2011 proved to be one of the most rewarding years for The Medium Control. Client work was stacked full of new and inspirational projects; along with meeting a grip of new great people. On the Goods side of things we have never shipped so much in our 10 year span and we can’t thank all of you good people enough for that. Opening our first retail shop and working studio has been very exciting for us. Finally a space to showcase and sell our Goods; with a new work space for all of our equipment to boot.

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who has explored The Medium Control – we are having so much fun and can’t wait to keep pounding out new idears in 2012.

Many good things to come.

We are proud to announce our first feature film website project, DAVID. Early this fall we started to work with Stephanie (executive producer) and Joel (writer/producer/co-director) on this great project. We were initially amazed by the well put together trailer; after viewing the film – very greatful to be part of this powerful project. A harmonious blend of image, score and story, the film questions the boundaries of our cultures and religions, and looks at how static and yet fluid these boundaries can be. DAVID has gone on to win numerous awards and rave reviews. Check out the website design HERE.

View the DAVID website
david-themovie.com

Join DAVID’s ever-growing facebook page
facebook.com/davidthemovie

It’s that time of year again, when leaves turn to the spectrum of crayon colors. Last year we were up at Lutsen, Mn checking out the best leave show on the North Shore. While there we snapped the cover shot of this years Academy Snowboards’ Catalog and Joel Vandruff from Academy designed it up.

We have a few Academy catalogs left, swing on in to our new Medium Control Studio to pick-up your copy. Then get on over to Youth Shelter, Damage or Cal Surf and get your new ride.

The season is creeping up soon, get on it.

We recently launched a new website for DARWIN – No Services Ahead, a documentary film by Nick Brandestini. The film is about a small town (pop. 35) located at the end of a weather road in Death Valley, California. The Medium Control was responsible for the web design and development for DARWIN. It was a great experience for us to work with the filmmakers, Nick and Vesna Brandestini, who are currently based in Zurich, Switzerland. As always, we were honored to work with independent filmmakers, but Darwin was an especially intriguing film. We were drawn in by the film’s theme which is harmoniously backed with beautifully minimal and raw imagery.

Darwin will have it’s world premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival:

Feb 2, 8:00 PM, Metro 4 Theatre IV
Feb 3, 8:05 AM, Metro 4 Theatre II
Feb 4, 4:00 PM, Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Check out the trailer and the DARWIN web design HERE.

Boga Films (a new Medium Control client) were chosen as co-directors for the LIFE IN A DAY project, a historic cinematic experiment to document a single day on earth. Cristina Bocchialini and Ayman El Gazwy’s  footage from Cairo was chosen from over 80,000 submissions and was found to be “some of the most compelling and brilliant.”

LIFE IN A DAY is a new film from Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald and Ridley Scott.

PREMIERING: Sundance Film Festival
DATE: January 27, 2011
STREAMING LIVE: 8P EST YouTube.com/lifeinaday

Check out Cristina and Ayam being interviewed at Sundance HERE.

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This past fall we were fortunate to work with Isotope FIlms on their new award-winning film LOVE ETC. As you might have guessed the film is about love, however it is far from a cheesy love story. LOVE ETC. is a witty, poignant and humorous exploration about the universal stages of love, depicted through five real stories over the course of one year in New York City. It is an amazing film that is as much about the people and their relationships as it is about New York City.

After viewing some of our previous documentary film websites, Isotope Films approached us for a clean design that used subtle graphics from the film. In October the film had it’s debut at the Hamptons International Film Festival and walked away “Audience Award for Best Documentary.” Recently in November they also premiered at IDFA in Amsterdam – selling out all four of their screenings.

Read the film’s synopsis and check out our LOVE ETC site design work HERE.

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The Medium Control Lives For Snowboarding. Bald E-Gal Productions Is Snowboarding.

