Apple AATCe Creative Contest 2010 - Winners

Sam Eads: "Playgirl" was recorded using Logic Pro 8 and used live instruments including percussion, guitars, bass, violins, cello and vocals. The main challenge faced was mixing the track, due to the large amount of harmonic ranges that quite easily clash. The original tracks were recorded in Sam’s bedroom/studio and all of the plugins on Logic made recording the instruments and making a first rough mix incredibly enjoyable and easy. The message of the song is to watch out for girlfriends/boyfriends who always think the grass is greener on the other side.

Elke Sengier: The source of inspiration for the documentary "Virginie" is Sengier’s best friend and her family. She wanted to make something useful that contributed to the debate on drugs, addiction and how rehabilitation is treated in Belgium. Final Cut Pro was used for all the editing and effects including the speed changes and colorisation work.

Stéphane Rombi: The text of "Rends Toi" written by Carole Masseport is what inspired Stéphane to write this song. Using his Duesenberg guitar and Logic 9, he created the track experimenting with the Ultrabeat, channel script settings and several MIDI instruments. The song speaks about the difficulty of living and how as a fragile witness to our world we sometimes take a pessimistic view of life and people.

Benjamin Baudet: "Plastique Fantastique" used motion capture over the duration of one week to create the detailed animation of plastic throughout a house. Baudet hopes to show the beautiful properties of plastic as a material and the important part it plays in our lives as consumers. Final Cut Pro was used to add all the numeric frames together and create the final edit of the animation.

Talking Timber: "Coat" is a time-line through a year, from the cold month of February to the warm summer months. Darren Martin used Logic 9 plugins, pre-sets and mastering to achieve the final track. Instruments included acoustic guitars, bass and didgeridoo. The song ends in summer on a sunny day, which Darren says for him inspires creating music.

Chris Turner: In a world that is increasingly over populated and fast paced, "Untitled" takes the time to document those moments that tend to be overlooked or missed due to routine. Turner attempts to capture de-populated spaces with beauty and an almost poetry-like style. Objects in their environments left behind represent an imprint of human activity. Whoever occupied these spaces are not present, but their presence is surely felt. Final Cut Pro was used for the edit along with the 3 way color corrector to help balance the shots to match.

Atli Steinarsson: For "Looking This Cool" Atli started out with Ultrabeat in Logic to create the foundation drum track and set the tempo before recording the guitar into the mix. He then tried to explore as much of the application as possible to bring the song up to another level, including EQ, compressors, limiters, reverb units, delays and the occasional distortion. At the end of the day the song is one that people should want to play when they feel good or when they want to feel good.

Kirill Pavlov: "The Black Queen" is the result of an international student film project between St. Petersburg State University of Film and TV (Russia) and Ciudad De La Luz Estudios (Spain). Nereah Marceu acted as second director on the shoot. Each team of students was given 10 days for production and the theme of "chess" to help them outline their narrative. The film was shot in Alicante, Spain and edited completely on Final Cut Pro.

Jack Phillips: Jack The lyrics for "Return" are about tigers being hunted and becoming extinct. The chorus references 'crown' and 'throne' to describe the fall of the king of the jungle. Phillips used many different aspects of Logic in creating the song, including sampling with the EXS 24. Most of the percussive sounds were recorded using his Macbook Pro's inbuilt microphone, and created by tapping keys on the keyboard, or using the mac itself as a drum.

José Antonio Gil: Existence of a world beyond the reality that we live is the primary message of "Chimerical". The new Final Cut Studio was used to carry out all the editing, color correction and DVD authoring of the project. In particular iChat Theater was useful in coordinating the efforts of the VFX team and the editor.

Cian Finn: "Education" takes its instrumental inspiration from a mix of Reggae, Hip-Hop and Dub step. Cian started with drums, then added piano and bass before finally placing original lyrics over the music. The EXS sampler was used in Logic to create the bass line and set guide levels for the tracks as they were developed. Finally, effects and processing were applied when the track was finished. The message of the song is one of praise towards the education of people and its benefits.

Soraya Pérez: Inspiration for "One Place" came while Pérez was visiting the small villages of the North of Spain, where residents take shelter by the house’s fireplace during the winter. The drawings in the piece represent messages with no addresses, which are a window to the loneliness somewhere in the inner self. "One Place" was edited in Final Cut Pro, using Color for grading and Motion for visual effects.

Damien Tuffal: The subject of "AiRia" is a girl who wants to make a new start in life by escaping from her reality and finding a new reason to live. The song was created in Logic 9 using the Space Designer, Delay Designer, EQ, Compressor, Flanger, Autofilter and other features and effects. On the verses the Flex Time tool was used to make all slices and adjustments. The aim was to create a song that sounds as natural as possible and highlights the lyrics without loud artifacts.

Elisa Henrich: The music video "Upper Class Boogie" features the German band The Wake Woods. Henrich set out to capture the fun and carefree attitude that the musicians use to approach their music. Final Cut Pro was used for the edit with special reliance on the eight-point garbage matte to cut out unwanted shadows from the frame.

Méné Ewomba: "Sous ton regard" is the final track of a project developed by Ewomba called Ephemere. Using mostly synthesizers and drum kits for the instrumentation, the mixing and effect work was done using Logic. Within the mix nothing is taken for granted and even the smallest part has meaning, for example the sub kick used represents the heartbeat of the character in the story. "Sous ton regard" tells the story of the main character’s death which is both tragic and liberating because it symbolizes freedom from pain.

Diego de Vega: "Turn Me On" was inspired by the phenomenon of Synesthesia which is an ability some humans have of mixing senses, for example how some people can see music, hear colors and so on. The focus of the story is on a musician who is losing his senses and can only recover them by touching others who actually sense. Round-tripping between Final Cut Pro, Color, Motion and Soundtrack Pro proved useful to de Vega for this work.

Tom Prendergast: When composing "Fight and Fall", Prendergast’s inspiration came from a four bar guitar part intended for an acoustic song. This part features in the verses and consists of three chords and a solid rhythm. The Amp Designer and Delay Designer in Logic both proved to be invaluable tools in allowing Prendergast to achieve the perfect main guitar part sound. The song itself was written from observations Prendergast made of those around him who are in unhappy situations and have a need to escape. In the end a new beginning does not always bring contentment.

Fernando Sanchez: "Colorize" is a work that brings together two of Sanchez’s passions; the psychology of color and cars. Shot on a Canon EOS-7D and cut in Final Cut Pro, Motion was used to add in the colorizing effects. Music was provided by "The Real Tuesday Weld" and provided the inspiration and pacing behind the piece.

Richard Abiona: The inspiration of "Haiti Still Needs Us" was the unfortunate earthquake tragedy in Haiti in January. The message of the song is that even though this event is no longer headline news, there’s still a need in Haiti for help and aid. Abiona started the development of the song working with the ESX 24 in Logic to configure the mellow chords at the start. He also relied heavily on this tool for the piano and bass lines throughout the song. The biggest achievement that Abiona sites for the development of this song was brining together lots of up and coming artists in the London area (Dionne, Julie, Mikel, Sloozie, Fuse, Suli and Caspian) to help record the track.

Nathan Besse: "Ten Yards" is the reflection of a character’s state of mind before the struggle, between concentration and doubt. Shot on Red One and edited natively in Final Cut Pro, "Ten Yards" also used Color to assist the in the final element of post-production.