Partners With Mathew Cullen, Javier Jimenez and Guillermo Navarro; New Venture Is Sister Shop To Motion Theory
Director Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, which also earned him an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay; The Devil’s Backbone; Hellboy) has teamed with his long-time cinematographer Guillermo Navarro (a best cinematography Oscar winner for Pan’s Labyrinth) and two mainstays at Motion Theory–director Mathew Cullen and executive producer Javier Jimenez–to form Mirada, a creative workshop spanning multiple disciplines. The new venture is a sister shop to Motion Theory, with each able to tap into the other’s resources.
Mirada’s resources include design, animation, post, visual effects, an art department, a soundstage to facilitate traditional and virtual productions, and a full camera shop–all housed in a 25,000-square-foot studio in Marina del Rey, Calif. All four partners will be working out of Mirada, developing and overseeing original works, driving Mirada’s nimble approach to digital production, and guiding the larger creative agenda of the company. The partners see Mirada as a collaborative space where they and other filmmakers can work with artists to create and produce projects that span digital production and content for film, television, advertising, interactive and other media.
Motion Theory is now the commercial production company arm, and the directing core of the entire operation, nurturing strong visual filmmakers across multiple disciplines–and when needed, they can turn to Mirada’s artists and designers to help develop and realize their projects. Mirada is also going to be an incubator to develop up-and-coming storytelling talent, which has long been del Toro’s passion.
“We are creating a storytelling engine in the form of a company–an imaginarium, where we are free to explore the practical possibilities of transmedia without compartmentalizing our artistic process,” said del Toro. “Mirada will be an adaptive entity, constantly in transformation. We see a different model that looks beyond what the market is doing right now to where it will be in 10 years.”
Cullen related, “We’re taking a multidisciplinary approach, bringing design and cinematography to the forefront. Del Toro and Navarro have such a unique creative perspective–you see it in films like Pan’s Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone and Hellboy. They embrace those great timeless narrative traditions, and Mirada will be building on that history.”
Del Toro is an accomplished director, producer, screenwriter, novelist and designer. Cullen and Jimenez have directed and produced through Motion Theory more than 300 projects together, earning multiple Grammy, Emmy and MTV awards. Navarro has shot more than 30 films.
Mirada’s management team includes: industry veterans Grady Hall (who remains a director on the Motion Theory roster) as executive creative director; John Fragomeni who serves as head of visual effects; Patrick Nugent, general manager; and Mark Allen Kurtz, executive producer.
Motion Theory continues under the aegis of co-founders Cullen and Jimenez. The Motion Theory directorial lineup includes Cullen, Hall, Jesus de Francisco, Mark Kudsi, Christopher Leone, Chris Riehl, and the recently signed collective Syyn Labs.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More