Aspiring talent benefited from inspiring advice, reflections and observations during the course of two events: SHOOT’s first ever Directors Symposium during the daytime, and its eighth annual New Directors Showcase evening screening and panel discussion, held last month (May 11) at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Theatre in New York City.
The Showcase has perennially been a source of inspiration for the field of selected directors who have samples of their work screened at the DGA Theatre before an industry audience, with several of the helmers coming on stage to share their backstories and strategies for breaking into the directorial ranks while benefitting from the feedback of production house and ad agency professionals.
Providing a brand new wrinkle, though, was the inaugural Directors Symposium, which drew a healthy turnout, including a number of the Showcase directors who garnered information and insights on the media, technological, advertising and entertainment fronts as well as straight-up career advice.
The latter came from Caleb Deschanel, ASC, during an “In The Director’s/Cinematographer’s Chair” Symposium one-on-one interview session with SHOOT editor Robert Goldrich. Deschanel, a five-time Best Cinematography Academy Award nominee (The Right Stuff, The Natural, Fly Away Home, The Patriot, The Passion of the Christ) advised aspiring artists to look and listen, noting that it’s been said that a writer cannot become great unless he or she is a great reader, learning from other’s work. Similarly an aspiring director or cinematographer must be a great observer–of human behavior, of nature, of artwork in all its forms. Deschanel noted for example that studying the great painters, the decisions and sensibilities reflected in their work done over months, if not years, is a rich reservoir for creative artists to tap into and learn from.
Deschanel also sought out mentors early on his career–including such luminaries as Haskell Wexler, ASC, Conrad Hall, ASC, and Gordon Willis, ASC. All three are past American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Lifetime Achievement Award winners, an honor which Deschanel received earlier this year. Deschanel recalled Wexler telling him that up-and-coming DPs weren’t getting the proper foundation to build upon because most had never worked in black-and-white film. This spurred Deschanel to pursue a black-and-white project as he gained a grant to produce, direct and shoot a short film called Trains. Wexler loaned Deschanel his black-and-white filters for the film, which was an education in separating images with contrast rather than just color, and realizing that color couldn’t be relied on, for instance, in a Trains scene in which a red light shone from the rear through a foggy, shadowy foreground.
Deschanel’s directorial credits span the feature, short and TV commercial realms. He co-founded spot production house Dark Light Pictures in 1994. And while he’s experienced in and values digital cinematography, Deschanel remains an avid believer in the film medium, particularly for features. He noted that there have been assorted examples in which a scene plays like it will be memorable and impactful yet is anything but upon seeing the dailies. Conversely a mundane scene turns out to be wonderful in dailies, leading Deschanel to observe that putting some distance between the shoot and seeing what you’ve captured can lead to wondrous discoveries regarding what was shot. The immediacy of seeing what you shot–and thinking you have it when you might not upon reflection later–can lead to losing out on some amazing “discoveries” which reflects the “magic” of film.
Education, mentorship
Also offering inspiration during a Goldrich-moderated Symposium morning session–In The Classroom Chair/In The Director’s Chair–were directors Bob Giraldi of Giraldi Media and Laura Belsey, who is handled for commercials by C-Entertainment and maintains her own Shadow Pictures for other projects. Both Giraldi and Belsey share the bond of being established directors as well as educators. Belsey developed and teaches the commercial directing class at the Graduate Film School of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Giraldi has been teaching two undergrad classes at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York–The Project Class, and Evolutionary Dynamics in Advertising, and is chairing SVA’s newly formed MPS Independent Short Film Program, which begins this fall.
In some respects, Giraldi’s longevity as a director encompassing features, shorts, commercials and music videos parallels his undergrad teachings–classic storytelling yet staying contemporary and reinventing oneself accordingly. On one hand there’s the Project Class in which students make a narrative short film with a story arc, human relationships and characters. While shorts have become a hot property because of the web, other new media and the festival circuit, Giraldi focuses on the form because crafting an emotional, character-driven short film represents a prowess in storytelling that is “still a foundation of what we do.”
