Director Matthew Egan, a specialist in branded entertainment and other new media content, has joined Filmworkers as part of its newly-formed production division Filmworkers Media Content. Egan has directed web-based projects for a number of national brands including Target, POM Wonderful, Geico and Chicago-based designer Agga B. At Filmworkers MC, he will pursue similar work and will also team with Filmworkers and its affiliates Vitamin and Giannini Creative to provide packaged creative services for broadcast and interactive.
Egan was formerly with Chicago-based Foundation Content and prior to that Digital Kitchen. He began his career as an editor at Cutters. His notable recent work includes several web, broadcast and in-store projects for Target. Among those is a stop-motion campaign promoting the store’s reusable bags and Earth Day event. He also directed a viral video for POM Wonderful in which a man dressed as an orchestra conductor gives an elaborate demonstration of how to open a pomegranate. In addition to directing, Egan often conceives, writes and edits his work.
Egan notes that joining Filmworkers gives him access to a broad range of production resources, including visual effects and color correction. He also hopes to take advantage of the company’s sales reach to broaden his clientele.
Filmworkers president Reid Brody said that Egan’s arrival is part of the company’s plan to offer companies and ad agencies a one-stop production solution. “We’ve developed a network of creative boutiques within Filmworkers. Matt is another piece in that puzzle–he takes us into a new and growing area of production with Filmworkers MC. It’s another service that our clients are demanding.”
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