Digital marketing agency Organic has hired Chris Jones as executive creative director. Jones will oversee the creative output for the Organic San Francisco office across a number of clients, including recently won business for Quaker and Constellation Brands.
Jones joins Organic from Razorfish London, where he was responsible for design, information architecture, motion graphics and content strategy as creative director. He also managed creative leadership for clients including Audi and O2.
Prior to this role, Jones worked as experience director at Avenue A (now Razorfish). During his time at Avenue A, Jones built a design and user experience team that pitched and delivered work for McDonald’s, the Financial Times, and Samsonite. Throughout his career, he has held a number of design positions as a sr. designer to interface and motion graphics designer. Jones has worked across a number of categories spanning: automotive, telecommunications, publishing, travel and retail.
Additionally Organic has added Drew Myers as sr. VP, client services lead. Meyers will be based out of San Francisco and oversee Organic’s client relationships on the West Coast including: Intel, Walmart, Visa, Nike, Quaker and Constellation. Meyers comes over to Organic from Publicis Modem/Riney San Francisco.
Does “Hundreds of Beavers” Reflect A New Path Forward In Cinema?
Hard as it may be to believe, changing the future of cinema was not on Mike Cheslik's mind when he was making "Hundreds of Beavers." Cheslik was in the Northwoods of Wisconsin with a crew of four, sometimes six, standing in snow and making his friend, Ryland Tews, fall down funny.
"When we were shooting, I kept thinking: It would be so stupid if this got mythologized," says Cheslik.
And yet, "Hundreds of Beavers" has accrued the stuff of, if not quite myth, then certainly lo-fi legend. Cheslik's film, made for just $150,000 and self-distributed in theaters, has managed to gnaw its way into a movie culture largely dominated by big-budget sequels.
"Hundreds of Beavers" is a wordless black-and-white bonanza of slapstick antics about a stranded 19th century applejack salesman (Tews) at war with a bevy of beavers, all of whom are played by actors in mascot costumes.
No one would call "Hundreds of Beavers" expensive looking, but it's far more inventive than much of what Hollywood produces. With some 1,500 effects shots Cheslik slaved over on his home computer, he crafted something like the human version of Donald Duck's snowball fight, and a low-budget heir to the waning tradition of Buster Keaton and "Naked Gun."
At a time when independent filmmaking is more challenged than ever, "Hundreds of Beavers" has, maybe, suggested a new path forward, albeit a particularly beaver-festooned path.
After no major distributor stepped forward, the filmmakers opted to launch the movie themselves, beginning with carnivalesque roadshow screenings. Since opening in January, "Hundreds of Beavers" has played in at least one theater every week of the year, though never more than 33 at once. (Blockbusters typically play in around 4,000 locations.)... Read More