On the flip side, Giraldi’s Evolutionary Dynamics class is completely contemporary, centering on what he described as social media, the new media, any media–wherever a brand needs to market itself outside of traditional media. Giraldi recently introduced his class to an Israeli folk singer looking to establish himself stateside. The class put together a new media initiative–on a modest budget–to help that singer’s new album make a splash in the U.S.
Belsey’s commercial directing class at NYU has yielded dividends for assorted students, including Nat Livingston Johnson and Gregory Mitnick (a.k.a. the directoring duo Peking) whose work at NYU included Apple iTune’s “Lost” and Slim Jim’s “Champs,” which were the two honorees in the Student Commercial category at last year’s AICP Show. In fact, they and two other of Belsey’s students, Lapo Melzi and Harry Mavromichalis, accounted for half of the 10 finalists for AICP Show honors in that category. And Melzi was included in SHOOT’s 2009 New Directors Showcase on the strength of his African American Planning Commission’s “Paper Child” spot.
Peking is now handled by Station Film and Johnson said of Belsey, “She was an incredible influence and presence in our segue into the industry. She was always available and mentored us, taught us most everything we know about film. And most of her guidance was outside of the classroom, She is a loyal, helpful guide and a close friend. She introduced us to people, prepared us for what to expect in the real world, how to approach meetings with production companies, how to approach conference calls. She has offered us sage advice all along the way.”
Belsey told the Symposium audience that she finds her mentorship role time consuming yet personally gratifying, adding that she in turn has learned from her students.
On that same front, Giraldi noted that his latest short film, The Grey Coat, which will hit the festival circuit this year, was inspired in part by his Korean students. Giraldi put a Korean angle into this mob/organized crime storyline, making that genre fresh and new for him to explore.
Another Symposium session that was a source of inspiration for new talent featured recent past New Director Showcase honorees, as well as Bonnie Goldfarb, CEO, exec producer and co-founder of leading production house harvest. The directors were Keith Bearden whose stateside roost is Skunk, and Kevin Kerwin who maintains his own Authentic Films in Cleveland. Moderating this session was SHOOT publisher and editorial director Roberta Griefer.
Goldfarb–who’s helped many new directors break into the business–offered counsel on how directors need to brand themselves in order to stand out in a competitive marketplace.
As for Bearden, he gained inclusion into the 2008 Showcase largely on the basis of his Brandt Washing Machines’ spot “Apartment Sharing” for DDB Paris, while Kerwin made the 2009 Showcase for his Akron Children’s Hospital campaign out of Cleveland agency Marcus Thomas.
In a relatively brief span, both directors’ careers have advanced significantly, with Bearden seeing his feature film directing debut, Meet Monica Velour, make its worldwide premiere at the recently concluded Tribeca Film Festival (SHOOT, 4/16), and Kerwin breaking into features with his documentary Running America which follows ultra-runners Charlie Engle and Marshall Ulrich as they attempt to break the Transamerica running record during the six weeks leading up to the 2008 presidential election. The film is currently in theatrical and DVD release.
Meanwhile Bearden was gratified by the Tribeca experience. Meet Monica Velour was one of just 14 films chosen for Tribeca’s Encounters section, offering original movies that reflect pop culture and contemporary issues.
Kerwin noted that Cleveland has proven to be a good market for him to establish himself as a director, noting that his locale differentiates him from the N.Y. and L.A. crowd, and that a major filming incentives program in Ohio has spurred on his aforementioned feature as well as long-form projects currently in discussion and for which he is currently in the running.
