Mitchell Froom, producer of Daniel Powter’s hit “Bad Day” (which recently earned the number one slot on the Billboard U.S. music charts), has signed with Visual Music, Woodland Hills, Calif., for representation in film, TV, film trailers and commercials. Additionally, Froom’s experimental “sound paintings” on his “Monkey Tree” EP are being repped exclusively by Visual Music…..Audio mixer Dona Richardson has come aboard Union Editorial, Santa Monica. She formerly was a mixer at AudioBanks, Santa Monica. Already at her new roost, Richardson has worked on jobs for Chevrolet, Kia, Bell South and the NFL Network….Venice, Calif.-based audio post house RavensWork has promoted Scott Burns to mixer. He had been an assistant mixer with the shop since 1997, working with RavensWork founder/mixer Robert Feist. Burns will operate out of a new, state-of-the-art mixing studio, RavensWork’s third…..Composer David Horowitz of David Horowitz Music Associates (DHMA), New York, and audio engineer Michael Marinelli, a partner in Buzz, New York, recently wrapped Texaco’s “Car Whisperer” and “Souvenir” directed by Joe Pytka of PYTKA, Venice, Calif., for Young & Rubicam, New York…..Perfectly synchronized automobile convertible tops match music cues on Mitsubishi Eclipse’s “Song,” with scoring by Tony Phillips of Groove Addicts, Los Angeles. The sound-driven :30–directed by The Cronenweths of Untitled, Los Angeles, for BBDO West, San Francisco–features the new Eclipse models adjusting in precision to the music, emulating the graphic representation on a recording console. As the music softens, the super “speed sensitive sound system” appears as the cars change pace to demonstrate the effect. The spot was recorded in a live player session featuring Matt Laug (Alanis Morrisette, Slash, Rod Stewart) on drums, Lance Morrison (Simple Minds, Don Henley) on bass and Bruce Watson on guitars and vocals–..The Alan Ett Music Group (AEMG), Studio City, Calif., is wrapping a spot for the Blue Man Group’s line of toy musical instruments. AEMG’s VP Scott Liggett composed the music for the ToyQuest commercial directed by Leo Zahn of Picture Palace, Los Angeles–.
Review: Director/Co-Writer Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ “My Dead Friend Zoe”
Even for a film titled "My Dead Friend Zoe," the opening scenes of Kyle Hausmann-Stokes' movie have a startling rhythm. First, two female American soldiers are riding in a Humvee in Afghanistan 2016 blasting Rihanna's "Umbrella." They are clearly friends, and more concerned with the music coming through loudly than enemy fire. Zoe (Natalie Morales) tells Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green) tells that if they ever set foot in "some dopy group therapy," to please kill her. Cut to years later, they're sitting in a counseling meeting for veterans and Morales' character has a sour look at her face. She turns to her friend: "Did we survive the dumbest war of all time just to sit here all broken and kumbaya and ouchie-my-feelings?" But after this rush of cavalier soldiering and bitter sarcasm comes a sobering moment. Merit blinks her eyes and is instead staring at an empty chair. Zoe isn't there at all. "My Dead Friend Zoe," co-starring Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris, confronts a dark reality of post-combat struggle with as much humor and playfulness as it does trauma and sorrow. It comes from a real place, and you can tell. Hausmann-Stoke is himself a veteran and "My Dead Friend Zoe" is dedicated to a pair of his platoon mates who killed themselves. The opening titles note the film was "inspired by a true story." Audience disinterest has characterized many, though not all, of the films about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the output has pretty much dried up over the years. "My Dead Friend Zoe" feels like it was made with an awareness of that trend and as a rebuke to it. This is an often breezy and funny movie for what, on paper, is a difficult and dark story. But the comic tone of "My Dead Friend Zoe" is, itself, a spirited rejection to not just the heaviness... Read More