Directors Steve Beck and Peter Gornstein, CG/visual effects supervisor and artist Ivo Horvat, and line/VFX producer Kathy Tishler have teamed to form Saboteur, a live-action/effects collective that has come aboard the directorial roster of Passport Films, a Santa Monica shop headed by owners/executive producers Patti and David Coulter.
Beck’s directing chops span features and commercials. On the former front, he helmed the movies Ghost Ship and 13 Ghosts. Earlier in his career, Beck served as the visual effects art director on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Abyss and The Hunt for Red October.
Beck’s prior spotmaking roost in the U.S. was Rhythm+Hues, where he meshed live action with VFX and CGI. Beck has to his credit several Super Bowl commercials over the years, including Nissan’s “Pigeons” for TBWAChiatDay, Los Angeles, Primestar’s “Runaway Pipe” via now defunct Adler Boschetto Peebles, and Pontiac Grand Prix’s “Coyote” for the former DMB&B Detroit. His spot endeavors span such clients as Volkswagen, McDonald’s, Chevrolet, Gatorade and First Union Bank.
For the latter, which was out of Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco, Beck directed “Launch,” “Noise” and “Cityscape” which swept the visual effects category and earned a production design honor at the AICP Show. Beck helmed the campaign through the since closed commercial production arm of Industrial Light+Magic where he also turned out such work as Gatorade Fierce’s “Raptor vs. Raptor,” a SHOOT Top Spot, for what was then known as FCB Chicago.
Over the years, Beck-directed commercials have gained recognition at the AICP Show, the Clio Awards, Cannes, the London International Awards, the Siggraph Electronic Theatre, and the International Automotive Advertising Awards. Recently Beck had been active in the international commercialmaking market, turning out projects in Italy, Spain, Turkey, Dubai and Russia.
He has also collaborated with freelance producer Tishler regularly over the past decade, and developed a working rapport with Gornstein and Horvat in recent years, laying the groundwork for them to now come together as Saboteur, an L.A.-based collective.
The only Saboteur member not currently in Southern California is Gornstein who’s in Denmark. But he plans to relocate to L.A. later this year. Gornstein has been a concept artist on numerous features, including Contact, Stuart Little, Anaconda, DieHard 3, Snow Falling on Cedars and James And The Giant Peach for Sony Pictures Imageworks. He’s also served as lead concept developer for IO interactive on several video games. This conceptual and technical expertise has supported his visual storytelling as a director. He was a nominee for Best Young Director at Cannes in ’04. He made an initial splash directorially with the short film Sunrise (winner of a Fuji Film international short film award, Fotokem and Panavision awards). Gornstein’s short Peaceforce was honored with the Canal+Prix Award at the short film festival Clermont Ferrand and is currently making its way through the festival circuit this summer slated to gain exposure at fests in London and Sao Paulo.
At press time, Gornstein was wrapping a Danish commercial for Aalborg Airport. He is currently in development on two feature film projects, one titled On Thin Ice with NDS New Danish Screen, the talent development division of the Danish Film Institute, and Misofilm. The action thriller is set at the North Pole.
Horvat has worked at a variety of industry stalwarts such as Industrial Light + Magic, Sony Imageworks, Imaginary Forces, Uncharted Territory and Zoic Studios. His artistry in conceptual design, matte painting and visual effect supervision is on display in 60-plus feature films, commercials, and most recently the aforementioned short film Peaceforce. His contributions can be seen in 2012, Star Wars: Episode One, The Mummy Returns, Galaxy Quest, Superman Returns, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Spiderman, and The Chronicles of Narnia to name a few. While heading up the matte painting department at Sony Imageworks, he devised a camera projection system created by Maxon for Cinema 4D, which has since become a VFX industry standard.
Tishler brings 20 years of production experience to Saboteur and Passport. Her spotmaking exploits span VFX, automotive, comedy, beauty, tabletop, kids and celebs. She plans to also work on the business development front for Saboteur.
Saboteur will team with Passport on pre-pro, production and post, offering clients a streamlined process and tapping into other talent and resources that the collective’s members have forged relationships with over the years.
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