Comcast is promoting a new website and on demand channel for horror content with a spooky video that features an eery organ dealer handling bloody body parts.
Urban Legend, created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners/San Francisco, and produced by Tool of North America, Santa Monica, Calif., is an interview with the organ dealer who begins by telling the story of “the guy who gets his kidney stolen,” who we ultimately see lying on the floor behind him, his body vivisected, as the narrator puts bloody body parts into plastic bags on his desk. “Make it believable. Make it scary,” the video concludes, offering viewers a part in an upcoming Lionsgate horror film if they submit the winning entry in the Ziddio.com video contest.
The campaign for Ziddio.com and FEARnet “supports Comcast’s new media initiatives,” said Paul Foulkes, an associate creative director at Goodby. “Ziddio promotes user-generated content for more serious filmmakers and FEARnet is an on demand channel with original horror movies and clips.”
The video tells an urban legend to generate similar legend videos from contest participants. “What if we took the premise and twisted it and made it from the point of view of the person telling you the story being an insider to the story,” Foulkes said. “It’s like you heard the urban legend from the source and there’s a great reveal at the end.”
Director Geordie Stephens of Tool of North America shot the film on 24p video and reshot it as it played back on a TV monitor. “The quality of the video is so high, it looks polished and cinematic. We wanted it to be gritty and low tech,” he said. “So we played it on a large monitor and videotaped it, so it downgraded in resolution. We color corrected it so it looks the way we wanted it, blown out and contrasty.”
It was shot in Van Nuys [Calif.] in the [San Fernando] Valley, “in a tiny grungy motel off the freeway,” Stephens said. “We created the scene where it might have happened. The outdoor scenes were shot in the surrounding area and the bar scenes were shot in a little bar we found nearby.”
The main character and the other actors in the video were non-union talent. “They’d never been seen in commercials before and we wanted to make sure it was original,” Stephens said. “We worked with them on the script to make sure they had it down pat. No teleprompters” (for lines like: “Kidneys are like flank steak compared to what you can get for a good pair of lungs.”).
The video is currently running on YouTube and various blogs.
Director Hans Emanuel Joins Caviar For Commercials and Music Videos
Production company Caviar has signed director Hans Emanuel for U.S. commercial and music video representation. The film and advertising director fuses his keen--and Berlinale Film Festival Award-winning--eye for cinematic storytelling with a commercial background across multiple genres including beauty, automotive, dance, and visual effects-heavy projects, to produce creative for clients like Kia, Nivea, Nissan, L’Oreal, BMW and more.
Caviar executive producer Salim El Arja noted, “Hans has a unique ability to blend stunning visuals with heart and humor, rooted in his confidence as a craftsman. This allows him to focus on drawing exceptional performances from actors--including celebrities--and crafting films that are not only visually striking but also deeply engaging and often hilariously comedic. His sensibilities align perfectly with Caviar’s vision, and we’re excited to collaborate with him on work that pushes creative boundaries.”
Emanuel added, “Caviar is a renowned name, certainly since I began my career. They have a solid reputation for quality work, and I’ve always respected them as a company. Life is about where destiny makes you flow with the people you need; thanks to a series of projects, I was introduced to Florence Jacob with Caviar Paris first, and the rest is history. I feel they can support my career growth with their comedic expertise and filmmaking prowess.”
Prior to joining Caviar, Emanuel had been repped by production house Stadium. He was born and raised in Santa Monica, Calif., to a Mexican-German mother, benefiting from a culturally diversified upbringing that carried through his education interests. Knowing he wanted to be a filmmaker from the start, he began his career in the luxury and beauty field,... Read More