In celebration of Chinese New Year, feature filmmaker Lulu Wang (The Farewell) directed this short film titled Nian which was shot entirely on an iPhone 12 Pro Max.
The 11-minute film introduces us to a brave girl who seeks out the feared forest beast Nian. When coming face to face with him, she discovers that he is quite different than she imagined. Her adventure shows us the beauty of facing one’s fears.
Wang related, “As a child, my parents wanted me to go further than they have ever gone. And yet there’s also this fear that I was going into the unknown, and so I wanted to bring that theme into this film.”
Iconoclast was the production house on Nian for TBWA/Media Arts Lab Shanghai. Wang and her team worked on the film remotely from the U.S. with a mirror crew on the ground in China, owing to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Nian continues a tradition of Apple Shot on iPhone films marking the Chinese New Year. Prior films include Three Minutes in 2018, The Bucket the next year, and Daughter in 2020.
Wang shared, “I hope when audiences realize that we shot it on iPhones, they will feel empowered. They don’t have to wait for permission to go out and make things.”
CreditsClient Apple Agency TBWAMedia Arts Lab Shanghai Production Company Iconoclast Lulu Wang, director. Music Original score by Alex Weston
Director Gia Coppola Teams With Mejuri For “A New York Minute”; 1st Episode Takes Us To The Grocery Store
Mejuri, known for turning fine jewelry into an everyday luxury, has partnered with director Gia Coppola (The Last Show Girl, Palo Alto) and The Directors Bureau in Los Angeles, for the first time reimagining the brand’s story as episodic content. In a series of microfilms, co-created by Coppola and premiering following New York Fashion Week, Mejuri eschewed a typical celebrity campaign and cast us as voyeurs to a group of aspiring young women--real people, not actors--at the crossroads of their adult lives against the backdrop of New York City.
Titled “A New York Minute,” the series features five real-life friends, who include one perfectly imperfect heroine named Emma. The women celebrate ordinary moments and interactions which reveal, sometimes retrospectively, the extraordinary within the mundane. Adjacent to the brand’s own community, the 30-something year old cast includes Laura Love (Emma), Rebecca Ressler, Natalie Vall-Freed and Rozzi Crane. Mejuri’s jewelry makes an appearance as the best supporting actor.
“When I met with Gia and The Directors Bureau team, there was instant creative and personal chemistry and a natural alignment on the desire to push and blur the lines between marketing, storytelling, and the construct of what a ‘campaign’ could be,” said Jacob Jordan, chief brand officer, Mejuri. “Gia was able to push that idea into something that truly feels new and artful, with a realism and relatability that almost feels jarring. Gia was such a perfect collaborator and partner, someone I had complete trust in to be a catalyst for Mejuri’s values of celebrating women as their truest selves. I can’t wait for us to continue to tell the next chapters of this story.”
To land the relatable... Read More