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As part of our Directors Series mix, here are a pair of sponsored content profiles in which directors Jay Patton of Dictionary Films and James Lipetzky of Foundation Content reflect on their most creative, challenging work this year, as well as lessons learned about the business and/or themselves based on their experience/projects in 2013. Jay Patton 1) What project has been most significant for you this year in terms of creative challenges you were able to meet and/or how did it help to define or diversify the nature of your work? I worked on a great Philadelphia Cream Cheese project with McGarry/Bowen Chicago. They wanted a spot that followed milk through all of the steps to becoming cream cheese. 2) What has (have) been the most important lesson(s) you have learned about the business or about yourself as a director based on your experience/projects this year? This year I’ve really learned the importance of stepping out from behind the camera. Previously, I’ve operated the camera on almost everything I’ve directed. As I tackle bigger projects with creative that is more dialogue and performance driven, I have really seen the benefits of delegating the camera work. 3) Have you a mentor or mentors? If so, who? And how has that (those) mentor(s) helped to influence or shape you as a filmmaker? Nadav Kurtz has been an inspiration to work with, I love that he makes his own opportunities and is always exploring new ways to approach the stories he’s trying to tell. |
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1) What project has been most significant for you this year in terms of creative challenges you were able to meet and/or how did it help to define or diversify the nature of your work? Filming the documentary feature, License to Operate, over this past summer has been the creative challenge of my career. It was a wonderful and challenging opportunity. It started when I did a short for a charity Pete Carroll started called A Better LA which funds gang interventionists. The agency, Omelet, and I decided the story deserved to play out over a feature and with their support, I was able to make the film. Link to License to Operate teaser trailer: https://vimeo.com/74390569 2) What has (have) been the most important lesson(s) you have learned about the business or about yourself as a director based on your experience/projects this year? Focus on what’s in front of you. The amount of change to the business over the past year has been monumental. I’ve seen more change in the past six months than I have in the previous ten years. As a creative, you just have to accept that uncertainty and embrace it because you can’t change it. Let every shot be an opportunity for change. Let every shoot challenge you. I try to be organized for every shoot but I’m also open to where the shoot and then the edit takes the idea. Filming the doc feature, License to Operate, was a case in point. I had expectations for the story but it changed every day. If you’re open to it, change is the best thing to happen to you. 3) Have you a mentor or mentors? If so, who? And how has that (those) mentor(s) helped to influence or shape you as a filmmaker? I wouldn’t say I had mentors as a director but I was influenced by directors I worked with as a commercial editor. From Zack Snyder, I learned the importance of constantly reworking the camera within a scene to find the best way to film it vs. shooting twenty takes of the same thing. No frame of film from Zack was the same. The lensing always differed. He was constantly exploring trying to find the truth of a scene. From Errol Morris, I learned the importance of being in a conversation with the people you’re interviewing rather than having a check-list you go through. Let the subject lead you where they want to go and together you both can find the story that needs to be told. So when it came to filming my feature, you can say they were mentors in a way to me since I put both those skills to the test. |
James LipetzkyGrowth Brings Growing Pains–and Bots–To Bluesky
Bluesky has seen its user base soar since the U.S. presidential election, boosted by people seeking refuge from Elon Musk's X, which they view as increasingly leaning too far to the right given its owner's support of President-elect Donald Trump, or wanting an alternative to Meta's Threads and its algorithms.
The platform grew out of the company then known as Twitter, championed by its former CEO Jack Dorsey. Its decentralized approach to social networking was eventually intended to replace Twitter's core mechanic. That's unlikely now that the two companies have parted ways. But Bluesky's growth trajectory — with a user base that has more than doubled since October — could make it a serious competitor to other social platforms.
But with growth comes growing pains. It's not just human users who've been flocking to Bluesky but also bots, including those designed to create partisan division or direct users to junk websites.
The skyrocketing user base — now surpassing 25 million — is the biggest test yet for a relatively young platform that has branded itself as a social media alternative free of the problems plaguing its competitors. According to research firm Similarweb, Bluesky added 7.6 million monthly active app users on iOS and Android in November, an increase of 295.4% since October. It also saw 56.2 million desktop and mobile web visits, in the same period, up 189% from October.
Besides the U.S. elections, Bluesky also got a boost when X was briefly banned in Brazil.
"They got this spike in attention, they've crossed the threshold where it is now worth it for people to flood the platform with spam," said Laura Edelson, an assistant professor of computer science at Northeastern University and a member of Issue One's... Read More