By Millie Takaki
In a 180-degree departure from the frenetic, outlandish, attention-grabbing spots designed to call attention to a Web site, this :30 provides a thoughtful, philosophical rationale for clicking onto www.decadeoftheheart.com. Promoting the Fund For Global Awakening (FFGA), the PSA opens on the moon ascending, and then segues to a time-lapse scene of hustle and bustle on a city street. As we see vignettes of people from different walks of life, we also hear voices of equally varied life experiences, all discussing feelings of anger.
"For a while, we love our anger," begins the voiceover.
"It makes us feel alive," chimes in another voice.
"Then anger turns on us, settles in our souls and pulls a curtain over our eyes and says, 'Now see everything through me,'" relates a series of voices. "Anger takes joy as its prisoner," continues another voiceover. "It keeps us low and cautious and afraid and quiet." A second voice repeats the words "cautious," "afraid" and "quiet" right after each is uttered in the original sentence.
Over the final scene of a woman holding a child, the voiceover resumes, "And the only thing it [anger] fears is forgiveness." The spot is then tagged with the Web site address.
The nonprofit FFGA is designed to promote tolerance among people as well as a positive vision for the future. The organization plans to use the spots to help get its message across to the public. San Francisco-based Amazon Advertising and Roaring Tiger Films, respectively, conceptualized and produced "Beyond Anger" and two other spots. The FFGA hopes to gain corporate sponsorship for the PSAs, ensuring their airtime.
The creative ensemble at Amazon consisted of creative director/copywriter Lynda Pearson, art director Ken Woodard and producer Amanda Moody. Woodard was the director on the package of PSAs, via Roaring Tiger Films. His support team included executive producer Carey Crosby, head of production Mat Lundberg and producer Ali Goldstone. Bobby Bukowski served as DP.
Freelancer Bobby Proctor edited the campaign via Phoenix Editorial, San Francisco. Proctor has since joined Phoenix. Also working on the PSAs were Phoenix's online/Smoke editor John Crossley and executive producer Lisa Hinman. Freelancer Eli Yerbury served as sound designer. Chris Lyons of Rushes/601, Los Angeles, was the colorist. Audio engineer was Mary Ellen Perry of Music Annex, San Francisco.
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More