Advertainment Attendees–both new and established filmmakers, as well as artisans from other industry sectors–could also find cause for optimism based on opportunities afforded by new forms of content, including those spawned by the coming together of advertising/marketing and entertainment, as explored in a Goldrich-moderated Symposium session featuring: Wayne Best, executive creative director of JWT New York, Kristi VandenBosch, CEO of Publicis and Hal Riney, Allison (Ally) Polly, head of strategy and brand partnerships at Filmaka Entertainment Studios, Stacey Mokotoff, president of production consultancy Bird Bonette Stauderman, and attorney Jeffrey A. Greenbaum, partner in Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.
Best discussed Yes, Virginia, the primetime animated Xmas special which debuted this past December on CBS, drawing around 4 million viewers, critical acclaim and most recently a Gold Pencil from the 2010 One Show Entertainment Awards. The half-hour special was created and produced by JWT for client Macy’s in conjunction with The Ebeling Group and MEC Entertainment (a division of Mediaedge:cia). The animated special was directed by Pete Circuitt who was first recognized in SHOOT’s 2008 New Directors Showcase as part of the Bitstate team. Circuitt now individually directs under the Bitstate moniker and maintains a studio of that same name in London. He is repped worldwide via The Ebeling Group.
Yes, Virginia is based on the story of eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlan, a girl growing up in late 1800s New York City who started to have doubts about Christmas when a bully insists that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. The TV special takes us on her quest to find out the truth, culminating in her writing a letter to the New York Sun, prompting arguably the most famous editorial ever when the Sun’s curmudgeonly editor Francis Church pens a response which includes the line, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!”
The special–which has a hand-drawn stop motion look though it deployed CG resources at Starz Animation, Toronto–evolved from the 2008 “Believe” holiday campaign conceived by JWT for Macy’s. JWT had turned out a commercial in ’08 based loosely on the O’Hanlon story. The spot, which showed a little girl on her way to Macy’s to mail a letter, was in line with the “Believe” theme reflected in every Macy’s store having a mailbox for letters to Santa. For each letter, Macy’s donates to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. To date, $2 million has been raised for Make-A-Wish.
Best said the success of the special–and Macy’s natural tie-in to it with a select few subtle appearances that don’t smack of product placement–has since spawned a children’s book, and a Virginia balloon in the Macy’s Parade. And Yes, Virginia appears to be headed for annual airing, making it a yuletide tradition akin to such perennial TV special favorites from the 1960s as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty The Snowman.
Just as Yes, Virginia reflects the successful coming together of a brand and entertainment, in a sense VandenBosch, CEO of Publicis & Hal Riney, reflects the coming together of digital and traditional agencies. She is a member of a self-described “small club,” breaking new ground for digerati when she became one of the first to transition from leading a digital agency, as North American president of Tequila, to taking the helm of a “traditional” ad agency, the venerable Publicis & Hal Riney where she has served as CEO since May ’09. VandenBosch has worked to erase the siloed agency approach separating traditional and digital, and is proactively integrating the two to make for creative and content that can help a brand become more relevant, taking heed of how people are connecting and playing with brands today in the real world on such fronts as retail, in packaging and digitally, and how to best build on and bring new dimensions to these interactions.
She also observed that social media go beyond Facebook and Twitter. Having a Facebook page and getting some people signed on hardly fits the need of a brand nor is compelling enough for prospective consumers. A key part, she observed, is listening, noting that social media is a consumer-controlled conversation. Failing to listen to these conversations and providing valuable, relevant creative, content and contributions to those talking about your brand can be damaging. She cited Toyota’s vehicle safety problems, conjecturing that if it had been keeping an ear to the ground as to what was on customers’ minds based on chats, blogs, Tweets and forums, the auto manufacturer might have been in a better position to respond to the situation as compared to its current defensive stance of damage control.
