We’re looking forward to the 7th edition of the Panic Room, on May 16^th. The Panic Room, held by hybrid production company PostPanic, is one of the more inspirational events organized in the Dam, we know of. It always invites a handful of the most twisted and brilliant international creative minds to share the inspiration behind their work. Past speakers have included Vincent Fournier (FR), Aaron Duffy (US), Si Scott (UK), Niels Shoe Meulman (NL), and HECQ (Ger). This edition features cheeky Dutch director/artist duo Lernert&Sander, minimalist Norwegian music video/short film director Kristoffer Borgli (check out his recent Real Life Exp. short film) and LA-based director Andrew T. Huang (who turned heads last year with his beautiful Solipsist short film and has since directed Bjork’s latest music video). The evening will be hosted by Fons Schiedon with Massive Music’s Philip Oomen providing the sounds. Just like last time PostPanic would like to invite some ‘younger creatives’, who have never had a chance to attend the Panic Room (because the invite-only guest list usually fills up with the senior advertising folk). If you’d like to attend and can still describe yourself as ‘young’ then send an email (with your age in the subject box) to panicroom@postpanic.net. The first 10 emails get an invitation. Hope to see you there on May 16^th!

After having been very busy with Post Panic’s Kickstarter project Sundays., director Mischa Rozema is surfacing again with this new short film, Stardust. Just like feature film project Sundays. it poses questions about our relation to the universe. The visual CG orgy, shows the story of Voyager 1, the unmanned spacecraft launched in 1977 to explore the outer solar system – it is the furthest man-made object from the sun. The film’s story centers on the idea that in the grand scheme of the universe, nothing is ever wasted and it finds comfort in us all essentially being Stardust ourselves. The short film was triggered by the death of Dutch graphic designer Arjan Groot, who died 16th July 2011, aged 39, from cancer. Rozema about the project: “I wanted to show the universe as a beautiful but also destructive place. It’s somewhere we all have to find our place within.” By creating a generated universe, Rozema wanted to take his own ‘camera’ to other angles and places within the cosmos, trying to avoid the clichés of the existing NASA and sci-fi imagery we’re used to. The matching audio, using analogue instruments and featuring “Helio” by Ruben Samama, was done by Guy Amitai (Pivot Audio).

PostPanic and director Mischa Rozema never fail to impress us. Take this beaut of a TV commercial for the Finnish soft drink Jaffa – commissioned by Finnish agency Sek - using a blend of 2D and 3D animated graphics, vintage stock footage, and a live action shoot at the studio of the 85-year old graphic designer Erik Bruun – an institution in Finland. Bruun has been responsible for Jaffa’s iconic logos and posters since the 50s – the brand was founded in 1949. Jaffa – nowadays owned by Heineken – is still in the top 3 of most popular soft drinks in Finland. Rozema about the project: “The story needed to be told using the actual posters of Erik Bruun. This meant we had to create an imaginary landscape to allow us to move from one poster to another. I was particularly inspired by the simplicity and retro feeling of Bruun’s designs, which actually reminded me of Saul Bass’ work. Bruun’s work has that same contemporary feeling and use of textures that makes it stand out and feel very tactile.”

Just announced; hybrid production agency Post Panic is organising the next long-awaited, 5th edition of Panic Room on the 7th of June. Panic Room is an evening during which Post Panic invites international names to come and share their current inspirations with a relatively small creative crowd, primarily made up from Amsterdam’s agencies. Past speakers have included Shynola, Si Scott, Dvein, Pleix, Lucy McRae and Niels Shoe Meulman. The next edition is featuring Belgian photographer and film maker Vincent Fournier, Eindhoven design duo HeyHeyHey (it wouldn’t surprise us if Mini Melvin makes an appearance) and LA-based director Andrew Huang, who has been causing a sensation with his short film Solipsist. Unfortunately the Panic Room is invite only, but we’ve managed to get our hands on 5 tickets to give away. We thought it might be nice to give them to some younger creatives who haven never been to a Panic Room – it’s usually the senior creatives ending up on the guest list. If you fancy going then please send us an email with your age and reason why you deserve a ticket. We hope to see you at the whiskey bar on the night.

Dutch directing duo HeyHeyHey (aka Elske van der Putten and Erik Sjouerman), who recently joined the directors roster of PostPanic, created the world’s smallest ever Rube Goldberg machine, dubbed Melvin the Mini Machine. We find it extremely cute. The idea of the stamp at the end is that the installation is designed to travel the world; each time a ‘run’ is completed a postcard is stamped, ready to send. The two suitcases are at the moment exhibited at the prestigious Salone Internazionale del Mobile. HeyHeyHey also created a much bigger Rube Goldberg machine last year for the Dutch Design Week. That one impressed us a little less, since we couldn’t stop comparing it to the amazing video clip ‘This Too Shall Pass’ by OK Go from 2010. In any case, it’s always good to see ‘agencies’ creating their own work – not being bothered by clients who want the logo bigger.

