Fashion is about more than just what you’re wearing. True personal fashion, the kind that you pull together each morning, is about knowing who you are while still understanding trends. That’s what we do here at Film Annex, and if you take a look at our staff, you can tell. A
recent photo shoot shows off our staff’s fantastic style. Fashion photographer Alena Soboleva snapped these shots of the folks behind Film Annex, and you can tell a lot about them based on what they’re wearing.
Subtle pattern mixing, minimal accessories and a polished look ruled the day. Our staff members’ daily duds are hip without being ostentatious. Film Annex is the go-to site for filmmakers looking to promote and fund their ventures - not gain Paris Hilton-like notoriety. If you look closer at the photos, you can see that each person has their own sense of style, much like all the filmmakers at Film Annex.
Of course, we’re no strangers to fashion. In fact, founder Francesco Rulli worked with noted actor John Malkovich to
design a menswear line before he founded Film Annex. You can check out the documentary, called, “Flipping Uncle Kimono”, below:
Style is also about evolution. You can’t keep wearing the same things over and over and expect to stay current. In order to remain both true to yourself and fashionable, you need to keep what works while still giving a slight nod to the style du jour. The folks at Film Annex recognize this - that’s why initiatives like
FAMusicTV and
ModelsWebTV were created. Both sites pick up on what people want, while still maintaining the Film Annex core model.
At the end of the day, in both fashion and business, you need to remember to keep what makes you you while still recognizing what’s current - and nobody does that like Film Annex.
Check out the photo shoot here.
Leading U.S executives from top sports, media and branding executives and fashion designers have come together to help the International Wrestling Federation keep wrestling in the Olympics. The Olympics committee recently announced its decision to drop wrestling from the Olympic Games starting in 2020.
These leaders have assembled to form the Scientific and Technical Research InitiatiVE (STRIVE) committee to help the Fédération Internationale des Luttes Associées (FILA, International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles) rebrand wrestling for the new Olympiad. The goal is to develop unbiased and unique recommendations for effective tactics and strategies that will help make wrestling attractive to athletes, broadcasters, spectators, corporate sponsors, and the International Olympic Committee.
See STRIVE's recent press release.
The STRIVE committee is supported by a student research team from New York University’s Sports Management Department. FILA President Raphaël Martinetti has also commissioned the department to allow the research team to participate in an independent study that evaluates all aspects of wrestling. In order to avoid bias, this study is to be conducted outside of FILA influence from its members or national wrestling federations.
Martinetti commented on the study, saying:
“I am extremely pleased and honored that a group of executives of this caliber have agreed to give their insights in helping make amateur wrestling more modern and exciting.”
Included in the STRIVE committee is Francesco Rulli, founder and president of online film distributor Film Annex. Rulli is a staunch supporter and participant of Judo, a martial art that is similar to wrestling.
Regarding wrestling, he stated:
"Amateur wrestling has an incredibly rich history, and through social and digital media we'll show how FILA can display that history through independent films including short and feature-length narratives, animations, documentaries, classics, as wells as behind the scenes videos and interviews.."
Film Annex was also a sponsor for the New York Open Team Judo Championship, which was held on March 3 at the New York Athletic Club in New York City.
The Chinese New Year is on February 10, 2013 and we wanted to get Tommaso Rulli's update on his work in China and Central Asia. In a recent video, fashion entrepreneur and Film Annex Capital Partners' Tommaso Rulli discusses Film Annex’s work in South and Central Asia with Fereshteh Forough.
Rulli is the founder of fashion company MTI USA Inc. and is the brother Film Annex's Francesco Rulli. Together, they started the clothing line Mrs Mudd with the actor John Malkovich that then led to the development of Film Annex and video distribution.
In response to Forough’s explanation of Women’s Annex, a platform that is managed by Afghan women that attempts to support women in Central and South Asia, Rulli says:
“I think it’s the perfect time for women in Asia. After traveling there, I went to India, China, Korea… and I see that women are a little bit behind the western world and they have a lot of skills and potential. It’s the perfect time to promote them because they’re very motivated and they’re very skilled, and they have to write to be at the same level as men. Even in certain fields like fashion, they could be on top of men because they have more skills and more taste level.”
He states that Afghanistan has a lot of potential in textile and garment production. His suggestion to developing countries is to establish businesses through government help, but to also create individual brands in order to produce new generations of skilled people.