Good friends of The Medium Control, Bald E-Gal Productions has brought many good memories and fun to Snowboarding. Cheers to TRAVELING, EXPLORING and SNOWBOARDING as much as possible.

We are very hyped to have been part of this cause for quite some time now. In the B.E.P. beginning we helped with motion graphics, websites and now presently snowboard art. We met up with Ezra Jacobson in Brighton with our Super-8 cam, for a fun pow day. We are super stoked to report it made it into the intro of the Poachers X – check it out below (around minute 2:50, Ez getting some). Congrats to Brian Dow for pulling all those clips together. Lastly, we just finished designing a Bald E-Gal / Signal Snowboards collab graphic. More details to come. A big thanks to Mike Thienes (The Youth Shelter Supply) and Ezra Jacobson and everyone else for making it happen all these years – they have definitely earned their turns.

Swing by one of the three upcoming premieres in Minneapolis, Wausau and Duluth.

MINNEAPOLIS – OCT. 14, 7p
WHAT: Poachers X + Forum’s F*ck It
WHERE: Suburban World Theater – 3022 Hennepin Avenue

WAUSAU – OCT. 15, 9p
WHAT: Poachers X + Transworld’s In Color
WHERE: Great Dane Pub

DULUTH – OCT. 16, 6:30p
WHAT: Poachers X + Forum’s F*ck It
WHERE: Zinema 2
BY: Damage Boardshop

CHECK OUT THE POACHER’S X INTRO HERE.

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We recently completed the haut haus website ( hauthaus.com ) for our long time friend Holly Bayer – a fellow designer also inspired by the Bauhaus design theories.

Haut haus is committed to designing unique and thoughtful spaces, while providing exceptional customer service and access to the best design resources. She wanted a website to reflect their clean design work, while maintaining their personality. Hence the trusty number 2 pencil, it also doubles as their favorite color, and a tool that is used on every project. It’s nice to know hand drawn ideas and concepts still exist. Haut haus has won numerous awards, one of our favorites being: “People’s Choice Award, ASID Showcase Home 2009 Overall Favorite Room.” This room (featured on the homepage above) was inspired by mid-century modern design, one of our favorite genres of design. Check out details from the new Haut haus site HERE.

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This past year WAR DANCE played on the Sundance channel, making it eligible for the Emmy running. Fine Films walked out with two giant Emmy statues for: Best Cinematographer and Best Documentary. We have been fortunate to work with Fine Films on a grip of projects now: from the Fine Films identity and website to the War Dance website.

Congrats Sean and Andrea – amazing…

Read more details about the awards at Shine Global.

We recently designed and developed a website for a new film by Jennifer Arnold: A SMALL ACT
( asmallact.com ). An incredible story of good karma.

Tune in tonight to watch A SMALL ACT on HBO or check out the future HBO Showdates:
JULY 15 (12:30p, 12:30a)
JULY 18 (11:45a)
JULY 20 (9:00a, 7:30p)
JULY 24 (4:00p)

HBO2 PLAYDATES
JULY 14 (9:45p)
JULY 31 (9:30a)

HBO3 PLAYDATES
JULY 25 (4:50a)

Read the film’s synopsis and check out the website design HERE.

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Asche & Spencer creates music.

The Medium Control has been working with Asche & Spencer since back in the day. Located in Minneapolis and Venice, CA., they write, record, produce and mix music. Asche & Spencer has composed the music for Oscar winning feature films and Cannes Grand Prix winning commercials.
The Medium Control recently knocked out the new Asche & Spencer website. Check out their new Minneapolis facility, a remodeled mid-century master piece. See all site pages HERE.

Check out the new site at: http://ascheandspencer.com

PS :: To hear the talented work of Asche & Spencer be sure to watch a few Medium Control Videos.

