This spot opens on star hockey player Duncan Keith of the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks seen in slow motion as he maneuvers in the rink, making quick stops and kicking up a slushy ice-crystal snow with his skates. We hear his voiceover which relates, “Last season, I left seven teeth on the ice. I still have 25 more.”
The tagline “One Goal” appears on screen, referring to the Blackhawks quest to capture a second consecutive NHL Stanley Cup.
“Keith-Snow” was one of five spots in this Blackhawks campaign produced by ONE at Optimus, with editing/post/audio performed at Optimus, for Ogilvy & Mather, Chicago.
Appropriately for a campaign featuring multiple star players and carrying the “One Goal” slogan, ONE at Optimus and Optimus provided a one-stop production and post solution, with Jim Matlosz serving as director/DP for ONE, collaborating with his support team at the production house, the post artisans at Optimus and creatives at Ogilvy.
“Because of inevitable difficulties of professional player availabilities we literally had one week to shoot and edit these beautifully conceived concepts,” said ONE at Optimus exec producer/managing director John Noble. “The team’s seamless collaboration from shoot through post was instrumental in turning around the project so quickly for agency producer Mike Diedrich and the Ogilvy creative team.”
Working around each player’s schedule and availability constricted the production timeline yet the end result appears anything but rushed. Each spot features a stunning slow-motion effect, which was achieved with a Phantom HD GOLD high-speed digital camera, rented from Fletcher Camera & Lenses. “Shooting with the Phantom enabled us to capture a level of clarity–such as individual ice crystals flying from a player’s skate–that allows for the viewer to make an emotional connection with the spot and the player,” said Optimus exec producer Brian Hrastar.
During the five-hour shoot, the Phantom GOLD and three Canon 7Ds were employed — of which one was used for overhead shots — were running continuously. A technique that Matlosz says he often uses when directing spots with professional athletes, “When I work in these situations, I like to keep the cameras running at all times so that we have a better chance of capturing dramatic angles and the players’ personalities. The more we get out of the athletes during production, the better it will be during post.”
While in postproduction, Optimus editor Randy Palmer took his cues from the almost somber, slower version of the song “Here Come the Hawks” that plays throughout the spots. “The real time Canon footage and sound effects added a visceral tension to the striking slow-motion footage of the Phantom,” he commented. “The pace of the music, along with the voiceover dialogue by each player, guided the editing decisions; with the real time footage adding some tension to keep the viewer engaged before cutting back to a portrait.”
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More