CURIOUS FILM’S BBTV GOES LIVE ON JOOST
Curious Film has launched Bikini Bandits TV, an alternative film network showcasing short films, music videos and animation hosted from the iconic music club CBGBs in New York.
Clips include, ‘Eagles of Death Metal: Know Thy Meat’, ‘Zombie Blood Chaos’, ‘The Adventures of Dirty Sanchez’, as well as excerpts from Bikini Bandits feature films and a series of commercials for Charles Mason Salad Dressing. http://www.joost.com/360awa9/t/Bikini-Bandits-TV
“Advertising is the economy of human attention. If you have something to sell, there’s no cheaper, faster, easier or less imaginative way to get maximum attention on a minimum budget than positioning your product next to a bikini,” says Pete Grasse at Curious Films in Australia.
As a result, Grasse and Philadelphia agency Gyro, created Bikini Bandits as a vehicle to advertise the agency’s retail outlet G*Mart ( http://www.thearcadiaproject.net/gmart.htm) and its in-house label Sailor Jerry (http://www.sailorjerry.com/index.php).
“We wanted to explore the relationship between sex and consumerism, and so elevated the role of women in the global marketplace from disposable ornaments to predatory robber barons. Hence, we juxtaposed the life-giving symbols of feminine submission with the life-taking accoutrements of masculine sovereignty. The result was entertainment,” says Grasse.
When the Bikini Bandits experiment first launched on indie film site AtomFilms, it went straight to #1 and has since been viewed by 32 million people worldwide. The series stars musicians Dee Dee Ramone, Maynard James Keenan, Captain Sensible and Jello Biafra, and actors Corey Feldman and Rudy Ray Moore.
Thanks to the success of the Bikini Bandits franchise, Curious has signed a major distribution deal with Joost and has plans to launch a series of channels under the ‘Curious TV’ banner. Like BBTV, they will sit alongside major entertainment brands such as Paramount, MTV, Warner Bros, Comedy Central, Ministry of Sound, Raindance and Showtime.
Next, Curious Film will expand Curious TV as a platform for advertisers and agencies. “Curious TV reflects Curious Film’s desire to experiment with new technologies. We’ve taken the initiative to build our own digital TV network in order to facilitate others who are also eager to play in this space,” says Grasse.
“The bottom line is that anybody on the planet can have a .tv or youtube channel – most production companies in the UK and US have them. Curious is just fortunate to own an established entertainment brand in-house – that’s what got us onto a recognized network that actually pays for content. That’s how we get money to make more content. That’s the goal,” says Grasse.
Since the channel’s launch, Curious has entered into a distribution deal for the broadcast of its shorts in France , Italy & Poland.
19 Comments
Gald to see someone actually making and distributing content., rather than organizing seminars to talk about it.
When’s Team Dry release?
This story has captured the blogosphere’s imagination hasn’t it.
You’re fuckin’ loose Grasse.
Love it. Good luck man.
MB
No one else seems to give a crap but frankly I find this shit annoying.
What this PR is trumpeting is that Joost is paying you to make a bunch of soft porn films of some chicks in bikinis. No wonder you had to write an essay about it to make it seem like there was more to it.
You link to a site filled with much better content and expect the buzz to be all a twitter with your adolescent efforts.
CuriousTV my ass.
Chuck,
We’ve been making these films for nearly ten years now, and you are certainly not the first to be annoyed.
However, before you walk away, you have to remember that the films were initially made as commercials advertising a retail outlet – G*MART. This form of advertising is now called branded content. Yet, at the time we wrote Episode 7 (1999), the film was just a promotional piece for a new clothing store.
In light of this, its important to remember that advertising usually presents women as passive objects who are acted upon and the consumption that advertising promotes–though it may be dressed up as an act of rebellion–is equally passive. In days of yore, satisfaction was wrested by violent force from the land. Today satisfaction is not longer a visceral atavistic exchange but a hollow, symbolic one, obtained by calmly waiting in line and exchanging symbols of credit for symbols of desire.
With our series of shorts for G*MART, we restored the old sense of blood-and-guts dominion to the act of consumption and the feminine form. Having female bodies shown to their best advantage in skimpy bikinis, we armed the Bikini Bandits with automatic assault rifles and a vicious frontier ethic of take everything, subjugate everyone, and pay for nothing…The result was an entertaining piece of commercial filmmaking that attracted consumers to the store and created an audience for Bikini Bandits – which became a new brand in itself.
So, please don’t belittle BBTV as soft porn. Its a channel developed to showcase a culturally significant piece of advertising that has since grown into a series of short films with a worldwide cult following.
As for CURIOUS TV, it is simply just another space in which to develop & distribute our films – be they for art or commerce. BBTV is first of three online channels being developed for his platform.
