Co-Founder/Managing Partner
Technology Humans And Taste (THAT)
1) Stories are passe. All we have left is the truth. At this point, the best TV ad in the world is only another good TV ad. We have seen it all, all the ideas, all the gimmicks, all the techniques. That’s the trend. As an industry, we’ve made so much stuff at this point, if we want to connect to people, get them to notice something or somehow motivate a behavior we have to give them a new way to experience reality and then invent a fun way to let them explore.
What’s great about this trend is it forces out of old mediums and pushes us to craft real and useful things that affect our lives. The battle over owning what’s “true” in our country right now has and will continue to affect how people receive messaging. Particularly from brands. We’ll need to continue to pursue authenticity in our messaging and to create experiences that add value to not only our consumers and potential consumers, but the community at large.
2) Emma Gonzalez standing silent for six minutes and twenty seconds at the March for Our Lives. In my opinion, it ‘s an incredible concept and an epic vision from a young woman in her position to impose that choice at that moment. We sat through it, awkwardly, trying to understand what was happening, and when she let us in on what she was doing, it was the most epic whoosh moment in history, that could only happen once, and only happen because she had the courage to re-imagine the medium.
3) I think “choice” is going to be an exciting opportunity. We have to stop making choices for people and start giving people choices to make. We work with Eko, which is an interactive film platform, and while writing these interactive films and making experiences for people is challenging, it’s resonating the most. I think that’s what everyone needs to take into account: the days of telling people stories are over. We need to let people own their story, and be there to act as their platform.
4) “It’s a Tide Ad” could be kind of the end of the TV ad as we know it. Because, it’s not even an idea it’s just true, it’s a transformative re-imagining of the medium. Borat did that to movies.
I thought Trash Isles was a beautiful way to motivate action around pollution by playing make-believe at the UN. Nike made a sneaker that actually helps you run faster. Now that’s advertising.
5) This will be a big year for the virtual space because we are about to go cordless. All the headsets are getting external cameras which means we can have walk-around experiences while our physical bodies are in permanent reality and we are immersed in a virtual experience. So, we’ll be really focused on connecting immersive tech back to human experiences with smell, touch and movement. Our goal is to enhance all content and experience in any way we can.
Product-wise I’m psyched about the Leap Motion headset and of course magic Leap. We’ll buy all the toys, but our focus will always start with creating experiences that require technology, not just the toys that make them possible.
6) The answer is not enough, but we are putting a lot of effort in and are trying to operationalize our company so we grow more diverse and not less. Diversity and inclusion are important to us, not just as a value for the company but as the core piece of our creative process. We’ve developed a methodology called Creative Dim Sum which is designed to meaningfully involve an eclectic and diverse group of people on every brief we work on. The goal is to expand our point of view, and find ways to incorporate outside voices into our work with brands. One of our first hires was an incredible filmmaker named Julia Gorbach whose title is “Curation and Documentation”. She not only casts far and wide with an eye for diversity, but also captures our strategic and creative process as we go so we can learn and evolve the way we work.
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