Director Jeffrey Karoff, known in the advertising world as a visual storyteller and for his work with real people, has joined Original for exclusive national representation. Karoff, who directs branded content and documentaries in addition to spots, was last repped by The Artists Company.
Karoff’s recent work includes a package for Ford’s Swap Your Ride campaign chronicling the experiences of consumers who are given a chance to trade their current vehicles for Fords, and campaigns for the pharmaceutical brands Crestor and Nuvaring.
Karoff traces his interest in photography and filmmaking to acquiring his father’s Canon 7 Rangefinder camera “whose wicked-fast F.95 Dream lens,” he joked, “never produced an in-focus picture — making me a life-long Canon devotee.” He went on to study filmmaking at UCLA and the American Film Institute.
“They taught that everything, from the wardrobe to the lighting to camera movement, ‘must serve the story,'” he recalled. “Now story pumps through the veins. Even in the tiny span of a spot, I strive to create an arc, a beginning, middle and end, a journey to take the viewers on.” He later co-founded Paradox Works, a workshop where directors and actors worked together.
Karoff got his professional start in “offbeat media,” including a stint programming and designing multimedia shows involving dozens of synchronized slide and film projectors. Although the medium “went the way of the calculator watch,” he peaked as programmer/designer on Genocide, an Academy Award-winning feature about the Holocaust.
Among his most ambitious projects was a 360-degree CircleVision film for Mercedes Benz. “I chose to keep the nine-camera, Barco-lounger sized camera rig moving in every shot,” he said. “I had to find the smallest dolly grip in the Western Hemisphere to crouch under the lenses.” The project played for a year in a movie-theater-in-the-round at auto shows across the U.S.
Karoff broke into spotmaking in 2001 via Coppos Films, followed by stints at Backyard and The Artists Company. Along with his recent work for Crestor, Nuvaring and Ford, he directed two fundraising films for New York philanthropic giant The Robin Hood Foundation. He is currently editing his documentary, Cavedigger, about an artist whose work involves single-handedly digging sculptural, cathedral-like caves in sandstone. Karoff shot part of the film in 3D.
Karoff also recently directed a series of PSAs for Model Environment that employed the novel concept of using renowned fashion models to promote environmental causes. One spot features Mexican model Carla Houston (and three clones) in a humorous pitch for water conservation.
Original is led by executive producers Bruce Mellon, Joe Piccirillo, Marc Lasko and Jeff Devlin, and maintains production offices in Los Angeles and New York City. The company’s postproduction division, headed by Jonathan Del Gatto, provides editorial, design, graphics and visual effects services.
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