Focus Creeps–the directorial team of Aaron Brown and Ben Chappell who earned inclusion into last year’s SHOOT New Directors Showcase on the strength of such work as Cass McCombs’ music video “Dreams Come True”–has picked up the music pace via its roost Foundation Content, the hybrid production/post/creative house headed by president Samantha Hart.
The helming duo has amassed such credits since its Showcase splash as music videos for Arctic Monkeys, kd lang, Wavves, Girls and Delorean. Furthermore Focus Creeps and Joseph Patel co-directed Scion A/V and Vice Broadcasting Systems’ New Garage Explosion!!, a feature documentary about the bands and culture surrounding the international garage rock community.
With studios in Chicago and Culver City, Foundation Content is a full service production and post company with a focus on innovation, collaboration, and efficient execution designed to maximize creative potential across multiple platforms. The company houses directors, editors, graphic artists, writers, producers, sound design, a top colorist, and stage under one roof. Clients have included Target, United Airlines, Progressive Insurance, Hampton Inn, and AT&T.
The Culver City facility recently opened a stage, a dedicated pre-rigged, pre-calibrated production environment with the necessary amenities for full-scale commercials, television, features, and video games.
“It’s exciting to see the new division in L.A. really taking off, collaborating so well and seamlessly with our Chicago team,” said Evan Cohen, VP of production. “We’re looking forward to the continued growth this inspired space offers.” The stage has already been the backdrop for projects as diverse as the online game Rift, a Focus Creeps shoot for the U.K. based band Arctic Monkeys and a series of online ads for Progressive Insurance directed by Foundation’s James Lipetzky.
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