HSI Productions has signed director Alex Ogus for representation in the U.S. and U.K. He continues to be handled in Canada by Industry Films.
Ogus made his first major mark in 2007 when The Fight Network campaign he helmed for Cossette Communications-Marketing in Toronto won a Gold Lion at the Cannes International Advertising Festival. That same year he earned inclusion into SHOOT‘s New Directors Showcase and secured his first U.S. representation via Santa Monica-based TWC, his roost prior to now coming aboard the HSI roster.
The Fight Network package was comedy/dialogue fare, centering on an average guy’s idiotic quest to pick a fight with anyone in his immediate vicinity.
Ogus’ spot filmography also includes noted work for Xbox, Newcastle Brown Ale, Smarties, Time Warner and Media Markt. Among his most recent exploits at TWC was Asics’ “Ping Pong Ball Shoe” via The Vitro Agency for which nearly 3,000 ping pong balls–some colored white, others black and orange–were strung onto 784 strands of fishing line and lifted two feet off the ground by a pair of industrial air compresses and 24 air valves. They levitate to form a Gel-Blur 33 Asics shoe, underscoring a message scrawled on a nearby chalkboard which reads, “Gravity. Meet Your Archenemy.”
The help of aerospace engineer Ryan Wilson was enlisted for the project. He designed the rig facilitating the in-camera attainment of the desired visuals, which is a sharp departure from what would be the norm for such a job, intense post manipulation and effects. Both Ogus and the creative ensemble at Vitro agreed that catching the spirit of this commercial concept “live” was essential to the vision coming to life for the audience. The shoe became a work of art while handling the commerce side by positioning the GEL-Blur 33 as seemingly lighter than air.
The DP was Helge Gerull.
The Vitro team included executive creative director John Vitro, creative director K.T. Thayer, art directors Kevin Lukens, David Reyes and Ali Filsoof, copywriter Schuyler Vanden Bergh, and producer Mickey Strider.
TikTok Creators Left In Limbo As Supreme Court Considers Potential Platform Ban
Will TikTok be banned this month?
That's the pressing question keeping creators and small business owners in anxious limbo as they await a decision that could upend their livelihoods. The fate of the popular app will be decided by the Supreme Court, which will hear arguments on Jan. 10 over a law requiring TikTok to break ties with its Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, or face a U.S. ban.
At the heart of the case is whether the law violates the First Amendment with TikTok and its creator allies arguing that it does. The U.S. government, which sees the platform as a national security risk, says it does not.
For creators, the TikTok doomsday scenarios are nothing new since President-elect Donald Trump first tried to ban the platform through executive order during his first term. But despite Trump's recent statements indicating he now wants TikTok to stick around, the prospect of a ban has never been as immediate as it is now with the Supreme Court serving as the final arbiter.
If the government prevails as it did in a lower court, TikTok says it would shut down its U.S. platform by Jan. 19, leaving creators scrambling to redefine their futures.
"A lot of my other creative friends, we're all like freaking out. But I'm staying calm," said Gillian Johnson, who benefited financially from TikTok's live feature and rewards program, which helped creators generate higher revenue potential by posting high-quality original content. The 22-year-old filmmaker and recent college graduate uses her TikTok earnings to help fund her equipment for projects such as camera lens and editing software for her short films "Gambit" and "Awaken! My Neighbor."
Johnson said the idea of TikTok going away is "hard to accept."
Many creators... Read More