Visual effects executive producer Michael Pardee, most recently head of the commercials division at the recently shuttered Asylum, has launched The Mission, a Venice-based effects/animation/post house. Joining Pardee in the new venture are former Asylum colleagues Rob Trent as creative director/visual effects supervisor and Piotr Karwas as animation director.
The Mission made its spot debut during the Super Bowl with the Chevy :30 titled “Tommy” directed by Speck/Gordon of Furlined for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. “Tommy” features a brazen father using his Chevy Silverado HD to courageously save his accident-prone son from such unlikely situations as falling down a well, being stranded in a hot air balloon, being stuck in the belly of a whale and even a tumble into the crux of an erupting volcano. The Mission produced the Super Bowl commercial’s CG whale sequence.
Currently The Mission is in the midst of spots for Hershey’s Kisses, Rexona, T-Mobile and U.S. Bank. The boutique company, based in a converted mission-style house, is also in the market for feature film assignments.
Trent’s credits include work on such feature films as G-Force, Solaris and Minority Report. In 2008, he won the Visual Effects Society Award for Best Compositing in a Commercial on the basis of Nike’s “Leave Nothing” directed by Michael Mann via Alturas Films. Recently Trent supervised and served as lead Inferno artist on GMC’s all-CG spots “Build” and “Outside” for Leo Burnett.
Karwas has been active in VFX for film, TV and commercials for more than a decade, first at Digital Domain and then Asylum. He has contributed to such high-profile movies as The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and I, Robot, as well as spots for Hershey, GMC and Microsoft, among many others.
Prior to Asylum, Pardee served as head of production for Digital Domain. His recent work at Asylum included Activision’s star-studded Call of Duty: Black Ops spot, “There’s A Soldier In All Of Us,” directed by Rupert Sanders of MJZ for TBWAChiatDay, Los Angeles.
The Mission has secured independent reps Tracy Bernard and Robin Stevens to handle the Midwest. Negotiations are underway for representation out East and on the West Coast.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More