The music, sound and audio post business is constantly evolving. As part of a marketing package, SHOOT invited music & sound as well as audio post houses to provide feedback, responding to questions about the industry and the nature of their projects.
Among the observations gleaned are that jingles are making a comeback, the “era of cute” is coming to an end, and out-of-the-box creativity has become all the more essential. Participating shops also shared what they regard as their most significant projects creatively thus far in 2013.
The following pages provide an insightful look at each participating company, their work and how they are meeting creative and business challenges.
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1) What project has been most significant for your company this year in terms of creative challenges you were able to meet and/or how did it help to define or diversify the nature of your business? 2013 has been an extremely busy year for us. We’ve been fortunate to work on a lot of great projects. Without a doubt, Football On Your Phone for DirecTV, which featured Peyton & Eli Manning, made the biggest splash. It was also one of the bigger production challenges we’ve ever encountered. 2) Are there any creative and/or business trends or developments you would point to so far in 2013 as being most significant in the music and sound arena that carry implications for the rest of 2013 and beyond? And, what are your company plans for the rest of 2013 and beyond? This year we’ve noticed two major trends in music. First, it seems that what I like to call the “era of cute” is finally coming to an end. People are shying away from the ukulele and glockenspiel thing that started with the first iPhone commercial. That sound really saturated the airwaves for a while. We haven’t seen a new “sound” emerge and dominate the way that did. Although I suspect that we’ll be seeing more subtle and understated music become prevalent. The second trend- shockingly- is the return of the jingle. Butter has seen more jingle projects this year than we have in a decade. It seems like people are recognizing the strength of that medium—although the new stuff has less of the bravado than the classic ’80s and ’90s jingles had. Whether its “Dumb Ways to Die,” Old Spice’s Bar Soap campaign, or our “Long Day of Childhood” jingle for Ragu via Barton F Graf. The jingle has always been one of the most effective forms of broadcast advertising, but now people are also seeing it as a way to drive great creative ideas. I’m pleased to say that Butter is very well positioned to ride that wave. We’re looking forward to what’s ahead. |
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1) What project has been most significant for your company this year in terms of creative challenges you were able to meet and/or how did it help to define or diversify the nature of your business? We were fortunate to work with Droga5 on a telecom launch campaign. The size and scope of the campaign created some challenges for us. One of these was scheduling. With the amount of work needing to be mixed, we had to coordinate several studios running concurrently. The flexibility of the Droga5 production and creative teams in concert with our scheduling department was key in allowing enough time for the process. 2) Are there any creative and/or business trends or developments you would point to so far in 2013 as being most significant in the music and sound arena that carry implications for the rest of 2013 and beyond? And, what are your company plans for the rest of 2013 and beyond? We built Sonic Union with the idea that, after spending weeks conceptualizing, shooting and editing a commercial, the final product will rely significantly on what we can bring to the table in the final few hours before it ships. It can be a pressure packed time, so we’ve given our mixers a head start by setting up our systems to prioritize creativity over file management. Without having to worry about deliverables, because we create everything at once, our guys are free to go the extra mile in session. If, by breaking out a keyboard or a guitar, or getting in the booth with some foley gear to get the mix “just so,” is what it takes, then we’ve done our job. We’re doing what we’ve always wanted to do, and it feels pretty great to make our clients happy. Going forward, if we can continue to connect with people who realize the importance of out-of-the-box creativity in the mix, the future sounds pretty good. |
Ian Jeffreys
Michael Marinelli