Art Center Specs Score Directing Duties.
By JEREMY LEHRER
Greg Whiteley, a recent graduate of Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, Calif., has joined the roster of New York-based Populuxe Pictures. Whiteley was signed by Populuxe based on the strength of three spec spots he directed while he was a student at Art Center. The specs showcased Whiteley’s forte in humor and physical comedy.
In "Vegetarian Terrorist," a Whiteley-directed spec for Krazy Glue, a veggie lover races against a countdown while attaching a time bomb to a meat delivery truck. After realizing the adhesive he’s using doesn’t have enough oomph, the saboteur races inside a deli to buy some Krazy Glue while the clock is still ticking. The Krazy Glue works but ends up transforming the terrorist’s act of sabotage into an act of self-sacrifice.
Nike’s "Speed Golf" features a couple of incompetent lunchtime golfers showing how Nike’s shoes perform during a frenetic game of nine holes. California Egg Counsel’s "Egg Test" is a dry piece in which a "professor" demonstrates why the round shape of eggs prevents them from doing any damage to the human body (whereas square eggs would undoubtedly harm internal organs).
William K. Near, Populuxe’s executive producer, said he was convinced that Whiteley could direct spots because of the humor and production values evidenced in the spec work. "I was very impressed with the degree of professionalism that these spots exhibited," he said. "I liked the way that the characters came across, and I liked the way the film looked."
Near said that Whiteley wasn’t limited to directing humor spots. "Obviously [Greg has] a strong comedic background, but I think Greg’s strengths are working with actors and getting performances," he noted.
Whiteley said he appreciated the commitment Near demonstrated to establishing a budding director’s career. "When you’re a new director, every company will talk about how they’re going to build you," he said. "Populuxe, by far, was the company that showed the most savvy and the most sincere interest and ability to build a director. [Near] had a game plan and he knew what he wanted to do."
Whiteley has already completed his first spot campaign for Populuxe: four humorous pieces for Zicam, a cold remedy, via Kovel/Fuller, Los Angeles. Zicam allegedly shortens the length of a cold, and Near described the spots as humorous scenarios that are variations on the "short" theme. Both Whiteley and Near said that the agency was so comfortable with Whiteley’s instincts that it allowed the newly minted director to improvise while working on the spots. "As we were shifting our boards to accommodate what we were seeing from the performance of the actor [in one spot], [the agency] was right with us," Whiteley recalled.
Whiteley comes from a film and theater background. He started as a political science major at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, but switched to studying theater and film after playing Malcolm in a BYU production of Macbeth. The dean of BYU’s film department was so impressed by Whiteley’s performance that the future director was offered a scholarship to participate in the school’s film and theater program. Upon finishing his studies at BYU in ’94, Whiteley moved on to Art Center, where he completed his M.F.A. in film studies in August ’98.
Whiteley’s initial goal at Art Center was not to direct commercials, but he became enamored of the form after cutting his chops on the specs. "I totally fell in love with telling a joke in thirty seconds or sixty seconds," he said.
While at Art Center, Whiteley wrote a thesis exploring French neo-realist filmmaking methods, which represented "a way to work with actors, and a way to move the camera in relation to their performance, to prevent the audience from being manipulated." Whiteley said this filmmaking style continues to influence his direction and cinematography. "The camera movement should grow out of the relationship the director has with the actors," he observed.
Whiteley believes the combination of his primarily theater education at BYU and his training in cinema at Art Center prepared him well for spot directing. Noting that he used "different muscles" to concentrate on performances and production values while directing, Whiteley said, "When I hit it right, I get a spot that looks good with a strong performance as well."
Whiteley joins a roster that includes directors Wayne Gibson and Jonathan Lennard.
Populuxe is represented on the East Coast by Stenz and Miller; on the West Coast by Connie Mellors; and in the Midwest by Jack Lewis. The company is repped in Canada by Andy Crosbie at Sparks Productions, Toronto.
Jury Presidents Named For The One Show 2025
The One Club for Creativity has announced the global creatives from around the world who will serve as jury presidents for The One Show 2025.
These creatives will lead judging for each discipline, and have a vote on the work.
Confirmed One Show 2025 Jury presidents, by discipline, are as follows:
--Brand-Side/In-House: David Lee, CCO, Squarespace, New York
--Branded Entertainment: Malcolm Poynton, Global CCO, Cheil Worldwide, London
--Creative Use of Data, Creative Use of Technology: Nancy Crimi-Lamanna, CCO, FCB Canada, Toronto
--Cultural Driver: Bianca Guimaraes, partner, ECD, Mischief, New York
--Design: Liza Enebeis, creative director, partner, Studio Dumbar/DEPT®, Rotterdam
--Direct Marketing: Vicki Maguire, CCO, Havas London
--Film & Video: Javier Campopiano, global CCO, McCann Worldgroup & McCann Global, Madrid
--Gaming: Taj Reid, global chief experience officer, US CCO, Edelman, New York
--Integrated, Experiential & Immersive: Chris Beresford-Hill, worldwide CCO, BBDO New York
--Fusion Pencil: Walter T. Geer III, CCO, Innovation North America, VML, New York
--Green Pencil: Barbara Humphries, ECD, The Monkeys, Sydney
--Health & Wellness, Pharma: Wendy Lund, chief client officer, WPP, New York
--IP & Product Design: Ronald Ng, global CCO, MRM, New York
--Moving Image Craft & Production: Irene Kugelmann, chief creative officer, DDB Group of Companies Germany, Berlin
--Music & Sound Craft: Joel Simon, CCO, JSM Music, New York
--Out of Home, Print & Promotional: Kainaz Karmakar, CCO, Ogilvy India, Mumbai
--Public Relations: Patricia Ávila, regional director for Latin America, Ágora, São Paulo
--Radio... Read More