In case you didn’t know, The Blue Lagoon is the world-famous volcanic spa situated in deepest Iceland and is the country’s most popular visitor attraction. Its geothermal pools lets you soak in waters warmed and enriched by the Earth’s core. Their eponymous skincare collection extends the benefits of the naturally-heated spa to the home, with a range of products the perfect coalescence of science and beauty.

Borkur’s stunning film directed in partnership with Daniel Atlason and created by Dodlur, runs to a similar theme, showing the close-up, geological side of the spa’s skincare collection.The body of the spot is science in action: magma bubbles and oozes, lava explodes and cracks into dust, while water steams, bubbles and fizzes, all shot in spectacular close-up, giving us almost magical, otherworldly imagery accompanied by a haunting soundtrack.

The climax of the film follows our female bather from the spa to home, via Blue Lagoon’s laboratory where we glimpse at work done for the range’s production. Borkur enhances his varied repertoire with a film that demonstrates his abilities as an increasingly versatile director.

There’s a familiar image on the front page of this week’s Campaign magazine… Why, it’s from Liz’s National Trust spot! Catch the cover star here:

Answers on a postcard as to what time in the spot the still comes from.

Tareq’s rather brilliant and very stylish launch films for the British fashion label’s Autumn/Winter collection featured heavily in the latest edition of Campaign magazine, going under review in the fearsome ‘Private View’ feature – eek! We needn’t have worried however as Tareq’s films went down as a huge success – especially with guest critic and fashionista, Mary Portas.

“The Jaeger film was elegant and curious,” remarked Portas. “It left me wanting to hear more of the conversation. A scattering of posh Mums and daughters talking about Brits and our fabulous style. There was a risk here that this could have been a bit up itself, but the ‘leading ladies’ were intelligent, unscripted and natural, showing us simply that Jaeger is a brand for elegant grown-up women for whom style comes naturally.”

Thanks Mary!

The film has made it onto the creative bible’s round-up of the week’s best work.

The British fashion brand celebrates its 130th Anniversary by enlisting the help of three top models and their mothers in an elegant and poignant series of films that draws attention to the matters of style.

Jodie Kidd and mother Wendy, Jacquetta Wheeler with photographer mother Tessa Codrington and Jasmine Guinness alongside mother Liz Casey star in an interview/documentary film directed by Tareq that succeeds in capturing the spirit and style of the classic chic fashion house – that quintessential balance of taste and elegance we have come to expect from Tareq’s extensive collection of fashion work.

The first video, entitled ‘Character’ features each mother and daughter musing over the characteristics they have acquired through the generations: ‘Her determination’, said Wheeler on mother Tessa Codrington, while Guinness expanded on her mother’s ‘bloody-mindedness’ and Wendy Kidd modestly names the ‘sense of humour’ she hopes to have imparted.

There are three further films accompanying the season’s launch, each based around a topic of discussion – ranging from what constitutes British style exactly to what it means to be a modern woman.

Jacquetta Wheeler with photographer mother Tessa Codrington

Iceland, the land of the midnight sun, is also the land of government-backed alcohol stores, acting as the only place to legally purchase booze of any sort. While this may sound a bit of an inconvenience to those of us in free-flowing, free-drinking countries, Vinbudin, the authority that runs the stores encourages Icelanders to buy booze at their shops, as their latest campaign directed by Borkor shows. The only inconvenience they want you to avoid when purchasing is forgetting your ID, backed by some entertaining (if slightly dubious) statistics.

In three very humorous spots, we see people with ‘dog-ate-my-homework-type’ explanations as to why they don’t have any form of ID with them – in one case, quite literally. Borkur teases out some wickedly captivating excuses that leave you waiting for the punchline, delivered in that expert deadpan style we have come to expect from Borkur’s work, most recently in his acclaimed spot for Cif. The reactions of the exasperated shop assistant having to deal with these air-headed customers is worth the watch alone.

Pick of the bunch is ‘Washing Machine’, that takes its cue from that infamous Levi’s 501 laundromat spot from the 80s, though this time with an Icelandic spin (cycle). A hunky, funkily-haired young man strips off to wash his clothes, much to the delight of the watching female audience in the steamy laundromat/diner/bar. Much to our delight however is the moment when we see that his passport has accompanied his jeans into the wash. Our unfortunate man tries his luck at the checkout, but the store assistant is having none of it, nor his rather ropey excuse explaining what exactly happened to his ID is.

Catch the spot here as well as the two sister films that are guaranteed to raise a laugh and remind you to always keep an eye at all times on all your forms of ID.

The delightful film sees a bunch of very bored-looking children stuck indoors with very little to do. Then, in a blink of an eye, we’re thrown outside with the kids into the joy of the great outdoors and all manner of encounters at National Trust locations.

The film is the centrepiece of the National Trust’s ‘50 Things To Do Before You’re 11¾‘ initiative to get children back-in touch with nature – in every sense – from holding creepy-crawlies and rock-pooling in the hunt for crabs, to the simple joys of rolling down big hills and sitting out under the stars for a spot of stargazing. All lovely clean, wholesome stuff. And lots of great moments to GIF!

The young director follows up her critically-acclaimed childhood bereavement charity spot with a film that evokes strong childhood memories of days gone by.

JJ Keith’s latest film for the Swiss off-shoot of Andrex toilet tissue takes us to the deepest, darkest, weirdest depths of Switzerland for an encounter with a shining star in the world of toilet paper innovation, Dani Oberholzer. The clearly very passionate and not-at-all strange Mr Oberholzer has been tasked with wiping out the competition as the company’s new ‘Director of Communication and Innovation’ – yes, that’s him we see doing press-ups on the tour of the toilet paper factory.

JJ’s film centres on Mr Oberholzer’s latest concept to demonstrate Swiss precision, efficiency and brilliance through toilet paper: triangular-shaped packaging, inspired by the the country’s majestic Matterhorn mountain. Though beautiful from an aesthetic standpoint, his Toblerone-like design is actually quite useless – the confused factory worker’s humorous attempts at packing and shipping the boxes certainly shows this. Quite clearly Mr. Oberholzer needs help – specifically your help, with the campaign asking the public for ideas on how to bring Swiss toilet paper brilliance to the masses online.

JJ’s new film is a slice of Euro weirdness, that raises a titter with its subtle humour and well observed comedy.