Alejandro González Iñárritu directs two-minute anthem film for Wieden+Kennedy, Portland
Some two years ago, Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore., rolled out its Procter & Gamble campaign linked to the 2010 Winter Olympics. But rather than heralding P&G’s sponsorship of the Games, the decision was made to sponsor the moms of Team USA athletes. A Pampers spot, for example, noted that “before they [American athletes] were wearing Gold, Silver or Bronze, they were wearing diapers…Thank you, Mom.”
Spots drove traffic to ThankYouMom.com where people could express appreciation for their mothers.
P&G also built a center in Vancouver, B.C., for Olympic family members to stay at during the Games–and paid for every Team USA Mom to attend the Olympics. This created a village of goodwill for Team USA family members, and this positive spirit was evident in the overall campaign which generated during the 17 days of the Games some 50,000 tweets about the work, 400,000 new Facebook friends, and an estimated $130 million in incremental sales of P&G products.
Fast forward to today and the mom theme is also evident in the first glimpse of the global campaign W+K has planned for P&G’s initiative for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Today–with 100 days to go until the opening ceremony of the Summer Games in London–a two-minute film, Best Job, was launched exclusively online to P&G Facebook fans. Shorter, localized versions of the spot will make their TV debut worldwide on May 8. The film is part of a larger “Thank you, Mom” campaign supporting the 2012 Olympics.
Directed by Oscar nominee (for Babel) Alejandro González Iñárritu via Anonymous Content, Best Job shows us different moms around the world getting their youngsters up in the early a.m. for training in their respective sports and follows each through the years until their moments of competitive Olympics glory. A supered message reads, “the hardest job in the world is the best job in the world. Thank you, Mom.”
This tug-at-the-heartstrings anthem film was shot on four continents and features local actors and athletes from each location–London, Rio de Janeiro, Los Angeles and Beijing.
P&G is also rolling out the “Thank You Mom” app that allows people to thank their own moms by uploading personalized content in the form of a video, still image with caption or text-based message. Users will then be able to encourage friends and family to do the same, spreading the word to thank and celebrate moms.
The creative ensemble at W+K beyond the two-minute film and its quartet of :60 versions, five :30s and pair of :15s included creative directors Danielle Flagg and Karl Lieberman, copywriter Kevin Jones, art director Ollie Watson, sr. agency producers Erika Madison and Matt Hunnicutt, executive creative directors Mark Fitzloff and Susan Hoffman, and head of broadcast production Ben Grylewicz.
González Iñárritu’s support team at Anonymous included exec producers Dave Morrison, Eric Stern and Jeff Baron, head of production SueEllen Clair, line producer John Benet associate producer Chris Gallagher and production supervisor Natalie Jacobson. Rodrigo Prieto was the DP. Peter Kohn and Javier Soto were first assistant directors. Production designer was Jeremy Hindle. Costume designer was Casey Storm.
Editor was Peter Wiedensmith of Joint Editorial. Sound designers were Wiedensmith and Eric Hill via Joint. Colorist was Adam Scott of The Mill LA.
The VFX contingent at The Mill LA included exec producer Sue Troyan, producer Enca Kaul, shoot supervisors Hitesh Patel and Tom Bussell, shoot supervisor/2D lead artist Phil Crowe, 2D lead artist Andy Bate, 3D lead artist Nick Lines, 2D artists Becky Porter and Daniel Lang, 3D artists Mike Panoy, Adam Carroll and James Brady, and matte painters Gawain Liddiard and Andy Wheater.
The song “Divenire” composed by Ludovico Einaudi served as the score. Audio post mixer was Jeff Payne at Eleven.
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