By Robert Goldrich
We open on a close-up of a female mannequin–but we’re not looking through a department store window. Instead we’re in a busy diner. The camera then reveals that the restaurant staff and customers are all mannequins. Burgers are cooking on the grill and are clearly on their way to being burnt in that there’s no one to tend to them but lifeless mannequins.
The camera then reveals a banner headline on the front page of a discarded newspaper: “Mannequinism Linked To Political Activity.” The spot next takes us outside to city streets, with mannequins in various slice-of-life poses. But humanity intervenes, as young people enter the scene, circulating flyers that urge us to prevent mannequinism. A yellow flyer is placed on the windshield of a car, with a mannequin seated in the driver’s seat. Flyers are tucked under the arms or in the pockets of mannequins standing on sidewalks.
As the young humans canvas the streets with the flyers, waving a flag against mannequinism, a voiceover relates, “Protect yourself from mannequinism. Vote, volunteer, stay informed. It’s easy to get involved.” The Web site address www.fightmannequinism.org then appears on screen.
This Ad Council PSA is part of its youth civic engagement campaign in conjunction with the Federal Voting Assistance Program. Created by WestWayne, Atlanta, the campaign encourages 18-to-24-year olds to get or to stay involved in their communities.
“The City” was directed by The Guard Brothers (Tom and Charles) of bicoastal Villains. Richard Goldstein executive produced for Villains. Producer was Matt Caltabiano. The spot was shot in location in Los Angeles by DP Tami Reiker.
The WestWayne team consisted of chief creative officer Scott Sheinberg, executive creative director Steve Baer, art director Joel Davis, copywriter Kevin Botfeld and director of broadcast/producer Connie Newberry.
Editor was Nick Lofting of Union Editorial, Los Angeles. Union’s Todd Iorio was online editor/Flame artist and Josh Eichenbaum was audio post mixer. Colorist was Mike Pethel of Company 3, Santa Monica.
Music composer/arranger was David Wittman of bicoastal Elias Arts, with the shop’s Dean Hovey serving as sound designer. Marit Tinguely executive produced for Elias.Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More