Mike Will Downey

We live in a time flush with technology, and we are in a perpetual effort to keep up. Truly creative digital advertising trends also have to keep pace. In fact, you could argue that the definition of creative advertising is to stay a step ahead of the pace. In the coming year, we can expect more augmented reality. We can expect digital video advertising in our messenger apps. Advertisers and content creators need to find new ways to cut through the noise and connect. Again, we ask: how? Cut through it all by connecting to the humans behind the devices. Star Wars may be a multibillion-dollar industry, but isn’t it just about the kid in us all playing make-believe? Show off the tech, but connect to who we are. Connecting the product to a diverse range of ages and backgrounds is a trend in the advertising industry This ad for the  Google pixel 2 AR  Last Jedi stickers is immensely effective. Look at all the dots they connect. Love of fantasy. Nostal

“No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge. The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness. If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind. The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding. The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it. And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure, but cannot conduct you thither.  For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man. And as even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and his understanding of the Earth. ” ―  Kahlil G

Want to  hear another podcast  with a comedian, actor, and director?  — Listen to a  conversation with Jon Favreau . He discusses his writing process, daily routines, how to create films that redefine categories, and much more (stream below or  right-click here  to download)  https://secure-hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/8/8/4/884a8620a85c859e/Tim_Ferriss_Show_-_Jon_Favreau_128kbps.mp3?c_id=8771445&expiration=1496783796&hwt=665f9fecb42fd4ff5cd27d3163030417  

Let your characters take you where they take you. Let them speak to you. Your characters are the baseboards.   Ad infinitum, every good story is a combination of many pieces working well together - plot, theme, action, dialogue, the point of view, backstory, conflict, humor, pacing, setting, and subtext. Take a piece out of this puzzle and the whole thing collapses. Not one of the pieces is more vital than character. All the subplots, shocking twists, and complex philosophical themes are great, but stories will always be about people. Sure, readers want thrilling, mind-tingling plots. They want intimacy, suspense, action, and intrigue. But none of this compares to a character. We need characters who are real and make us understand something about life that we may have missed, or affirm what we already appreciate. They need personal magnetism. The goal is to neutralize the Director. Give your characters soul!