Meanwhile panelist Polly of Filmaka is looking to connect filmmaking talent with brands and other opportunities, including TV and features. Filmaka is an online entertainment community started by noted producer Deepak Nayar (Bend It Like Beckham, Buena Vista Social Club) who wanted to nurture and groom new talent but didn’t have the time to do so through conventional means. But via Filmaka as well as its online competitions spanning short and long-form content, emerging filmmakers are getting the chance to showcase their creative vision, in turn leading to opportunities. For example, Jonathan Newman gained inclusion into SHOOT’s New Directors Showcase last year based on a short entitled Father’s Day which he created for a Filmaka contest done in conjunction with JWT Detroit seeking branded films introducing the 2010 Ford Mustang. Newman wound up winning the contest and the opportunity to direct real-world spot work for the Mustang. He also is making his feature directorial debut with an upcoming theatrical motion picture (Swinging with the Finkels) via Filmaka.
Also involved in Filmaka projects are a couple of directors from this year’s New Directors Showcase–Varda Hardy of CurrentContentCreation and Ian Allen Lim, who is not yet affiliated with a production house. Lim’s most recent project is Joyride, which is currently in competition in the jury round of a Filmaka feature contest.
Bird Bonette Stauderman president Mokotoff noted that a number of clients have heightened interest in branded entertainment and other developing content forms in addition to traditional spotmaking.
As for different ways of doing business emerging from new content forms such as branded entertainment, SHOOT asked attorney Greenbaum about production houses moving from a work-for-hire proposition to one that might include less guaranteed money in exchange for an equity stake in a property they developed or helped to get off the ground.
Greenbaum said this is a valid option but that often production companies bring it up awkwardly or at the wrong juncture. He offered the general advice that it can prove best to talk early on about such important issues, with production houses discussing what they can bring in terms of creation, development and execution of a proposed project, helping to justify their becoming risk-taking partners in a piece of intellectual property.
Creative Tools
Another prime Symposium session was titled Creative Tools–And How They’ve Opened Up Opportunities for Directors. Panelists were cinematographers Bill Bennett ASC, and Sam Levy; Nick Iannelli, VP, Deluxe Postproduction, Toronto; Craig Leffel, partner/ senior colorist at Optimus; and David B. Perry, executive VP/head of TV production, Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, and chairman of the American Association of Advertising Agencies’ Broadcast Production Committee. SHOOT’s Goldrich moderated the discussion.
Bennett was the first DP to put ARRI’s ALEXA digital camera and system through its paces on a spot project. He recently did a 35mm film shoot for Honda automobiles via agency RPA. He received permission from Honda, RPA and ARRI to bring an ALEXA camera onto the shoot. The ALEXA served as an additional camera, not the primary camera, and was deployed whenever it fit well into the film lensing schedule. Working with a DP colleague, Kees van Ostrum, as an operator, Bennett got a first-hand look at the ALEXA’s capabilities, adding to his digital experience which has spanned shooting projects deploying such cameras as RED, the Sony F900 and F950, Thomson’s Grass Valley Viper, the Sony F23 and F35, and the HVX 200 Panasonic prosumer cameras. Bennett has additionally done test work on Panavision’s Genesis.
Bennett shared with the Symposium audience images captured by ALEXA spanning his Honda work, as well as from a feature titled Anonymous shot in Germany by another cinematographer. These are believed to be the first ALEXA images shown publicly on the East Coast.
Bennett gave the ALEXA favorable reviews based on his experience and the camera’s performance in capturing new Honda models in varied light situations motoring through different environments.
Meanwhile Levy, who’s repped by Dattner Dispoto and Associates, screened his work on the second season of the Sundance Channel series Green Porn, directed by and starring Isabella Rossellini. Levy also shot season one of the series as well as this year’s third season as the show is now under the moniker Seduce Me. For each of these three seasons, Levy has deployed a different digital camera, most recently the Canon 5D Mark II, a hybrid HDSLR that shoots still work and HD video. Levy’s credits also include shooting with HVX 200 cameras the lauded mini documentary Oasis Dig Out Your Soul In The Streets directed by The Malloys duo of HSI Productions for agency BBH New York. Levy also has extensive experience shooting film. His Symposium input gave attendees a feel for the digital lensing options that are readily available for filmmakers.
