Tech-centric creative company The Barbarian Group has added four employees in the design, creative and tech spaces.
JoRoan Lazaro joins as creative director. He comes to The Barbarian Group after holding positions with R/GA, leading work on Microsoft Windows 8 and Surface websites, and Samsung Mobile’s global football campaign, #WinnerTakesEarth #Galaxy11 featuring soccer’s best players like Messi, Ronaldo and Rooney. He also worked at The Martin Agency on Microsoft, GEICO and Benjamin Moore, and CP+B on Coke Zero and MetLife, delivering stellar creative, software, and storytelling work. He started his career by designing the AOL Running Man and leading design of AOL client software from 1996-2001, before moving on to pre-iPhone mobile (Kajeet), virtual worlds (Second Life) and gaming platforms (Electronic Arts).
Michael Tseng has also come on board as sr, designer. Tseng is rejoining The Barbarian Group after having worked with the company as a freelancer earlier in 2015 on projects such as Pepsi Pass, KIND, and additional new business opportunities. In addition to freelancing over the last few years, Tseng has also been focusing on building two of his own startups. Now at Barbarian, he will play many roles ranging from visual and interaction design to creative concepting and mark-up.
Dave Kraftsow and Luis Santi have been hired as tech leads. The creative team previously known as New Object has worked with The Barbarian Group before, bringing the creative vision of Samsung’s CenterStage to life.
“There is a different breed of talent that’s needed to work in a tech-centric company, including an passion for design and a deep understanding of a brand’s needs and objectives, in addition to tech expertise,” said Edu Pou, chief creative officer. “These four are highly passionate, ambitious and experienced individuals, and we’re excited about what they’ll bring to Barbarian as we continue to transform our business and bring on new clients.”
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More