Director Steve Beck, formerly with bicoastal/international Believe Media, has joined Rhythm + Hues Commercial Studios, Los Angeles. Beck’s new roost has been restructured with the recent hiring of Paul Babb as its live action executive producer (SHOOT, 4/8, p. 4). Now, the different operations at Rhythm+Hues, including visual effects, computer-generated animation, and postproduction, have come together with the live action division under the studio’s Commercial Studios banner, meaning ad agencies, clients and production houses can access any or all of those disciplines in one-stop fashion.
The signing of Beck, whose reputation is in meshing live action and effects as well as CGI, dovetails well with the complete digital studio philosophy adopted at Rhythm + Hues. Beck has access to all the studio’s mixed media talent and resources. His recent directorial credits at Believe include spots for such clients as Volkswagen, McDonald’s and Chevrolet.
Much of the effects fare for which Beck is known contains major live-action, performance-driven components. Case in point is the lauded First Union campaign–including “Launch,” “Noise” and “Cityscape”–which swept the visual effects category and earned a production design honor at the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show in 1999. The combo package for Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco, also deployed assorted live-action actors and elements to portray a darkly surreal world of economic turmoil and deception, which First Union breaks through. “Launch” additionally garnered Beck a Bronze Clio for direction.
Beck directed the First Union campaign through the now defunct commercial production arm of Industrial Light + Magic, San Rafael, Calif. There he also helmed other varied jobs, including Gatorade’s “Raptor vs. Raptor,” an ad that pitted Toronto Raptors’ basketball star Vince Carter against a prehistoric raptor in a pick-up, one-on-one game of basketball. Selected as a SHOOT Top Spot (2/25/00, p. 16), “Raptor vs. Raptor” introduced the new Gatorade Fierce line of flavors for the client’s agency at the time, FCB Chicago.
AWARDS
Over the years, Beck-directed commercials have gained recognition not only at the AICP Show and the Clio Awards, but also from such competitions as the Cannes International Advertising Festival, the London International Advertising Awards, the Siggraph Electronic Theatre, and the International Automotive Advertising Awards.
Beck has also helmed work–including Nissan’s “Pigeons” for TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles, Primestar’s “Runaway Pipe” via now defunct Adler Boschetto Peebles, and Pontiac Grand Prix’s “Coyote” for the former DMB&B Detroit–that has premiered during Super Bowl telecasts.
After Industrial Light+Magic Commercial Productions (ILMCP), Beck directed ads via Reactor Films, Santa Monica, and then Believe Media. In addition to spots, Beck has experience in the feature arena, directing Ghost Ship and 13 Ghosts.
Beck said he was drawn to the comprehensive studio resources at Rhythm + Hues. “This is a tremendous opportunity to not only regain both quality and control for the work we do, but redefine the way we, as artists, work as a whole….We never need to go out of house. Do you realize what a relief that is?” Beck related.
ROSTER
Beck joins a roster of directors at Rhythm & Hues Commercial Studios that also includes: Clark Anderson, a live-action/effects artisan who came over to the company with Babb from ka-chew!, the Hollywood-based spot division of animation studio Klasky Csupo; and stop-motion specialist Michael Wright.
While Babb heads live-action spots at Rhythm + Hues, his executive producer counterpart in animation and effects is studio staffer Amy Hassler who oversees effects, CGI and postproduction. In addition to offering multiple services and disciplines under one roof, Rhythm + Hues, said Hassler, can harness the capabilities and R&D resources that come from developing effects and animation for major movie studio clients. Recent film division credits include The Interpreter, The Ring 2 and The Chronicles of Riddick. Currently in production are The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Superman Returns.
Hassler added that her visual effects/animation/post operation will collaborate not only with Rhythm+Hues spot directors, but also live-action directors from other houses. Independent reps Arthur Portnoy on the East Coast, Mary Ida Bonadio and Donna D’Aguanno in the Midwest and Connie Mellors on the West Coast and in Texas handle Rhythm & Hues on the live-action front. Repping the studio in animation and visual effects are indies Henry Hagerty on the East Coast, Marci Miles in the Midwest, Toni Saarinen and Jennifer Spencer on the West Coast, and Fran Montoya in Texas and the U.S. Hispanic market.
