This spec spot takes us back to the early 20th Century. A car of the time period is seen puttering along the road. In the background are the San Francisco Bay, the Pacific Ocean and the water passage that connects them–the Golden Gate Strait.
A boat is seen making its way through the water. Back then the body of water was just that–with no bridge to span it.
We are then taken on a journey forward through time, primarily during the four years (1933-’37) when the Golden Gate Bridge was constructed. In one scene, we see a construction worker in the foreground as the bridge starts to build itself before our eyes. Finally the bridge is seen spanning the Strait’s vast reaches, connecting San Francisco to Marin County. To this day the bridge still ranks as one of the construction marvels of all time.
A voiceover relates that the Golden Gate Bridge was originally just a dream. “But with the right strategies and the right resources,” says the voiceover, “dreams begin to take shape. And the bridge–that many said could not be built–was.”
The black-and-white construction footage then turns to full color as we see the Golden Gate Bridge today in its full splendor. The voiceover continues, “Bank of America was there–celebrating 150 years of lending for projects big and small.” A Bank of America logo serves as the spot’s end tag, with a supered message echoing the voiceover reference to the financial institution’s 150-year history of lending.
Titled “Golden Gate,” this spec ad was directed by David Dozoretz, who also served as hybrid writer/art director on the job. Dozoretz runs a Los Angeles-based pre-visualization shop, Persistence of Vision, and recently completed pre-vis on Mission Impossible 3 and X-Men 3. On the side he has directed some spec work to further his aspiration to get into commercial helming.
Dozoretz’s background includes working at Industrial Light+Magic (ILM), San Rafael, Calif. (now in San Francisco) where he helped to develop the pre-vis pipeline for the Star Wars films.
For “Golden Gate” Dozoretz deployed such tools as the Maxon Cinema 4D for 3D modeling and animation, and Apple Shake for compositing. The work was done largely on Mac G5s.
The spec job entailed considerable planning and meticulously executed effects. For example, for the opening shot, a background plate was captured in HD. Visual effects work included replacement of the current San Francisco skyline with a digital version circa the 1930s, sky replacement, a digital ocean and boat, and removal of the present day Golden Gate Bridge and the road’s rail guard.
Among other touches were the creation of a digital crane, an animated trellis and north and south towers for a subsequent scene as the construction of the bridge unfolds before our eyes.
Additional credit goes to DP Ron Fricke, producer Ted Gagliano and CG artists Kevin Aguirre, Chad Hoeftig, Shane Cook and Hunter Kuhnert.
House Calls Via TV and Streamers: A Rundown of The Season’s Doctor Dramas
No matter your ailment, there are plenty of TV doctors waiting to treat you right now on a selection of channels and streamers.
Whether it's Noah Wyle putting on his stethoscope for the first time since "ER," Morris Chestnut graduating to head doctor, Molly Parker making her debut in scrubs or Joshua Jackson trading death for life on a luxury cruise, new American hospital dramas have something for everyone.
There's also an outsider trying to make a difference in "Berlin ER," as Haley Louise Jones plays the new boss of a struggling German hospital's emergency department. The show's doors slide open to patients Wednesday on Apple TV+.
These shows all contain the DNA of classic hospital dramas โ and this guide will help you get the TV treatment you need.
"Berlin ER"
Dr. Suzanna "Zanna" Parker has been sent to run the Krank, which is only just being held together by hardened โ and authority-resistant โ medical staff and supplies from a sex shop. The result is an unflinching drama set in an underfunded, underappreciated and understaffed emergency department, where the staff is as traumatized as the patients, but hide it much better.
From former real-life ER doc Samuel Jefferson and also starring Slavko Popadiฤ, ลafak ลengรผl, Aram Tafreshian and Samirah Breuer, the German-language show is not for the faint of heart.
Jones says she eventually got used to the blood and gore on the set.
"It's gruesome in the beginning, highly unnerving. And then at some point, it's just the most normal thing in the world," she explains. "That's flesh. That's the rest of someone's leg, you know, let's just move on and have coffee or whatever."
As it's set in the German clubbing capital, the whole city... Read More