By CAROLYN GIARDINA
Digital artist Burtis Scott has joined New York-based Charlex. He recently completed a nine-year run at R/GA Digital Studios, New York, where he worked on some of that studios most well-known spot fare.
That includes a classic Dancing Cars campaign-Tango, Pickin and Kickin and Rock n Roll-for Shell Oil via Ogilvy & Mather, Houston, which helped pioneer the use of motion-capture techniques in commercialmaking. Scott served as digital editor.
Scott also worked as senior special effects editor on Caught Their Eye, an Oldsmobile spot via Leo Burnett Co., Chicago, that also broke new ground by incorporating one of the first CGI automobiles to appear in a TV commercial. Bob Giraldi of bicoastal Giraldi Suarez Productions, directed. Scott also served as senior special effects editor on the effects heavy Dancing Baby for Edys Ice Cream via Goldberg Moser ONeill, San Francisco. Again, Giraldi directed.
The aesthetic that Scott developed working on so many memorable projects at R/GA was perfect preparation for his position as digital artist here, said Charlex founder/creative director Alex Weil. We try to combine forward-thinking creative with a respect for the traditional film discipline. Scott feels the same way and has the reel to prove it.
Scott was among the R/GA talents let go in a recent round of layoffs as the company consolidated towards the end of 1998. It didnt take long for him to select Charlex as his next career step. He was attracted to Charlex because it is a small company and does terrific work. He added, Alex is a creative person … that was definitely a selling point.
Charlex executive producer Amy Kindred, another R/GA alum, added, Not only does he have a great eye for detail, which is something essential to a great compositor, but Scott also is used to working with demanding clients and his experience in creative post sessions will be a tremendous asset to us.
At press time, Scott was working on his first job through Charlex, serving as Flame artist for a Kirin beer spot via Hakuhodo, Tokyo, in association with Momo International, New York.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More