We open on a clash of tiny toy weapons wielded by action figures held by two young boys. This innocent skirmish in a desolate landscape then escalates as behind the kids are two teenagers who, each with slingshot in hand, are firing water balloons at one another. Behind them are soldiers exchanging gun fire with a man standing behind a car.
Explosions then fill the air as heavy artillery is brought to bear with soldiers and a tank entering the picture. Hovering behind them are a helicopter on one side and a fighter jet plane on the other, exchanging fire, with the copter eventually blown away in an explosion.
A super appears on screen which reads, “Where stories make it big,” followed by the Newport Beach (Calif.) Film Festival logo and its running dates (April 22-29).
“Drama” is one of two trailer spots in the campaign, the other titled “Romance,” which shows a progression from innocent love to the kinky.
The trailers were directed by Erich Joiner from Tool of North America, and shot by Oscar-winning DP Robert Richardson (who also directs spots via Tool) for ad agency RPA, Santa Monica. Editor was Hank Corwin of Lost Planet.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More