the Payola Collective

This is the old site…

jordanhalland — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 05:38:32 +0000

Come visit me at the new site:
Heypayola.com

Please and thank you.

Blue Obsession

jordanhalland — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:09:35 +0000

Andy’s Doc

jordanhalland — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 17:43:54 +0000

Andy Binford is an amazing young man that has done so much more than we could cover in this short film. It was inspiring to see the drive and ambition that Andy has in every aspect of his life. Since we finished this film And went on to win 2 gold and one bronze Medal in the Idaho Games. I have no doubt that Andy will continue to push the limits of what people think he is capable of.

Los Badicales

jordanhalland — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 18:54:12 +0000

I grew up skateboarding and snowboarding so any time I can design for a snowboard or skateboard company the teenager in my brain has a party. This line of tees is for a clothing company based in Nashville. They were always positive and a pleasure to work with. The whim and excitement they have for their company is intoxicating and something I am trying to duplicate with my own brand. They really want to make awesome clothing that snowboarders can dig.
One of their themes is The Yeti attacking skiers and the above tee is that theme interpreted as an Iron Maiden teeshirt. It is definitely my favorite from the line. This was seriously one of my favorite projects by far. Please support these guys and their tees! Buy them here: www.badicalstore.com

Kroc Doc – Karen Payne

jordanhalland — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 17:23:57 +0000

There is a dangerous tendency in me to wrap up short film projects with a tight bow and a smiley face like an episode of the Cosby Show where everything turned out all right and we all get a nice life lesson at the end. But that is not how life works. Karen is an amazing woman that has had her share of trials and struggles. She single-handedly raised two boys with equally challenging personal struggles. She stood by them while they went through their darkest times and now they are all the better for it; that is why they are fighting so hard for her now.

When I started this project Karen was having a series of blackouts and my idea was that she would be back at work in a couple weeks. I wanted to focus more on her perseverance through this trial and her writing. She has written three books and is currently looking for a publisher. But this is life. The news and prognosis kept getting more and more serious and the film began taking a sadder tone. This is what I wanted to do but it hurt to watch this family walk through this terrible trial.

Through it all Karen was beautifully steadfast. When I would meet with her she would share how much she is learning about her sons, about God, through her cancer. I once told her that if I was in that bed I’m pretty sure I’d just be angry. She said “I don’t have time to be angry.”

Karen is currently going through Chemotherapy and radiation and persevering. Her boys are taking up the brunt of family duties and can use some help. If you want to help just email me and I’ll get you in contact with the Paynes.

RESTORAGE

jordanhalland — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 23:29:52 +0000

My good friend Merritt recently needed branding done for a new business he is starting. Without giving too much away Merritt is building and installing an amazing shelving system his Grandfather patented. Merritt is cutting edge Americana. But unlike his contemporaries he was a craftsmen as long as I have known him and he will be long after the wheels fall off of this current trend. He wanted the logo to have a timeless quality and to reflect his other passion, British Motorcycles. It was a perfect fit for my style.

Musicals, Glidecams, and Crocodiles

jordanhalland — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 20:01:29 +0000

I haven’t been posting as regularly as usual because I have entered in to a season we shall call “The Busy Time.” I am currently moonlighting for a local company doing medical illustrations, audio editing, etc. On top of that I just stepped on to a short film that will be epic. To add insult to overworked injury I have been wrapping up freelance projects for all my clients prior to “The Busy Time.” All of these projects are completed after I put in my 40 hours at my full time gig as the video guy at the Kroc Center. All this adds up to 70+ hours a week of work. While I am grateful for the work I am also glad that this will be for a season and not forever.

That brings you up to date on my work schedule. Now for the business at hand.

A few weeks ago I had a meeting with the Kroc Centers Marketing Director and she had a brilliant idea. We had our first annual core values all staff meeting in a couple of weeks and she wanted to have a special video highlighting the employees at the Kroc. I do Interview style Documentaries all day long so this was par for the course. Then the Marketing director threw in my lap the opportunity to do something completely foreign to me: A musical parody. A Glee musical parody to be exact. I personally can’t watch the show for more than 2 minutes before boredom builds in my gut and I throw something at the TV. But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t make my own version of Glee. I loved the idea and began immediately planning.

Through the next week I watched anything I could find on youtube about Glee. I watched The musical numbers from various episodes of the show. I watched other people’s parodies of Glee. I watched the Jimmy Fallon Emmy’s opening number that is by far the best Glee moment I have ever witnessed, original show included. I watched so much that now whenever I open Youtube up on my office computer it immediately loads suggestions based around show tunes, Glee Characters, and musicals. I googled glee so much that the ads that pop up are advertising glee fanclubs, 20th Century fox and musical theater. If an investigator took a few minutes to analyze my computer the conclusion they would come to would be that this computer is obviously the property of a teenage girl with dreams of hitting the bigtime.

All of that research led to one factor that set good, viral parodies apart from bad, nobody cares, parodies: Quality. A common theme in the glee parodies on youtube is groups of teenage boys singing all the parts in a “look at us, we are boys pretending to be girls, isn’t that funny” kind of way. I didn’t want to stoop to that. So, I decided to go for the tough laughs and go for quality. Quality video, quality, editing, quality actors portraying these singers as if this was their big break.

I understand that watching this there are rough patches that video guys can point out but I also was given a deadline. My marketing Director had to talk me off the ledge a few times as well because I wasn’t sure we could make it to the standard that I was aspiring to. She was great about reminding me that while quality is nice, this is supposed to be fun. So I had to live with a couple shots kind of out of focus and marks not hit. And while filming was rough in spots the actors in the video totally committed and made up for camera errors.

This project would not have gotten off the ground without the awesome support and help from Jodi and Erin in our marketing and design team, Miranda, who was the best AD I have ever worked with, and the men in the RJ Kroc suit, Zak (who also edited the audio) and Chris.

