The Cavalry Productions has added Deluxe, a.k.a. director Stephane Leloutre, to its talent roster. This marks the first U.S. production house roost for Deluxe who recently wrapped a Hyundai project for agency Innocean, and a Toyota campaign for Burrell. The latter, titled “I Do,” is Deluxe’s first spot for The Cavalry; in it, viewers follow multiple storylines around the use of a Toyota Corolla. The day concludes with an artist-inspired light painting photo shoot around the car, a touch concepted and added to the creative by Deluxe.
At press time, Deluxe had just completed a job for Porsche via Paris-based production house The Moon and Back–with the resulting multiple short films to be aired worldwide starting this fall. He is represented internationally via production company XD through which he helmed a Peugeot campaign. In Peugeot’s “Fractal,” the world is introduced to an experimental prototype via a visual tour de force; magnets, speaker membranes, sound waves, liquids, ear drums, strobe lit interiors, stage shots, geometric projections and a high speed urban romp are combined to show off a car “designed by sound.” Another spot titled “4008” features men spotting a Peugeot on the street, instantly leading to thoughts of wild rides down the road.
“Deluxe’s spots are bold, sometime raucous,” said Calvary founder/executive producer Ross Grogan. “Stunning cars in different terrains, sheet metal to performance, exquisite design, the car is the star.”
Deluxe believes you should evoke viewer emotion first, and then shoot the car in a completely different way. “My approach applies to all luxury brands, things of high elegance,” he said. “All spots start with having a good knowledge of the brand. That makes for accurate filmmaking. I’m very open to everything, to question, to find new ideas. The creative around Toyota is fantastic, beautiful car work.”
Deluxe loves the collaborative bond with agencies. “There is a strength in having many discussions. You talk about the idea; you talk about the storytelling, the art direction and spend lots of time with the creative director. Get the entire team to go along with it and then execute it with everyone on board with the vision.”
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