MARS BLACKMON is back, changing the game once again. Academy Award Winner SPIKE LEE is launching a groundbreaking NFT project featuring unique frame-by-frame stills of the original sneakerhead Mars Blackmon, which was played by Lee in his iconic 1986 first feature film She’s Gotta Have It.
Lee owns and controls the rights to the film which was selected in 2019 by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
The collection of 3,945 NFTs will feature original frames from She’s Gotta Have It, with additional art designed by Tré Seals and Adrian Franks. The frames feature unique generative properties inspired by the film.
The NFTs will be released by The Visible Project, a new age democratized content incubator, powered by NFT’s from legendary creators. In addition to creating a new mechanism for successful filmmakers and brands to enter into Web3.
Spike Lee will serve as the Chairman for The Visible Project and the initiative will build towards The Visible Festival, a year-end culmination event celebrating the content made during the project. The event will also feature outside films, art, speakers, and live musical performances.
The Visible Project will be announcing a call for short-form creative concepts in the coming weeks. The submitted pitches will be vetted by Spike before the community of NFT holders vote on the projects they wish to see come to life. Winning pitches will receive direct funding, production expertise, and be featured on the token-gated Visible Portal before wider release to the general public. In addition, Spike and other established creatives will offer mentorship to the winning filmmakers.
The Visible Project is powered by Habitat Labs, the recently announced technology platform from former ICM Stellar Sports Executive Eliot Greene and former IMG Producer Alexander Gorgi. The company specializes in advisory, with production and technology at its backbone.
Eliot Greene stated: “We are proud to partner with Spike Lee in his efforts to build a lasting legacy that empowers artists of the next generation. This revolutionary collection and initiative will bring a tremendous amount of impact for NFTs within ‘traditional’ entertainment. We are forging a new kind of marketplace where collectors will own a piece of classic cinema history and have the opportunity to fund and greenlight real projects. We are inspired and excited to be launching this incredible program globally today.”
Alexander Gorgi added: “Our goal at Habitat Labs and The Visible Project is to build a world where all artists, brands and storytellers who wish to participate in the world of Web3 can seamlessly do so. Through our technology and advisory services, we provide our partners and clients with the resources they need to cultivate community, tell their stories, and inspire generations to come.”
Adrian Franks is known for his activism in his art. Franks is a designer, painter, big concept thinker, and a creative force. Creativity fuels him and he has used that energy to soar through a 20-year career in design, advertising, and the arts. He has created work for some of the world’s biggest brands, including Toyota, Coca-Cola, AT&T, Walmart, Bank of America, Citi Bank, Chrysler, Ford, and multiple branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, among others. He created one of the Apple Watch’s first apps––and has extensive experience solving design and digital challenges for FinTech. The NFT project reunites Franks with Spike Lee. Their previous collaborations include design work on films like Chiraq, Michael Jackson: From Motown to Off the Wall, and the ESPN documentary Two Fists Up.
Tré Seals most recently designed Spike Lee’s best-selling picture book from Chronicle Chroma. For the book, Seals also created an array of custom fonts while using color, typography, and an overall cinematic approach to capture Spike’s personality. Seals is best known for his type foundry Vocal Type, where he designs fonts inspired by protest movements throughout history. Examples include Martin, a “non-violent typeface” that was inspired by the Memphis Sanitation Strike of 1968, and Du Bois, inspired by hand-drawn infographics by the black sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois.
Academy Award® Winner Spike Lee’s iconic body of storytelling has made an indelible mark on filmmaking and television. Most recently, he has entered into a new creative partnership with Netflix, which will see him directing and producing narrative features under a multi-year deal with the streamer. He previously collaborated with Netflix on a number of projects including: Da 5 Bloods (which he directed and co-wrote), the series She’s Gotta Have It (which he created, wrote and directed), the film version of Rodney King (which he directed) and the Stefon Bristol sci-fi film See You Yesterday (which he produced). He is set to Direct a multi-part documentary on activist and athlete Colin Kaepernick for ESPN Films.
In August 2021, he directed and produced the four-part documentary essay NYC EPICENTERS 9/11➔2021½ released by HBO and streamed on HBO Max. His directed version of David Byrne’s American Utopia was also released by HBO.
In 2018, the visionary filmmaker co-wrote and directed the Academy Award®-nominated and critically acclaimed hit feature BlacKkKlansman, which won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
His career spans over 30 years and includes: She’s Gotta Have It, School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Malcolm X, Crooklyn, Clockers, Girl 6, Get on the Bus, He Got Game, Summer of Sam, Bamboozled, 25th Hour, She Hate Me, Inside Man, Miracle at St. Anna, Red Hook Summer, Old Boy, and Chi-Raq. Lee’s outstanding feature documentary work includes the double Emmy® Award-winning If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise, a follow up to his HBO documentary film When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts and the Peabody Award-winning A Huey P Newton Story. In the Television arena, his Netflix original series She’s Gotta Have It, ran 2 seasons on the platform. The series was a contemporary update of his classic film.
Lee is also known for his legendary Air Jordan TV commercials and marketing campaigns with Michael Jordan for Nike. In 1997, he launched the advertising agency Spike DDB, a fully integrated agency with a focus on trendsetter, cross-cultural, and millennial audiences. He recently directed new additions to the Capital One “Road Trip” national campaign featuring Samuel L. Jackson and Charles Barkley.
In addition to his films, TV series, and commercials, Lee has directed a number of music videos and shorts for artists such as Michael Jackson, Prince, Public Enemy, Branford Marsalis, Bruce Hornsby, Miles Davis, and Anita Baker.
Spike Lee is a five-time Oscar nominee (Do The Right Thing for Original Screenplay, 4 Little Girls for Documentary Feature, BlacKkKlansman for Picture, Director and Best Adapted Screenplay-Winner) and was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 2015 for his lifetime achievement and contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences. He is a graduate of Morehouse College and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he is a tenured Professor of Film and Artistic Director. Lee’s Production Company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks is based in Da Republic of Brooklyn, NY.
About The Visible Project
The Visible Project is the world’s first democratized content incubator, powered by NFTs from legendary creators. The Visible Project was built by artists, filmmakers, blockchain developers, students, former entertainment industry operators, and you, the community of emerging storytellers, producers, and fans of independent film. The Visible Project was created to elevate storytellers from around the world, and to give our community a meaningful role in the independent film ecosystem by financing and promoting films & tv pilots from emerging creators. Leveraging the proceeds of NFTs from legendary filmmakers, we will use web3 and the power of community to reshape the future of film and TV development.
About Habitat Labs
Habitat Labs is a New York and LA based NFT and brand incubator that builds products, experiences, and services. The company specializes in advisory, with production and technology at its backbone. For more on Habitat Labs, visit https://habitatlabs.io
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