Integrated production company 1stAveMachine has added director Ben Steiger Levine to its roster. Levine comes over to the New York-based house from bicoastal aWHITELABELproduct; he continues to be handled in Canada by Spy Films, Toronto.
Getting his start in Canada, where he received multiple grants to produce his short films, Levine has since successfully diversified into directing music videos and commercials.
Levine’s films often border on bizarre and beautiful, hinting at themes of humanity and existence through clever re-imagination of the human form. His filmography includes Heavens to Purgatory where deconstructed bodies act as living decoration, and “You Are Never Alone” for the band Socalled where the lead artist’s face is re-appropriated as a film projector.
“Mr. Hurricane,” Levine’s Grammy Award-nominated music video for Beast, helped gain him inclusion into Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase in 2009. In the clip, a swarm of bees discovers its own fleeting human soul. That ’09 Saatchi Showcase, incidentally, also featured work from 1stAveMachine directors Aaron Duffy and Antonio Balseiro.
“I love to experiment in my work. 1stAveMachine is a great place for me, because they’re always pushing the envelope and doing the most interesting stuff,” said Levine.
Serge Patzak, 1stAveMachine’s co-founder, noted that Levine’s work “translates well across many platforms” spanning traditional and non-traditional media.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More