Director Harold Einstein has opened a production company with his longtime executive producer, Eric Liney. Called DUMMY, the new venture is based in Venice and ends Einstein's six-year run at Station Film where he has directed commercials for clients including Kayak.com, Axe, Little Caesars, FedEx, Luvs, Target, Crest and Johnnie Walker. His work has been a fixture at Cannes since he began at Station.
The decision to open his own shop, said Einstein–who moved back to his native California from Brooklyn in July–was motivated by friends. "I watched Gerry [Graf] open Barton F. Graf9000, editors open post houses, composers open music houses, and Steve O [Stephen Orent] open Station Film. The one thing I noticed and continue to see among all of them is a gleam in their eyes. That gleam comes from them knowing that they own the key. I wanted to experience what it was like to make stuff in an environment I created to make stuff in."
Still, Einstein is grateful for his tenure at Station. "Without Station I wouldn't be in the position to do what I've just done: open a company. If you want to be a director, if you want to be a producer, there is no better school than Station Film."
Orent stated, "It's been a fun ride working with Harold over the past six years. Although we will miss him here at Station Film, we wish him the best of luck with his new company."
Craig Henighan Sounds Off On “Deadpool & Wolverine”
Hollywood lore has it that character actor Edmund Gwenn--while on his deathbed--quipped, “Dying is easy, comedy is hard.”
The second part of that darkly witty utterance remains all too true today as Craig Henighan--a Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Oscar nominee in 2019 for Roma--can attest in that he had to grapple with the sonic of being comic for this year’s box office hit, Deadpool & Wolverine (20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios).
The degree of inherent difficulty was ramped up even further because Deadpool & Wolverine had to seamlessly bring together high action-adventure exploits with moments and dialogue that tickled the funny bone. There’s a mesh of humorous banter--a staple of the franchise--along with major spectacle replete with explosions, fights, an impactful score and off-the-wall musical numbers.
Henighan explained that among the prime challenges for him from a sound perspective was having to make sure every joke landed within the construct of a superhero film. The tendency for a tentpole movie of this variety, he noted, is to gravitate towards big, loud audio spanning music, dialogue and sound effects. But the unique comedic element of Deadpool & Wolverine necessitated that re-recording mixer and supervising sound editor Henighan strike a delicate balance. “You need to get out of the way for the comedy,” he related. The jokes in a superhero film become “a real dance” as Henighan had to establish a rhythm that did justice to both the comedy and the action as the narrative moves back and forth between them--and sometimes the funny and the high energy, high decibel superhero dynamic unfold simultaneously in a scene or sequence. The “sonic fabric” has to... Read More