Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb and Stanley Harrison, an actor with a long theatrical career, star in the Power and the Glory, a movie trailer sponsored by Glaceau vitaminwater that plays at Mcnabbisback.com and YouTube.
The return of the quarterback from an injury last year is the basis for the trailer, with vitaminwater playing an integrated role as “fuel for his recovery and mental fortitude,” said Steve O’Connell, creative director of Stick and Move/Philadelphia, the agency that created the trailer that was produced by Phasmatrope Studios/Haverford, PA.
The trailer format for the online video, the centerpiece of a campaign that also includes web, print and radio ads, “plays into the anticipation with McNabb’s return,” O’Connell said. “There’s a lot of parallel with a movie promotion and a launch day scenario.”
The trailer began playing August 10 to promote McNabb’s return on September 9, his first game this year.
The press quotes “Huh?” and “A movie?” put the trailer in perspective. It’s a humorous piece that shows scenes of McNabb working out and meditating before being confronted by Harrison, “some weird old guy” in a suit and bow tie, who confounds McNabb with his strange behavior.
“The most important thing was the casting,” said Phasmatrope director Guy Quinlan. “We were lucky to find the old guy and McNabb is a natural actor.”
But there was a lot more than acting involved. To make it look like a Hollywood film, “we had to make the environment abstract. We shot directly in floodlights with lots of smoke, a celestial setting where people came out of nowhere,” Quinlan said.
As the trailer progressed, “the focus was on the personalities and body language,” he said. “McNabb was like a gladiator in a fighting pose, he could leap into action in a second,” Quinlan said. Harrison was “the vehicle to the other side. The idea was to find someone he could play off to be believable.” They interact on a number of occasions, the most humorous in front of a large chalkboard with algebraic equations, which was staged to show McNabb is “serious, he’s brains as well as brawn,” Quinlan said.
Towards the end is a scene that shows ghosts of the gridiron, players in old fashioned uniforms who interact with shots of McNabb. The actors wore prosthetic masks, which gives their faces an eery quality that adds to the comedic tone of the trailer.
Quinlan opted for a Panasonic HVX 200 HD camera with Pro 35 Adaptor and 35mm prime lenses to give the trailer a cinematic look.
Vitaminwater makes a number of appearances in the trailer, with both characters drinking it, a vitaminwater production logo appearing near the beginning and a smaller logo shown with the credits at the end. “It’s more about McNabb,” O’Connell said. “Vitaminwater doesn’t tout themselves, so we put McNabb at the forefront telling his story in time for the first game.”
The trailer is directed to a Philadelphia audience, but it will have widespread appeal “because it’s web-based, McNabb is a national figure and it’s being talked about by bloggers,” O’Connell said.
Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta
The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More