Rulli explains that because his textile and garment production company deals with the behind-the-scenes fashion business, social media platforms like LinkedIn are the best tools to keep in touch with international buyers. He says that social media is the new way to meet buyers, keep in touch, and maintain relationships that can sometimes be interrupted by changing jobs or moving to different countries.
Watch the full video here, and see MTI's Facebook page here.
Rulli is a native of Florence, Italy, and moved to New York City in 1995 after founding MTI USA, which specializes in fashion and marketing services. Rulli travels to Europe and Southeast Asia to establish business relationships with partners and clients who are unfamiliar with the United States market. Rulli also founded D-Design, which delivers the top Web technology, marketing and design strategy through the Web. He established Mrs Mudd with Francesco and John Malkovich in 2002 in order to fabricate John Malkovich's fashion inspirations.
A picture is supposed to be, in some cases, worthy of a thousand words. I can argue the case that some of the better fashion film productions that I have viewed while overseeing Models WebTV have generated discussions many times more than that. The use of engaging video productions by businesses today could be the last step of the puzzle in creating the necessary buzz for promoting a product to an engaged audience as it is launched.
Amanda Dhalla writes in her blog for Video-Commerce.org that "Online video is an ideal medium to tell the stories behind your products and build your brand authenticity" and gives fantastic examples of companies that have utilized video for this benefit. I would like to add a company to this roster. It's name is Killspencer, the brainchild of Los Angeles based industrial designer Spencer Nikosey. The company started with the mission of creating the perfect, waterproof, 100% USA made backpack. My search for such a backpack led me to Spencer's site. His bags are amazing and I plan to purchase one.
What was more inspiring was how Spencer is successfully utilizing fashion the film genre and 'making of' productions to showcase his company, his products and himself.
Ms. Dhalla continues with this; "To maximize exposure and buzz, marketers need to explore other types of video formats that are better suited to that task. One example is a ‘making of’ or ‘behind-the-scenes’ video". I get to know Spencer and his Killspencer brand on a personal level when I watched his very own interview video. His "making of" video gives the prospective buyer an insight on the process of how the bag is made and the materials used to make it.
Now to the exciting part, the videos that I may categorize as fashion films which Spencer created for marketing the vibe of his products and the settings one could only wish to be in when wearing them.
Click to view the KILLSPENCER® | WEEKENDER FILM
Click to view the KILLSPENCER® | UTILITY COLLECTION 2.0 FILM
Spencer Nikosey is the perfect example of an entrepreneur who recognizes how vital video production is for opening the doors to his company and letting an eager consumer in. What this has done for me personally is let me know the man behind the product and connect with him. I now better understand the process of how my future backpack will be made and through his films I can dream about the perfect location that a Killspencer product will be at my side.
Well done Spencer, I'll keep my eye open for the postman!
Francesco Rulli and I created Models Web TV a little over a year ago with the simple intent of mimicking the success that Film Annex had achieved over the past 5 years distributing independent film on the internet and take that very concept into the worlds of fashion and modeling. Quite often we were happening upon amazingly created, and engaging short fashion film content on Facebook, Vimeo, and YouTube. An ever growing community of photographers have been complementing, some even replacing their still work with motion capture, producing beautifully edited and captivating films, behind the scenes videos, and interviews to maximize the content of a regular shoot, very similar to a video diary.
The advent of relatively inexpensive hardware, such as the Canon 5d Mark II camera, and enhanced editing capabilities from software like Apple's Final Cut Pro have given the modern photographer (cinematographer) the tools necessary to create outstanding work at a reasonable cost for their clients and the millions of fans that seek this genre on the internet daily.
The light bulb went off and we knew that this category of visual artist was under served and were due the same respect, consideration and revenue sharing opportunity that Film Annex provided filmmakers.
When the photographer registers he gets a Web TV channel where he will showcase and promote his videos, photography, and blog entries to a community of eager and loyal fans.
Other than YouTube which may share revenue with selective 
content providers at a fraction of Film Annex's 50/50 split, most platforms are TAKERS. They do not give back to the content provider their due share for uploaded material. WE BELIEVE THIS IS NOT FAIR. And we are doing something dramatic to level the field between the platform and the content provider, GIVING BACK the $. Artists are entrepreneurs, as they work for themselves, must sell their artistic vision (product) to an audience to eat, and success and or failure rests solely on their shoulders at the end of the day. Models WebTV and Film Annex are in the business of facilitating their success.
Here is a film on Hello Hollywood with Elite Models:
Watch more on modelswebtv.com
Till next time....