The night of the premiere people were laughing so hard you couldn’t hear the music. It was awesome to see a project go from an idea to premiere in two weeks with little to no budget.

Barney’s COOP 25th Anniversary jeans by Raleigh Denim

jordanhalland — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 19:20:05 +0000

Chances are, most of what you are wearing right now was made in more countries that you will ever visit in your life. You shirt was made in Taiwan, but the Buttons on the sleeves were made in India. The thread that holds it together was spun in Cambodia, the rivets on your jeans were made in China and the denim was made in Pakistan. As Americans we have accepted the fact that if we want to pay $15 for a pair of jeans from Costco, we need to not care or consider how or by whom the jeans were made. This attitude of turning a blind eye to to the origin of our goods has lead to the decay of American manufacturing. Furthermore, it has lead to the decay of the quality of goods.

Fortunately, there are people like Sarah and Victor Lytvinenko who are part of a growing list of young upstarts who’s manufacturing ethics are given as much thought at the product itself. The Lytvinenko’s started Raleigh Denim out of their apartment and now can be found in high end boutiques around the world. Most of the elements that go into their beautiful jeans are made within a 200 mile radius of their home base in Raleigh, North Carolina.

On October 10th they are releasing a limited edition jean that was specially commissioned by Barneys COOP to commemorate their 25th anniversary. The jeans are made up of 14 oz. exclusive Cone Selvage denim made with pima cotton (softest, strongest cotton grown in the USA). They are sewn with a silver colored stitching and the Super 25th Anniversary jeans will have a silver leather patch, real silver rivets and buttons, leather backed rivets and selvage on the fly pieces. There will be 250 of the anniversary jean ($295) available at the COOPs and 25 of the Super anniversary jean ($495) available exclusively at the Madison Avenue Flagship commencing October 10th.

If you can support this awesome company, please do.
Raleigh denims website: raleighdenim.com
Watch this short video about Raleigh Denim too:

Fall clothing

jordanhalland — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:15:54 +0000

Idaho is covered in moisture most of the year. I grew up aproximately 200 miles to the east of where I now reside and the weather is the same there. I hated the snow and rain while in my teen years. Back then I believed true happiness could only be found on a skateboard; turns out, happiness is everywhere. So I believed that I wouldn’t be truly happy until I was living in a climate that supported year round skateboarding. Four years ago I tested this theory by moving to San Diego and after the fall and winter were supposed to arrive but didn’t I started acting strange. I would plot out trips to Julien, a small town in the mountains 45 minutes from San Diego. They had snow and seasons and I wanted to go there so bad. I realized rather quickly that I had to have seasons. I would go stir crazy during the winters in sunny California. My body need to be cold and uncomfortable, maybe it is my irish heritage. We seem to like food, places, and drink that hurts going down, in or through. Regardless, now I embrace winter. But I’m not an idiot, I have come prepared. Below are a few things that I will do my best to procure before the snow flies. If you see any of these items, I would appreciate a heads up.

Red wings Irish Setters. Winter boots.
Find them here: Redwingshoes.com

Raleigh Denim, Good clean Jeans. My Friend Vince the Believer turned me on to this brand. Chances are these are a bit too pricey to buy but a guy can dream.
Find them here: raleighdenim.com

This is a Seattle Company that makes beautiful, simple coats.
Buy it here: crescentdownworks.com

Story Corps

jordanhalland — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:04:47 +0000

A few Saturday’s ago I was home alone. My wife went to pick up our son who stayed at a friends house the previous night while we had a wonderful evening at our dear friends wedding. After the wedding we went to my brothers for a bonfire with many of our friends that also attended the wedding. I spend most Saturdays filming weddings now. I feel like every weekend I get a day-long reminder of why my wife is my best friend. I have seen about 7 beginnings in the past month. I have seen couples like our friends who are so perfect together it’s evidence of divinity and I have seen couples that are fighting to make things work at their wedding ceremony. Their faces and the faces of their loved ones say that this hasn’t been an easy road. I don’t think either is a guarantee of future bliss or problems.

The bottom line is that marriage is work. Every day I am realizing how big an ass I am and sometimes I correct it. My wife and I decided that when we got married we were married for life: That divorce wasn’t an option. So, we talk and talk and yell until we come to an agreement. Then we hug eachother. Sometimes, this process takes minutes and sometimes it takes days. Our relationship isn’t a fairytale romance but I have yet to meet a couple that has a castle and a dragon. Being made for eachother only takes you so far. If you can’t admit you are a jerk sometimes, or if your partner can’t admit that you are, there will be unresolved issues that will derail what started out so perfectly.

I say all of that to preface why the short film I watched while my wife was picking up our son was so powerful. I watch a lot of PBS and sometimes they throw on these short films to round out an hour. This Saturday they played a short film from Story Corps. I have never heard of Story Corps before but I became an instant fan. They take audio from interviews with real people and animate it. Halfway through this short film I was blubbering like an idiot. It was the perfect way to cap a crazy couple of months of weddings. We need to see how more people end their lives; if they had the same stamina and commitment that they had on their wedding day. It doesn’t matter how perfect you think you and your wife are on day one, It doesn’t matter on your last day: It matters everyday. I’m not just speaking about staying married regardless of the pain in the relationship. I’m speaking of loving your spouse enough to fight through their bullheadedness and your own blindness to your flaws. I love my wife more today than I did ten years ago when I said “I do.” Nineteen year old Jordan said I do because his wife was a smoking hot beauty that intoxicated his brain. But now I say I do because she doesn’t allow me to walk away. She is the only reason I am who I am today and she has stuck by me through the muck and the mountains. I am so grateful to have a friend like her. And she is still smoking hot.