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GARBAGE DREAMS AIRING ON PBS APRIL 27, 2010

A while back we posted a new client website for Iskander Films’ new project: Garbage Dreams. The movie will be airing on PBS tonight, April 27th. Currently Garbage Dreams has won over 21 awards, including: Al Gore’s “Reel Current Award”, IDA’s “Humanitas Award”, and IDFA’s “Best of Fest”. Check it out, it’s a great film well worth the watch and education.

Check your local PBS listing HERE

Rau + Barber Photography. The Medium Control has been working with Rau + Barber since back in the day. Stephanie Rau and John Barber are one of the top photography studios based out of Minneapolis. Along with a well rounded portfolio of amazing work and a solid client list, they have built a new studio that should be gracing the pages of Dwell. Upon completion of their new studio the Medium Control Humans got started on a redesign of the website. Based on the original design the updated site features: a new collection of work from both Stephanie and John, a new section called Near Here featuring exquisite location photography, studio tour – which walks you thru the new space, and finally an overall increased image size. Check out the new site at: http://raubarber.com

And for the critter love, they have a dog that helps them work in the creative field. View Screen Shots of the rau+barber site HERE.

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Medium Control + Snowboarder Magazine Collaboration. The Humans teamed up with their friends over at at Snowboarder Magazine to create a t-shirt for SIA (SnowSports Industries American conference in Vegas). Snowboarder wanted to create a collab design based on our classic snowfake design. The Medium Control was responsible for designing the t-shirt and Snowboarder distributed the goods. Be sure to pick-up the December issue of Snowboarder Magazine to see The Medium Control Design Co. and The Watsonian ad. Big thanks to Kyle Kennedy at Snowboarder for making this happen – cheers. Check out the t-shirt, click HERE.

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The Medium Control was responsible for art direction, design, and flash development for the new Series 30 website. The site was designed along the same lines as the Series 30 identity – minimalist design, with a monotone color scheme. Allowing the Series 30 trailers and photography to contrast against the black & white grid structure. As previously mentioned, Series 30 is a boutique production company based in Washington, DC that produces highly successful series and specials for major cable networks with a focus on non-fiction and alternative programming. Series 30 is currently in production on new crime plot series for A&E. Explore screen shots from the new Series 30 website HERE.

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The Medium Control recently designed a new identity system for Series 30, a boutique production company of award winning writers, directors, producers, shooters and editors based in Washington, DC. The Series 30 crew wanted to achieve a minimal and effective logo which would work seamlessly for both on-screen and print mediums. The new identity system allows Series 30 to utilize the square icon solo or in combination with the logotype, providing a strong message of the companies branding. Observe the complete identity system HERE.

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The humans can never seem to spend enough time out playing in the snow… even when it’s summer here they are working on a snowboard website. The medium control was responsible for art direction, design, flash development. The background photography was shot by Tommy with his medium format Holga camera which never seems to leave his side. Please have fun viewing the recently launched Academy Snowboard Co. 2009-2010 website.

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When the human’s good friend Lee Johnson hired the medium control to design a identity system for his new foundation we were honored to be of assistance. Not to mention the fact that one of Tommy’s favorite aspects of design is identity creation. The Lee Johnson Kidney Foundation was created to assist families in the organ transplant process. To read more about Lee’s story and how the foundation was created check out his blog onepoundheavier.com. Check out and join the foundation’s Facebook group here as well.

View more of the medium control’s identity work here.

We are pleased to present the official website for Garbage Dreams the movie. The medium control was responsible for art direction, design, and flash development. Garbage Dreams is a documentary film by Iskander production that follows three teenage boys born into the trash trade and growing up in the world’s largest garbage village, on the outskirts of Cairo. Far ahead of any “green” initiatives, the village survives by recycling 80 percent of the garbage they collect. Amazing.

You may be unaware that I am officially the unofficial spokes-cat for CUR (“Cats Unite for Recycling”). The website and film has been CUR approved – now go watch the movie – and please remember to recycle that $50 dollar bucket of popcorn on your way out.

Check out the Garbage Dreams trailer and screen shots from the new website below.

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