This week’s iSPOT involves several stories that feature games and gamers…One story is about videos used to promote Xbox Halo 3 and Sega Rally Revo. The videos are markedly different, the Halo 3 a dramatic piece spanning the scene of a cataclysmic war and the Sega videos focusing on two dim babes who know nothing about rally driving. The humorous Sega videos will make you laugh and the Halo piece provides interesting details about how it was shot with motion control camera rigs outfitted with snorkle lenses.
Movie studios are among the biggest users of video advertising, playing trailers for new releases across the web. A new eMarketer study reviewed in our iStats section provides information on the industry’s increased digital spending with details on some new uses of video beyond standard trailers.
This week’s iChat features Podaddies, a new video ad network that focuses on podcasts. We chat with the company’s founder and CEO Nate Pagel, who provides information on the growing use of podcast advertising.
Please remember to notify us of news and developments at your companies.
Ken Liebeskind, iSPOT Senior Editor, kliebeskind@shootonline.com, 203-227-1699, ext.17 www.shootonline.com/go/ispot
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More