Last week we wrote about the new FBTO logo, today we share the insurer’s new advertising, created by Only and Qi. Ilse’s voice over tells us how she enjoyed her vacation in Spain with her 4 best friends; they met cool people, went out every night, did some dangerous stuff, and checked out the scenery. A bummer though: mom and dad were there too [end of paraphrase]. The new logo, the kaleidoscopic animation – created by PostPanic – and the catchy score – created by Audentity – give the brand a very refreshing look and tone. And using the distinctive circle from the logo as a brand element in the commercial is also smartly done. The only thing that gave us a small ‘syntax error’ is the radical plot change at the end. The male voice-over: “If you’re world, just like Ilse’s dad, doesn’t revolve around insurances, you should go to FBTO”. As if the record player jumped a few grooves. And we wonder: are there any dads with teenage daughters that have made a hobby out of insurances?

You have to brace yourself a little for this one. Not just for the length of it, but also because of the dark, post apocalyptic picture it draws – it literally shows how it gets under your skin. We guess it makes sense to ask hybrid production house Post Panic to create the leader for OFFF, the post production festival held in Barcelona this year on June 9, 10, and 11 and themed ‘Year Zero’. The visual orchestra features the names of artists that appeared at the festival. And of course, if there’s one shop that knows how to majestically merge digital, real life, and a general, unsettling, even menacing feeling, it’s Post Panic. Still a huge honour when you’re asked to show off your skills to the most critical audience in this creative domain. The film was written by Post Panic founder Mischa Rozema and British graphic designer Si Scott. It was also directed by Rozema and shot in Prague (the line production was done by Savage). The sound, influencing the suggestive character of the film so strongly, was done by Hecq. We love it, because it’s so beautifully…um…offf!

We already knew that the MINI is quite a sexy car. But this Rocketman, MINI’s ultra modern concept car to be launched at the Geneva Motor Show on March 1st, sounds like sexy 2.0. And when you ask BSUR and production agency PostPanic to create a product film for it, you get sexy 3.0. So that’s what MINI did. The two minute film tells the history of MINI in both 2D and 3D animation – which is PostPanic’s specialty. The car has a super light carbon fibre cross system, which makes a natural link to Sir Alec Issigonis words that the first MINI was designed in 1959 as a fuel efficient car. A salient detail is the Union Jack on the roof made from in-laid LEDs that can light up when switched on. It makes a respectful tribute to MINI’s heritage, as the brand is German nowadays. According to the press release the concept car will go in production “based on the response from the MINI fans”. We don’t really know what that means, but it adds the obligatory social media in the loop. This stunning piece of advertising is the proof that “History may repeat itself, but MINI doesn’t“.

Google AdWords can easily be called the best advertising invention ever – anyone can use it, it’s well targeted, efficient, and cheap. The product is so successful that it gave Google a whooping $24 billion dollar revenue in 2009. This year marks the 10th anniversary of AdWords and that’s why the juggernaut wanted to thank its advertisers (for once) with a personalised message. It asked AKQA San Francisco to help them do it.  AKQA wrote a script and then asked PostPanic’s Mischa Rozema to help them visualise it – earlier they worked together on the McDonald’s ARG ‘The Lost Ring’ in 2008. As you can expect from Rozema and PostPanic, the result is a surreal experience that smoothly combines live action with digital effects. Rozema did a lot of the footage handheld and edited it purposely clunky to give the impression that it was indeed done by the Google research department. The possibility to integrate the brand names of the Google customers in each fail – in this version “postpanic.com” – was technically realised by London based Rehab Studio. What we like about the 4 minute during ad, is the contrast between the corporate, if not robotic, Susan Wojcicki – Senior Vice-President – on the one hand and the somewhat geeky humour on the other. It gives Google a human face. In fact, Wojcicki reading from her autocue “what we need here is a heartfelt thank you”, followed by the employees all over the world saying “THANK YOU”, even reminds us that Google was once an internet start-up.

Last March we wrote about the beautiful idents director Mischa Rozema created with his production agency PostPanic and sound production agency Massive Music for alternative rock channel MTV Rocks. MTV liked them so much that Rozema was asked to make some more. Again the idents (Fly-by, Bugs, and Loop-the-loop) clearly carry Rozema’s signature; imaginary landscapes, surreal characters, and a visually stunning mix of live action and CG. It took PostPanic five months to create them. Which shows once more that the more creative freedom you give your agency, the more energy it will put in your project. Or maybe it’s just a case of: the less you pay, the longer it takes. It doesn’t matter, it’s great work anyway.