Agency Music Producers
As licensing becomes more prevalent, agency music producers are navigating new issues: copyrights, pre-scores, and what rights the agency is acquiring. In "What’s Next?" SHOOT talks to these musical gatekeepers about the subject.
When it comes to music in spots, agencies and advertiser hope that a particular tune will get viewers to pay attention to their TV sets, and more importantly, buy the product. In the case of Prego’s "Traditional," out of Young & Rubicam, New York, with a score by David Horowitz Music Associates (DHMA), New York, viewers bought the sauce, and wanted the music. "Special Sauce" looks at how the spot’s soundtrack was created.
In " ‘Fish’ Catches Emmy," composer Mike Hewer from Amber Music, New York and London, offers a first-person account of creating the music for the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) spot "Fish," which won the Emmy Award for best primetime commercial.
Multicultural Advertising Agencies
In "New Kids In Town" SHOOT looks at OLE, New York, a new ad shop that creates ads for the U.S. Hispanic market.
Steve McQueen Shows Wartime London Through A Child’s Eyes In “Blitz”
It was a single photograph that started Oscar-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen on the journey to make "Blitz." As a Londoner, the German bombing raids on the city during World War II are never all that far from his mind. Reminders of it are everywhere. But the spark of inspiration came from an image of a small boy on a train platform with a large suitcase. Stories inspired by the evacuation are not rare, but this child was Black. Who was he, McQueen wondered, and what was his story? The film, in theaters Friday and streaming on Apple TV+ on Nov. 22, tells the tale of George, a 9-year-old biracial child in East London whose life with his mother, Rita ( Saoirse Ronan ), and grandfather is upended by the war. Like many children at the time, he's put on a train to the countryside for his safety. But he hops off and starts a long, dangerous journey back to his mom, encountering all sorts of people and situations that paint a revelatory and emotional picture of that moment. SEARCHING FOR GEORGE AND FINDING A STAR When McQueen finished the screenplay, he thought to himself: "Not bad." Then he started to worry: Does George exist? Is there a person out there who can play this role? Through an open casting call they found Elliott Heffernan, a 9-year-old living just outside of London whose only experience was a school play. He was the genie in "Aladdin." "There was a stillness about him, a real silent movie star quality," McQueen said. "You wanted to know what he was thinking, and you leant in. That's a movie star quality: A presence in his absence." Elliott is now 11. When he was cast, he'd not yet heard about the evacuation and imagined that a film set would be made up of "about 100 people." But he soon found his footing, cycling in and out of... Read More