power to the people

You know what it's like when you start a new project. At first, everyone's dead keen and bursting with energy and ready to follow you to the ends of the earth. Pretty soon, though, you have to start sorting out the boring stuff like planning, timings and – gasp – deadlines.

You could turn to some fancy project management software – but who wants to do that for stuff that's meant to be 'fun'? Where are the normal apps for normal people? That's where our new Facebook application comes in. Orange People Projects makes it super easy to create and share projects with your friends and the big wide world. Recruit volunteers to help with a community project. Organise a gallery show. Or just plan the biggest block party the world has ever seen.

Start by naming and creating your project, then add events, a timeline, photos and even a ‘To Do’ list of tasks for you (or better yet your minions) to complete. Others can join in and contribute their skills and ideas, or just help you spread the word. And if we like it we’ll help publicise it too.

And don’t worry if you don’t have a project to work on, you can find all sorts of stuff to get involved in. To get started, check it out on facebook here.

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Orange Cinema ticket giveaway

What’s scarier than watching The Exorcist? Watching it in the dark, at night, outdoors, in a scare-your-socks-off-spooky secret location, that’s what. Welcome to Orange Cinema – A Night of Fright.

On Saturday we gave away the Orange Cinema tickets to our lucky winners, for our Night of Fright event this weekend, in a secret location in Central London.

The event has proved so popular we’ve released additional seats. If you reckon you can handle the fear, come along – we’ve got limited free tickets to give away, and all you have to do is email us here, quick.

The Priest giving away the first ticket at our secret East London venue.

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Orange Cinema: A Night of Fright

If you're a fan of fright films you really don't want to miss this. Prepared to be scared sockless...

We're screening a horror classic in a super-spooky outdoor location. We can't tell you where (yet) but it's somewhere in central London. The screening is on October 30th, the Friday night before Halloween.

Every day this week we're releasing a micro-chapter of an original work of creepy fiction on our Facebook Film Club page. Solve the clues in the story to reveal the screening location and where you can collect your free tickets this Saturday.

There are 130 pairs of tickets up for grabs. Totally free. All they'll cost you is a little bit of skill, ingenuity and fearlessness.

Visit the Facebook Film Club page to find out more.

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Nelly at the Orange RockCorps gig

Rapper, singer, actor. Nelly is one multi-tasking, multi-talented artist. Aside from all that, we were just impressed with how much fun he was to chat to... watch on...

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more gems from Francis

As you read this, we're busy backstage at the Royal Albert Hall, armed with video camera and microphone. You know why: the hotly-anticipated Orange RockCorps gig is finally here.

You can expect our behind-the-scenes video reports from the day to appear here later, including interviews with tonight's line-up. You know who they are... Nas, Nelly, David Guetta and Kelly Rowland, Razorlight, Daniel Merriweather and last, but by no means least, Chase and Status.

So while you wait for those videos, keep yourselves occupied with some of our favourite work from Orange RockCorps volunteer and uber-talented artist, Francis Joseph.

We'll be talking to him later today about his volunteering experiences, but what we really want to know is will he draw the likes of Nas, Nelly or Razorlight? Guess we'll have to wait and see...

So without further a do, feast your eyes on these. We simply love this GaGa image.

Here she is again in full-on face gear.

And to round off this triumvirate of creative flair, we give you Fazer from N-dubz.

We're impressed. Are you? If you like Francis' work, hit up those comments.

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Kelly Rowland visits Orange RockCorps Project

London's Archway, on a drizzly Wednesday afternoon, isn't the most glamorous location The Feed Team has ever found themselves in. But inject some hip-wiggling tunes, good natured graft and a chinwag with Kelly Rowland, and you got yourself one hell of a party. Who needs Hollywood, eh?

That's what we got up to yesterday afternoon at St John's Community Centre. One team of Orange RockCorps volunteers were clearing away weeds and planting up the flower beds, while the other got busy with pots of coloured paint to create a gorgeous mural on a wall outside the centre.

Kelly Rowland dropped by ahead of tomorrow's gig at the Royal Albert Hall, to help paint the mural and chat to some of the volunteers. As you'll see from our video above, she was incredibly excited to see the hard work the Orange RockCorps volunteers were putting in to earn their gig tickets.

She's promised us a kick-ass show tomorrow night, in honour of all that elbow grease, and we can't wait to see it.

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Francis: Orange RockCorps artist

Last year, A Level Art student, Francis Joseph, volunteered for Orange RockCorps to earn his ticket to see Busta Rhymes and Ludacris shake up the Royal Albert Hall.

He was so blown away by the experience that not only did he create an Orange RockCorps project for his Art A Level, but he's come back to volunteer this year too.

Before we show you his fantastic work, we caught up with Francis about what drives his passion for drawing and why Orange RockCorps was such a big part of that.

Hey Francis, tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m 18 and live in Wanstead, East London. I’ve just begun my art foundation at the University of the Arts London. I’ve recently started music production and I also study performing arts. When I find time I draw and write Japanese comics. I love art and am inspired by everything I see. From the age of about five I’ve been drawing and there hasn’t been a day that’s gone by when I haven’t put pen to paper: it’s become second nature.

What made you want to volunteer for Orange RockCorps?
Initially I wanted to volunteer solely to see Busta Rhymes. Before Orange RockCorps, volunteering had never been something I thought about. When it came to it though, I had a brilliant time. The wonderful staff kept things vibrant and exciting. I honestly felt a real buzz from spending my time helping others. Best of all I made friends who I still talk to now.

What projects have you been involved in?
I've been involved in three projects. Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park last year and this year, as well as the Somerville Adventure Playground, which involved a lot of painting.

How did volunteering inspire you and how did you channel that into your art?
Volunteering inspired me a lot in my art work. I had seen photos taken of the volunteering and just by looking at the photo, I could see so much was being told without words being needed. I found that very interesting and decided to tell a little story of the volunteering I had done by drawing a sequence of events, panel by panel, in a comic style. My teacher told me I was able to use this as part of my A-Level project, which resulted in a whole series of drawings, as well as a bigger final piece of Busta Rhymes performing.

Rate your experience for us.
10 out of 10... 100%... A*... I rate the whole experience highly, it’s been thoroughly enjoyable in so many ways. I’ve learned a lot, met a lot of fun and friendly people… in a sense it’s almost been a kind of adventure, with the concert at the end being a fantastic treat.

A very talented guy. Now, feast your eyes on his work from last year.

Here's Ludacris performing...

And here's the story panel showing volunteers hard at work...

Think that's good? You'd be right of course, but tomorrow we'll post the artwork Francis created this year. Inspired by the Orange RockCorps gig in Manchester back in July, it includes our favourite graphic image of Lady GaGa. Ever.

So come back and visit :)

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taking steps to make a difference

Venture beyond Stepney Green tube in London's East End, and you'll find a patch of rural tranquility called Stepping Stones Farm. We headed down there to see the Orange brand team volunteering for Orange RockCorps.

One team were fixing and painting a fence surrounding the play area, and another were building flower beds for the Fairy Garden. As with all the Orange RockCorps volunteering projects, the music kept everyone in a spritely mood, so check out our video of this industrious day above.

Ask any of the team and they will tell you how important it is to them to volunteer and earn their gig ticket for the gig on September 25th at the Royal Albert Hall, just like the other Orange RockCorps volunteers.

Fancy a stonking night of sonic sweetness in exchange for a bit of elbow grease? There's still some places left, so head to the Orange RockCorps website and sign up now.

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