Director Declan Whitebloom has joined the roster of Concrete + Clay for commercials and music videos. He comes over from RSA/Black Dog Films, his roost for the past seven years.
Whitebloom’s body of work includes campaigns for Target, Fiat, Nissan, Carl’s Jr., Lipton, Big Lots, Toyota and Spotify. Among his longer-format projects are the Sci-Fi Channel’s hit eight-part documentary series Prophets of Science Fiction, produced and hosted by Ridley Scott, along with the short film Blackbird, a modern day psychological thriller which made waves on the 2015 film festival circuit.
Whitebloom combines cinematic imagery with the ability to capture authentic performances from his subjects. This skill has led him to become a trusted collaborator with high-profile celebrity talent, most notably Taylor Swift. Throughout their ongoing creative relationship, Whitebloom has helmed three of Swift’s videos, including the smash hit “We Are Never Getting Back Together” and a Toyota campaign in which she starred for the Chinese market. Recently, Whitebloom journeyed to Havana, Cuba to shoot the clip for Jess Glynne’s “Ain’t Got Far To Go.” Whitebloom’s clip credits span such artists as One Direction, Leona Lewis, Hilary Duff, Demi Lovato, Carly Rae Jepsen, and The Fray.
A native of London, Whitebloom grew up in a family obsessed with film. Before he was even a teenager, he spent an incredible amount of time watching his older brother Monty Whitebloom (half of the duo that is BIG TV) direct music videos. After graduating from university, Declan Whitebloom moved straight to LA where he knocked off countless hours on sets, working in nearly every capacity including behind the camera, and from PA to the art department. Then he began a long tenure as an editor, where he fine-tuned his craft as a storyteller.
Last year he was involved in the creation of Banksy’s Dismaland installation, acting under the “cover” of a director filming a fake movie, thereby allowing the elusive street artist to build a massive, sinister twist on Disneyland under the guise that it was Whitebloom and his crew building a set.
Concrete + Clay was founded by director Dewey Nicks. Company EPs are Carrie McLaren and Mike Brady.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
The one rule to follow is that... Read More