Creative director, business leader and film/advertising director Ben Conrad has joined integrative studio Golden LA. The move reunites him with company managing director Matthew Marquis. The two enjoy a collaborative shorthand, having worked together at Logan Media, which Conrad co-founded before Marquis set out to launch Golden LA.
Already at Golden LA, Conrad served as executive creative director and director for a recently aired campaign for Cap’n Crunch. Golden LA was entrusted with the character design and animation for this brand relaunch of the iconic Cap’n character, creating a total of 64 short films within a “choose your own adventure” framework.
Additionally, a recent campaign for Best Buy, which Conrad also served as ECD and director on, reveals the level of work Golden LA and Conrad are able to execute together. The trilogy of spots largely incorporate live-action, animation and editorial in a prime example of COVID-era creation, with Conrad shooting the featured influencers remotely before adding in the animated features.
Conrad is the founding partner and owner of creative studio GenPop, as well as automotive channel Donut Media. Conrad will maintain his responsibilities at both companies while focusing his primary attention on creative projects at Golden LA.
Conrad explained, “When I created GenPop it was a vehicle to facilitate a wide range of creative endeavors and commercial projects, which included the visuals for Beyoncé’s Formation world tour to producing original films as well as campaign work. Working with Golden allows me to focus on the production and creative studio side and grow that with Matthew, while focusing specifically with GenPop on launching more channels in additional verticals, as well as continuing to create original material.”
Conrad’s body of work includes the iconic Apple “Silhouette” campaign. He is also responsible for creating acclaimed film and TV title sequences for the likes of Zombieland, Avengers, Captain America 2, Iron Man 3, and the Amazon legal drama series Goliath.
Heavily invested in the ideation of concepts, Conrad has collaborated with international clients including Nike, BMW, and Ford. His Gymkhana motorsport film series featuring rally driver Ken Block was an internet sensation that garnered 200 million-plus views.
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