Cool Hunting

The lyricism and artistry of Cool Hunting Video has everything to do with the talents of the production company m ss ng p eces. What follows are the Producer and Creative Director's picks from the 50+ videos they directed, shot and edited this year.

Producer Ari Kuschnir's Top Five, in no particular order:

The Beautiful Game
This episode combines my love for soccer and art with the surprising excitement of this year's World Cup—all in one.

Quantic: Nugroove vol. 2
I wanted to be his friend before we shot this and now we are friends. Thanks CHV!

Hess is More: Nugroove vol. 3
Bridging the gap between music and tennis, the Danish maestro was one of the most fun collaborators we've worked with.

3:34 of London
Scott takes it to the next level here in a symphony for the senses.

Art Basel Miami Beach 2006, Part One
After 59 episodes we came full circle to where it all started and made a "this is what it was like" short film that captures the Miami madness. With a great CH production team including London contributor SummerSeventySix and the AP Ami K.

Creative Director Scott Thrift:

Art Basel Miami Beach 2006, Part One
I'm really into how this episode plays out in comparison to our coverage of Art Basel 2005. I wanted to encompass the large scale social phenomenon that takes place in Miami during that week. Incidentally, it’s pretty much the only time anything ever happens in Miami.

Okamoto Studio
I wanted to work the story of Takeo digging out his own blocks of raw ice from the frozen lakes of Alaska into this piece but with this format, there just isn’t enough time. Instead I went for showing the entire process (which took two hours) in the same amount of time as a pop song.

Troika
There just aren’t enough beautiful women in Cool Hunting Video. (Mental note: have more beautiful women appear in Cool Hunting Video.)

3:34 of London
The idea was to provide a narrow window of perspective into London. There is no way to make a comprehensive documentary about the whole of London even in a ten hour miniseries much less 3:34. At any rate, I had so much fun working on this piece! The gold statue, the drunk in the park, the birds, the fresco painter, the crowds...

Social Suicide
To me, this episode felt like the site jumped right out of the blogosphere and comfortably into a visual format. I loved that it somehow felt like a soft commercial, a supporting film to the wonderful ideas of Simon and Matthew. It’s like a multimedia blog post—wait is that what we’re doing?