Director Alden Wallace has joined kaboom productions, the company headed by EP/owner Lauren Schwartz. This marks Wallace’s first signing with a production house; up to this point he has worked directly with varied major brands.
Wallace began his career as a still photographer, shooting campaigns and magazine editorial for assorted clients, including Tory Burch, Miller Genuine Draft, Nike, Google, Universal Studios, and Post Cereal. An innate curiosity and passion for delving deeper into the brand narrative led Wallace to expand into directing. The trust he built with clients and brands allowed him to do so, and resulted in multiple shoots for Mercedes-Benz, Oakley and Motorola.
To announce Motorola’s new Android update, Lollipop, Wallace directed a commercial recognized for its unique, in-camera style. For Mercedes-Benz, he directed and co-wrote a series of online commercials about the importance of family during the holiday season. He is currently embarking on his inaugural project with kaboom.
Schwartz described Wallace as “a natural talent whose contemporary style communicates beauty without artifice. He has a photographer’s eye and an advertiser’s strategic thinking–and is easily able to visualize captivating narratives with perfect casting for all kinds of brand-driven content.”
Wallace said he was drawn to kaboom by his affinity for Schwartz and feeling “a familial connection” to the company.
“Youth and experience come together with Alden,” added Schwartz. “He has already created work for a variety of major brands; kaboom is able to add tools, deep support and a wider production network to his existing repertoire.”
Vatican, Microsoft Create AI-Generated St. Peter’s Basilica–For In-Person and Virtual Visitors
The Vatican and Microsoft on Monday unveiled a digital twin of St. Peter's Basilica that uses artificial intelligence to explore one of the world's most important monument's while helping the Holy See manage visitor flows and identify conservation problems. Using 400,000 high-resolution digital photographs, taken with drones, cameras and lasers over four weeks when no one was in the basilica, the digital replica is going online alongside two new on-site exhibits to provide visitors -- real and virtual -- with an interactive experience. "It is literally one of the most technologically advanced and sophisticated projects of its kind that has ever been pursued," Microsoft's president Brad Smith told a Vatican press conference. The project has been launched ahead of the Vatican's 2025 Jubilee, a holy year in which more than 30 million pilgrims are expected to pass through the basilica's Holy Door, on top of the 50,000 who visit on a normal day. "Everyone, really everyone should feel welcome in this great house," Pope Francis told Smith and members of the project's development teams at an audience Monday. The digital platform allows visitors to reserve entry times to the basilica, a novelty for one of the world's most visited monuments that regularly has an hours-long line of tourists waiting to get in. But the heart of the project is the creation of a digital twin of St. Peter's Basilica through advanced photogrammetry and artificial intelligence that allows anyone to "visit" the church and learn about its history. The ultra-precise 3D replica, developed in collaboration with digital preservation company Iconem, incorporates 22 petabytes of data — enough to fill five million DVDs — Smith said. The images have already identified structural... Read More