Tool of North America’s Harry Cocciolo directed this irreverent comedy spot promoting Oxfam America via 15 Ideas Chicago.
The :30 features a prim woman, who begins the spot seated on a beautiful living room sofa with her daughter, expressing her earnest shock upon having discovered that she could fight hunger and poverty simply by “giving a $%@#.” She ventures out into the community, encouraging dignified and shocked passersby to join her in giving a $%@# as she picks up her dry cleaning, pushes a child on a swing, and rides through a residential neighborhood in an ice cream truck.
The mesh of everyday chores with the brazen and incongruous narrative results in an attention-grabbing message that concludes with an appeal to visit OxfamGifts.com and buy gifts that contribute to Oxfam America’s efforts to fight poverty.
Tami Reiker was the DP.
Editor was Kevin Zimmerman of The Whitehouse.
Craig Henighan Sounds Off On “Deadpool & Wolverine”
Hollywood lore has it that character actor Edmund Gwenn--while on his deathbed--quipped, “Dying is easy, comedy is hard.”
The second part of that darkly witty utterance remains all too true today as Craig Henighan--a Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Oscar nominee in 2019 for Roma--can attest in that he had to grapple with the sonic of being comic for this year’s box office hit, Deadpool & Wolverine (20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios).
The degree of inherent difficulty was ramped up even further because Deadpool & Wolverine had to seamlessly bring together high action-adventure exploits with moments and dialogue that tickled the funny bone. There’s a mesh of humorous banter--a staple of the franchise--along with major spectacle replete with explosions, fights, an impactful score and off-the-wall musical numbers.
Henighan explained that among the prime challenges for him from a sound perspective was having to make sure every joke landed within the construct of a superhero film. The tendency for a tentpole movie of this variety, he noted, is to gravitate towards big, loud audio spanning music, dialogue and sound effects. But the unique comedic element of Deadpool & Wolverine necessitated that re-recording mixer and supervising sound editor Henighan strike a delicate balance. “You need to get out of the way for the comedy,” he related. The jokes in a superhero film become “a real dance” as Henighan had to establish a rhythm that did justice to both the comedy and the action as the narrative moves back and forth between them--and sometimes the funny and the high energy, high decibel superhero dynamic unfold simultaneously in a scene or sequence. The “sonic fabric” has to... Read More