Aero Film has formed a production team dedicated to the development of advertising intended specifically for big-screen cinema. The Santa Monica-based commercial production company, headed up by partner/president Skip Short and partner/executive producer Lance O’Connor, maintains a directorial roster that includes Ken Arlidge, Henrik Hansen, Klaus Obermeyer, Brent Jones and Nelson McCormick.
Just last month, Aero Film’s “National Guard/Citizen Soldier” (directed by Obermeyer) was nominated by The Cinema Advertising Council (CAC) as an entry in the CAC’s 2007 Creative Excellence Awards which recognizes high-quality, entertaining advertising messages showcased at the movies. The spot was nominated in the Top Integrated Cinema Advertising Campaign category.
“We’ve looked into every viable avenue for agencies and their clients,” said O’Connor. “TV advertising can be powerful but with DVR penetration and so many in-home distractions, a lot of ad messages just aren’t getting through. YouTube, Yahoo!, broadband, podcasting and being virally active is nice, but they are just icing on the cake. We love cinema because it gives brands proven distribution on a massive scale. Over 100 million people a month in this country go to the movies. Other alternative offerings are still just a lot of hype that lack distribution and proper measurement. We’re all looking to connect with the audience and build brands, hence our effort, which brings together a team of production pros from Aero with reps from Screenvision [the New York-headquartered cinema advertising firm] to get across the message that cinema delivers. Aero’s message to agency creatives is, let’s produce advertising with cinema in mind.”
Aero Film is the first commercial production company to specifically target cinema advertising with market-leader Screenvision. “Aero Film has been an ideal partner for us in the production of ads for cinematic release and in courting clients to develop media strategies that include cinema,” said Jason Brown, executive VP of national and regional sales for Screenvision. “In every test, the recall rates for their ads placed in cinema are always at the top of what we see….They approach production from a cinematic point of view and in doing so have developed a proven expertise in generating impact for advertisers. We’re currently working with the Aero team in conjunction with some big agencies, discussing possible cinema release for their upcoming campaigns.”
Aero has quickly amassed an expertise in producing ads for the big screen. In the past year, Aero Film produced cinema ads for the Army National Guard, the U.S. Navy, Suzuki, Northrop Gruman and General Motors. According to statistics by the Cinema Advertising Council, spending on cinema advertising has grown more than 20 percent in each of the last three years–in part because of agencies shifting dollars away from traditional tv spots affected by DVR penetration that allows views to skip ads. In 2005, cinema advertising revenues totaled more than $528 million dollars, and are expected to reach $1 billion by 2010.
Andy Blenkle, account supervisor at Alexandria, Va.-based LM&O, said work on the aforementioned campaign for Army National Guard with Aero Film provided the foundation for their integrated ad campaign. “You go to movies for entertainment, but with incredibly higher expectations for everything you see,” said Blenkle. “Aero knows how to keep the story and emotion, which makes all the other ads in our integrated campaign more effective. The strength of our theater campaign makes our TV, direct mail, everything in our integrated effort more effective.”
Oscar Nominees Delve Into The Art Of Editing At ACE Session
You couldn’t miss Sean Baker at this past Sunday’s Oscar ceremony where he won for Best Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay and Editing on the strength of Anora. However, earlier that weekend he was in transit from the Cesar Awards in Paris and thus couldn’t attend the American Cinema Editors (ACE) 25th annual panel of Academy Award-nominated film editors held at the Regal LA Live Auditorium on Saturday (3/1) in Los Angeles. While the eventual Oscar winner in the editing category was missed by those who turned out for the ACE “Invisible Art, Visible Artists” session, three of Baker’s fellow nominees were on hand--Dávid Jancsó, HSE for The Brutalist; Nick Emerson for Conclave; and Myron Kerstein, ACE for Wicked. Additionally, Juliette Welfling, who couldn’t appear in person due to the Cesar Awards, was present via an earlier recorded video interview to discuss her work on Emilia Pérez. The interview was conducted by ACE president and editor Sabrina Plisco, ACE who also moderated the live panel discussion. Kerstein said that he was the beneficiary of brilliant and generous collaborators, citing, among others, director Jon M. Chu, cinematographer Alice Brooks, and visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman. The editor added it always helps to have stellar acting performances, noting that hearing Cynthia Erivo, for example, sing live was a revelation. Kerstein recalled meeting Chu some eight years ago on a “blind Skype date” and it was an instant “bromance”--which began on Crazy Rich Asians, and then continued on such projects as the streaming series Home Before Dark and the feature In The Heights. Kerstein observed that Chu is expert in providing collaborators with... Read More