Meanwhile providing a handle on the workflow into postproduction for the growing generation of digital cameras was Optimus’ Leffel. And sharing his insights into 3D was Iannelli, a key member of a Deluxe Toronto team that has launched a range of 3D postproduction services, from dailies through the DI process, re-recording and deliverables. Iannelli is currently overseeing the post of two 3D stereoscopic feature films, Saw VII 3D and Resident Evil: The Afterlife.
On the receiving end of all these new technologies, including the range represented on the Symposium panel, is Perry who has to sift through what makes sense for Saatchi and their clients to deploy. He noted that we live in a market pulling in two directions. On one hand, there are the high-end breakthroughs in 3D and HD, while conversely we live in the time of the YouTube, small screen generation. The latter, he observed, has clients asking for Flip Camera shoots and inexpensive guerrilla style filmmaking.
So while there’s a technological revolution on the high end, Perry said that there’s a concurrent “good enough revolution” with clients more frequently looking for solutions that don’t call for state-of-the-art pristine quality images and sound.
While digital television has been government mandated, not so 3D, noted Perry who isn’t convinced that 3D will take hold like HD TV sets have. At the same time, he noted, that if sporting events gravitate down the road to 3D presentations, there will be increased onus on advertisers to have their commercials and related content fit into that 3D environment.
New Directors Showcase The evening New Directors Showcase played to a packed house at the DGA Theatre. Attendees heard that the economy has made agencies more receptive to directorial newcomers as cost savings often become increasingly necessary within tighter budget constraints. However, taking the leap of faith to award work to an up-and-coming director requires more than just a talented filmmaker. Ideally, said Lora Schulson, executive director of content production at Young & Rubicam, New York, a new director will have the support of an established production house providing the proper crew and resources. She noted that if the agency has worked successfully with the production company before, there’s a comfort and trust level that makes the agency more willing to break in a new director.
Schulson’s remarks came during the course of a Showcase panel discussion as she provided an agency perspective to the proceedings while fellow panelist, harvest’s Goldfarb, offered a production house POV.
Goldfarb observed that there’s been a shift of sorts from the star director system to where now the track record of a production company has become an important factor in determining who gets awarded the job. Still, the director remains the prime draw. Yet at the same time, agencies are looking more closely at the track record and pedigree of a production house and its producer talent.
Schulson added that she regards finding new talent–fresh creative directorial voices–as being among her prime responsibilities. She noted that there’s an excitement to discovering new filmmakers, recalling years ago when she was at another ad shop running across a spot directed by Ringan Ledwidge who was at the time an unknown newcomer. While Schulson wanted to use Ledwidge, she never got the chance and to this day wishes such a collaboration early on in the director’s career had come to fruition.
Goldfarb agreed that there are opportunities for new directors in today’s economy but she stressed that no matter how good or bad the economy is, it’s paramount for new directors to be true to themselves. Trying to replicate an established director’s work or looking to capitalize on a trendy style–no matter how well executed–is a mistake for a new filmmaker. Goldfarb stressed that without your true voice and genuine signature, you cannot differentiate yourself from a cluttered field of talent. She noted that for every original voice she sees reflected in a reel, she will view tens of others with well-executed, perhaps even more slickly produced work. While she might not be able to single out anything overtly wrong with this latter brand of filmmaking, it doesn’t ring true nor does it bring anything new to the marketplace. What resonates, said Goldfarb, is work which reflects the heart and mind of an original creative talent.
Both Goldfarb and Schulson view spec work as a viable means to show a director’s talent. “If it’s good work, that’s what matters,” affirmed Schulson.
