Director/cameraman Eric Saarinen has signed with production house greatguns for representation in the U.S. and internationally. He will be able to tap into the company’s Venice, Calif., London and Bangkok operations. Furthermore, greatguns plans to expand in the Asian theater with the launch of a Singapore office by late summer and a Shanghai shop further down the road.
Saarinen comes over to greatguns from TWC Films, Santa Monica, where he spent a couple of years. During his TWC tenure, Saarinen helmed work for such clients as John Deere, the U.S. Air Force, Atlanta Tourism, and Chevy. For the latter he directed “Disappear,” an eight-decade stop-action, time lapse history of automobiles and gas stations, culminating in the forthcoming hybrid electric vehicle, the Chevy Volt.
Saarinen is well known in the automotive advertising arena with work that goes far beyond sheet metal. In fact, Saarinen’s exploits over the years have helped to redefine the car ad discipline, key examples being Jeep’s “Snow Covered” (with visual effects by Digital Domain) for the then Bozell Worldwide, which won the Grand Prix at the 1994 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival; the lauded documentary series of “Road To Rio” spots for Nissan Pathfinder via TBWAChiatDay, Los Angeles; the Land Rover “Discovery” spot from GSD&M in which a 180-degree orbiting camera seemingly takes us around the world to depict Land Rover as the most well-traveled vehicle on Earth; and a whimsical Fiat commercial for Italy that thrusts us into a harried, heavily trafficked city commute featuring people who are riding aboard animals.
Saarinen’s automotive track record was but one of the elements that drew greatguns to the director, according to Tom Korsan, managing partner of greatguns:USA. “Eric is a great problem solver and artist, has his hands in all kinds of technology trying to find new ways to tell stories, and is just a straight-up, nice guy,” said Korsan. “He’s been doing some guerilla filmmaking work, shooting with the Canon 5D Mark II [a hybrid HDSLR that shoots still work and HD video] that is taking him into new directions.”
For example, Saarinen is deploying the Canon 5D Mark II digital camera on some additional shooting in Los Angeles for Mitsubishi Air Conditioning and Heating. This imagery is being meshed with some film footage he captured in New Zealand during the course of his directing a TWC-produced package of spots for Mitsubishi. Based on the New Zealand footage, the client saw potential to evolve the spot campaign into a five-minute film for multiple platforms. Now under the greatguns banner, Saarinen’s work on the 5D is playing a part in bringing that short film, titled The Airhunter, to fruition.
Prior to TWC, Saarinen enjoyed a lengthy run at the since closed Plum Productions, a venerable mainstay house that he and partner/executive producer Chuck Sloan had co-founded.
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