Veteran postproduction producer Vickie Sornsilp has been hired by San Francisco-based 1606 Studio, formerly MADE-SF, to serve as head of production. Sornsilp, whose background includes senior positions with One Union Recording and Beast Editorial, will oversee editorial and postproduction finishing projects for the studio, launched last month by executive producer Jon Ettinger, editor/director Doug Walker and editors Brian Lagerhausen and Connor McDonald.
Sornsilp brings deep experience in post for commercials and other advertising media, and has managed projects for all the major agencies in the Bay Area, and many others around the country.
A graduate of San Francisco’s Academy of Art University, Sornsilp began her career as a copywriter with agency DDB. She got her start in postproduction in 2014 with Beast Editorial, where she produced work for such brands as Amazon, Clorox, Doritos, HP, Round Table Pizza, MINI Cooper, Toyota, Visa, Walmart and Yahoo! She joined One Union Recording as executive producer in 2018.
Launched under the interim name MADE-SF, the company is rebranding as 1606 Studio in anticipation of moving into permanent facilities in April in San Francisco’s historic North Beach neighborhood. Currently undergoing a build-out, that site will feature five editorial suites, two motion graphics suites, and two postproduction finishing suites with room for further expansion. “We want to underscore that we are a San Francisco-centric company,” explained Walker. “Service companies from outside the area have been moving into the city to take advantage of the boom in advertising and media production. We want to make it clear that we’re already here and grounded in the community.”
Even as it awaits completion of its permanent headquarters, 1606 is busy with multiple projects for local advertising agencies and brands.
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 โ and those many "Babadook" memes โ 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 โ "Bah-Bah-Doooook" โ 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