and distinguished alumni, Alan LIttle and Sheena Macdonald.
The third film will be more straightforward - a series of interviews with opinion formers from the worlds of business, politics, academia and science, shot at the Royal Society in London (where Imagine The Opposite was premiered, to great acclaim), and in various locations around Edinburgh.
Over the years, I've done a few jobs for this innovative Danish company, but I was surprised to stumble across this spot on YouTube
I produced this while I was working with Edinburgh agency The Union. We shot in Prague with the talented Danish director Michael Abel, and did the post in Copenhagen at a great place called Duckling.
Their sister company Supersonic also composed the music which is lovely, but I was surprised was to hear my voice on it as well. I thought I'd just laid down a guide track, so who knows how this ended up on screen?
My first Velux spot was perhaps less cool, but a lot cuter. I was just the voiceover that time, but I still like the ad and I hope you do too.
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 sureILKA will be a great success.
Most of my work has been in moving pictures, but in 1998, I spent a few months working around Europe as Executive Producer on a stills campaign for Prada, shot by Glen Luchford and art directed by David James. It was a fascinating experience in many ways. Amber Valletta was one of our models and this shot of her, strongly reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's film, The Shining, was taken when we were working at an abandoned palazzo just outside Frascati, near Rome.
It was spring when we arrived, so the blossom was on the trees. We drank blood orange juice at breakfast and ate fresh, raw fava beans and fennel at lunch. As we'd flown in from a snow-covered Prague where we'd spent a fortnight shooting in a freezing fun fair, it felt rather strange building a vast maze and covering it in fake snow. But as it was built for us by the Art Department from Cinecitta - the people who'd done all the sets for directors like Fellini, Pasolini and Visconti - it was fascinating to work with them and hear all their stories.
David James is a very private kind of guy; he's done a lot of great work over the years, but he hasn't courted publicity so I was surprised to see a feature on him in the newly redesigned Creative Review that linked to his new site, Out of Print, where you can see this image.
As David says in his notes the photographer, Glen Luchford, was and is absolutely obsessed by film, and I remember that one of my more enjoyable tasks in various European cities was tracking down DVDs of obscure horror films by the cult Italian director Dario Argento that he would pore over again and again until late in the night.
But one important credit David doesn't give on his site is to Barry Ackroyd, who worked with Glen as a kind of stills DoP throughout the campaign and contributed a lot to the look that won it a Silver at D&AD in 1999.
So I was both surprised and really pleased to see Barry's name on the credits as DoP on Kathryn Bigelow's wonderful film, The Hurt Locker.
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