Lastly, please feel free to add your review to the following. We like people with a strong opinion about our films:
AMAZON:
http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B0000CG8I6/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_helpful?%5Fencoding=UTF8&coliid=&showViewpoints=1&colid=&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
NY TIMES:
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/313420/Bikini-Bandits-Briefs-Shorts-and-Panties/overview
Thank you for your comment, and wishing you a pleasant Thursday!
Charles, you really seem out of your depth.
Just because it’s not a 30sec TVC or a captivating story about a new junior team being hired at DDB, doesn’t mean it isn’t of interest to the industry. This is one of the strongest examples of branded content that you’ll see… the content may have titilated you, but it will appeal to the consumer, and that’s all that matters.
Please realise that advertising is a lot larger than the little bubble around your agency.
Next time have a think before you hit the keyboard Chuck.
Well yes, clearly it’s the talk of the town.
This may be the strongest example of branded content that you’ve seen but personally I think your average James Bond film does a better job of that, without you even realising it.
Putting ads into a film to promote a brand which essentially does little else but the sell the very same film they appear in, isn’t the reinvention of advertising.
Finally, you had a crack at patronising me, but you forgot to tell me to get back to that bank brochure you’re supposed to assume I’m working on.
The Bikini bandits concept is a complete knockoff from Tarantino’s 1997 film Jackie Brown. Samuel Jackson is showing a gunsales video of chicks demonstrating weapons .
Tarantino deconstructs the narrative this is a poor imitation.
Thanks Jackie.
People often say Russ Meyers. Yet, Jackie Brown is a first. Here’s the clip you reference: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=WHvAfTU2haE&feature=related%5D
I can see the relation. The funny thin is that I actually first saw this movie in 2001, and mistakenly thought that QT ripped us off. I was wrong.
I’m wrong about a lot of things. Yet, a cult following keep watching & buying our little films that started out as ads, and that’s some consolation for not always being right.
I’ve heard Tinto Brass, Jess Franco, Jerry Lewis, Duchamp, and, of course, QT. Yet, Jackie Brown, in particular, is new. Keep them coming. I like to know, and am interested by it all.
Thank you & good night.
Jeez Charles, you sound like a fun dude. Can I come over and watch an average James Bond flick with you? Who’s your favourite, Pierce? He’s a card alright.
If you can manage to create anything that brings together three legends like Dee Dee Ramone, Maynard James Keenan and Jello Biafra, then you might just qualify to diss the Bikini Bandits. In my opinion, that feat in itself warrants respect.
Good stuff Pete. I met you once. You bought me and MB lunch. It was tasteless, haha.
Charles,
One more thing, i’m sorry that someone took at crack at you. That wasn’t me, as I really do enjoy your counterpoint. I have a lot of passion for this project, and have enjoyed debating its merits with you. Thank you again for your comment. I never assumed you were working on a bank brochure. I supposed you were a fellow filmmaker Again, good night.
MB! Master Baker! Of course I remember. Thanks for the support. I think Charles is probably more fun than he lets on. I like the debate. Let’s lunch again soon!
Hey Peter
I’m working on a bank brochure, for a new loan product. I was thinking of having a highly empowered woman in a bikini next to a set of golf clubs with the caption “Do you want to play a round?”
My question is should I leverage it into a multi-media extravaganza in which via viral and content placement, and in an ironic tribute to the works of Debord, Baudrillard and the Italian neo-Situationists, we realise these babes are set to replace the former metanarrative of global capitalism.
Feel free to have a crack.
Ha! Debord! I’m lovin it…… Glad you get it. Let’s talk. I have a fun book idea that you might be able to help me with.
I’m actually hanging out for the next line extension – Bum Bandits, a full and frank expose of marketing directors who appoint an overseas agency just so they can attend you know what.
Did anyone actually watch the channel? Yawn…
I was going to comment about how weak the content was and that I couldn’t understand how BB’s actually got that many iews then I re-read the name “Maynard James Keenan” and realised! You’ve got the guy from Tool and other hot rock babes. That’s your draw card, it’s like an over funded sexy art school project.
BBTV is a poor man’s Liquid TV and 12 years too late.
I hope Curious stick with this and try to up the quality of it’s programming. And that doesnt mean throwing big dollars at it it just means actually trying to create original content.
It’s as interesting as a guy posting 20 blog posts pretending to be different people.
The only reason it’s getting hits is cause of tits. Put some script in there and I’ll watch it.
Thank you Ashley.
We will be upping the quality of the programming on different Curious channels to feature a variety of orignal content from a variety of directors.
BBTV is simply what brings in the greatest quantity of views (due to girls, rockstars a& muscle cars). and so, is what enabled us to sign our first programming contract with Joost.