Director panelists
Joining Goldfarb and Schulson on stage were six of the Showcase directors who shared their individual backstories and strategies for getting on the industry map: Alex Beh of ONE at Optimus; Bill Bruce of RSA Films; Varda Hardy of Current Content Creation; Oliver Power, who is unaffiliated with a production house; Ian Allen Lim, who too is unaffiliated; and Ezra J. Stanley who is open to a production house affiliation while he currently continues to maintain his own AboveGreyPictures as a roost.
Beh started out in the industry as an actor who successfully transitioned to directing. He was included in the Showcase largely on the strength of his short film Babe.
Hardy recently signed with CurrentContentCreation and made the showcase for Rock for Equality.org’s “What Kind of Planet Are We On?”
Bruce recently made the jump to the director’s chair after a lengthy career as an agency creative. Prior to joining RSA, he spent some 23 years at BBDO New York, his last role there being as chairman/CCO. Among the work that earned Bruce inclusion into the Showcase was his New Balance short film Feet on Head.
Lim was included for his short titled Annie, and has his latest film Joyride currently in the jury round of Filmaka’s feature film competition.
Power is an editor at L.A. post shop hybrid, and made the Showcase on the strength of directing a short entitled Mi Kasa Su Kasa.
And Stanley, who stressed his desire to be uplifting and to impart a positive message through his filmmaking, earned Showcase inclusion for his Levi’s spec spot “True Love.”
Lineup In addition to the directors in the panel discussion, the lineup of 2010 SHOOT Showcase talent consisted of: the trio known as AB/CD/CD (Arnaud Boutin, Camille Dauteuille and Clement Dozier) of Paranoid US, Frenzy and Rokkit; the duo Andersen M. Studio (Martin and Line Andersen) of Broadway Films; the team of Kris Belman and Scott Balcerek of Caviar; Jeff Bitsack of Humble; Aaron Brown and Ben Chappell (a.k.a. Focus Creeps) of Foundation Content; John J. Budion of Click 3X; Joe Burrascano of Nathan Love; Joe Daniele (a.k.a. JD) of Cineshooter; D.A.R.Y.L. (Montgomery James and Edward Lovelace) of Pulse@Chelsea; Gregory de Maria of Resident; Shane Drake of Wild Plum; Marie Dvorakova (unaffiliated, student at Tisch School of the Arts, NYU); Eric D. Howell who is unaffiliated; Ellen Kuras of Park Pictures; Michael Langan of Mekanism; Dennis Liu of @radical.media; Mark & Louis (Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland) of The Sweet Shop; Hiro Murai of Partizan; Casey Neistat of HSI Productions; Sam O’Hare of Aero Film; Seyi Peter-Thomas of MTV; Peter Rhoads who’s unaffiliated; Jessica Sanders of Epoch Films; Andrew Tucci of Publicis New York; Cole Webley of Uber Content; and Jason Zada of Tool of North America.
The Showcase lineup encompasses 39 directors filling 32 slots–26 individual directors, five duos and a trio.
Intros, reception
Welcoming the audience to the SHOOT New Directors Showcase with introductory remarks were director Laura Belsey representing an event sponsor, the Directors Guild of America; and SHOOT publisher and editorial director Roberta Griefer.
Belsey informed attendees that the DGA is supportive of directors’ rights and has established a Code of Preferred Practices which are guidelines for directors, ad agencies and production companies. While the Code consists of eight voluntary guidelines formulated through an industry consensus, she singled out one as among the most important–that the director be provided a reasonable period of time to deliver a first edit. (See sidebar story.)
Belsey then introduced Griefer who provided an overview of and historical perspective for the Showcase, now in its eight year and sixth at the DGA venue.
Griefer thanked backers of the New Directors Showcase and Symposium events: Lead sponsors Deluxe, the DGA, harvest and ONE at Optimus, and silver sponsors Kodak, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, and ARRI.
Griefer also acknowledged Palace Digital Studios, South Norwalk, CT, which put together the New Directors Showcase reel that was screened for the audience.
Following the screening was the panel discussion, after which those gathered for the event went downstairs for a reception honoring the Showcase directors.
