Roughly 200 attendees representing advertisers, ad agencies, production companies and post houses learned about DTV and its potential impact on advertising during a Dec. 15 DTV conference hosted by the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Minnesota chapter. AICP estimates that roughly 70% of attendees represented ad agencies and another 20% production companies.
Held at the Minneapolis Hilton and Towers, the event began with a keynote address by industry veteran Mark Schubin, who is involved in the implementation of DTV in the U.S. During his talk, Schubin explained the basics of understanding DTV.
Next, a panel discussed DTV in relation to advertising. Panelists were Schubin, Charlie Lach, president of Minneapolis-based post house Crash & Sues, and David Perry, executive VP/ director of broadcast production, Saatchi & Saatchi, New York. The discussion was moderated by Carolyn Giardina, senior editor, postproduction, of SHOOT and editorial director of SHOOTs DTV & Advertising supplements.
The session included the presenters role-playing the parts of commercialmakers planning to produce a fictitious spot in HDTV. Discussion topics included costs, post technology and film versus tape.
Panasonic, Philips, JVC and Sony displayed a variety of flat-panel and HDTV sets for the attendees. Dolby provided a Dolby Digital (5.1 AC-3 Surround Sound) demonstration.
I had a little information on the transition to DTV, but when I read the [first] ADTV & Advertising supplement in SHOOT [8/3/98], I realized how important a subject it is to the ad community, explained AICP/Minnesota chapter president Kirk Hokanson, president of Minneapolis-based Voodoo Films.
In addition, I didnt feel that anyone else in this region was remotely concerned about the impact this was going to have on the advertisers or the commercial production community, he continued. Especially in the transition period when we would have to finish in NTSC and HDTV, most people that I talked to were unaware of the complications in regards to post. So after a while I realized there was a tremendous amount of misinformation, and I wanted to have a seminar to help enlighten the production and post community as well as the agencies and the advertisers.
Hokanson cited as evidence of the events success much positive feedback and requests from attendees for a follow-up. AICP/ Minnesota is considering putting together another DTV session in about six months, he noted.
Key event organizers were Hokanson; Janet Zahn, AICP/ Minnesota board member and head of the Minneapolis Office of Film, Video & Recording; Heidi Habben, AICP/Minnesota board member and VP of Crash & Sues; Jodi Nelson, communications officer, Voodoo Films; and freelance producer Amy Brewster.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More