The directorial duo Holbrooks of NY-based production house Blacklist teamed with Y&R New Zealand and NZ production house Flying Fish for this :30 PSA for Red Cross New Zealand. In the spot, the camera follows a Red Cross aid package as it transitions through different situations of crisis and delivers relief to people in need.
The PSA deployed a mix of cel animation and 3D camera work to balance handcrafted warmth with dynamic storytelling. Holbrooks–consisting of Daniel Gray and Tom Brown–took advantage of being located in both New York City and Budapest to maximize production days, working around the clock with the New Zealand client to manage the compressed production schedule.
“We wanted to take the material and create a real roller-coaster of imagery and emotion,” commented Gray. “We wanted to show how Red Cross is brave and committed in their quest to helping those in need.”
Holbrooks created a sophisticated look in response to the agency’s brief. The monochromatic tone throughout the film helps convey its serious message while a neutral backdrop makes the Red Cross emblem pop.
“Everyone working on the project was of the same mind for the direction,” said Brown, who oversaw the NYC animation team. “The design is closest to the true Holbrooks personal style.”
Music and sound design by Antfood supports the narrative–a journey from a serious and dark place to a resolution that is more hopeful.
The spot is currently running in New Zealand as part of the Red Cross Annual Appeal.
“Beatles ’64” Documentary Captures Intimate Moments From Landmark U.S. Visit
Likely most people have seen iconic footage of the Beatles performing on "The Ed Sullivan Show." But how many have seen Paul McCartney during that same U.S. trip feeding seagulls off his hotel balcony?
That moment — as well as George Harrison and John Lennon goofing around by exchanging their jackets — are part of the Disney+ documentary "Beatles '64," an intimate look at the English band's first trip to America that uses rare and newly restored footage. It streams Friday.
"It's so fun to be the fly on the wall in those really intimate moments," says Margaret Bodde, who produced alongside Martin Scorsese. "It's just this incredible gift of time and technology to be able to see it now with the decades of time stripped away so that you really feel like you're there."
"Beatles '64" leans into footage of the 14-day trip filmed by documentarians Albert and David Maysles, who left behind 11 hours of the Fab Four goofing around in New York's Plaza hotel or traveling. It was restored by Park Road Post in New Zealand.
"It's beautiful, although it's black and white and it's not widescreen," says director David Tedeschi. "It's like it was shot yesterday and it captures the youth of the four Beatles and the fans."
The footage is augmented by interviews with the two surviving members of the band and people whose lives were impacted, including some of the women who as teens stood outside their hotel hoping to catch a glimpse of the Beatles.
"It was like a crazy love," fan Vickie Brenna-Costa recalls in the documentary. "I can't really understand it now. But then, it was natural."
The film shows the four heartthrobs flirting and dancing at the Peppermint Lounge disco, Harrison noodling with a Woody Guthrie riff on his guitar... Read More