By Ken Liebeskind
HOBOKEN, N.J. --“Click,” a :30 for Unilever’s Country Crock that runs online and on TV, combines live-action and motion-control footage to show a sequence of empty and food laden plates that promote the company’s philanthropic effort SpreadtheSharing.com. At the site, consumers are asked to click on an empty plate and contribute their stories of sharing. For each story, Country Crock will make a donation to America’s Second Harvest, the nation’s food bank network.
The spot begins with a live-action shot of empty plates on place mats on a dinner table. It segues into a motion-control sequence of plates that fill up with food at the click of a mouse. The sequence fuses with the Country Crock logo, which was shot live action as the spot concludes.
The spot relied on “gently applied motion control,” according to Alex Fernbach, Owner/Director/Cameraman of ARF & CO/Hoboken, N.J., the production co. that produced the spot for Stone & Simons Advertising/Southfield, Mich. “We built a large platform designed with an initial series of place mats and food. As the camera tilts down to look at the food we matched the first place mat into the matrix of place mats. As the camera tilted up, we added additional place mats and as it tilted down again we made our change into the sea of place mats. We did 40-50 motion control camera passes with empty plates. They were replaced with food at the post house, so food pops up at the click of the mouse.”
Guy Atzmon, designer at rhinofx/New York, explained how the shots of empty plates suddenly had food on them in response to the click. “They shot one pass of empty plates with multiple passes of different food on the plates, and we brought in the food in post. We switched to the take of food on the plates,” he said, explaining that it was a computer-generated image that used the real shots of food. The spot concluded with separate layers of plates that formed the Country Crock logo that transitioned to the actual logo. “It was a computer-generated transition of the logo made of plates to the live-action version,” he said.
Victoria Webb, vice president/account supervisor at Stone & Simons, lauded the production team on the spot. “Country Crock usually runs traditional commercials. This was a tech departure for us and the team was fantastic,” she said. The spot began running at Spreadthesharing.com and YouTube before its April 2 TV launch date.
Gov. Newsom Proposes Expansion Of Californiaโs Tax Credit Program For Film and TV Production
Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed expanding Californiaโs Film & Television Tax Credit Program from the current $330 million annual allocation to $750 million annually. The massive increase to the program, which is administered by the California Film Commission (CFC), would allow California to outpace other states offering tax credits, luring more entertainment industry projects back to the Golden State.
โCalifornia is the entertainment capital of the world, rooted in decades of creativity, innovation and unparalleled talent,โ Governor Newsom said. โExpanding this program will help keep production here at home, generate thousands of good paying jobs, and strengthen the vital link between our communities and the stateโs iconic film and TV industry.โ
โCalifornia needs to keep pace with competing states and nations in providing aggressive tax incentives,โ said Colleen Bell, director of the California Film Commission. โThe Governorโs bold plan will accelerate these efforts and assure California remains the production center of the entertainment industry.โ
The economic value of increased production pays dividends on different fronts:
--A study of the tax credit program found that, for every tax credit dollar approved, it generated and created at least $24.40 in output, $16.14 in GDP, $8.60 in wages, and $1.07 in initial state and local tax revenue resulting from production in the state.
--Since its inception in 2009, Californiaโs Film & Television Tax Credit Program has generated over $26 billion in economic activity and supported more than 197,000 cast and crew jobs across the state.
According to Bell, the program has been oversubscribed year after year, with more productions applying than can be... Read More