Think of it as Willy Wonka gone terribly bad. That’s the scenario that unfolds in this stop motion animation :30 titled “Candy Factory” for the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi out of Maris, West & Baker (MWB), Jackson, Miss.
A Wonka-type impresario takes a group of kids on a tour of his magical world. We open on the children who are passengers on a choo-choo train as their Wonka-esque tour guide says, “Welcome to our orchard where we get our flavoring worth savoring.” Workers pick what appear to be cherries and other fruits in the “orchard.”
However, we know something is amiss when we hear the workers sing a song that contains the lyrics, “If you try these goodies, you surely might die.”
Next the kids are taken inside the factory where candy is presumably made. The tour guide introduces the kids to a giant-sized, fun-loving cherry character. But a girl who’s taking the tour notices that the assembly line doesn’t contain sweet treats. Instead, it’s a cigarette factory.
She immediately issues a thumbs-down on the factory, relating that tobacco companies are making products that have candy flavoring. She urges her classmates and kids at large to “not get tricked into trying them.”
An end tag contains the RAT (Reject All Tobacco) logo, accompanied by a Web site address (www.gorat.com). RAT is an educational program created by the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi designed to get kids to not try or to quit smoking.
The :30 was directed by Seamus Walsh and Mark Caballero via ka-chew!, Hollywood. Walsh and Caballero are noted stop-motion artisans, having co-directed Ray Harryhausen’s Tortoise and the Hare, having animated on the Celebrity Deathmatch series, and having supervised Cartoon Network’s Robot Chicken.
John Andrews executive produced for ka-chew!, with Kristina Schoentag and Chris Finnegan serving as producers. Other ka-chew! contributors included DP/art director Joe Schmidt, character designers Caballero, Walsh and Chris Finnegan, animators Josh Jennings, Ethan Marak, Sihanouk Mariona and Sarah Meyer, puppet fabricators Cameron Baity and Clint Zoccolli, set builder Kelly Mazurowski, effects artist Michael Landon and storyboard artist Jeremy Costello.
The core team at MWB consisted of creative director/writer Marc Leffler and art director Chris Nolen.
Audio post mixer was Peter Carlstadt at ka-chew!
“Overnight Success” Has Been More Than A Decade In The Making For Meghann Fahy and Eve Hewson
Meghann Fahy and Eve Hewson, two of the stars of Netflix's whodunit "The Perfect Couple," have news for you if you want to call them breakouts: They've been working in this business for more than a decade.
Fahy made her TV debut in 2009 in an episode of "Gossip Girl." Hewson's first big film role was in 2011's "This Must Be the Place." They do concede, however, that it's recent TV roles โ "The White Lotus" for Fahy and "Bad Sisters" for Hewson โ that have led to new frontiers of opportunity.
Susanne Bier, who directed "The Perfect Couple," says both Fahy and Hewson are "going to be big stars."
"They certainly have proper, profound star quality, Both of them in very different ways," Bier says. "Both are incredibly creative, incredibly smart, and also have a impressive insight as to who they are. You can be a great actor or actress and not necessarily really know who you are yourself. And they do."
Hewson, 33, whose dad is U2 front man Bono, may have grown up in a famous family but she's now in demand in her own right. She will next be seen in a second season of "Bad Sisters, " out in November. She's in Noah Baumbach's next film, alongside Adam Sandler, George Clooney and Riley Keough. She's also been cast in Steven Spielberg's next production and is set to star opposite Murray Bartlett in a racing series for Hulu.
Fahy, 34, is in production on a limited series with Julianne Moore and Milly Alcock called "Sirens," written by Molly Smith Metzler ("Maid") for Netflix. She also has two films in the can with Josh O'Connor ("The Crown," "Challengers") and Brandon Sklenar ("It Ends With Us").
The two actors spoke candidly about this phase of their careers. This interview has been condensed for clarity and... Read More